Quality over Quantity

The world’s... crazy. Everyone has someplace to go, someone to meet, or something to do! People value quantity over quality, the destination over the journey. So now, instead of focusing on the present, we’re fixated on controlling the future, without knowing how. Besides, the future sure isn’t something that can be controlled. We can’t snap a finger and eliminate half the population, we don’t have a time machine or a TARDIS, but we have the next best thing: patience. 

Welcome back! This week’s post is about trusting the process. In today’s world, everyone is all about the goal instead of the steps it takes to get to it. For example, if someone wants to become valedictorian, they must have perfect test scores, scholarships, leadership positions, thousands of volunteering hours, etc. Gosh, thinking about it makes my head throb! But to become valedictorian, you must take steps toward it. Steps that are consistent and bold, not just rushing to check all the boxes. It’s just like Olaf in Frozen II says, “We call this controlling what you can when things feel out of control.”  

Here’s the thing – aiming for something and being obsessed are two very different things. When you aim for something, you work towards it every day to make it happen. When you’re obsessed, the only thing you see is the goal, not the steps it takes to get to it.  

There’s a folk story that my family once told me. It was about two brickmakers in a large, bustling kingdom. Let’s call them Sho and Sha. Every day, Sha gets up bright and early to start molding and firing clay to make bricks. He would work hard, without any breaks. His only goal was to make bricks and money. Sha didn’t really care about the strength or the shape of the bricks, all he wanted was the money that he gets paid. Sha makes about a thousand bricks every day, so many of the kingdom’s citizens buy his bricks. 

Sho on the other hand, doesn’t make a thousand bricks every day. He still gets up early, but he spends his mornings firing the clay to perfection and making sure the molds are even and straight. Sho only makes about ten bricks every day, but the houses that are built using his bricks are beautiful, straight, rigid, and bold. Every single brick is identical to one another, so they fit into each other perfectly. 

The whole kingdom, including Sha, mocks Sho. He barely makes any money, yet he still gets up every morning ready to work. 

“I don’t care about the amount of money I collect at the end of the day. The only thing that matters is the bricks that I make,” says Sho. He always has the same response whenever someone asks why he still tries to work.  

One day, the King comes to the two brickmakers for bricks. He says that he wants to build a new, one-of-a-kind palace. Sha offers to send a thousand bricks to the palace right away, but the king objects and asks Sho to send just his ten bricks every day.  

Soon, the king’s new palace gets built with Sho’s sturdy, identical bricks. The palace is tall, elegant, and impeccable in every way! The king thanks Sho with a huge sum of money, enough so that Sho doesn’t have to make a single brick anymore. 

As Sho retires, Sha continues to make bricks every day. He’s left with nothing but a penny when all the houses built with his bricks fell. He and the whole kingdom realized that, even if it does take a while, it’s best to aim for quality over quantity. 

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Just like in the story, rushing through something just to get it over with doesn’t give you the same results as if you went slowly and thoroughly. Yes, the destination is tempting, but if you want to get to it (with no side problems, that is) then you need to make sure that every step you take is consistent and balanced. 

Tomorrow is daunting because we never know what to expect. But today is something we all can tackle. Think of every day as your own brick. Every time you get up in the morning, make a good decision or a mistake, that can impact the molding of your brick. If every brick of yours is straight and sturdy, then soon you can build a palace of your own! 

What Do You Think? 

What I would give to have my very own palace! Well, I guess if I shape my bricks right, I can eventually buy my own palace one day. Meanwhile, though, here are a few questions to jolt your mind a little! 

• What’s one long term goal that you can set or have already set that you can work towards right now? 

• If there’s one thing that you would like to see in the future, what would it be? 

• Do you know any folk stories that send out an important moral that people should know about? If you do know one, share in the comments!