6 Wheat Ridge Transcript
November 7, 2013
opinions / yours and ours
Hit the gas on the road less traveled “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” From the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Have you been there, faced with a tough decision or at a crossroad in your life? And if so, did you take the road less traveled or did you follow the path where the ground had been cleared and maybe just a little bit easier to traverse? I have found myself at that decision point on more than one occasion, a true crossroad in my life. And maybe it’s the closet poet in me and huge fan of Robert Frost, but I, in most cases, seem to take the road less traveled. In most cases it has served me well and set me on a new course, adventurous tour, and wild ride. But just as the poem reads, “… and that has made all the difference.” And then there have been those few times where I followed the masses, accepted the easy path, went along to get along, and I found myself either bored or disappointed, always wondering what would have been or could have been had
I chosen the road less traveled. You see, I am not a very good “yes” man, and when I find myself at a decision point, especially a critical decision point, I need to be able to evaluate my options and determine what most others might choose to do, and dig in deeper to the “why” behind their decisions. And this is what usually triggers my decision to try an alternate route. When people share with me where they are in the crossroads of their own life, I often encourage them to take the time to clearly write out all of the options, all of the pros and cons, and to visualize each option as if they actually made the
question of the week
How far will the Broncos go? We asked people at a high school football game how well they think the Denver Broncos will do this season.
Hopefully to the Super Bowl. Lisa Aguilar, Northglenn
At least to the AFC Championship. Gabe Aguilar, Northglenn
They’re going to the Super Bowl. I think they are going to go 14-2. Eric Debolt, Thornton
They are definitely going all the way. Jim Gillespie, Denver
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decision to pursue that option. What is the best possible outcome? What is the worst possible outcome? What are they willing to live with or accept? And what are the nonnegotiables or things they are not willing to compromise? Some people are facing serious crossroads about their jobs, relationships and friendships, or new business ventures. And although we talk about all of the options, pro’s and con’s, and possible outcomes we also discuss the inherent risks involved with taking the road less traveled. It is extremely important when committing to one path or the other that we carefully weigh all of the risks as well as all of the upside. It is very easy to see all the potential and amazing possibilities because that is how many of us believe we are programmed. And I strongly encourage that we take this positive attitude and approach because as we see it and believe it, we can achieve it. But we need to balance that optimistic outlook with the potential risks and downside. This is why when we are faced with a
decision point or at a crossroad that we should surround ourselves with strong friends, wise advisers and people we absolutely trust to be our sounding board and help us walk through our options and thought processes around each important decision we need to make. Do I take more risks than I should? Yes. Are they educated risks or guesses? In most cases. Do I follow my heart, my gut, and attempt to balance that with what is going through my head? Yes. But at the end of the day, as Robert Frost says, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” I would love to hear all about what you do at the crossroads of your life at gotonorton@gmail.com and I really do believe that this will be a better than good week. Michael Norton, a resident of Highlands Ranch, is the former president of the Zig Ziglar organization and CEO and founder of www.candogo.com
Dare to fail to succeed I try not to let things I hear on TV have much of an effect on my life. In fact, by and large, I try not to hear things on TV. But, nevertheless, some things sneak in. The other night, I was winding down, and I flipped on a rerun of the medical drama “House,” just in time to hear the cantankerous star of the show utter this phrase to an underling: “What you did was GREAT! It was wrong, but it was great! You should feel great about doing something great; you should feel (terrible) that it was wrong. He – he thinks we do our jobs and let the chips fall as they may; you and I think what we do here matters. He sleeps better at night. He shouldn’t.” That idea really struck a chord with me. In the show, one of the doctors tried an innovative approach to curing a difficult case. It was bold, and it was courageous — and it was wrong. The patient got worse. The “he” refers to another doctor who was unwilling to attempt to cure the patient, but was content to reduce the patient’s problem to a chronic discomfort. I am fan of failure — anybody who knows me knows that. And, no, it’s not just because I’ve gotten comfortable with it. Actually, I should rephrase that: I despise failure, but I relish every opportunity to fail, because those come with opportunities for greatness. I like failure because you learn more from failure than you ever do from success. You learn about your faulty thought processes, you learn about your weaknesses, you learn to adjust your expectations to a world that often expects more than you do. But, most importantly, you learn that failure is never the end of the story, unless you give up. Failure, more often than not, is just the beginning of great success. Remember the Broncos’ first Super Bowl win? They didn’t have a perfect season—they lost four games. And, on their way through the playoffs to the Super Bowl, they beat
two of the teams that they lost to during the season and the team that surprisingly knocked them out of the playoffs the year before. Fear of failure keeps more people from trying to do great things than lack of imagination, than lack of resources, or than any other problem going. Thomas Edison had no such lack of courage; neither did the Wright brothers, or Henry Ford. Some of our brilliant minds from history were even so bold as to take accidents and turn them into great discoveries, like Marie Curie and Alexander Fleming. What about you? Did you try to do something great today? This week? This year? Ever in your life? To try to do what is great is hard, it is personally taxing, and it brings with it the prospect of great failure. And doing something of significance can cause a few sleepless nights. But to just “phone it in” day after day is not what you were put on this earth to do. Humans are the only animals that have the capacity for greatness . . . don’t waste it on sleep. Michael Alcorn is a music teacher and fitness instructor who lives in Arvada with his wife and three children. He graduated from Alameda High School and the University of Colorado-Boulder.