founder of naked leader

They can do something, I can’t…

Please add your comments at the bottom… many thanks.

Time to READ: 4 min 29 secs

Time to LISTEN: 6 min 28 secs  

They can do something, I can’t…

Much as I love lying here in my cot, it is getting altogether just a little too boring. It’s not too bad when I am being fed, or mummy and daddy are playing games with me – which mainly consists of a lot of smiling, the dangling of very annoying objects and making really strange gurgling noises. Still, whatever amuses them is fine by me.

But – I love that word – enough is enough. Recently I have noticed something I have never noticed before, probably because my brain was not developed enough to spot it.

She – and he – my lovely, caring and wonderful parents, get around differently from me. Indeed, they get around.

(A few weeks later)

I am crawling – I’ve been crawling for hours, days, weeks. I like crawling, but it is now beginning to hurt my hands, it makes my clothes filthy and I still get overtaken…by them – they don’t crawl, they do something different, something very different. They can do something, I can’t…yet.

(A few more weeks)

OK – this is the day – it’s my turn – next time they put me down on the carpet, I am going to give it a go.

Here’s my chance. Now, where do I want to Go – what’s my outcome? – yes, that’s right; I want to be able to move around on two legs, like my mum and dad.

That’s my outcome – the big question is how much I want it. Well, I really want it and nothing is going to stop me.

Quick look around, daddy is talking to granny. Mummy isn’t here – she must still be at that place she goes to, that she calls “work” – she spends a lot of time there, she can’t be very good at it.

So, that’s where I am now.

Now for the key part, know what I have to do to get to where I want to go.

What was it I read in that book, learned on that leadership course, heard from my life coach?

Oh, nothing, I‘ve never read a book, been on a leadership event and had a coaching session in my life.

Mind you, I am only a year old, plenty of time for that later in life, when I have forgotten everything I know today.

What to do?

Stand up!

Massive efforts – grabs side of furniture and pull myself up.

 

Yes, I am standing – thanks to this big blue chair!!

Everyone is now standing over me – where did all these people come from – they are smiling, and warm, clapping and encouraging me – “Go on Charlie, go for it.”

And so I do.

I do not yet know about embarrassment, or failure, or risk, and so I do what I will later learn is one of the single most extraordinary things that human beings can ever do.

I take my very first step.

What an achievement, a triumph, how clever am I?

Ah, not that clever, as it turns out, as I now appear to be back on the floor, lying on my backside.

OK, revisit Outcome and desire – check.

Where I am now – I am where I was before I started, so I have not lost anything – check.

What to do? Repeat what I did just now.

Hang on – hang right on – if I do that, I will fall over again, so (and you understand that I am only thinking this at a subconscious level – just in case you thought I was altogether too clever for my own age).

So, I must do something different – subtle, small, tiny different, yet different nevertheless.

And so I Do It!

(To save me repeating myself – please return to the line above that begins “What an achievement”…)

I am in a loop

This will go on all of my life

Stand – Step – Fall – Stand – Step – Fall…

No – it is not a loop. Because each time I step I am doing something different from the time before. I am doing it at a totally subconscious level, but I am doing it nevertheless.

(Two days later, after some sleep)

Mummy is home now – in fact the whole family is here and I am also on Big Brother – well, I must be as I am being filmed.

And then, it happens.

I stand, I step, and I step again – unaided, from mummy’s hand to daddy’s knee on the other side of the room.

The room erupts – clapping, cheering, and even crying.

They can do something, and I can do it, too.

I am exhausted and wouldn’t mind some sleep.

Daddy picks me up and puts me in my bed. He gives me a kiss and tells me how proud he is of me. I give him one of my huge, disarming smiles, and fall asleep.

I dream of remembering what I just did and how I can replicate it every day, forever.

Now, where do they keep those car keys?

Thanks for reading, about yourself – and what you did, so many years ago.

The question is, are you still doing it today, or do you stay lying down, on your backside?

Your choice 

With my love and best wishes

David
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7 Responses to They can do something, I can’t…

  1. Amazing that we have done so much and we did it without even thinking.
    Conscious thoughts so often get in the way!

  2. Best not to forget that this is what we were and where we came from.
    I agree that going through life you need to take chances otherwise you would never get anywhere or try anything.
    We have to learn to fail before we succeed.

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