I can still, to this day, hear my Dad’s words ringing loudly in my ears…. “Buckshot,… do it right! You will be known by the quality of the work that you do.”
Now let’s think about that for just a moment. “You will be known by the quality of the work that you do.” Is it not true that whenever you want to acquire a new “thing” no matter what the thing happens to be, people for the most part, want to get only “the best” of the things they are looking for? Notice a craftsman, they want the best materials, those of the highest quality that they can afford, for use in all of the things that they construct. Outdoorsmen likewise desire to have the finest of equipment to use as they perform their outdoor activities. Oh, and let us not forget the precious and wonderful women….Don’t they prefer to go to the finest and best quality clothing stores to wander around looking at, examining, trying on (several times), and only then purchasing or all-too-often placing the item back on the shelf, undecided as to whether this is just the right item they want.
I believe it is just human nature, particularly in America, that people, whenever given a choice, will always prefer the “best” of almost everything….as compared to just the “good” of anything. You see, once you have tasted the best, once you have treated yourself to the finest of quality, you immediately recognize that the best is always preferable. Luxury cars truly do drive better and more enjoyable than do “clunkers.” First Class seating is much better than “coach.” Steak and lobster just tastes better than does a hamburger..
What I find most interesting about this entire subject we are discussing is the simple fact that most all folks personally want and expect the very best of the things in life that they desire or consume. However, it seems that they are willing for the most part, to give, produce, or share with others…. only their good, average, or even below average end products or services. In other words, they are desirous of the “best” but only give their “good” or “poor” goods or services.
Have you ever been around an extremely wealthy person who has or wears or uses only the finest and best quality things in life,….but whenever they’re dealing with other vendors or creator/producers, they are really “cheap” and try to bargain every extra penny of cost out of the already-too-thin profit margins of the vendors?
Permit me to admonish you. If you truly do desire to be prosperous and happy in the living out of your life,….be generous, extremely generous, in all of your dealings with others. You will always reap what you sow. Sow sparingly and you will only reap sparingly. You are sowing while you are conducting all of your personal affairs in your daily living. Every effort you make and every action you take is a sowing-the-seed activity. Consequently God’s Law of Sowing and Reaping prevails.
When you give your very best efforts in the performance of your daily tasks, regardless of who sees them or not, you will be blessed….at the time you give it, or at a later date! God knows and God Rewards…all according to His time frames.
A story please………..
Someone once asked the great stage performer, Al Jolson, a popular musical comedy star of the 1920’s, what he did to warm-up a cold audience. Jolson answered, “Whenever I go out before an audience and don’t get the response I feel that I ought to get…I don’t go back behind the scenes and say to myself, ‘That audience is dead from the neck up–it’s a bunch of wooden nutmegs.’ No, instead I say to myself, ‘Look here, Al, what is wrong with you tonight? The audience is all right, but you’re all wrong, Al.’ ”
I will tell you that many a performer or speaker or trainer or mentor has blamed a poor showing on an audience. Al Jolson took a different approach..He tried to give the best performance of his career to his coldest, most unresponsive audiences…and the result was that before an evening was over, he had them applauding and begging for more.
The truth is that you will always be able to find excuses for mediocrity. In fact a person intent on justifying a bad performance usually has excuses lined up before the final curtain falls.
Choose instead to put your full energy into your performance. Your extra effort will turn an average performance into something outstanding.
Great preparation and experience leads to great performance. Great performance in unfavorable circumstances still produces great results. However, the corollary to that statement is also true. Poor performance or excuse-filled performance in totally favorable circumstances still produces terrible and poor results. Because of these unarguable truths, doesn’t it just make more good sense to always be properly prepared all of the time so that whenever you are called or requested to perform,….you are always ready to give your best quality performance!
Ah!…the joys of a job well done…that is true satisfaction!
My Dad used to always say to me…..“Every job or assignment you do is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Insure that you autograph all of your work with excellence.”
Everything that we have been discussing can be traced back into the Holy Scriptures as foundational truths as to how God wants us to live our lives. Our Creator God always has been, always is, and always will be into doing the right things and doing them righteously. Excellence is His Watchword. It is all well explained in The Book of Colossians, Chapter 3, verse 23-25, NKJV:
(23) “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not
to men,
(24) Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of
the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
(25) But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has
done, and there is no partiality.”
So my friends allow me to say to you….. do it right! You will be known by the quality of work that you do!
Peace and Love to All of You……………….Poppa Bear