“Do it no matter
what. If you believe in it, it is something very honorable. If somebody around
you or your family does not understand it, then that's their problem. But if
you do have a passion, an honest passion, just do it.”
Mario Andretti
We love a good promise. I like to make them – I love to make
my word good by backing it up with action. However, sometimes I over
commit. I tend to get a bunch of
small things together, dedicate myself to the smaller simpler tasks, because
the quantity seems great! Vesta
Kelly did, after all once say, “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile
things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together”. And, honestly, there is a pleasure in
being able to see all the check boxes marked on a list that shows things are
complete! I have my list even this
week detailing the same kinds of things.
But I’m learning that it is not the quantity of the list,
but the quality of the list. It’s
similar to buying toilet paper – you could spend $5 dollars to buy 20 rolls of
1 ply that will break the moment anyone looks at it, or spend the same $5 dollars
on 10 rolls of 2 or 3 ply that is stronger and has more weight to it. Often our lists contain things like
“Walk the Dog”, “Put in the Rental Car requests”, and “Write this one page
report’. Also on the list could be
“Edit book”, “Write Grant Proposal” and “Establish new office space”. How much do you want to bet that that
first group are things that get handled much sooner, while week after week, the
same larger, higher impact items linger?
The small things can be distracters and even, dare I say it, a way of
procrastinating from the larger goals and milestones.
I often think of Jesus performing the first miracle at the
wedding in Cana. Until this point,
he had done out of the ordinary things – became a talented carpenter, sat with
the rabbis while his family looked for him - but he had not yet tangibly shown
his greatness. When he turns water
into wine, at his Mother’s urging, and there is not only more wine, but better
wine that the first, it is a physical declaration of what he could do. It is the first of so many miracles to
come, but it all started with this first showing of his talent and ability.
The winds are blowing. It is our turn to show that which we are capable. We should embrace this tiny wind and ride it out to the next level of our lives. This is not to say that all the smaller items are not
important; your dog will not be happy if you forget to walk them. But, if your dog walking turns into a
three hour play date every time, it may be impacting your outcomes. It could be the difference
between enjoying the family party and using your gifts to be the reason the party
continues.
This week, consider joining me in shifting our focus to
whittle down the list of distracters and move toward those tangible outcomes.
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