The Path to Excellence

We are all tempted to seek out short cuts, cut corners and take the path of least resistance. Unfortunately, this inclination also tends to be the path to the least accomplishment, the least meaning and the least pleasure.

Have you ever been in a store and seen, on the wall behind the cash register, an old dollar bill hanging precariously by a couple of pieces of old yellowish tape? That is the first dollar the proprietor of the business ever made. Now imagine that there are two people working in the store: an older gentleman who started the business forty years ago, and his grandson. Every day each of them looks at that dollar bill when they open up the store in the morning, and each has a totally different relationship to that lonely dollar on the wall. To the grandson it may be a piece of family nostalgia, a relic from another era, or just an eye sore. To the grandfather, that dollar bill carries a world of meaning. He sees that bill and derives a deep sense of satisfaction. It represents the business he built, the endless hours he put in at the store, an one of his life’s greatest accomplishments.

The reason these two men essentially see two different dollar bills is because one is looking through the lense of great tol and effort and the other isn’t.

In Jewish wisdom, this principle is known as, “According to the effort is the reward and the pleasure.”

We all want to access our potential in life, but the effort required to do so often deters us.

We all want to accomplish something meaningful, but the effort required to do so often deters us.

We all want to live lives of honesty and integrity, but the effort required to do so often deters us.

We all want to live a life rich with depth and spirituality, but the effort required to do so often deters us.

Remember—“According to the effort is the reward and the pleasure.”

There is no other way to actualize our potential, achieve our goals and realize our dreams.

Subscribe to our blog via email or RSS to get more posts like this one.

Posted in: Personal Growth
by Shimon Apisdorf

YOUR THOUGHTS? [8]
March 9, 2009

YOUR THOUGHTS

By Barbara Arfe on March 11, 2009 -- 7:22am

Your web site looks interesting and appears to have potential.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Barbara Arfe

By Cap on March 14, 2009 -- 9:17pm

Friend
I really like the new website. I am not Jewish but think this is a great source of Jewish knowledge and literature - the media section really helped find interesting topics.

Best of luck.

By Carl Sawaya on March 15, 2009 -- 5:30pm

Hi,

I found the website really interesing! Love the amount of work you put into it, I’m a Christian but you answer quite a few questions!
Good job
God bless

By Nina Amir on March 19, 2009 -- 12:34am

I enjoyed the Jewish reference used to related to the need for hard work to achieve goals. I am not a Torah scholar, so while I write about similar topics—human potential and personal growth—from a Jewish perspective, I often lack just the right Jewish phrase or reference from the Torah. You add that very nicely. Thank you.

By Mark Mandelbaum on March 23, 2009 -- 4:25pm

Nice site, a lot of interesting and challenging ideas.

But why nothing on the Holocaust? The single most devastating event in Jewry and there is nothing about it?

B’Shalom,

Mark

By sb on April 23, 2009 -- 5:57am

I like the new layout and blog, very nice
-

To reply to the comment above, that event was indeed the most devasting in recent history, and should be mentioned so people learn about it. I just want to point out that there were other events that were also devestating, for example, when the Temple and Jerusalem was detroyed and many Jews were killed by the Romans.
I think we should learn about the many events that happened. Plus, we should also learn about our bright future redemption may it come soon

By janice grossman on July 3, 2009 -- 5:22pm

what?

By Menucha on July 26, 2009 -- 11:01am

Thank you for your site. I have been learning from you for years and its been invaluable.
As for learning about events in our history its only beneficial if we learn what to do about it in our lives and not just as history lessons. If it is relevant and we change the way we make choices on our daily basis because we learnt about the holocaust, then it is good, otherwise it will be no better than a sad novel about human shortcomings of global magnitude.