Do One Thing Right

Yesterday I was driving in the car with my 7 year old son. These are the times when we have some of the most interesting conversations. He comes up with such richness that sometimes I am just blown away. Are all kids this smart? Where does he get this stuff? Are kids naturally wired to have wisdom and the world somehow takes it away as they grow older?

Yesterday I was talking with Jeremy and we got onto the topic of success. We discussed how he was “naturally gifted” at several things. I shared with him what I knew about him. I do it to naturally reinforce his strengths, and to show him areas where he needs work. I told him that he is naturally a good builder and a good designer. He’s good with coloring and with drawing and creating things. He’s a great communicator and has a lot of friends, both boys and girls. He’s a really good athlete and can do every sport well such as golf, soccer, swimming, basketball, skateboarding and probably every other sport he’ll try. I told him that he’s really smart in math, and a really good writer and he’s becoming a good reader. He’s a really great cleaner and makes his bed better than I could ever dream of doing. Things like that.

Then I said that he needed work on a few areas. Like when it’s time to finish something, he needs to get better at putting it away immediately and coming back to it later. He needs to work on obeying his mom and dad better when we ask him to do something. And he needs to work on healthy eating again like he used to do.

Then I said that he’s really fortunate that he’s naturally good at things, but what is really important is that when he’s NOT good at something, that he needs to work to try to do better. That might be frustrating and he might want to give up, but that the harder he works, the better he’ll get at it. I told him that being smart is good, but that it doesn’t mean ANYTHING if he’s not able to work hard on things.

And what Jeremy said surprised me. He said.. right mom. It’s important that you work hard, and only on one thing. Because if you work on this and this and this and this and this, than nothing is going to be very good. But if you work on one thing and keep working on it, you’ll make that one thing good and then you can go on to the next thing that you want to work on.

BINGO. He got a huge high five from me.. and although I know that I need to focus on one thing, it’s increasingly hard in these days where there are so many distractions. But out of the mouths of babes!!! He is absolutely right. Pick out a priority and keep working at it until it’s done.

Back to my ONE THING. But this was so special, I had to post it. Hope it is a good reminder to you today as well.