 Jimmy watches as Bob, two years older than he is, lifts a 150-pound weight over his head. As Jimmy is also smaller, he just wonders if he can get it up to his chest. When Bob steps away, he gives it a try, but is only barely able to stand up with it and only lifts it a few more inches before he has to put it down. Bob, glancing over to see this, notes, That's way too heavy for you, kid. You have to start with lighter weights and work your way up. There are many today who would consider this as a failure to lift the weight. That is what comes from process-based thinking. Jimmy's purpose was to test himself, while he would certainly have enjoyed it if he had been able to lift that weight. That was not really his purpose. He just didn't get the answer that other people would have applauded. He rather got the right answer that he could not yet lift the weight. The only way he could have failed would be to ever refuse to even try. He succeeded because he acted to his purpose and he was rewarded with knowledge of himself and his capabilities. Performance is not based on action. It is based on fulfillment of purpose. It is not determined by those who would put forth no effort. It is based on what the one who chooses to act decides to accomplish. Performance is built on results, on something that has value, not on activity. Performance is not based on meeting a goal or reaching some objective. It is based on achieving a result that is valued by the one who acts. Self-control is never performance. It is what keeps people from accomplishing things. While self-control may be personally valued, it is not an accomplishment. It deals only with activity. Each of us is a performance unit. We each decide when and where we will commit our own time and effort. Others may influence us, but our decision is what is most important in determining what each of us will accomplish. When you were an infant, your parents decided what demands to put on you for action, but even the decision to eat was yours. They would not force-feed you, but responded to what they saw as your wants and needs. As you have grown, such decisions are given more and more into your hands. You are offered options instead of directions. You are offered choices instead of commands. It is a necessary part of becoming an adult, where your efforts become more and more what you choose to put forth. I tell you that Jimmy was not a failure when he could not lift the weight, nor was he wrong to try. He was a success because he achieved the knowledge he sought. Other people will have their own sense of value and may not accept Jimmy's purpose as reasonable. That is their determination, not the determination of the one who acts. Your time and your effort are yours to spend. What you accomplish has value only as you value it. The opinions of others may indeed have value to you, especially if there is some bobby there to announce what he thinks, but the performance success or its failure is yours. Consider this space station. It is a marvel of technology and harnessed human ingenuity. I tell you that every person who worked on it, and every person who designed any part of it, were once teenagers just like you are today. There is nobody else, no special people who were born with the ability to do these things. Just like you, they had to learn to be adults. They had to grow into the people they became. They had to be given choices as they grew, choices that more and more affected what they learned and the abilities they developed. As your parents have made choices for you, so you will one day be making choices for your children. That is the true wonder of performance. That you are the ones who will perform, and even now are learning to be effective in what you choose to do. You are not just a teenager. You are a unit of human civilization. You are the ones who will build the greater things of the future. But only if that is your choice.