Mondays with Mac: Put First Things First

I met Charlie Cullen through his nephew during my sophomore year in college. Charlie had been ranked by his peers as the top speaker in the country, and he had addressed the leaders of many Fortune 500 companies. But on this day, as a favor to his nephew, he interrupted his schedule to address a small group of students on the Keys to Success. For almost an hour, he spoke passionately about courage, humility, perseverance, and believing in your dreams. And eh ended with a story I never forgot.

He said that he was in the Oklahoma City airport when he saw a woman walking along with three little girls. They were skipping and singing, “Daddy’s coming home on a big jet! Daddy’s coming home on a big jet!” All excited! Eyes lit up like diamonds! Wild anticipation! They had never before met Daddy coming home on a jet. Their mother was so proud of them and their enthusiasm. You could see it in her eyes.

Then the plane arrived, the door opened, and the passengers streamed in. You didn’t have to ask which one was Daddy. The girls’ bright eyes were glued on him. But his first look was for his wife. Spying her, he yelled, “Why didn’t you bring my top coat?” and strode right past his adoring, crushed daughters.

Here was a man who had an opportunity to be great, and he didn’t recognize it.

How many times a day, a week, a month do we have the opportunity to be great, and not even know it?

Of all the beautiful lithographs that we’ve created at Successories®, everyone seems to remember one in particular. It is the photo of a small boy looking out at the ocean. The title is Priorities, and it says: “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

These words truly bring the meaning of “real success” into focus.