Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Everybody has scars. What’s funny (sad or ironic funny, not ha ha funny) about human nature is we pretend like ours are much worse than anyone else’s. The old movie clip from JAWS reminds me of the pain shared and the one-up-manship that took place on the boat.

We are no different.

Painful situations create scars and we are shaped by them. The deeper the wound, the harder the lesson, the longer the recovery and the bigger the scar. Then what?
Do you run around pulling up your pants leg to anyone who’ll listen about all the terrible things the world has done to you?
Do you withdraw from situations that look like the one that created the scar you carry?

Andrew Carnegie, one of the most successful entrepreneurs and leaders to live, understood the value of scars. He is said to have surprised an employee who made a significant and costly error rather than telling him, “You’re fired”, he chose to look at the mistake as an investment, knowing full well that employee would never make it again.

Do you learn from the events that created your scars?

Do you see the statue in the marble of the circumstances you are facing?
If you know after toil and sacrifice and scars galore, there is a great work of art (perhaps a coworker’s future in leadership or a vastly improved work environment) do you not chisel away regardless of the scrapes and cuts and callouses?

If you are flailing through life, bouncing around like a pinball in an old arcade game and getting scarred up because you have no intention…stop it! Make deliberate, thoughtful moves and if you accumulate scars, whether physical or emotional, make them purposeful, not folly.

Scars are unique and personal but not rare. How you acknowledge and embrace yours will shape your character, demeanor and disposition.

Have a blessed weekend!