Sometimes, if you really want something, and you don’t even consider the possibility of failure, success comes easily!

A long time ago, when I was about 12 years old, I could not ride a bicycle. All my friends had bikes and they would all ride wherever they went, I would have to walk, or ride my tricycle (which as a12 year old was never going to happen!). So my world was as big as I could walk.

I really wanted to ride. There was an obvious problem, without a bike of my own, it was not likely to happen. But I really, really wanted to ride. What was odd, is that I have no recollection of ever considering that I would not be able to master the bicycle.

So, one obstacle at a time I set out to learn. First I had to find a bike. I asked a friend if I could use his bicycle. He was OK with that, but it had to be at his house, two streets away, and when he was not using it. OK then, I would use it while everyone else was watching the cartoons on TV after school.

The first few times I set off around the yard I fell immediately. After a few tries I could get the length of the yard. I never considered the falls as final or as a sign that I would not be able to ride, it just didn’t occur to me.

So each afternoon for a few days I kept trying. I got better. Eventually I could ride around the yard without falling, then up the street. I had mastered the bicycle! Now I could explore my world faster and farther than I had ever been able to before.

Think about what you really want. How badly do you want it? What are you willing to give up? If you couldn’t fail what would you set out to be?

Remember, others can give you advice, but YOU have to create you and live your your life. So, its about YOUR belief! If you want it badly enough and if you don’t believe you can fail, imagine how big your world could be!

You know how it is, you have to to something. But it’s big, very big. The problem is not that you don’t know what to do, but that the scale of what must be done is so big that it’s overwhelming. Where to start? 

When I am stuck like this I am reminded of a story I read a long time ago. It was in Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirzig. The author was relating how a student was stuck about how to start and assignment, which was to write a piece about a small town, but the job was too big and the student didn’t know where to start.

To help, the teacher told the student to just write about one building, but the job was still too big, then the student was told to pick one brick in one building and start there. The result was a flood of storytelling. Just from narrowing his view to that one brick.

Sometimes I find when that when I get stuck getting started, when I find the prospect of what needs to be done is just overwhelming, I have to narrow my focus down to just one small task… that brick. Once I get started, the job tells me what needs to be done next, but it takes the focus on that brick to let me get started.

So if you are stuck and don’t know where to start, don’t worry, just find your brick. The rest of the job will find its way to you.

You can have a look at our brick at clearwater coffee.

As I was reading my  (snail) mail yesterday, my attention was drawn to a quote on a newsletter. The quote was about the crazy ones, often attributed to Steve Jobs or Apple.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

That quote resonated with me. We all know about the famous people who that may apply to. But, what about all the other people, who in their own quiet way are making a difference in their world.

I don’t know about you, but I would like to think that paragraph could be applied to me. Not in a big way maybe, but at least the bit around me. So, let’s all be crazy ones, in our own small ways, and if we all change even a small part of our world, imagine the difference we could make!

See how we are making our difference at www.clearwatercoffee.com.au