Ah, another good ‘miyagism’! When Daniel-san is concerned about not having learned as much karate as he expected to, Mr. Miyagi reminds him that, “You trust the quality of what you know, not quantity.
When I first started out in business, I had many different projects going on at the same time. I worked night and day on them. I found myself frustrated that I wasn’t making as much progress as I had hoped in the first year.
But then I decided to take a more sane and rational approach. I decided to slow things down and focus on one project at a time. I threw myself into that one thing and worked on it until I had reached the goals that I had set for myself. I dealt with the anxiety I had about letting the others take a back seat for a while. I reminded myself that this was the only way I could get it all done to my standards. Then I moved onto the next one.
I can honestly say that I am proud of what I have done in business, because I have created value and something of quality. Before I was just spinning my wheels, trying to get everything done – and the quality was subpar. The truth is, there is no easy path and nothing worth having comes easy.
Quantity doesn’t matter. Quality does. It’s kind of like friendships. Early on in my teenage years, I had a large group of friends, but I felt so alone. Those relationships lacked any kind of depth. When I became more selective, I ended up finding a much smaller group of friends, but they were truly quality friends. They were people I could call while breathing into a paper bag because having my latest boy drama meltdown. Or friends who were there for me 24/7 when I lost a family member who was like a parent to me.
Remember, quality will always trump quantity.
