Everything begins with a tiny seed.
. . .
Melissa wrote a trilogy of screenplays that got produced into movies.
And it all started the day she spent $15 to buy a book called The Coffee Break Screenwriter. She flipped through the book. And she made a promise that she would write one scene, just one, no matter how messy or clunky. Something. A few words. A start.
Anais recorded an album of folk music and traveled around the country in a vintage bus singing her songs to small crowds. It took over ten years but eventually her music got turned into a Broadway show and won the Tony Award: Best musical of the year.
And it all started the day she woke up with a peculiar tune in her head and decided to actually take the time to write it down instead of brushing it aside and ignoring the call.
My mom raised millions of dollars to build a performing arts center. An astonishing legacy which has forever changed her hometown.
And it all started the day when she made a list of colleagues, invited each person to lunch, and told them about her vision. Over iced tea and salad, over many days and weeks, she asked each person to donate money or help in any way they could. Little by little, in dribbles and later in rivers, the support came in. One lunch at a time.
I created a program called The Tiny Book Course which now has hundreds of graduates from all around the world. People who always wanted to write a book and finally got it done.
And it all started one day when I invited a couple friends to come to my house and sit around the kitchen, drinking coffee and typing notes, while I tested out my shaky, imperfect, baby-newborn-curriculum to see if maybe this course could work.
We often see people at the “finish line” and forget that they didn’t start there.
No project comes into this world fully formed.
Everything begins with a tiny humble seed.
Us humans greatly over-estimate what we can accomplish in a single day or week. We have a warped sense of time, effort, and results.
And so, we get impatient and balk at the first hint of difficulty. We want instant gratification and when it doesn’t come, we get frustrated and quit too easily. We abandon our goals. We don’t give those little seeds a real fighting chance to grow.
Today, celebrate a tiny seed you have recently planted--because "beginning" takes courage and that is a big deal.
And today, promise yourself that this time, you will really, truly, give that seed a shot.
Give it consistency. Give it attention. Give it time. Give it the gift of persistence. And that seed will grow into something strong and beautiful.
If you do not quit too quickly, it will grow.
And grow.
And who knows where it may lead.
-Alex
PS. Three questions:
1. What is something you accomplished this year--big or small--that you're really proud you did?
2. What is a new seed you have recently planted?
3. How can you set yourself up for success and give that seed a chance to grow? (How will you make sure that you do not give up too easily?)
Contemplate those questions. Discuss with folks around the dinner table. Or, if you want, click REPLY and share your answers with me and my team.
PPS. Just in case nobody has told you today: You are doing a great job. Even when you don’t feel like it’s true, it is. You are probably harsher on yourself than anybody else. You are doing great. You really are.
PPPS. Forward this email to a friend who has planted a beautiful tiny seed of their own.