Lately, I have been listening to a couple of motivational speeches on YouTube and I thought to myself, “Why don’t I share this newly discovered knowledge of mine with the rest of the Repo Nation.”
I have three that I put on repeat mode and sometimes I even turn on while I’m taking a shower to start my day on a positive note. The first person that I will tell you about is the speech made by Dr. Rick Rigsby. His famous speech was at the Cal Maritime Commencement Ceremony last year.
The lessons of combining wisdom and knowledge is a very important equation that we have to put together to propel ourselves to another level. He has learned this lesson from his father who was actually a cook at Cal Maritime Academy which made it even more special. I forgot to mention that this simple cook was a third grade dropout and was the wisest person he has ever met. Here are the lessons he learned from his father.
Don’t judge people.
“The tendency of a person is to walk away from somebody who is different from them.”
“Stay there and get to know them. Vision is the ability to see the invisible.”
My take: Sometimes, it’s tough to get the negative thought out of our heads. Just because a person looks different and act different doesn’t mean that we can assume they are a certain way. Take the time to dig a little deeper. The times the we live in now, sometimes it is worth taking our time than assuming or thinking that a person is a certain way based on nothing.
It’s better to be an hour early, than a minute late.
Aristotle once said, “You are what you repeatedly do. Therefore excellence ought to be a habit, not an act.”
My take: If there is one thing that I hate more than anything is being late. I know that being an Airman, our whole saying is if your 15 minutes early, you’re on time and if you’re on time, you’re late. A boss or a Supervisor always remember the times that you’re late. But won’t forget those times when you show up early.
Be tough, but always remember to be kind.
“Be kind to people and never embarrass Momma.”
My take: Always be kind to everybody and here in Hawaii we have a lot of homeless folks that I feel are just forgotten. We are all in this together and I actively do my best by donating to Hawaii Food Bank monthly to help those in need. Every person matters and by pulling someone up when their down only makes our society stronger.
Make sure that your serving towel is bigger than your ego.
“Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity.”
“Pride is the burden of a foolish person.”
“You’ll never be a great supervisor, teammate, manager, or coach if it’s all about you.”
My take: Remember that it takes an Army or in my case an Air Force to become successful. You are lying to yourself if you think it you did it on your own.
If you’re going to do a job, do it right.
“Do the job the right way.”
“It’s never wrong to do the right thing.”
“Good enough isn’t good enough if it could be better, and better isn’t good enough if it could be best.”
My take: There is nothing better than knowing deep down, you tried your absolute best. No medals needed. The satisfaction of a job well done is a bigger medal that you can hang proud around your neck.
The question that Rick Rigsby’s father asked him every day until the day he died was:
How you living?
A third grade dropout would advise you to apply these simple lessons.
Do not judge.
Show up early.
That your serving towel is huge and used.
Do it the right way.
Did you apply the lessons above and combined wisdom and knowledge to grow your influence and succeed? Do you have any life lessons to share? Sound off!
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