A Ship Is Safe In The Harbor.
But that's not what ships were built for.
“There are a lot of people out there telling your kids to ‘chase their dreams’ while they didn’t chase their own.
They chose convenience.
Comfort.
They settled for what’s easiest.
‘Realistic’.
Never take advice from sailors who stay camped in the harbor.
They are takers.”
-Ray Zingler on X
“A ship is safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ships were built for.”
I remember my dad telling me that all the time as a kid and I thought it was the dumbest quote because I didn’t spend much time on ships in the ocean. I live in Northeast Georgia.
But over the years the message that was repeated to me often started to resonate with me.
It was never about ships, obviously.
It was about getting off the sidelines and entering the arena.
“What do you want, Ray? Cool. Go out and fucking and get it.”
That was the message.
And then as I departed my proverbial ship from the harbor, I adopted another quote that to this day is very important to me:
“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails.”
So, what’s the game?
The game is to leave the harbor and have your mind aware and hands ready to adjust the sails.
All. The. Time.
If you leave the harbor and pay attention to the seas, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll win, right?
But what guarantees your losing is keeping your ass sat in the harbor.
And it got me thinking.
Think about how much more crowded the harbor is than the sea.
It’s infinitely more crowded, right?
And as I look back on my life, how many harbor jockeys did I have giving me “advice”?
Telling me how to think? Manage money? Chase my dreams?
When these folks actually knew nothing about dynamic critical thinking, were covered in debt, and living an insufferably boring life completely void of their “dreams”.
What if I didn’t have a father who showed me that it could be done.
Who encouraged me to take risks.
Who taught me how and why to ‘buck the system’.
I would have likely succumbed to what the people who were giving me meritless advice are doing, which is nothing substantial.
It is our job as parents, coaches, and leaders to show them that it can be done.
To show them the importance of leaving the harbor and how to adjust their sails.
If not, they’ll end up like every other undifferentiated harbor dweller living an unfulfilled life.