Every great something has a small beginning
Have you ever had the thought “I don’t have what it takes?”
Perhaps a similar thought to that would be “What I have to offer isn’t much, I don’t think it’ll make much of a difference”
I know I have. And I still do from time to time…
But I keep on reminding myself, everything that became great started out small.
This reminds of a parable I was heard about how faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It’s absolutely tiny! If you google it, you’ll see that it’s about 1 to 2 millimetres. Yet, when the seed the sown and nurtured, it has the potential to grow up from 2 to 6 metres! At minimum, that’s around 2000x growth!
The key to growth here is 2 parts — the act of sowing the seed and the continual process of nurturing it’s growth over time.
I think too often we look at other people’s great achievements but fail to recognise that there were small beginnings.
I was watching Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias’ comedy special on Netflix the other night called “One show fits all” (disclaimer: I’m not getting anything for promoting the show, just telling a story to make a point) — his show was celebrating the 20th anniversary of him doing comedy and did a beautiful tribute to the people who were there at the beginning to believed in him when he wasn’t famous and supported him by bringing friends to see him perform. He said to the audience that if those people told him 20 years ago that he would be performing in a large arena packed full of people where they would say his jokes with him in unison like a song, he wouldn’t believe it.
I believe that’s where a lot of us can stop ourselves from ever taking the first step — we look at where other people are at, think to ourselves that we can’t ever do that and give up. We buy into our own self-doubt and lies that whatever we have in our hands right now isn’t going to amount to much or be of much value.
This couldn’t be further from the truth and I want to encourage myself and all the people that I care about to not believe that lie — you have worth and you have value, you are a gift to someone right now right where you are and all you have to do is take a chance, put yourself out and and give what you have. Surround yourself with people who can believe in you to create the nurturing environment that you need in order to grow into all that you were meant to be.
My friend, I want to say wholeheartedly, thank you for reading this article. What you are reading right now is that small seed in my hand and I’m sowing it into the soil that is your life with the hopes that it will encourage you to be all that you were meant to be.
For those that know my piano story, I once gave up in my mid-teens thinking to myself what’s the point, I don’t want to have to go through hours of practice everyday. But my piano teacher at that time saw something in me that I couldn’t see in myself and begged my mum to tell me that she believes in my potential. It’s thanks to her that I was able to complete all 8 grades of piano, eventually join the band in my local youth group and now be the Music Director in my local church being of service using the gift I was given.
Just recently, I had the opportunity to facilitate a full-day Virtual Facilitation Masterclass for a group of about 25 people who work in various not for profit organisations in Australia around the nation. I have delivered this course many times since late March 2020 when we had to pivot our classes to be delivered virtual as a result of the lockdown and yet I still had thoughts enter my mind from time to time — what if I don’t do a good job? what if I end up wasting a lot of these people’s valuable time? I had to make a choice to shut down that voice because it was going to impact my ability to be at my best to make sure that I prepare well and show up in a way that does not result in wasting the precious time of these wonderful human beings who work in organisations to make a difference in the lives of others.
I’m proud to say that they loved the course and very much appreciated the gift I gave, which was the time that I spent to be with them and share what was in my hand.
Was there room for improvement? Yes and there always will be.
Focus not on what you don’t have but what you do have and surround yourself with people who love you and believe in you.
Sow your seed — the world will be better for it. Even if all you did was impact one person’s life, it’s worth every effort.
James Zhang
My why is to help and inspire others to live a full life through unconditional love