There The Whole Time

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

– Henry David Thoreau

Dear Reader,

A month ago I started a new thing, I walk barefoot in the soft sand down the beach for about three miles, once a week.

On one of these walks, I noticed a piece of plastic on the beach along my path. I picked it up, figuring I’d drop it in the next trash can I passed.

Then I noticed another piece. And another.

By the time I reached the trash can, I had a handful. But here’s the part that stayed with me, I hadn’t suddenly walked onto a dirtier stretch of beach. The trash had been there the whole time. What changed was me. The moment I picked up the first piece, my attention shifted. I had primed my mind to notice what I’d normally walk right past.

That’s the part most of us miss.

The first action doesn’t just complete one task. It changes what you’re able to see. Take one small step toward something, and your mind starts surfacing opportunities everywhere that were invisible to you just a moment before.

So, it must start with that first action –  the one we so often talk ourselves out of. It’s not my responsibility. Someone else will handle it. It’s too small to matter. We notice the thing in front of us, and in the time between noticing and acting, we build a quiet case for why we shouldn’t.

The people who create real momentum aren’t necessarily seeing more than you. They’ve just trained themselves to act on what they notice, before the story to ignore it has time to form.

My question for you this week:

What’s one thing right in front of you that you keep noticing …  and keep walking past?

Pick it up.

– Ken