THE SMALLEST SPARK

John was 42-years-old and had always dreamed of earning a college degree.  No one in his family had ever graduated college.  The desire was there.  The vision was there.  Unfortunately, I had also spoken with John when he was 38.  What was his dream at 38?  John wanted to earn a college degree.  After a few minutes of probing I discovered that, in four years, John had not applied for admittance to a single university. 

I asked John, “If you could earn a college degree in one day, would you already have a college degree?” 

“Of Course!” John answered.

“You’re right, John.  I have no doubt you would have a degree.  But the truth is, you can earn a college degree in one day and I can tell you how.  Would you like to know how?”

“Sure”, John answered, with a great deal of skepticism in his voice.

“Let me explain...”  

“Do you ever lie in bed at night worrying if you will have oxygen available tomorrow to breathe?”

“It never really crosses my mind”, John replied, laughing.

“Does tomorrow’s oxygen serve you any purpose today?”

“Of course not”, John answered.

“ Well, John, oxygen is a lot like our time, we can sit around and talk about what we’re going to do tomorrow, next month, or next year but that fact is, we can really only do something about today.  Just like we can only take one breath at a time, we can only live 'one day' at a time.  Focusing on or worrying about  'four year' goals paralizes us.  The key is to just focus on 'one day' goals.  Because, if you think about it, that really is all you can control.  And when you focus on the things you can control, your chances for success greatly improve.” 

I left John with one exercise to complete before the start of each day.  I requested that he read the following phase and just focus on it a few minutes:

“Do something today that will make my dreams closer tomorrow.”

I asked John to visualize his dream every morning and schedule one action (no matter how small) that day to bring it a little closer to reality.  John followed this advise and is on his way to becoming the first college graduate in his family.  What was his first step on the day he began reading the above written statement?  Writing his name on the application where is said “Name”.  That is all he did.  The next day, after reading the phrase, John went to his kitchen table where he had left the application (instead of sticking it back in a file cabinet) and noticed two things:  The name of a four-year university and his name directly below it.  He visualized that being a diploma and took action in making his dreams come true, "one day" at a time. 

Remember:  The smallest action will always carry you further than the biggest intention, and…

THE SMALLEST SPARK, AT THE RIGHT TIME, WILL IGNITE THE BIGGEST DREAM.