“If you don’t climb so high, you don’t have far to fall. However, if you don’t reach for the top, there’s no point of climbing at all.” – Ali Bubba
So I’ve been consumed by a real pessimistic state of mind lately. So when I read the first part of this quote I was all over it. I got amped up, I was ready to write an anger-infested story about how if you never put yourself “out there” so far, that you can’t be hurt so much. Or about how if you don’t set your goals so high it won’t be as upsetting when you don’t obtain them. And then, he added the second sentence.
Creep.
Naturally, to coincide with my boring life, I had time to really think about this quote. It interested me in a way because it almost gives you a slight push to want to reach for the top. I’m a big hip hop fan (and I don’t mean that bullshit you hear on the radio, I mean real hip hop. Here’s the test, if you are listening to what you think is real hip hop, and you feel the urge to snap your fingers, kill yourself). So when I started to think about this quote, a Jay-Z lyric popped into my head.
“Young Carter, go farther, go further, go harder. Is that not why we came? And if not, then why bother?” – Jay-Z (feat. on “Mr. Carter” with Lil Wayne who is ironically enough the focal point of lame hip hop, but that’s a whole different post)
But seriously, if not, then why bother? (damn you optimism!) As much as it kills my negative-cold-hearted-soul, Ali Bubba and Jay-Z bring up good points. Don’t get it confused with the good old “reach for the moon and if you fall you’ll land on the stars” bullshit. It’s not the same. First of all, it doesn’t sound as childish. But more importantly, Ali Bubba is not afraid to give the reality of the situation. He doesn’t shy away from confirming that if you don’t set the bar so high you wont feel as let down when you don’t reach it. But the point I think he trying to make is that if you don’t even attempt to reach the top, then there is no point in setting a bar at all. Honestly, what’s the point of setting a bar? Why do we measure how far the Olympic long-jumper travels in the air? Why are sports fans so infatuated with figuring out if Michael Jordan was on or behind the line in that memorable slam dunk contest? We care so much because as humans, we all have a competitive edge. Some more than others, true, but we all carry it in some way, shape, or form. For instance, at work, I am sometimes labeled as “that guy” who always does too much and makes everyone else look bad. But I don’t do it to try and make other people look bad, I work hard because I want to be better than the next guy. I am constantly setting my “work bar” higher and higher to try and “jump farther” than the other people I work with. I had this engraved into my head at a very young age. (thanks Dad!) Sure I wanted to set my father on fire while he slept after he had me pulling weeds for hours as a 9-year-old-boy who just wanted to play. As I lay in the front lawn crying like a girl and hallucinating after landscaping for six straight hours, he would come outside from his dip in the pool and say, “This looks like shit! Why is this so hard for you to get right?! If you are going to do something, you have to do it to the best of your ability!” I would think, but definitely never say, “You asshole, I never wanted to pull these damn weeds in the first place! I could give a shit less what your neighbors think of your lawn!”
Those infamous life lessons, which consisted of lots of blood, sweat, and tears, shaped me into what I am today. I am a very competitive person by nature, and I guess nurture now too, but setting that bar high was never really a problem for me. Some people really have a problem with raising that bar to a level beyond their comfort. Some people actually miss good opportunities in life because they are too afraid to put themselves out there and take a chance.
If you are one of those people, think about this. Setting the bar low is actually kind of a oxymoron. The only reason to set a bar in the first place is to put it higher, or farther. The highest, or the farthest, is what were are measuring so that is where the bar is. If your not trying to reach past that bar, then your not really setting any bar, anywhere. And if you are not setting a bar anywhere but past the top, than it’s useless to even put the effort forth. You get absolutely nothing out of it. Nobody goes home to their significant other and says, “Hey honey guess what…. No raise for me this year…. Let’s celebrate!”
If you are not willing to put the effort into something, than that’s fine, no big deal. Sometimes our heart just isn’t into certain tasks. But, if you even think about putting the effort forth, than damnit you go balls out. Go farther, go further, and go harder. Because Jay-Z was right when he said, “if not, then why bother?”
“If you don’t climb so high, you don’t have far to fall. However, if you don’t reach for the top, there’s no point of climbing at all.” – Ali Bubba
