“Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness, and honor.”

If you have ever worked with a software engineer or a Chief Technology Officer you will hear somewhere along the way, “This is non-trivial”.  That statement is their way of saying, “This is hard, complicated and could get in the way of other things if you really want to pursue it.”  There are many things in business that are non-trivial and must be pursued.  The art is in knowing which is which and what to pursue when.  I am always amazed and a little taken back when I hear someone say, “we need more ideas”.  Idea shortage is typically never the problem. The problem is ferreting out the right ideas and being honest enough with ourselves to say no to the bad and non-value added ones. Trivial Pursuit, while a fun family game, is not a good business strategy and must be guarded against vigorously.  We need only pursue that which is going to make the most difference and move the needle most significantly and then remove all of the rest of the trivial.  It is, as I said, an “art” but it also demands the discipline of science for it to happen consistently and reliably within a business.

We are the same.  As human beings we love to pursue the trivial.  The hours we each have are all the same and it is in how and what we pursue that we get our returns. Solomon tells us what to pursue and what we get in return.  What greater promise is there to find life and a life that is filled with righteousness and honor?  Let’s today take a moment and ask ourselves, “What are we pursing today?”  The follow up question then needs to be, “And, what is is trivial and what is non-trivial?”  Let’s pursue the path of righteousness and be sure that it is in this pursuit that we focus on the non-trivial that really matters.

Reference: Proverbs 21:21 (New Living Translation)