When Do We Know to Crawl, Walk or Run?
Every morning we wake up to doing things better to transcend into a better person than yesterday. Whether through a change of our characters, habits or routines. The rationality behind it all is that – we want to live a life with a purpose, not in an empty vacuum. Think of any great man or woman, and they will tell you how each day they avoid the downhill, depression or living a mediocre life.
The famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'. Steps are the token to grow into maturity because each step is an opportunity to coincidently implant changes. Like the 12 months of a newborn baby to becoming a toddler. Each month ushers exciting and incredible growth in their cognitive development to gross motor skills development.
Nonetheless, growth is an outcome of the steps–as scientists call it, there is a reaction for each action. Therefore, whatever opportunity you chose will determine your future 20 years from now. For instance, growing up into a 90-year-old multi-billion guy, Warren Buffet is a fine example of a person who cherished his youth by developing his eccentricities.
He virtually memorized an entire book (1936) titled, One Thousand Ways to Make $1,000, just at the age of 7. While he was 13, he wrote his first tax return. At 20 years of age, he already started speaking with CEOs to establish his cadence. The list goes on at his 90 years of age, with a net worth of over $85 billion in his pocket.
Never mind the cash he owns, but his quirky self-development, which at this juncture is primordial to unleashing whimsical habits within us, and our children, into great people. It also reminds us that the journey to success must come early – even at an infant stage. We must expose ourselves to the practical world. Even if getting lost will lead us to our destination.
To organizations, leaders are in the same spot. To learn, adapt and grow into successful business people and entrepreneurs. The world is agile and fragile; since the dawning theory of the survival of the fittest, it has taught us that nature is uncompromising unless we can survive and reproduce – the weak will perish.
In the biblical paradigm, the book of Mathew 18:4 justifies the premise when Jesus says, 'Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The symbolism is that children are humble and dependant on their elders. Thus, Jesus expects people to behave the same way to become great and significant in God's Kingdom. We have to be dependent on God and practice humility at each stage in our lives.
We are born to succeed. To grow and develop into something more significant. To get there, it will demand spontaneous levels of creativity to do more and more as time passes. It needs time to soak more knowledge that will develop you into someone bigger.
If we allow ourselves to do the same things every day, one day, we will find ourselves in the moment of pure discovery and fulfilment. Children can attest to this–they never settle to imagine and fantasize about who and what they want to be. Techprenuers such as Blake Ross, Mark Zuckerberg, and Aaron Levie founded Mozilla, Facebook and Box, respectively, at 19.
Back to you, what do you recall as your subtle imagination? Perhaps, no one told you that anything you dream of you could achieve. It can happen at any time. Nothing or anyone can pull you down once you set your wide eye towards your golden prize. In that respect, plant your seeds well, your feet on the ground, and your eyes peeled because every successful person you see was once started somewhere to crawl, walk and run.