Intensity is the Currency of Progress - Michael Parrish DuDell | Millennial Expert | Keynote Speaker | Small Business Author
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27 Aug Intensity is the Currency of Progress

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I was born a month premature because I had better things to do than sit in a womb all day and waste my time. True story. My impatience—a quality I’ve yet to outgrow—was not, however, without some pretty significant repercussions. In my haste, I came into this world with a condition called transient tachypnea and was forced to spend 10 days in an incubator.

The story goes that when the nurse took me from my mother, I closed my eyes in adamant protest. For 10 days, I lay in that stuffy plastic box with eyes squeezed tightly shut, willfully resisting what I considered to be unfair treatment. It was only when I was finally returned to my rightful owner—my mother—that I allowed my eyes to open once again. The nurses all agreed: this baby was going to be intense.

If you’re not careful, the world will try to convince you that being intense is a bad thing. What a ridiculous idea! Intensity has and always will be the currency of progress.

What leader, what grand disrupter can you recall who wasn’t by nature intense? What great revolution was ever started without a blinding flash of intensity? Without it, ideas would simply remain ideas. But just because intensity is a gift, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. With great power comes great responsibility.

Like any asset, success lies not only in the possession but in one’s ability to temper and control it. If intensity is not cut with equal parts perception and awareness, you will likely become victim to your own good intentions.

There’s no doubt about it; intensity can lead to greatness. But only if you know to use it. And that isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

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