There are times in our lives where we get in our heads and hearts that we want to do something and we go at it full force. We take on more than we can handle, give every ounce of strength to our goal and exhaust ourselves in the process. We are so keen on achieving what we desire in the least amount of time possible that we sometimes fail simply because we have taken on too much. It is during these times that the old saying,”Rome wasn’t built in a day” rings true more than ever.

I have always been one of those people that when I want something I want to make it happen immediately. There is often no planning, or waiting. I give it full strength to make it happen now. That usually results in one of two things. Either I failed at what I was trying to accomplish, or I got what I wanted but collapsed from exhaustion in the process. This applies to both my work and personal life.

When I started Bring Smiles to Seniors I started out the same way. I wanted it to be big, reach a lot of people, gain recognition and grow exponentially immediately. I learned very quickly that when you are running a not for profit, not only is there major competition for resources and donations, you are fighting a constant battle of just trying to make ends meet day to day. I had to step back, take a deep breath and slowly build to where we are today, even though we still have a lot of room to grow. Along the way we celebrated our successes one step at a time.

As Martin Luther King said in the quote above, “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” The beauty of that is the more that you do those small things, they eventually come together to become something great. It takes patience, will power and dedication to give what we desire the time to mature and become something fruitful. Trying to rush something faster than its normal due course only heightens the possibility that failure is the end result.

All of this not only applies to our desire to do great things, it applies to our every day life as well. Planning, breathing and taking things one step at a time helps us secure success, far more than rushing just to get to an end goal. Every one us contributes to something in our own way. No matter how small our contribution is, when you put all those individual contributions together, they all add up to something great.

Have a great weekend and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron