Don't miss out on the parade.
The other day I was talking about my two nephews (ages 2 and 4) with my mom (age omitted at the request of my momma), and I asked her “Do you think that they will carry on their current personality into adulthood?” My mom recalled that when I was a kid, I was extremely shy (not the case anymore), organized (still true), a leader (so people tell me), and a perfectionist (to a fault). Then she reminded me of a story.
My six-year-old self had decided that us neighborhood kids should put on a parade. I rounded up potential participants, came up with a theme, and delegated tasks to everyone. After what seemed like days (but was probably only hours), the start time for the parade finally was upon us. We were staged for our big moment. I quickly arranged our group from tallest to shortest, and right before I gave the order to start parading down our street, something else occurred to me. Wouldn’t it be great if we had swag items to be thrown to all the people that would be watching our parade? I told the participants to hold off for one moment while I ran to my room, raided my candy stash, and started assembling parade-worthy treat bags.
But guess what happened?
A new leader emerged, and they had the parade without me.
And here’s the life lesson that I learned as a six year-old:
You can always make a good thing better.
But sometimes you just need to launch what you’ve worked hard to produce.
Don’t miss out on the parade.
Jamie
“A new leader emerged, and they had the parade without me.” Oh the competition! This is so true. You get these brilliant ideas then work on them, and work on them. Before you know it someone else has captured the same thought. and you’re out the time and energy. Sometimes you need that sense of urgency.
Annie Vander Pol
Agreed! When a “parade” is in order, there should always be urgency attached to it!
Sami
These are great “words of wisdom” even from a 6 year old! I hear comments all the time like “I started that” or “that was my idea a long time ago.” Sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got and act 🙂
Annie Vander Pol
Exactly. Your idea is doing no good if you’re sitting on it!