There are two distinct kinds of
successful people. There are
what I call the river people and
the goal people. Let's take a good look
at the river people. River people are
those fortunate people who find themselves
born to perform a special task.
Mozart and da Vinci were river people.
There are thousands of river people
living today. They're the people who
know from childhood what they want
to do with their lives.
River people seem born to spend
their lives in pursuit of their interest.
And they throw themselves into their
rivers 100 percent, busying themselves
with whatever it happens to be. They
don't tend to think about the idea of
success or the making of money; they
simply spend their lives doing the best
they can in their river of interest. And
they're often responsible for some of
the largest achievements and institutions
on earth.
We all know the stories of Alexander
Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. The
businesses that have grown from their
inventions encircle the globe and are
among the largest on the planet.
Einstein was such a person, of course,
but there are thousands of them that we
never hear of. They are people who
would be perfectly content in their
fields of interest with only a modest
maintenance diet and a roof over their
heads. Their work is everything. But
because they usually render a very
valuable service in the performance of
their work, be it in the arts or sports or
commerce, they're usually well
rewarded for their efforts, though they
may struggle for years before recognition
and success come to them.
Dr. Abraham Maslow talked about
such people. He said, "One could say a
good match is like the perfect love
affair or friendship in which it seems
that people belong to each other and
were meant for each other. In the best
instances, the person and his job fit
together and belong together perfectly,
like a key in a lock, or perhaps resonate
together like a sung note which
sits in a sympathetic resonance, a particular
string on a piano keyboard."
And Maslow said, "Simply as a matter
of the strategy and tactics of living well
and fully, and of choosing one's life
instead of having it determined for us,
this is a help."
It's so easy to forget ultimates in the
rush and hurry of daily life, especially
for young people. So often, we're merely
responders, so to speak, simply reacting
to stimuli, to rewards and punishments,
to emergencies, to pains and
fears, to demands of other people, to
superficialities. It takes a specific, conscious
effort, at least at first, to turn
one's attention to intrinsic things and
values. Perhaps seeking actual physical
aloneness. Perhaps exposing one's self
to great music, to good people, to natural
beauty, and so forth. Only after practice
do these strategies become easy and
automatic so that one can be living
totally immersed in his or her river.
I believe that each of us, because of
the way our genetic heritage is stacked,
has an area of great interest. And it's
that area that we should explore with
the patience and assiduity of a paleontologist
on an important dig where it's
a region of great potential. Somewhere
within it, we can find that avenue of
interest that so perfectly matches our
natural abilities, we'll be able to make
our greatest contribution and spend
our lives in work we love.
If we can find our river of interest,
we need only throw ourselves into it,
fully committed, and there spend our
days learning and growing and finding
new emerging fields of interest within
its boundaries.
EARL NIGHTINGALE was the author of Lead the
Field. To read more articles by Earl Nightingale, "The
Cure for Procrastination" (Sep/Oct 2005) and
"The Strangest Secret" (Nov/Dec 2004), visit
www.AdvantEdgeMag.com/Nightingale today.