TysonTime

Know What You Deserve September 28, 2008

Thoughts rattle around in my head constantly, and many are vivid images from my past. One of those images, I realize, has served as the basis for a major part of my personality… that I push everything hard and do nothing with less intent than grandeur.

When I was about 5 years old, my Mom was driving me somewhere and we were caught behind a slow vehicle on the freeway. It was a Volvo V70 Turbo, with the word “Turbo” printed boldly under the model tag. She said, “Come on! Use that Turbo and get moving!”

That image played over and over in my mind for most of the days that passed between then and now, and I took from that a basic truth: Always know what you deserve. Don’t buy a turbo if you don’t drive hard. Don’t fly fighter jets unless you are prepared to do formation, canyons and dogfights. It just doesn’t do the equipment honor if its master and commander isn’t willing and capable to let the instrument stretch its legs at least once in its life.

This principle is important in all aspects of my life. Friends included. I see people that are great who hang around with mooching low-lifes. The person who is great is great so they try to bring the mooching low-life up a notch. But the mooching low-life should know that they don’t need this great person as a friend and so they should do the great person a service by saying, “you are too good for me, move on.”

In any event, you get the idea. Know what you deserve and then make decisions accordingly. Only then will the universe balance itself out.