If you want to check out Part 1 of ‘Stepping Stones’ before reading (and listening) on, go here.

The hands that laid the bricks of your house might never see you walk through its front door. The bread you break with friends will probably not be shared with its baker. The painted sitter, whose eyes you stare into as they hang on the museum wall, is now nowhere to be seen.

While you find your way to deliver impact, you will be guided by some short-term thanks. You might even feel the glow of fleeting praise. It will all fade. The light you need to shine on the line over which you will carry your ambition is something brighter. More intense.

If you are supposing to touch as many lives as possible with what you have to offer, don’t be intimidated into thinking you need to physically experience it.

The real satisfaction in thinking long-term is to think longer than your earthly term. This is bigger than you.

By a more common form of words, the above metaphors converge on seeking comfort in planting trees under whose shade you will never sit.

Consider how you might step back from the limelight to focus on making long-term contributions that you cannot possibly live long enough to see.

Listen to the full podcast episode here or wherever you listen to podcasts. Just search “reid_indeed”.