One cup at a time

It can be daunting if you’re trying to boil the ocean. However, if you walk down to the beach, dip your cup in the sea, walk back to the fire, then you can proceed to boil the ocean in a manageable way. One cup at a time. (HT to Mick Ebeling).

I was listening to the podcast Crazy Good Turns as host Frank Blake interviewed Mick Ebeling the founder of Not Impossible Labs. Mick and his team tackle humongous problems with the power of technology and sheer guts. Whether it means helping deaf people feel the music, restoring two fully functioning robotic arms for a boy who lost both after a bomb strike, or enabling a blind skateboarder to navigate a skatepark. Mick was the one who shared the thought of boiling the ocean. His team’s method for taking on huge problems is to personalize it. They aren’t trying to help all deaf people experience music or enable all amputees to have working arms… they help the individual person. Their name. When you join the team to work to solve this problem, you’re signing up to help a boy named Daniel. So at the end of the day if the problem isn’t solved, they don’t just announce on Twitter, “sorry, we tried” no they pull out a pen and paper to write Daniel a letter about his arms.

Wow. Now that’s powerful. There’s power in personalizing anything we are involved with and giving it a name.

So when it feels too daunting to take on that project, build that community, or make a change for the betterment of your family- don’t focus on the ocean in front of you… just start with one cup. And then repeat… one cup at a time.

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