One of my good friends has a little boy named Evan. I call him ‘Evan Till Eleven’ because it rhymes and I am a clown.
When I met them, he was zero. But, shortly thereafter he just had a birthday so now he is one year old.
A few weeks ago, we were at a swimming pool party. Evan had no fear of the water. He kept jumping off the steps of the pool to catch the water shooting out of the fountain. Every time he would jump off the steps I would catch him because little did he know that the water was over his head.
Evan did not stand on the steps and ask himself Can I:
- reach the water fountain?
- stand in the water or is it over my head?
- SWIM!!!??
Instead, this one year old jumped and laughed every time I caught him. I then swam him over to fulfill his goal of touching the fountain. He laughed hysterically as he touched the fountain and then I would take him back to the steps and guess what happened? You bet… Evan again jumped into the water that was above his head and I caught him and swam him to the fountain. This routine continued for longer than you might think is possible.
When Evan is at the bottom of a staircase, he doesn’t say to himself, ‘WOW! That looks too high for me; I bet others have gotten hurt, or what if I get stuck?’ Evan will look at the steps and start up taking one step at a time.
Memory in a Month – Ron White – Includes Bonus Book
Would you like to be able to:
- Recall names and faces?
- Give speeches without notes?
- Retain information from workshops or training classes?
- Be able to hear 65 words once and then be able to repeat them forwards, backwards or by number?
- Recall information from books you read?
- Improve your grades and study skills?
Learn More!
As adults it would be a good idea to think more like a one year old. We let fear stop us from really pursuing our dreams. We wonder what would happen if we failed, got stuck, ran out of money or looked like a fool. Often times, this worry is considering things that may not occur. Please do not misunderstand that analyzing a situation and assessing the risk is not wrong. It is right when it is tempered with some measure of risk and optimism.
In 13 years of running my own business I have asked myself what would happen if everything went wrong at the same time. However, I did not allow that answer to keep me from jumping off the steps. And you know what? 6 years ago, everything did go wrong and things went bust. But, it wasn’t all that bad. I was actually happy to find that the fall wasn’t bad as I thought and I swam back to the steps and jumped off again.
Today I am happily at the fountain I was reaching for. If you are on the steps and you are considering that risk of failure; if it is not a life or death risk… I encourage you to jump. I won’t be there to catch you, but you might be surprised to find that you are caught by your own imagination, drive, work ethic or the hidden hand of your Creator.
Put fear in its place and risk… Evan would.
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