Post-It Note Wisdom #4 - The Steady Drip
The last couple of weeks we've been exploring what I call Post-It Note Wisdom... little kernels
of truth to keep us moving forward, making good decisions, executing wisely, and reaping the
fruit of that wisdom day after day. If you've missed the first three episodes, you may wanna go
back to the beginning with Post-It Note Wisdom #1: Life Accumulates. It's not the one bad
choice you make-say, to eat a whole bag of oreos-but the accumulation of such choices that
will net you short and long-term negative results. Conversely, the one good choice you make,
and repeat, will also accumulate and give you positive results.
Post-It Note Wisdom #2... not so clear, maybe. "Am I dreamin' of the 'tater hole?" It is the
question you ask when you aren't moving forward. It'll remind you to take the next best step
instead of rockin' back on your heels and allowing inertia or analysis paralysis to set in.
Post-It Note Wisdom #3 is Bad news does not improve with age. Knowing your starting point,
even if it's bad, equips you to move forward. So don't let the panty hose stay in your friend's
skirt; TELL HER. She'd rather know than be embarrassed forever. Encourage those who know
you best to break bad news sooner rather than later. You'll be better able to course correct or
change the outcomes.
Post-It Note Wisdom #4 is ... The steady drip wears the rock. You might wanna write in on a
pretty little post-it note to hang on your computer. The steady drip wears the rock.
This is my mother's wisdom. She quoted it to me a million times over my time with her, and to
be honest it felt more like Chinese water torture, which is, of course, a gross exaggeration and
probably culturally insensitive, and I apologize for both. I went down a google rabbit hole to
find out that a there was indeed a water torture machine described by some Swedish guy in
1674, and it consisted of "a mentally painful process in which cold water is slowly dripped on
the scalp, forehead or face for a prolonged period of time," according to Wikipedia. Harry
Houdini did an escape from the Chinese Water Torture Cell back in 1910, and it was later
popularized in pulp fiction in the Fu Manchu stories of the 1930's in which he subjected his
victims to various ingenious tortures such as the wired jacket and water torture... and there goes
thirty minutes of distraction that I'll never get back!
Long story short: Steady drip to my young mind? Torture.
Turns out, however, that my momma was tuned in to a powerful concept, and what felt like
torture in my youth is a process that is literally the difference between success and failure,
wealth and poverty, or progress and stuck.
My friend, Amy Kemp, author of I See You: A Guide for Women to Make More, Have More,
and Be More-Without More Work, calls it millimeters. She posted recently on Facebook this
description: "Millimeters are the tiniest of action steps, often boring, frequently undervalued,
that most of the time feel like nothing-I am positive that zero progress has been made. Yet
when added up over stretches of time, they create extraordinary results. Breathtaking results."
My mom was a master of millimeters. Her steady drip got everything done. As a farm wife
there were endless chores and responsibilities. As the chief cook and bottle washer, master
gardener, milker of cows, feeder of chickens, childcare provider, elder-care provider, Sunday
School teacher, and manager of the family finances, she had a work ethic that would not quit.
No "dreamin' of the 'tater hole" for her. She was steadily moving toward her goals one small
task at a time over and over and over.
I can't even tell you how many times, we'd wail, "This is booooring!" as we chopped out the
corn or tobacco patch, inching along one stalk at a time, one row at a time, one section at a time,
one field at a time until it was done. "Keep at it!" she'd say, knowing that inch-by-inch, it
would be a cinch.
My husband, who grew up on a small homestead of limestone-riddled property near a lake, was
sometimes sent out by his dad to "bust big rocks into little rocks" so that they could make the
land amenable for a vegetable garden. The steady drip of the sledgehammer against the stone
made it happen. Not immediately, but eventually, the ground was cleared enough to be
productive.
And my shameless 1990's cultural reference is the inimitable Steve Urkel who, in his pursuit of
the lovely Laura Winslow, asks her out for the thousandth time, and when she tell him "no" for
the thousandth time but includes his name, his response is "I'm wearing you down, baby!"
That's a steady drip that wears the rock!
In Scripture, the word diligence communicates this idea of steady drip. The Proverbs are full of
reminders that diligence will reward you.
Proverbs 13:4
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly
supplied.
Proverbs 10:4
A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
Proverbs 12:24
The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.
Proverbs 12:27
Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.
Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to
poverty.
And also from Solomon:
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or
knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes of the need to steadily work the works of the
One who sends us:
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.
So maybe you're ready to steady-drip, but don't know what incremental, millimeter step to take
to start the process! What if you tackled that thing that needs doing, that rock that needs worn
out, by taking 10 minutes to work on it every day for a week and see where you end up. I did
this with a junk room that needed purged and organized. A few minutes every day, starting in a
corner and 10 minutes of sorting, throwing away, storing. Within a day or two I saw significant
progress. In a week, the mess was nearly gone. Focused effort, a little at a time.
What if it's customer contacts or prospecting? A millimeter move might be one call a day. In a
month of steady drips, you've contacted thirty people. Or a writing project. Steady drip a
hundred words a day... less than half a page. See the words mount up into a blog, a website or
even a book. Or how about getting in shape. A modest calorie deficit, some movement, exercise
every day, step by step, steady drip drip drip, and your health improves.
Here is a truth... the time will pass anyway. Your millimeter steps done over and over and over
will produce a harvest. Life accumulates, and so do the steady incremental steps you take
toward success, wealth, and legacy. Like compound interest. Like the Stonecutter's Credo
states:
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock,
perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first
blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it, but all that had done
before."
That's why the verse from Galatians is so promising. Do not grow weary of doing good-those
incremental steps toward the goal, the prize, the promise-for in due time, you will reap the
rewards, if you do not give up.
Post It Note Wisdom #1: Life Accumulates
Post It Note Wisdom #2: Are you dreamin' of the 'tater hole?
Post It Note Wisdom #3: Bad news does not improve with age.
Post It Note Wisdom #4: The steady drip wears the rock.
Father,
Thank you for the wisdom of diligence, and the truth that our faithfulness in little actions,
repeated over time, will produce results. And that if we are faithful in little, You have promised
that you'll reward us with more.
Help us be diligent. Faithful. That when weariness comes, we'll remember Your promises, and
remember that You are with us, and for us, so that we can press on toward the prize of Your
high calling.
In Jesus's name, Amen.
Next week is the last in the Post-It Note Wisdom series, and I can't wait to share it with you.
Check out talkandpray.us/podcast for the episode transcripts and more. Apple is doing
transcripts now as you listen, but voice recognition doesn't always get it right. My actual
written transcript is available on the website.
Also check out the links for Coaching and the next session of the His Power at Work
Mastermind. My Coaching is designed to take the ideas and possibilities that are in your head,
that you may only whisper to yourself and to God, and help you bring them into being. You can
find more about my Coaching at talkandpray.us or by clicking the link in the show notes.
The His Power at Work Mastermind examines how Jesus conducts business in Scripture, and
translates that into practical steps for you in community with others who want to experience
more authenticity, more peace, more satisfaction in their life and business. Check it out at
talkandpray.us/mastermind.
