Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:52 — 5.2MB) | Embed
Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my sausage balls were a massive hit at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a short story about a diesel engine, a coat, and a driveway.
Friday Forum
I want you to be a part of the Friday Forum! Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278.
What I Learned Yesterday:
A couple of weeks ago I shared an episode titled, “Thankful for My Kids.” In that episode I told you a little about my daughter Addison and how I look forward to meeting her after school each day. Today I’d like to elaborate on that.
My studio sits at the front part of our house so I can see and hear cars as they go by each day. Among the traffic that I hear each day is the sound of the diesel engine that powers the school bus. I hear the roar of the engine and immediately look at the clock. Nearly every day it’s the exact same time, 3:54pm.
Once I hear the bus I usually stop what I’m doing, and go outside to meet Addison. The thing is, that Addison doesn’t ride the bus that I can hear from my studio. The bus that I hear from my studio drops kids off about 50 yards from my front door. Why doesn’t Addison ride that bus? Good question. That bus drops off kids who have parents at the elementary school behind our house. They then walk over to the elementary school to meet their parents.
Addison’s bus drops her off about 300 yards from our house which gives me the opportunity to go meet her. Because I wait until I hear the other bus before I head outside, Addison is usually halfway home before I meet up with her. One cold day two weeks ago I heard the bus, went to the closet and put on my coat, put on some shoes, and opened the door to go meet her. Unfortunately for me, she was three steps away from the porch when I opened the door. I never even made it outside.
I was bummed. I really enjoy our short walks together each day. She thought it was funny and laughed at my sad face. However, my disappointment lead to a moment of reflection, and that moment of reflection led to a lesson.
Here’s what I learned.
Every day I have the opportunity to walk with Addison. The amount of time we get to spend together depends on when I get up off my butt, open the door, and start moving in her direction.
The next chance I had to go meet Addison was very different. I didn’t wait for the sound of the diesel engine. Instead, I opened the door and headed toward her as soon as it was time for her bus to drop her off. Guess what happened? Because I was proactive instead of reactive, I enjoyed more time with her that day than I ever had before.
Then I had another realization. The idea to go outside and meet Addison was not mine. I got the idea from my wife. I noticed that most days she would go outside and stand in our neighbor’s driveway. There she would stand there and wait for Addison make her way to where Kari was standing, and they they would walk across our yard together. Kari eventually stopped going outside to meet Addison, so I that’s when I started doing it.
As I reflected on this, two other lessons came to me. First, we miss out on the fullness of the opportunity if we just stand and wait for things to come to us. Second, people are waiting in the wings to step in and take over our spot. I never would have started going out to meet Addison if Kari had kept going out to the driveway. But when she stopped, I seized the opportunity.
So there you have it. Not a bad set of lessons from a 5 minute portion of my day. But to me this illustrates how lessons really do surround us everywhere if we’ll just take a few minutes for personal reflection.
So what is your adventure today? What is your dream? Are you still sitting on your butt waiting for the opportunity? Are you too afraid to open the door? Have you opened the door and taken the first few steps, but now find yourself waiting for the goal to come to you? Or are you being proactive and going the distance to meet your goal?
Here’s the thing. When I was proactive and met Addison the farthest away from our house, I reaped the biggest reward. The conversation we had was the longest we’d had. Our journey together was the longest we’d shared. Hand in hand, step in step, we laughed and talked about her day.
Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t miss out on the opportunities right outside your door. Get started on that journey today because the sooner you get started, the longer you’ll have to enjoy it!
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
Check out Lynda.com for over 3,000 video courses from expert teachers who are passionate about teaching. Learn from your computer, tablet, or mobile device. With courses covering technical skills, creative techniques, business strategies and more, you’ll never be at a loss of things to learn. Visit www.goldenspiralmedia.com/lynda and your first 7 days of learning are FREE!
Follow Golden Spiral Media on Twitter at GSMPodcasts and Facebook.com/GoldenSpiralMedia. To subscribe to Stuff I Learned yesterday, visit GoldenSpiralMedia.com/subscribe. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes.
[sc:stuff]