Destiny’s Architect
Parents, guests, faculty and honored graduates
You are part of a renaissance—a re-birth of your life, if you will…..
You’ll hopefully experience many more
Your school, which has enjoyed a renaissance through its leadership as well, has helped you get to……
One of those special benchmarks—graduation from Hatch High School….
The day when dreams become reality
You’ve made it!
This is a defining moment in your life—when the rubber hits the road—when dreams become realities. And while you’ve completed a significant part of your formal education and have established the groundwork for what is to come, regardless of what you pursue, you must know that to complete this building in your mind is witness to a job that will never be done, if you’re successful.
While to be successful by definition—which is to be the best you can be, regardless of pursuit each day of your life, given the God-given ability you have, you have to understand how to frame your future and become the architect of your own destiny.
I would say to you that
Great people have great dreams—you have to conceptualize before you can realize. It’s also one of those moments in your life—graduation, that is—that will establish you as a contributor or a consumer to this life—are you going to plow the ground or just harvest the crop? Film at 10.
I’m often asked what I think it takes to be successful in lifeAike in athletics, I remind people that 80% of the success equation in high school activities is mental—just like most every endeavor. Further, that the true successes beyond the scoreboard are those who are mindful of handling adversity, tolerant of being wronged and persevere beyond any barriers without complaint or alibi. The most formidable opponents are always those who never accept anything but the best of efforts in themselves. A true champion understands his or her limitations, yet has the ability to compensate for them by preparing, performing and out-executing an opponent.
I’ve watched teams over the years with great talent win games because of their physical ability. I’ve also witnessed individuals achieve at the highest possible level, in spite of limited physical talent. Shakespeare once said, “Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall.” He is saying that things don’t always go the way you would like them to. The “good guy” doesn’t always win the battle, but will succeed in war. What separates one team or individual from another is more mental and attitudinal than anything. Conversely, it’s been said that if you win a championship, for example, or even place in the race, twenty years from now they can’t take it away from you. The truth is that if you haven’t learned and applied the values which are an inherent part of that experience, just like in math, the sciences, the social studies or whatever discipline in your school experience, if not properly taught by those mentoring you in the skills or learned by you, the student, in a particular contest, game or the classroom—you never
had it—you never really did accomplish anything—for you should know that fame often serves the gullible.
Being number one or the best you can be means that you pursue beyond all levels of expectation.
That if you lose, you’ll be able to understand that there will be another day and another battle, and knowing that even though one does succeed today, regardless of what your pursuit, tomorrows will come that offer another opportunity to attest to your ability as a man or a woman to attain and not just maintain and certainly not complain.
We live in a society that cherishes instant coffee and immediate gratification yet in fact memorializes those who can sustain themselves over a long period of time. You have to understand that immediate successes are only the result of a physical strength that will atrophy in time. Being number one means that I’m going to outwork, out-pride, out-persevere, out-persist, out-care, out-devote, out-dedicate, outlove, out-commit, out-discipline, and essentially out-compete whatever my opponent or field might be.
As part of this renaissance you’re experiencing on this day, you should know that all the glory comes from daring to begin. You have to have the desire to take a risk. Further, that if you have the capacity to dream, you have the potential to succeed.
You have chosen as your class motto, “Tomorrow is an accomplishment that is yet to come.” Today’s dreams are tomorrow’s realities and as Henry David Thoreau once said, “Dreams are the touchstones of success.” They provide the road map for what you do in the future.
If you can’t dream it, don’t understand it, you’ll never function optimally in the present. That’s why this is one of the benchmarks of success in the future.
Simply put, if you forget the past, you forsake the future. So every experience is going to be a part of the construct of your future. Every experience plays a role in your own destiny.
As the architect of your own destiny, for the most part you’ll be driven by the expectations you place on yourself. Those expectations, in turn, are framed by your dreams. Those dreams frame and create the conditions for success.
The next benchmark for success is your value structure. Your make-up is a consequence of an investment made by your parents. They have given you two things that are critical to your future—roots and wings—an understanding of your past as well as the importance of family. They have also given you license to pursue the future, regardless of where it will take you—this is difficult for your parents. This has been affirmed by your teachers and coaches in your educational experience to one extent or another. The values of persistence, perseverance, feeling good about oneself, pride, integrity, having the desire to pursue excellence regardless of the endeavor, stick-toitiveness—in fact success may be characterized as going from one failure to another without losing your enthusiasm, the work ethic and having the desire to be the very best you can be every day of your life—all solid character traits and serve as your grounding and provide the vehicle for sustained success.
Remember that character endures, while success is temporary. In fact, a man’s character is his fate.
The last benchmark for success is enhancing yourself–believing that you can accomplish anything you set out to do and know that like the subjective rule, if you believe something to be true, it is true in its consequences. . Never compromise a conviction and never stop growing. Your physical attributes over a period of time will atrophy, as will your brain if you don’t use it.
Know that the greatest successes are also the greatest failures. In fact, failure is the destiny of all of us who succeed.
Learn to engage other people—nothing is achieved without the assistance and support of others.
Set goals, whether they are realistic or unrealistic, short term or long term, you have to have goals as part of the framework for your life. Learn to adjust those privately and never allow yourself to be satisfied or to ultimately reach any long-range objective.
Be a planner. All great successes establish a plan. Learn to adjust it, reestablish the plan, adjust it again, but never lose sight of the fact that it’s important. You create the conditions for success. In other words, you strategize your moves, create your tactics and never be afraid to fail—for failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. Chance favors the prepared mind.
You’re Americans—you’re born to be achievers. You’re also born to be Number One in whatever you pursue. Can everybody be Number One at any one time? Obviously not. But persevering in the race over an extended period of time, whether it’s in football, Student Council, basketball, cheer and drill, politics in adult life, starting up a corporation or maintaining excellence in an established one—Number One is not the result of a particular battle but the sustained successful experience of a war.
This is the “deep stuffWe battle ourselves individually as well as collectively on a daily basis to preserve our ideals, values and maintain an edge. The latter commands us to continually achieve or to attempt to achieve perfection, be it spiritually, with your family or within a profession. The American heart—or what may be portrayed as the want and desire to be the very best we can be regardless of pursuit in all cases, is the reason for many successes and why our country is viewed as a leader in most respects throughout the world. On a greater level, it’s your role to maintain that legacy.
You are the architect of your own destiny and while you’ve completed one of those benchmarks of success, know that learning and growing is a continual endeavor, both formally and informally for the rest of the years that God gave you on this earth.
Congratulations, and thank you for allowing me to be a part of your very special night. For tonight, you are Number One.