( Guest Post ) – Wile E. Coyote, Billionaire
If you’ve been a long-standing LWL blog reader, you probably recognize the name Roy Williams.
He’s one of my favorite writers. He’s witty, sharp, eloquent, has a sense of depth about his intelligence, and knows the inner-workings of human nature in ways that 10 or more self-styled and self-labeled mind “gurus” couldn’t fathom (see his book, Wizard of Ads: Turning Words Into Magic and Dreamers Into Millionaires).
In today’s topic, Roy is talking about the most important aspect of personal achievement.
This is something that every grade-school kid in the world should be learning, by the time they’re 7 years old.
That’s my opinion though… let me know yours AFTER you read what Roy has to say:
There’s not a lot you can learn from the Road Runner, but the Coyote knows the secret of wealth.
In September, 1949, the Coyote — Carnivorous vulgaris — built a catapult. But instead of launching him toward the Road Runner, it launched him straight up into a stone outcropping.
The Coyote crawled out of the hole and went back to work.
In December, 1955, the Coyote — Eatibus almost anythingus — waited anxiously for the Road Runner to come around a corner, then lit the fuse of a cannon. But instead of firing the cannonball, the entire cannon — with the Coyote behind it — fired backwards into a mountain wall.
Again the Coyote crawled out of the hole and went back to work.
In May, 1980, the Coyote — Nemesis ridiculii — climbed aboard a rocket, aimed it toward the Road Runner on the opposite side of the canyon and lit the fuse. The fuel and nosecone of the rocket launched out of the rocket hull, leaving the Coyote sitting aboard that empty cylinder. He fell, annoyed, to the canyon floor.
The Coyote climbed out of the canyon and went back to work.
Are you beginning to see a trend here?
The Coyote — Inevitablius Succeedus — never gives up.
The Coyote is Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea. After 84 consecutive days of not catching a fish, the old man rises before dawn and pulls steadily on the oars until he is far beyond the sight of land.
The Coyote is Rowan of A Message to Garcia. Alone behind enemy lines, outnumbered thousands to one, Rowan never considers the impossibility of his mission, but doggedly attempts the ridiculous until he casually accomplishes the miraculous.
The Coyote is Quixote, foolishly committed to a questionable quest, paying his pint of blood daily without complaint, never wavering in his enthusiasm, never doubting he will ultimately succeed.
When we were young and fast and invincible, the Road Runner was our hero. Impervious to danger, the Road Runner ran without tiring, scooted without fear and beep-beeped coolly like a blue James Bond.
But as I look down now from this creaking tower of years, I see it was the Coyote who deserved my admiration. That TV show was never about the Road Runner. It was always about the Coyote. The Coyote was determined.
“Determined” is a word much misunderstood. Obstinate people are not determined. They merely suffer from too much pride. Stubborn people are not determined. Stubbornness is willful ignorance.
Determination is an unblinking willingness to pay the price as often as it must be paid. Determination is never losing sight of your objective, no matter what comes along to distract you. Determination is endurance.
How about you?
If Failure appears without warning and throws you onto the rocks below, will you happily crawl out of that smoking crater and go back to work?
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To learn about Roy and what he and his staff have cooking up at the Wizard Academy, click here…
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Filed under: Personal Achievement
The Yellow-Shirt Mob occupied Thailand’s airports December 2008, and the sudden absence of tourists was a smoking crater of no-work-no-income sized problems for Wile E. Me
I took whatever jobs, part-time, non-professional, gigs and online I could find, $10 a report so I typed 37 reports…
457 days later, after 457 shots at Road-Running Goals, with bills and debts and more experience, I was taken to the hospital for a week, with a Real World heart attack that catalyzed my determination even more, “I’ve GOTTA Change, for the BETTER!”
That was in February. I comment here in August, after landing not one, not 3 but FIVE new jobs with aggregate income FAR exceeding my Cost-of-Living expenses, and I see the light of rational expansion at the end of this tunnel.
We’re having Meep-Meep stew again tonite, and IT IS DEEELICIOUS!
I cry to myself….I have been giving up too easily. At Karridine: I am going to start cooking up Meep-Meep Stew!!
Thank you for the cannon that shoots me into the canyon.
Into the infinite, no limits
History is written by the winners. You define your own definition of success.
What did Edison’s colleagues think after hundreds of unsuccessful attempts at inventing the lightbulb?
His success in other inventions kept him going on the one that made him most famous.
Your observation is 100% accurate. It is the same as the Japanese proverb-Fall down seven times, stand up eight.
Our current politicians with their entitlement policies and programs are doing more harm than good. How many people would have worked on themselves and their careers instead of settling into unemployment? Change-for good or bad-usually comes out of pain, as we are all too comfortable in our paterns.
The bible gives a great example of not giving someone a fish, but teaching them to fish. In this life, growth is optional and does require work. The penalty for failing to keep up is now exponential.