The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All by Jon Gordon
Genre: Self-help
The Carpenter is a fable about what it takes to succeed in life and business.
Michael passes out on his run as a result of the stress from building a business. Thankfully, help finds him quickly as a passerby—the carpenter—uses his shirt to stop the bleeding and calls 911.
Upon Michael's discharge from the hospital, he reaches out to the carpenter to express his gratitude. Then he contracts him to build an entertainment centre for his home. It's in the course of doing this that the carpenter teaches Michael the three greatest success strategies of all.
Apart from these particular strategies, the carpenter points out the fact that to build a masterpiece, you have to design it first. Using life as an example, he talks about how people just live by chance instead of living by design and knowing the life they want to create. They have no compelling life vision that they're working to actualise.
The good thing is that he provides a set of questions to guide you in designing and creating the life you want:
What does it look like when you are at your healthiest, strongest, and best? What does your family situation look like while you are pursuing success in your work? Are you ignoring the people you love the most or making more time for them? What matters most? What priorities drive you each day? What are you doing that makes you come alive? What are you doing to live and share your purpose? When you look back on your life what do you want to be able to say about it? How do you want to feel? What will you have wanted to accomplish? What legacy will you have left?
The carpenter further says that after designing your masterpiece, you should approach life and work like a craftsman—one who creates a work of art and is more concerned about who he is becoming in the process and what he is creating instead of being in a rush to just finish it; one who understands that he has to pour his heart and soul into everything he builds because he knows that his work is a reflection of who he is.
Another thing is to avoid using inferior materials to work and/or doing things haphazardly because you think that it's okay as long as nobody finds out. Talk about integrity! Even though he acknowledges that this is more demanding, he points out as long as you're in it for the long haul, this is the more rewarding and fulfilling approach.
There’s no such thing as an overnight success. The way to success is the way of the craftsman, where you work really hard for years. You show up every day. You do the work. You see yourself as an artist dedicated to your craft with a desire to get better every day. You put your heart and soul into your work as you strive for excellence. You desire to create perfection, knowing you’ll never truly achieve it but hoping to get close to it. You try new things. You fail. You improve. You grow. You face countless challenges and tons of rejection that make you doubt yourself and cause you to want to quit. But you don’t. You keep working hard, stay positive, and persevere through it all with resilience, determination, and a lot of hope and faith. Then you make it! Everyone wants to work with you. And the world says, ‘Where have you been?’ And you say, ‘I’ve been here all along, and hopefully getting better day by day.’ To the world, you are an overnight success. To you, the journey continues. You’re a craftsman who wants to make your next work of art your best work no matter what you have accomplished in the past.”
I liked how that Michael didn't hoard what he learnt—the same way the carpenter poured out what his father taught him.
You aren't a true success unless you are helping others be successful. Success is meant to be shared.
The story reminded me of the parable of the sower:
“Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
Matthew 13:19-23 NLT
I remembered this parable because Michael did not immediately see any significant change in his business but instead of allowing that to deter him, he continued to implement the strategies he learnt until he saw results.
Years from now people will be telling stories about you, and you must ask yourself what kind of stories you want them to tell.
I recommend!💯