‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.’ – Bilbo Baggins
Life is all about choices. Life is also about consequences. Each choice we make in life has consequences. Some of these consequences are positive, some not so. The point is that every choice you make in life will have repercussions. Quite often these choices come down to a choice between comfort and discomfort. As we continue our quest for success this can also mark the difference between the choice for success or the choice for failure. The choice is also a choice between going on adventure or staying safely at home.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Frodo quotes his uncle Bilbo Baggins who said, ‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.’ At initial read you might be thinking that this is just Bilbo advocating for Frodo to stay home and play it safe. I think instead it is a lesson in success that we can carry with us as we pursue whatever future we are dreaming of.
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.
This statement is fairly obvious. Quite often it is safer to stay at home than go out. The immediate positives of this is that in your home if you aren’t going out, nothing changes. There are doors that can be closed and locked. You are in control of your environment for the most part. You can choose what goes in and what goes out. As I think of the pros of staying inside they all come down to one word: Control. On the flipside, nothing changes when you never go anywhere. If you want to achieve something you haven’t achieved yet, you need to go somewhere and do something that you haven’t done before. Nobody ever achieved anything great by staying home and being comfortable.
You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.
Focus is incredibly important on the quest for success. The road of life is an adventure and there will be lots of obstacles and surprises thrown at you. If you don’t know where you are going, you will be swept off course and who knows what will happen. A person with drive and focus will rise above the challenges to achieve something even greater on their quest for success. One other thing to note, think of any story about a hero who pursues a quest that leads to fame and glory. Think of the obstacles they face. Think of how they overcame those obstacles and why they overcame those obstacles. It all comes down to the focus on where they are going. Failure is not an option. Success is the only option and nobody will stop them, in this case Bilbo, from achieving their goals. How would your life be different if you kept your feet and continued to pursue your dreams without being swept off course?
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Will I pursue adventure or endure the curse of mediocrity? [/pullquote]
The Lord of the Rings is a fantastic book that I have enjoyed reading, watching the movies, and listening to the soundtracks. I love to read a good story about achieving what appears to the be impossible. For these stories, both fact and fiction, show how success of all sorts can be accomplished by all sorts people (or Hobbits). Despite a host of factors that may be influencing your choice to head out your door and pursue success, really it comes down to this question: Will I pursue adventure or endure the curse of mediocrity? Those are the options: Adventure that accompanies the pursuit of greatness or the curse of mediocrity that is linked to staying safely at home. What will you choose?
Make it a GREAT day!
- Mr. DAPs
