Hi there, hope life is treating you well and you have not given up on the big dream. What, you don’t have a big dream?
One of my dreams as a young adult was to have children one day (Yes, Harriet Harman, I have 3 Ginger Children) and thankfully that dream became a reality and I absolutely love being a father and I’m learning so much by watching them grow.
This morning was nothing unusual, but I found myself learning something new once again. Ellis my son turned 3 this week and we have tried to teach all of our children to be independent and to do things for themselves. And from today that also includes pouring his own milk into his Mini Shreddies (product placement I know but it all helps).
“I’m doing it; I’m doing it, Daddy.” The look on his face was priceless. As the milk began to flow it eventually turned into what looked like Niagara Falls. “Ellis!!” I shrieked in an attempt to startle him and to get him to stop pouring. It didn’t work and the look on his face brought me back to my senses. I shouldn’t have shouted at him. It was a knee-jerk reaction and I knew that I shouldn’t have done it (I have forgiven myself).
Within a nano-second I knew that what was taking place was that my 3 year old son was growing. Not physically, but in trying to learn a new skill and pushing his boundary ever so slightly, his capacity to do things increased. Okay, it wasn’t perfect, but he had achieved what he set out to do. Maybe next time he would overfill the cereal again, but over time he would of course understand what he needed to do to get the right it right.
I learned a valuable lesson and it’s one that we all need to remind ourselves of. If we expect to get things perfect the first few times we do something and then give it up as a bad job, then none of us will ever come anywhere near to reaching our full potential.
As a Motivational Speaker it took me a good few years to become even reasonably good, and even after 600+ speaking engagements I am still learning. Last week I spent an afternoon with the wonderful Warren Evens who coached me some more on my new 3 hour session for Leaders (more about that later) as I want to make it the best that it can be (for now).
2 comments:
Great story Richard. It's easy to forget that once we knew nothing and we had to learn how to do everything.
We don't give ourselves credit for learning and want everything done now and done right first time.
I certainly remember standing up to do my first one-minute and being a bundle of nerves. Now I'm much more comfortable standing up and presenting or running workshops. I've got a way to go to get to 600 and know there's still much for me to learn.
Clare
Hi I read ur book just a boy well I cried my eyes out as the chilhood u an ur sisters had am glad u became a better person now I jus can't help feel sori for laenne as u say in ur book her mums alive an lost out on bringing her up in a safe caren home we out the drink an voilance as sonia went threw I jus dnt understand hi she can do that to her because she was the strong one throughout her childhood but jus couldn't be strong enough for her daughter I jus hope they work it out and leanne becomes a smart bright younhg women and doesn't go down the road of sonia ..... Great book sori it had to be true u disserved more out ur youth u al did xx
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