IMAGINATION Part One
by Larry Tyler
Columnist & Featured Contributor,BIZCATALYST360.com
Growing up on a farm as a kid meant hard work and chores that had to be done. If you didn’t get the wood chopped you couldn’t cook or heat water for baths. It was hard to be a kid. Kids like to play. I remember complaining to my father about working all the time and that I had no toys to play with when I did have free time. Daddy just smiled and said use your imagination. You can go anywhere or do anything if you can imagine it.
I found out that when I chopped wood I would imagine that I was building a great fort that would protect my family. I was a big Childcraft reader and imagined many possibilities of what I could be in the future, a captain of a sailing ship, an adventurer exploring the deepest jungles of the Amazon. The future seemed to be filled with endless possibilities.
I asked my Daddy if I could really do those things. Was it truly possible? Daddy sat me down on the woodpile and said, son you have to learn, you have to prepare the way in your mind. You have to develop a sense of believing, of seeing yourself doing it. Make the needed preparations just like when you chop extra wood preparing for the winter. It was a lot to think about as a kid but I did imagine the possibilities.
A kid has simple needs and I started to imagine having a bike. I could see it in my mind. A red bike from Sears with silver spokes. I could feel the breeze on my face as if I were riding it that very moment. I could hear the sound of the tires racing across the wooden bridge. Gathering my courage I asked my Daddy if I could have a bike. I said I can imagine it. I can see me riding it.
Daddy hung his head and I knew I had made him feel bad. I understood that you didn’t have money on a farm until the harvest. I pondered my situation while chopping wood. I came up with 100 different ways that I could get that bike. At the end of the day I took the few coins Daddy gave me for doing my work into my room. I had an old tin box that sadly held $1.50.