Living Large in the Little Things: The Lottery, The Phoenix, and The Spinning Rainbow

Internal Medicine

Any quick study of former lottery winners shows the tragedy of a life failing to stay on the path of financial discipline.  Statistically, within only a few years most lottery winners are either broke, in greater debt than before they won the lottery, or in jail.  Why?  The way they managed a little was how they managed a lot.  The financial disciplines one practices with a million dollars will be the same with ten dollars.  How we are in the small moments is how we’ll be in the big moments. 

This idea is easy to understand but difficult to internalize.  We see this so often in education.  How students are in the classroom is how they will be on the court, on the field, or in any extra-curricular activity.  A work ethic does not change depending on the venue.  Many students only understand this after they actually experience it.  Someone who does not consistently do his homework will not consistently practice his skills for a sport.  Someone who takes shortcuts in the classroom will take shortcuts on the field, for which the team pays a price.

In an effort to get into a good college some parents will pressure teachers to give the child a second or third chance after the student has shown he or she is not willing to work, or he or she has missed so much class or coursework his or her grade suffers.  In these moments, parents fail to realize bailing their child out of a “C” for a “B” or an “A” simply sets their child up for greater negative consequences later in life.

Sometimes it feels like our entire society is set up on this fallacy:  The consequences I experience are not a result of my actions.  It’s why a country finds itself in trillions of dollars of debt, or a family finds itself in thousands of dollars of credit card debt, or a graduate finds himself with a piece of paper called a degree but cannot read, write, or do arithmetic well.  If we do not accept the consequences of our choices, we will never learn to overcome obstacle-opportunities, go through failure, learn from it, and find success.

The student who practices skill development, study habits, time management, and planning in the high school setting, will practice the same habits in college or in his vocation.  The student who does not do the little things in high school and does not suffer the relatively minor consequences, such as an “F” in a class, may continue to fail in life when consequences have a greater, negative impact.

The little things matter because they are really big things.  Our choices and actions in the small moments prepare us for the big moments.  Our good choices and appropriate activities remain consistent; positive consequences grow exponentially as we carry out these good choices.

As we follow our plan, practice our daily disciplines, and hold to our goals despite great or small obstacle-opportunities, the consequences grow exponentially because each moment in life builds on the next, creating greater results.  When we choose the spiral of undisciplined work, we spiral out of control away from our Greatness into a life of mediocrity and victimization.  But successful people do daily what unsuccessful people do occasionally.

Life is dynamic.  As we travel the spirals of life, sometimes we get trapped in the regrets or the guilt of our past, like Phil in Groundhog Day.  We repeat the same loop in our hearts and minds, but the loops of time move on.  We become paralyzed by our past because we don’t apply The Listen and Learn Technique.  We attach stories not serving us to events.  When we exchange the stories not serving us for the stories serving us, we mentally and emotionally stop going in circles and travel the spirals of our transformational journey into our Greatness, living our calling.

The Spinning Rainbow Wheel of Death

We’re an Apple family.  Apple computers use a spinning, rainbow wheel for the cursor when the computer is processing incoming data.  Sometimes when we have performed a number of actions very quickly, the computer’s rainbow wheel will begin to spin.  On some occasions the computer locks up.

In my family we call this The Spinning Rainbow Wheel of Death because I’ll probably have to force quit or restart the computer and lose the data I was working on.  Is it frustrating?  Yes, it can be, sometimes a little more frustrating than other times.  Is it the end of the world?  No.  Can I still accomplish my tasks?  Yes.  It may take a little longer than I thought necessary because of the delay, but I can still reboot, begin the task again, and complete it.  All that may have been lost is a little time.

Life is the same.  When I become trapped in my past, experiencing emotional overload in an overwhelming and difficult moment for me to process, I experience a real-life Spinning Rainbow Wheel of Death.

But guess what?  Out of the ashes the Phoenix rises!  From a death comes new life!  Even in the Spinning Rainbow Wheel of Death there is still a rainbow!  There is beauty after the storm.  During The Spinning Rainbow Wheel of Death the only wrong decision is to wallow in the spinning, to live life as a circle, hoping it will change, replaying again and again the keystroke choices that got me here.

Instead I listen and reflect on what I did, learn from my past, reboot, and move on!  If I wallow I’ll continue to spin my Rainbow Wheels.  If I practice The Listen and Learn Technique, I am free to live again, living my calling and walking in my Greatness.  Will I have lost time?  Yes, but I’m not going in circles anymore.  I’m spiraling on the greatest ride of my life, the ride toward my Dream.

             The more conscious I become of the Spinning Rainbow Wheels of Death in my life, the sooner I can listen, reflect, learn, adjust and move beyond simply spinning.  A static existence is a shadow on the cave wall.  Change is inevitable.  Growth is optional. I either spin my wheels, going nowhere, or I spiral, moving into my Greatness and living my calling.

Make the small, unnoticeable, unsexy, seemingly mundane choices moving you towards your calling.  Make the appropriate emotional response to the storms of life, writing stories that serve you, then move, and over time watch your Greatness emerge. The Greatness Revolution is a spiral.