This is our diamond and must be treated like a diamond. Never settle. It’s never good enough until it is your best. – Michael Bennett, Creator, A Chorus Line
Michael Bennett was an American dancer, choreographer and director. In addition to creating A Chorus Line, he choreographed it along with Bob Avian and was its director. Bennett won seven Tony Awards – Broadway’s highest honor – over the years, including three for A Chorus Line. Bennett died in 1987 at the age of 44.
This is our diamond…
Diamonds are treated with care, and, similarly, we must treat our time on this planet with care. We must have the insight into ourselves to recognize what our diamonds are, too. We must be in touch with what really matters to us, with the path our hearts and instincts are directing us towards.
Never settle…
Anybody can settle. Anybody can grow weary of the effort and determination required to make their diamond shine, and distractions from the path we were meant to take with our lives present themselves every day. There are temptations that whisper success is for other people, the road we’re traveling is too hard, that it is easier to settle for less than you are capable of becoming.
Easier yes, but fulfilling, no, because while the path commonly traveled might seem easier, in reality, the hardest choice we will ever make is it to is to stop living the life we were meant to live.
It’s never good enough until it is your best…
We may – or we may not – create something great like an awarding winning Broadway play, but what we end up creating isn’t particularly important. What is important is that it comes from deep inside us, be it a painting or a chair or a career. We must be willing to invest the skill and especially the patience required to make something our very best.
When we do we will find the success we’ve been looking for and the only life worth living.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
