Axiom 11: Pick Your Battles

If there is one axiom that carries over into all my others, it is this one. When I was younger and more foolish, I felt I had to win every argument, even if it meant shouting down my opponents with weaker logic. As I have matured I have learned the utter fallacy of that strategy. It causes disruption on almost every level imaginable. Though the years I have learned that every battle is not worth fighting.

Part of that comes from so many years in school. I have spent so much time there that some of my family calls me a professional student. The higher in education I have gone, the less I think I know.

One of my present staff members and I were discussing a particular sticky situation when I said to him, “I don’t think that is worth fighting. Think about it. Even if we win, what have we won?” He looked at me and said, “Terry, if I had known you years ago, I would have had a lot less trouble in some past jobs.”

Every good general knows that a timely retreat can lead to ultimate victory. Every good basketball coach knows there is a time to kill the clock and get the game over. Every good football coach knows there is a time to punt on fourth down and not go for it. Every winning race car driver knows there is a time to just make laps to get to the end and not fight for every position on the track.

Remember, if you die on every hill, you just end up dead.