Just put paint on the brush...

www.whyteamweekly.com

Consider your big life lessons.
WHY?
To realize how the ones that stuck and served you the most were likely born out of adversity.  

Dear Why Team member,
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I hope this message finds you well and encouraged.  While both life and work can get overwhelming at times, hopefully this week's message will provide you helpful perspective.

Consider your big life lessons.
Why?
To realize how the ones that stuck and served you the most were likely born out of adversity.  
 
One of my personal favorite lessons came from painting houses. Growing up in Central Florida I had the privilege of watching my parents begin and build one of the top real estate firms in the state.  After years and years of hard work, my father eventually became Remax's #1 Florida Real Estate agent. My Mother had an instrumental role in his early success. Both he and my Mother modeled and helped develop my work ethic.
 
In my formative years, I was there with them moving desks and painting houses. Painting, as you can imagine, is a big part of the real estate business; painting homes to sell and/or to rent.  I distinctly remember at the age of 15 going with my Dad to pick up five gallon buckets of paint, the necessary brushes and rollers, and then us going out to a vacant house to paint.  He would just drop me off in the morning with my paint and ladders telling me he'd be back at the end of the day.  I remember the experience at the beginning of each new project, stepping back, seeing this entire house I needed to paint, the walls, eves, trim.  Semigloss latex on the trim, flat latex on the walls.  We always painted oyster shell white.  Cutting around the trim prior to rolling on the paint - all skills I learned painting alongside my Dad.  Now it was my turn to do the whole thing from start to finish.  Did I mention painting the entire interior as well?!  I'll never forget the feeling of standing there with all my buckets of paints and tools, as my father drove away, looking at the enormity of the task and thinking simply and most powerfully, "Just put paint on the brush and start painting". I was only 15 but I chose not to fail by failing to try.  
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​Citing Paulo Cuelho ”When you’re on your path, the Universe will conspire to help you”

It was an early and valuable lesson for me; if I kept focusing on the entire job and the enormity of the task, I would more likely just sit down and give up.  However, thankfully, and no doubt from previous experiences with my Dad, I knew the most powerful principle of all: "The journey of a thousand brush strokes begins with the first one".  The sooner I started and focused on one small accomplishment at a time, "I'm going to paint this entire wall" the sooner I was going to finish.  The focus was now on painting a wall, not an entire house - then painting another wall - acknowledging and enjoying the accomplishment and then, on to the next wall.  What a gift for a 15 year old to look back at completion and recognize what is possible if one sticks to a task long enough, focusing on the job at hand, literally at hand, and not the job in its entirety.  After years of research, Angela Duckworth suggests that parents encourage children to perform a sport or play an instrument of their choice for longer than a year to build stamina, to develop grit- remember, in Grit, effort counts twice. Consciously or unconsciously, that’s what my parents did for me.
 
As you approach your life and work this week, consider focusing more on the job at hand.  Let not the enormities of all of your responsibilities overwhelm you to inaction.  Dream big, get excited about the possibilities- a future bigger than your past.  Never limit the possibilities because the dream seems impossible.  Have a vision for success, consider the steps to achieve it - the walls to be painted - and then just put paint on the brush and enjoy the journey.  
 
Make it a great week,

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​Steve Luckenbach