The Days of Small Things

Let me start by saying that success is not a single huge event or a single giant leap into El Dorado or Paradise. No! You do not succeed in anything by chance or by accident nor does it come suddenly. It is not an out-of-the blues thing. Nobody sleeps a failure today and wakes up a success tomorrow. There is no ready-made, single-dose, cure-all, no-work, no-time, now-now, maza-maza, beat-all-odds formula to success. No! Success is an accumulation of small events or several single steps coalescing into an outstanding or noteworthy event or a glorious outcome or destiny. You know the saying – the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step? Yes? When you arrive at the thousandth mile safely, you consider yourself to have had a successful journey; yet between mile one and mile thousand are hundreds of thousands of single steps painstakingly taken. The success of that journey is the total accumulation of those painstaking individual steps. You see my point?

Paying attention, therefore, to the small events or single steps in the entire process is the key to success. The process may be long but it has a definite end, which is the goal the process aims to accomplish. And if that goal must be accomplished successfully, careful attention must be given to each step in the process. Booker T. Washington (1856 – 1915), African-American educator, author, orator, and Presidential advisor, pointed that fact out when he said:

“Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the everyday things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon.” – Booker T. Washington.

All things are possible. You can do and achieve anything you set your mind to. Whatever you dream of becoming, you can become. Yes. But to do that successfully, you must pay attention to details, the small things and intervening small days. For example, if a student wants to be successful in his studies, he must pay attention to little details such as:
- Regular and prompt attendance in class.
- Attentiveness while lessons are going on.
- Note taking.
- Asking relevant questions to gain clarity and better understanding.
- Regular revision of notes.
- Doing all assignments as and when due.
- Doing all project works as and when due.
- General reading and studies.
- Preparatory reading.
- Taking all tests and exams.
Any student that does these things faithfully will meet the requirements and come out with flying colors. Attaining to details, especially during the days of small things, is the key to success in all pursuits. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Dutch post-impressionist painter, pointed out this truth when he said:

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together” – Vincent Van Gogh.

Life is in the details and those who despise the details, the small things and the small days, will not amount to much. The security, prosperity, and greatness of your tomorrow are secured by attending to the details – the small things – of today. Tomorrow is a magnified reflection of today. Frederic Henri Amiel (1821 – 1881), Swiss philosopher, poet, and critic, captured this fact rather succinctly. He said:

“What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence” – Henri Frederic Amiel.

You see, when you attend to the small things and small days of life as and when due, the big things of life take care of themselves and attend to you, in turn, as and when due. When you secure and ensure the small things of life, the little details, you secure and ensure your life. Always bear in mind the fact that the pedestal of life is safely ascended by a flight of stairs that are scaled one step at a time. Always remember also that life is manifested in stages and successfully attaining one stage opens the door to the next stage. The main key to successfully moving upwards from one stage to the next, and finally up to the grand stage, is careful attendance to the details each stage presents. Failure or inability to carefully and diligently attend to the details any particular stage of life presents will result in stagnation or even possible retrogression. The key to ever-increasing progress in life lays in ever-increasing and ever-faithful attendance to the issues, no matter how small. Each stage of life presents.

The fact that you are presently small or are going through your days of small things is not a proof, in any way, that you will always be small or will end up small. No. the smallness and tightness of your present life and circumstance is a probe, a stir, an urge, to work committedly and push for bigger things and better days. The fact that you are presently small or you are going through the days of small things is not, in any way, the end of the matter. As a matter of actual fact, it is just the beginning of the matter. It means:
- You have time and room to grow.
- There is still more goodness and good things ahead for you.
- You have a golden opportunity to plan and work committedly towards bigger things and a better tomorrow.
- You have the chance to gain relevant experience and grow into maturity and glorious manifestation.
- You have the privilege and opportunity to observe those ahead of you, learning from them, avoiding their mistakes, and building on their strengths.
- You have time to train, practice, and exercise yourself in your field of pursuit, gaining necessary expertise which will result in specialization, eventually securing recognition and promotion for you.

And, if you do all these things, you secure for yourself a great future. It is a mistake and a weakness, one that you are bound to regret, to despise or look down on someone who is presently small or going through a season of small things just because you are in a better state. The one who is small today is bound to be big tomorrow, as long as they are faithfully attaining to the small things of life purposefully. So, I encourage you to fortify your pursuit with:
- Diligence – Proverb 22:29.
- Persistence – Luke 9:62.
- Purposefulness – Ecclesiastes 3:1.
- Excellence – Daniel 6:3.
- Prayerfulness – Psalm 32:6.
- Integrity – Proverb 11:3.
- Teachability – 2 Timothy 2:15.

The days of small things will pass, and you will remain standing in better days and greater things. You were born to shine in life, and you will shine. That is God’s promise to you:

“Though thy beginning was small, yet thy later end should greatly increase” – Job 8:7.

Keep moving forward with purpose and focus. You will get to your days of big things.
See you at the top.
I love you.

© Agoso Arnobius Huladeino Bamaiyi.