“The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not obtained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.”

–          Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ok.

This one I have used because it makes me laugh. Because maybe the number one gripe I hear from ‘boomer’ type people is “kids just don’t want to work hard” or “don’t want to work for things.”

And I laugh because this is exactly what parents said before. And probably parents before.

I think it just comes with age and some warped perspective that you worked your ass off as a kid so dammit they should (and they aren’t).

Some of us (as kids) were a little more crafty about how hard we worked and when we worked hard (manipulating our life and energy trying to insure we invested ‘toiling’ at the right time to insure ‘play energy’).

Regardless.

Do ‘great men reach higher heights’ because they toil more?

Yeah. Probably.

Just because your smart doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard (because there are a lot of smart people so the difference is often if you ‘toil’ more than they do).

Plus.

Lazy smart people can get left behind.

Does this mean you have to ‘toil 24/7 year in and year out’ to attain heights?

No. absolutely not (in fact it would be silly to do so).

Often if you toil at the right times those moments (each time) push you to a new height. And if you manage toiling excellently than you attain the height of heights with the least amount of toiling possible.

All that said.

You do gotta toil.

Well.

At least if you want to attain some height.

Written by Bruce