A couple of weeks ago I was watching the CBS final round telecast of the Waste Management Open from Scottsdale, Arizona. At the beginning of the days round, Kyle Stanley, a second year player from the state of Washington who went to Clemson, was eight strokes back. All Kyle did was shoot a final round 64 and at the end the day was raising the crystal and the check for over a million dollars that went with it.
As Kyle was playing the final hole, analyst and hall-of-famer, Sir Nick Faldo, made this comment, he said, “Real happiness is great health and a short memory.” It had only been seven days since Kyle Stanley experienced a “golf meltdown”, witnessed by millions. He entered the final round play of the Farmer’s Insurance Open with a six stroke lead. On the final hole, still leading by three and just 90 yards from the flagstick, he could take five more shots to get it in the hole and win the tournament. He took six……and lost in a playoff. He was devastated, overnight he became the most talked about golfer in America for all the wrong reasons.
Life is amazing and how we react to the hand that is dealt us determines EVERYTHING. Not too many weeks ago we had our Annual Kick-Off Meeting at Evergreen. I had a number of posters made up that decorated the walls of our conference room. I “borrowed” one of them from the famous American essayist and author, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer”
There is no time-frame or time-limit on achieving success. Jim Valvano, the late basketball coach of the national championship N.C. State Wolfpack and one of the most dynamic and characteristic coaches ever in the game said this on the ESPY awards just weeks before he died of cancer, “Never Never Ever Quit, he went on to say, “Don’t give up, Don’t even give up.” He went on to say that each of us needs to do three things, we need to laugh, we need to think, we need to cry because of the joy we feel.”
Life is not a dress rehearsal….make everyday count!
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Evergreen Advisors is a leading middle market investment bank and corporate advisory firm focused on assisting companies in the areas of corporate finance, growth and exit strategies, business valuations and CFO advisory services.