(Mondays are Lynn Miles Peisker days at The Daily Blur. Lynn serves as the Executive Sister and Chief Plate Spinner at the Imagination Advisory Group. Check out her growing archive of posts here.)
Every Friday, I have the opportunity to spend an hour in the library at a local elementary school getting my butt kicked at Yahtzee and Connect Four. I am routinely humiliated at Uno and Trivial Pursuit Junior. I get to experience the aroma of school lunch and place my hands on surfaces touched by hundreds of germ-filled little learners.
It is by far the best hour of my week.
I am lucky enough to be the mentor* of a fantastic second grader I’ll call Lulu. She is bright. She is energetic. She is wise beyond her years. And she is really good at board games.
Lulu and I recently attended the end-of-the-year pizza party for mentors and kids. That’s where we saw a presentation by high school seniors who had been part of the mentor program throughout their years as students and were now celebrating their graduation and moving on to college. These students were about to become first generation college students and had overcome, with the help of their mentors, sizable obstacles to success. Inspiring!
My friend Lulu is only in second grade, but I wanted to get her started thinking about her own graduation and see herself as a high school graduate.
“When you graduate,” I said, “let’s have a big celebration.”
“When will I graduate?”
“In 10 years. What would you like to do?”
“I’d like to go roller skating.”
“Okay.”
“And out for pizza. And to the park. And out for ice cream. Can we do all that?”
“When you graduate from high school? Yes. We can do all that.”
After all, big goals require big celebrations.
Are you planning ahead for the important milestones in your business? What is your big goal for 10 years from now? How will you celebrate?
Tim taught me to imagine it this way: You are popping the cork on the champagne. You are throwing a big party. You are going roller skating. What just happened? Describe it. Put it down on paper.
That’s what Lulu and I did. We’ve got a plan. We have 10 years to make it happen. In the day-to-day of classrooms and playgrounds, of mean girls and boyfriends, of homework and soccer, Lulu has a lot of work to do. My plan is to be there cheering her on along the way, along with her family, teachers and other enthusiastic members of Team Lulu.
What’s your plan? Are you willing to do the day to day work to make it happen? What is that big celebration going to look like?
May 28, 2023. That’s when you’ll find me celebrating with Lulu.
Where will you be?
*Lots of great mentoring organizations match kids in need with caring adults in communities across the US. If you are interested in helping a kid like Lulu, let me know and I’ll help you find a match, or contact your local United Way for a referral.
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