One recess, a young boy stands on the sidelines of a basketball game.
"Can I play?", he yells to the other boys who ignore him.
Desperate for attention, he jumps up and down in a futile attempt to display his abilities.
"Can I play?", he beckons.
Another boy walks up and simply watches the first boy's antics.
The second boy thinks to himself for a moment then looks around.
He notices that there is an old, abandoned basketball sitting against a nearby tree.
He also notices that there is a smaller, rundown basketball court right next to the one where the other boys are playing.
A few moments later and the second boy is shooting baskets while the first boy is still trying to get the other boy's attention.
"Can I play?", the first boy yells to no avail.
After about 30 minutes, the bell rings and recess is over.
They all line up for the teacher.
While in line, the first boy schemes about how he's going to get noticed and hopefully get a chance to play.
The second boy, on the other hand, thinks about next recess and all the fun he's going to have shooting hoops.
What happens next is anyone's guess.
Persistence may pay off for the first boy. But then again, it may not.
The second boy gets to play basketball every day, even though he's not in the Big Game.
While both boys would like to play in the Big Game, the first is more enamored with being in the Big Game than playing basketball.
The second boy doesn't ask permission to play. He simply plays.
Why?
Because he loves the activity not the accolades of the activity.
So, if you truly want to do something, e.g. make a film, paint a portrait, write a book of poems, then don't ask others,
"Can I play?"
Just do it.
Can I play?
The Journey
Imagine you are standing in one spot. You've been standing their for many days and are bored with it.
To move to another spot, hopefully more interesting than the one you're on, you must walk thousands of miles.
There are two paths. One paved with broken glass, which you must traverse in your bare feet. The other is of green grass.
On the broken glass path is a sign that reads: "This way to a happy spot".
On the green grass path a sign reads: "This way to somewhere".
Bored with your spot and yearning for a happier spot, you venture carefully and painfully down the broken glass highway driven by the promise of its destination.
Years later when you arrive at your new destination, you are much happier. Partly because you are no longer walking on broken glass, but mostly because you are at, what you believe, is a better spot.
In your new spot, you are happy.
After a few days, you are no longer happy, but content.
After a few more days, you are somewhat dissatisfied.
After a few more days, you are restless and once again yearn for a happier spot.
Two new paths present themselves. One paved with broken glass to a happier spot and one with green grass to somewhere unknown.
You think back to your experience in getting to this spot, one which originally made you happy but soon became mundane.
You remember the pain of every step and how the journey took years to make and quickly realize that pain of the Journey was not worth the Destination.
You also remember that no matter how great the new spot was, it quickly became status quo and your happiness quickly diminished.
After much thought, you take the grass road.
And every day for years you enjoy every step of your journey with almost no thought of its destination.
Wait for it... Wait for it.
Look in your garage at all the things you've got stored there.
At one point, all of those things were something you couldn't live without.
Chances are those items were purchased on the spot. With credit cards, there is no "reason" to wait.
Why should we wait when there is no reason to delay satisfaction?
In a society, where now is not fast enough, we've forgotten how to enjoy anticipation.
Anticipation is a lost pleasure.
We all would like to have things when we want them, but there is real pleasure to be gained by waiting and looking forward to obtaining your goals.
Sometimes the wanting is better than the having.
Dream Small
We've all heard the mantra, "Dream Big".
If a blind man dreamt of being the president, we all know his chances are practically zero.
The problem is that dreaming doesn't make it so.
You are the only thing that can do that.
You are the dreamer and the fulfiller of those dreams.
No one is going to do that for you because they're too busy trying to make their own dreams come true.
So in lies the problem. Big dreams involve too many people.
So what are we to do?
Dream Small.
Small dreams are dreams I can make happen.
Dream of a trip you'd like to take, a book you'd like to write, etc. because these things are things you can control.
But what if you want to sell the book once it's written?
That's a small dream. Something you can fully control.
What you can't control is whether you sell millions and get on the New York Times bestseller list. That is a Big Dream which is out of your control.
So dream small and live to dream another day.
Swing and miss
Financial Success is like a baseball game. A very special baseball game.
When you get up to bat, they blindfold you. Hand you a bat that weighs 25 pounds. And spin you around in a circle so you don't know which way to face.
Then the pitches come at you at 127 miles per hour.
Your chances of hitting it are pretty small by design.
If you don't swing the hefty bat, you definitely won't hit the ball.
You could swing your whole life and never hit the ball.
So what do you do? Swing and miss. Swing and miss. Swing and miss. Swing and miss. Swing and...
Then you hear it. The inevitable stories of those who hit the ball. Those who are half your age who hit the ball on their first swing.
Or so the story goes.
So what do you do? Swing and miss. Swing and miss. Swing and miss. Swing and...
Then you dedicate yourself. You buy the book of the kid who hit the ball on the first swing.
Turns out he didn't hit it on the first swing. And turns out that he could afford his own bat, which gave him a slight edge.
The rich kid's book tells of his hard work, talent and tenacity.
So what do you do? Swing and miss. Swing and miss. Swing and...
Then you do some more research and learn that once the kid hit his first ball, that they took off the blindfold, handed him a regular bat, put him way out in center field and lobbed him slow, underhand pitches.
Now the kid hits almost every pitch out of the park.
So what do you do? Swing and miss. Swing and...
Then you realize that if that kid had your bat and your blindfold and was spun around and was standing where you are...
He was lucky. And all you need is some luck. But where do you get luck?
So what do you do? Swing and...
Now you've been swinging for a long, long time. You've forgone life's pleasures to swing that damn bat.
You realize you may never get that lucky break. Too many variables out of your control.
So what do you do?
