I have an adorable 2 year old. As it is for many parents to young children, much of my life is spent taking care of, playing with, and entertaining our little guy. A few days ago, we were watching his favorite YouTube videos about tractors.
As we were watching the same dirt dumping out of a bucket video for the 1000th time (I’m rounding up), I had this thought…
Dirt sticks together when it’s in the bucket, but quickly spreads out when it’s dumped. Only the clumps that had something to hold them together stay together.
I don’t know why that thought crossed my mind, but I think its application is essential. There are 2 different huge takeaways that stuck out to me…
Our real friends are found in the dump
That sounds weird, but hear me out – we have a lot of people that we’re in the “bucket” with. People we work with, go to church with, friends, family, etc. It’s in the tough times (or the dumping to continue the analogy) that we find who we really have something with that sticks.
Those people that stick close to us and continue to share our common ground with during tough times, high times, and low times are the people we need to give the most ear to all the time
Our best ideas are revealed in the dump
We’re full of random ideas (this blog post is proving it for me), and we often don’t do much with those ideas. If we do decide we’re going to take action on an idea, how do we know which ones to use? Here’s an idea – collect them all in the “bucket.” Come back to your idea bucket periodically the and see which ones stick. Which ones can you act on? Which ones are actually good and which ones just seemed to make sense at the time? Dump them out and see what sticks. I have to believe some of the greatest innovations begin that way.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
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