You are two individuals—which one do you want to be?

Drawing by Dick Bjornseth

Charlie grew up in a poor family that needed multiple incomes to pay the rent and other expenses. Despite above average intelligence Charlie dropped out of high school to work as an unskilled laborer at a construction site nearby.

Meanwhile, the war broke out. Charlie volunteered for active duty. Although he didn’t have a high school diploma, he still managed to get accepted into the Army. After basic and advanced infantry training, he was shipped overseas. He ended up spending four years in the service. When he came home, he brought with him a bad case of nerves, a smoking habit, and a strong preference for alcohol.

Charlie got a warehouse job. One night he met his future wife at a local dance. Within months they were married. A baby boy arrived eight and a half months later. Charlie continued working at the warehouse, where he was now foreman. His wife, Charlotte, begged him to get his high school diploma and go on to college under the G.I. Bill. But Charlie couldn’t see himself back in school. Going nights would take seemingly forever, after working long days at the warehouse.

Many years later, Charlie realized that he should have taken his wife’s advice. In his heart of hearts, Charlie knew that he could have achieved more. He was still working at the warehouse, but it was scheduled to shut down in a few months. Business had been going downhill for quite some time. The warehouse and its jobs were to be eliminated.

Charlie’s son had also gone into the service. But when he got out, unlike his father, he went to college and eventually entered a career that was limited only by his ambition. His Dad was very proud of him. Occasionally, Charlie would ask himself, what if I had gone back to school?  Although it is never too late to try new things, Charlie had missed an important opportunity when he was young and energetic.

You are really two individuals. One of you is who you are now, at this moment. The other you is your highest ideal, the person you could become if you took the right course of action. It’s fine to accept yourself the way you are now. Yet it’s crucial to realize that you can achieve more in life, that there is a potential you.

The trick is to recognize both the reality of who you are now, and at the same time, hold clearly in mind who you could become—your ideal self—then take actions leading to that ideal. 

Ken West is a former U.S. Army paratrooper and the author of Get What You Want (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982577702) available worldwide on Amazon.com and other fine online booksellers. West is a former President of the New England Chapter of the National Speakers Association, and Association of Objectivist Businessmen.