Inner Scorecard

Last week I talked here on the blog about the recording of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates meeting with business students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Today, I'm going to share another rough paraphrase from that event.  This is something that I think really aptly applies to a wide variety of challenges and situations we face in life.

A student asked them for the best piece of advice they'd ever been given.  Warren Buffett began to speak about his dad.  This is a paraphrase of part of what he said:

"He really taught me that it's more important in terms of what's on your inner scorecard rather than your outer scorecard.  If you're comfortable with your inner scorecard you'll be happy with your life."

He didn't elaborate on what was meant by inner and outer scorecard.  Here's my take:  You inner scorecard is the only accurate score of your life and your successes.  The outer scorecard is where we mark the comparisons that can be so hobbling.  This is where we start putting little frowny faces every time someone lands an agent or gets a book deal or makes the NYT list, etc.

Our inner scorecard is where we evaluate whether our emotional needs are being met, where we check to see if we're on the right path, doing what we believe and know Heavenly Father wants us to be doing.  It's where our triumphs are recorded.

Sometimes, that outer scorecard can cast a wide shadow and blind us to the triumphs, to the happiness, to the smiley faces on that inner card.  We stop seeing those sparkling bits of dialogue or the fully-realized characters we've created.  Instead, we only see 3D characters others have created, believing our characters to be flat in comparison.

The outer scorecard is full of unfair comparisons.  The inner scorecard is full of love, hope, faith, and an abiding happiness that can get lost so easily when we put too many check marks on that outside scorecard.