The Cost of Making Things that Matter
There’s a cost to making things that matter that’s easy to overlook. In a world of shortcuts, fast-lanes and hacks it is perhaps the least obvious answer. But if you want to create something meaningful in your company or in your life, it’s absolutely necessary.
Adventuring into the Black Hills of South Dakota, I stood in awe of Mt. Rushmore as the 60 foot high faces towered above. Especially appropriate with the 4th of July recently in the rearview mirror. When it was declared complete in 1941 it had taken roughly 400 workers 14 years to construct.
Down the road is the Crazy Horse Memorial. This tribute to the Lakota leader will be the largest carving in the world which was estimated would take the roughly 14 workers 100 years to complete (we’re 70 years in).
The memorials are painstakingly carved out of literal mountains. Mountains made up of solid granite, one of the hardest natural materials on earth, only bested by diamonds.
The cost of making memorials that are projected to last millions (yes, millions) of years is more profound than just money. And it’s the same cost we all incur if we want to make things that matter: time. The most expensive currency there is because it can never be “bought” back. Not even with Bitcoin.
Time is the cost of mattering.
I’m not saying that things that take little time don’t matter, sometimes they do. But the more time spent on something the more important it will become to you. After-all, you’re spending your most valuable resource on it. Time. If it’s a public venture, such as a monument, business, or piece of art, the time you spend will likely mean (but not guarantee) that others will find meaning in it, too.
“But Sterling, there are things that matter to me that I don’t spend much time on! My health, my writing, my extended family, my teammates, my creativity…. If it’s not worth spending time on those things, then maybe it doesn’t mean as much to you as you might think.”
I’m reminded of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s timeless message in The Little Prince book: “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
There’s a place for shortcuts, fast-tracks and hacks... trust me, I’m always interested in a good hack. But when it comes to creating meaning, there is no shortcut.
The original sculptors of the granite masterpieces in the Black Hills have long since passed, but the meaning they created for themselves and others was carved not just of granite, but out of their limited time. And that meaning will stand long past any of us.
The question is, what are you doing with your limited time? Join me in #NoMatterWhat Insider this week for an exercise to create time for the things that matter. For the business you want to start, the division you want to build, the relationships you want to flourish and the health you want to maintain. It’s a tool to set aside circumstances and build the necessary meaning with time, #NoMatterWhat.
You already know that how we spend our limited time is up to us. The things that make a difference and end up really mattering in life take time and effort (or leave us with regret that we didn’t take the time we wanted). Instead of constantly looking for shortcuts or resorting to excuses, I challenge you to spend some time this week on the things that matter most to you -- your legacy, your business growth, your family. There are no quick fixes for meaning. Time will always be the cost for things that matter.