The Best Advice I Ever Had

THIS COUNSEL RANG constantly in my ears when I was a boy: “Go the last mile—and enjoy it.” It has stayed with me ever since, comforted me in difficult times and brought me moments of deep contentment.

- Konrad Adenauer

It came from my father, who had gained it through experience. As a young soldier he did his duty so well that he was made an officer on the battlefield—in the Prussian Army an almost unheard-of achievement. Later, as a law-court clerk, he worked hard and well, earned a free conscience and so at home was a relaxed, contented man. Happiness to him was simply work’s greatest by-product.

“Only when you have done your full duty,” he said, “are you completely happy.” That is what he meant by “going the last mile”. Like most youngsters, I would have much-preferred playing ball to conjugating Latin verbs, but Father insisted that mastering my studies was my chief duty. “Concentrate,” he urged me, his pointed beard bristling with earnestness. “Do not let yourself be diverted until you are finished—not even if a cannon goes off at your elbow.”