Progress, Like Whitewater Rapids, Starts With A Small Drip

Little did I know brewing my morning coffee could be so traumatic.

I have one of the Starbucks Barista Solo models of coffee brewers at my house because I am the only one who drinks coffee. It is the type of model that brews coffee directly into a tumbler.

Anyway, this morning, I forgot to take one small step in the brewing process. I forgot to completely dry off the spill-proof stopper in the lid of my cup.

You see, what happens is if one drop of water or coffee gets between the stopper and the lid, it creates enough of a lubricant that coffee can leak through the cap and down the side of the cup. But that’s not all, once a small leak starts, it clears more room for more coffee to spill. The next thing you know, I’ve got a counter top covered with hot fresh and delicious coffee! If I don’t catch it in time, I get the extra special bonus of it splashing onto the floor. Like mopping at 6am anyone?

It occurred to me this morning, this is very similar to making progress on our goals and objectives. All major progress doesn’t begin with monumental effort. No, real progress starts with a single step.

Like the seal on a coffee cup that is compromised by a single drop of water, making progress on your major goals begins with a small step or task. You complete your first step and you get more confidence and momentum to do something a little bigger and then bigger. After working on the small stuff, progress builds naturally. Momentum builds naturally.

If you can keep with the small successes, day in and day out…your progress will eventually be comparable to whitewater rapids in it’s intensity.

An example from my own life…

My first experience with programming came in a department store. You see, in my teens, my family could not afford a personal computer. This was back in the early 80′s. So every Saturday, I’d walk up to the local shopping mall where they had some of the first Texas instruments BASIC computers set up.

I was absolutely in awe with what I saw. Here was a machine that let you type onto a TV screen. But not only that, if you unlocked it’s secrets of how to program it, you could get it to do stuff!In the beginning, I had no idea how to make it work. Sometimes I’d wander around the store waiting for someone more knowledgeable to tap out something. I’d casually drift in that direction until I could get a clear view of what they were typing into the machine. This is what we call shoulder surfing today.The first line of code I learned was:

10 print “Hello”

This little line just made the computer type out the word “Hello” one time on the screen. Not very exciting I know. But I was happy. I had made the computer do something. I wanted to know more! One line lead to another to another…

And now look how far that one line has taken me…

My entire life direction, business plan and major part of my family income was born from that little line of code. 10 print “Hello”

That, my friends is how you make the impossible possible.

Seems impossible that a little drip of water can lead to a raging river.

In the same way a three word line of code could generate a million dollars.

Plant your seeds today, no matter how small. And nurture them. Help them grow. And then you will see how one drop of water turns into a raging river.