Relinquishment

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

One of the greatest gifts ever offered to me was the insight that Life is way too short and too valuable to spend it on selfish pursuits of material accumulation and greed. I will be forever grateful that I was given a second chance at life. It was as if a King had purchased my life and had given it back to me when I was about thirty years old. I jumped at the chance, and I now realize that as a result of that gift I was able to sidestep a lot of unpleasant consequences in my life that would have been set into motion as a result of continuing my lifestyle of hard charging greed and accumulation.

At the crux of that whole episode was the principle of relinquishment: the decision to let loose of my personal and exclusive rights to the use of my talents and abilities for selfish accumulation in favor of pursuing goodness and endeavors for helping other people become better off. Our culture and our own nature program us to accumulate, acquire, and hoard. But as Kenny Rogers used to sing, “you got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.” I was able to move from a life-philosophy of getting to one of giving. That is a world-changing difference.

There was a certain mystery to it all. I had feared that in moving from getting to giving I would some way forfeit the entrepreneurial thrill of the adventure of life. I was wrong. I was challenged even more to expand my knowledge base and management skills in the pursuit of goodness. I needed to become the best technician possible in order to exponentially multiply the effectiveness of my efforts— but for a different reason. Instead of dealing with the nightmarish results of an adventure of greed and selfish manipulation, I found myself basking in the warm sunshine of true self-fulfillment and accomplishment. I was a happy man!

In our “tea room” at our home in Evergreen I have, among many other memory-enhancing objects gathered from the four corners of the earth, a “knight” standing in shining armor.

 

During one of my flight segments between Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and Frankfurt, Germany, I began thinking about the idea of relinquishment and accomplishment and especially about the gratitude I feel for having received a second chance at life. I closed my eyes, there in my airplane seat, and thought about my suit of armor back home on display. I reached up and grabbed my pen and jotted down these words about relinquishment:

RELINQUISHMENT

         Since the King had bought my life that day, all the while of my life is spent

                  In a jousting match of life vs. death, yes, a tournament called Relinquishment.  

I mount my steed in armor gear with my helmet visor down in place

To block the view of outside things and force my focus on the race.

It always seems when the flag is dropped to start the deadly game,

                 I'm matched against the unbeatable foe who taunts me with his skill and fame.

              How shall I ever win this match with a smaller horse and a slight bent lance?

        My foe defeated his last nine men; I'm number ten without but a chance.

                  I study his horse and the length of stride. I notice his pomp from atop his mount

                I tell myself it's not flash or style, but who's left atop at the end will count.       

 This game in which I find myself is not a self‑pride thing                    

              I'll charge my foe with death in mind to serve up love and honor for my King.

The flag is dropped; the charge begins, in fury advances my foe.     

And through my visor I see his lance, I feel the thunderous blow      

And as we pass close to the rail I feel the bleeding wound,              

 But I tell myself I'm not finished yet; I am not yet flat on the ground. 

                                                             

I'm still atop; I turn my steed and spur for another charge.              

  My lance is level, my balance good, my foe seems now not so large.

  As we charge again, I feel his lance with a stinging hit to my arm.      

                 But our glancing blows their marks had missed and neither delivered its harm.

 One more charge as we turn again, our horses blow and snort.        

This is a contest of life and death not just a fanciful sport.                

          I've learned from rough encounters past to render up your foe quite dead.

    You aim at the chinks around the heart and leave quite alone the head.

      My lance, indeed, has found its mark; there was success within this try.

 He left an opening near his heart; he was holding his lance too high.

I wheel my horse before the King, I stand down in midst of pain.    

I see the blood on my saddle spilt, but my armor is sparking clean.

             Then comes the chalice and winner's wreath, the spoils of the victor's gain.

I take the trophy in my hand, but refuse all the glory and fame.      

I had not fought in the joust this day to win for myself a thing,        

         I had fought to the death the challenging foe to bring honor to my King.  

With satisfaction beyond compare I hand to the King my prize.       

     I see Him receive with a gracious hand; I see a smile within His eyes. 

 What else can I do for the King to express my gratitude,                 

But offer my life to his service grand with a surrendered attitude?   

           What can I do with the things I receive, the trophies which to me are sent?

  I can give them to the King in an act of love . . .                                

                             In an act of Relinquishment.                                                                                                            Dr. James W. Jackson

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

The Main Thing

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

Steven R. Covey gives us some of the best advice available when he reminds us that “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

As a cultural economist, I deal continuously with the economic trilogy of scarcity, choice, and cost. Everything that exists is a scarce commodity. That is not just to say that there is an immediate shortage of something—like we would refer to in the old simile that something is “as scarce as hen’s teeth”—because there aren’t any hen’s teeth. But something is deemed scarce because everything that exists has alternative uses. People have unlimited wants and needs and they can come up with more uses for the capital or commodities than those resources in existence. Scarcity is called the “basic economic problem,” meaning that the problem always exists.

Ultimately, a choice has to be made to determine how a resource will be used. People have to choose the alternative they most highly desire. Sometimes, it is thought that cost deals only with dollars and cents. But in a truer sense, the cost of the alternative you choose is the loss of the value of the next highest alternative that was foregone in selecting it. In other words, the real cost is the value of the alternative you could have had but decided to do without.

When we talk about the admonition “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” we are dealing with the subject of priorities, which is the arrangement of precedence and preference regarding certain resources, supplies, or services. We first have to decide what is the main thing? Secondly, we have to decide to keep that main thing at the top of our priority ranking.

Consistent priority ranking is a difficult assignment on a personal basis. It is even a tougher assignment on an international and cultural basis. Let me share a situation with you from my travel journals:

Shortly after the tragic genocide situation in Rwanda, I traveled in a Volkswagen van from Kampala, Uganda, to Kigali, Rwanda. There had been over one million people murdered in the short span of 100 days during the Hutu-Tutsi slaughter. It was one of the most heart-breaking incidents I had experienced in over thirty years of international travel. Limbs of dead bodies still protruded out of shallow graves. The economy was in shambles, and all was chaos. For the most part, the world totally ignored the tragedy and even the UN and the US refused to use the word “genocide” and chose not to send help. Project C.U.R.E. went there to help.

Upon my arrival in Kigali, I met with a lady named Christine. She was in her thirties, very knowledgeable and articulate and was in charge of administering the offices of the cabinet members. She was openly supportive and appreciative of Project C.U.R.E., and I presented to her the inventory list of the cargo container from Project C.U.R.E. that had just arrived. She took the time to brief me on the genocide situation and I asked her if she had stayed in the country or fled to another country. She said that she had stayed in Kigali, and had witnessed the bloody attacks on the innocent citizens.

Christine also acted as the Minister of Rehabilitation and Social In­tegration. She asked about crutches, wheelchairs, and prosthetic equipment for those who had been left disabled by the war. They were in desperate need, and no one else was coming to their aid. A million people had been murdered, and there were hundreds of thousands of other suffering human victims.

I expressed my surprise that others were not quickly coming to their aid: “While I have been in Kigali, I have seen scores of new, white Toyota Land Cruisers and new Land Rovers driving the streets of the city with the fanciest and newest of optional equipment added on. I have seen many NGO personnel sitting and conversing in the restaurants of Kigali. I just presumed that all those resources had arrived in Rwanda to aid in the horrible genocide crisis.” 

Christine hesitated, then turned and looked out the window. “I’m sorry you saw that. No, those new resources and personnel are not here to bring help to the victims of the genocide. They have come as a result of a new grant of over fifty million dollars to further the ongoing study of the eating, mating, and sleeping habits of the gorillas in our forests. I wish there were some way to get our priorities straight.”

Keeping the main thing the main thing sometimes becomes a knotty problem. As mentioned earlier, we are the ones that ultimately have to make the decisions regarding the arrangement of precedence and preference of all resources, supplies, or services. People have unlimited wants and needs and they can come up with more uses for the capital or commodities than those resources in existence. But the old economic trilogy of scarcity, choice, and cost can help us remember that we first have to decide what the main thing is and secondly, we have to decide to keep that main thing at the top of our priority ranking.

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

DELAYED GRATIFICATION

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

The one thing we do know about instant gratification is that we can’t quite experience it soon enough. Our culture seems to claim a birthright for instant and lavish gratification. Delayed gratification, however, is one of the keys to cultural well-being. Overcoming the demand for instant gratification is necessary for healthy achievement and fulfillment on a personal level as well as a cultural level.

We can experience a world of difference when we are no longer addicted to indulging in instant gratification on our way to a larger and more meaningful reward. Delayed gratification can be thought of as instant gratification saved and leveraged for later usage. When gratification is delayed, we are indirectly saying that we can handle the lack of a reward now, and that we are confident of the benefits that will be coming our way later on. That confidence involves informing our mind, emotion, and will that it is worth persisting toward the greater goal even at the expense of not consuming the immediate gratification.

I witnessed one of the most impressive examples of the principle of delayed gratification in Africa while on a Safari in the Masai Mara of Kenya. At the break of dawn, we quickly gulped our coffee and loaded into the game van to shoot some photos of the magnificent birds and animals of the Mara in their early morning activities.

Almost immediately upon leaving camp, we began seeing hundreds of wildebeests, Thompson gazelles, warthogs, zebras, impala, topi, and Cape buffalo. We were even fortunate enough to get some shots of two black rhinoceroses . . . then came the thrill. We spotted a mature male lion and a young female just returning to their pride following a night of hunting. They encountered a large herd of Cape buffalo beginning their day of grazing. The buffalos had assigned huge male sentinels to the edge of the herd to warn and protect the others.

As we viewed the ordeal from our safari van, the male lion carefully stalked the buffalo guard. They paired off staring at each other. The buffalo began to snort and bellow and paw the ground, throwing his head of massive horns from side to side. But the male lion was not to be intimidated. He just began circling the big bull. Meanwhile, the young lioness began to creep into the scene. Now, the buffalo was confused as to which he should watch. Several times he bellowed, lowered his head and charged the male lion. The male lion retreated a few paces as the female crept closer. When she got too close, the buffalo charged at her to move her back. At that moment the male lion attacked the bull from the rear by jumping high onto the tail of the bull. The lion sank his sharp teeth into the bull, ripping the hide and laying open the back bone section about eight inches above the tail. The bull was temporarily paralyzed. As quick as lightening, the female was back at the tail with the male, and they each grabbed a jaw full of upper vertebra. The big bull went down, sitting like a dog unable to move. That allowed for the lion’s unguarded access to the bull. Right then an unusual thing happened. Without any apparent reason, the lions backed off and stood looking at the helpless bull, as if to say, "Get up and keep walking around. We have confidence that we've got you but we will discipline ourselves and not kill and eat you now. We will wait and have fresh, juicy meat at our own discretion.” They escorted the big Cape buffalo over to the thick savanna grass and laid down, one on either side of the bull. They would simply delay their gratification and multiply their enjoyment by postponing their consumption. They didn’t need a refrigerator to keep the meat fresh; all they needed to do was to keep the huge bull alive until they were hungry. 

The emotional mastery of impulsive indulgence is also necessary to overcome the majority of personal problems people encounter. Overwhelming debt, crime, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, the breakdown of personal relationships, and the selfish violation of intimate trust have their roots in the inability to practice delayed gratification. There is not a long-term positive correlation between quick rewards and positive benefits. I personally believe that even in business the characteristic that best defines an entrepreneur is the ability to utilize the concept of delayed gratification.

Stanford University professor, Walter Mischel, tested four-year-old kids on their impulsive indulgence behavior and delayed gratification. The children were asked to stay in a room together for fifteen minutes with a marshmallow in front of each child. If they hadn’t eaten the marshmallow after fifteen minutes, they would get another one. So they would get two in total. Two thirds of the students ate their marshmallow, and only a third lasted the fifteen minutes. They followed up fourteen years later and learned that all of the children who were able to delay gratification had good grades, good prospects, and good relationships with their teachers. The average SAT score of those that had waited to get two marshmallows was 210 points higher than the others. In the study, delayed gratification was related to people being self-reliant, trustworthy, dependable, eager to learn, able to cope with frustration, and more competent academically. On the other hand, accepting instant gratification was associated with people that were more likely to be indecisive, stubborn, impulsive, overwhelmed by stress, prone to jealousy, envy, and a lower self-image. If you are a business person, a student, a parent, or any other participant in our culture, the subject of delayed gratification merits a second look. Who knows . . . maybe you could end up with even more than one additional marshmallow?

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com