Anyone just walking along the banks of a shallow stream (or river) and sees stones protruding out of the water would perceive them as just that: protruding stones. However, if that individual wanted to cross the stream without getting wet those same stones would become necessities and perceived as potential stepping-stones.
Thoughts of them being potential stepping-stones would exist until they were all checked for stability: not being wobbly. Stability and safety would have to be insured before stepping on one. Otherwise, it wouldn’t become a stepping-stone.
Comparable to the old cliché, “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. It’s the same regarding the stones as in the image above.
Numerous professionals were once college students that were determined to achieved their goals. They consequently took menial jobs to help pay college tuition and other expenses.
It would be logical to also assume that they made inquiries about potential earnings to insure they would meet their financial obligations. Consequently, those jobs became stepping stones toward numerous students achieving their ultimate objectives; graduating and receiving diplomas to validate their qualifications for their respective vocations.
“We do what we have to do so that we can do what we want to do.” The Debaters (a movie)
Halle Berry, the actress is an example. She used a “negative” to produce the “positive” that made her one of the highest paid actresses in the industry. She once said, “I never wanted to be a model. My modeling career was nothing but a stepping-stone to my acting career and that’s all I ever saw it as: a pointless rock in the river that has to be stepped on in order to get to the meaningful oasis of acting”
It’s obvious from Berry’s statement that she had a disdain for modeling: it was the negative. However, her perception of it was that it could enable her to reach her goal: the positive. Therefore, becoming a model was simply a business decision to leverage modeling to become an actress.
It would not be presumptuous to assume that Berry realized that her physical characteristics warranted her perceiving herself as a model. It also would be logical to assume that she researched the modeling industry to verify the potential earnings.
We can see that Berry had an aversion to the modeling profession. So, she put on a “front” and gave it her best in order to attain the level of success that she did. In essence, she did the following:
- smiled when she wasn’t happy
- portrayed friendliness when she didn’t want to be bothered
- was courteous when the demands were overbearing
The bottom line is that Berry paid the price to fulfill her dream of becoming an actress. She would have NEVER achieved it if the powers that be in the modeling industry had known how she truly felt about it.
Perception and verification without being motivated to take action would not make the rocks in the image above stepping stones. Without actually stepping on them, they are merely rocks that protrude out of the water.
If Berry’s desire to become an actress had not outweighed her disdain for modeling, she would have not become the icon that she became. Although Berry thought of modeling as “a pointless rock in the river”, I will venture to say that in hindsight she sees that swallowing her pride and making a business decision about her future was a small price to pay to get to “the meaningful oasis of acting” as she described it.
Conclusively, three things comprised Berry’s stepping-stone:
- perception of the modeling industry
- verification of potential earnings
- fervent desire to be an actress
Understanding the potential for success for advertising businesses online was the basis of my decision to engage in it on a small-scale initially. Having it as my stepping-stone gives me the realistic expectation of having the beta-version of my invention developed (alluded to on the About Me tab), to pursue the patent process, and start the online advertising company.
Be Introspective
One thing is definite. Namely, if you don’t work to make your dream become a reality, you are working to make your employer’s dream become a reality. So, I would facetiously ask, do you love your employer’s dream more than your own? Like the the Penrose triangle, it can’t be both ways.
Please understand that the following IS NOT to be construed as cynicism, criticism, or being judgmental. The objective is to provoke your thinking if you want to improve your economic well-being or perhaps regarding your ideas for invention as mentioned on the About You tab. Thus, you might avoid experiencing in the future what a writer and philosopher, Eric Hoffer, once said; “There is a time when the word ‘eventually’ has the soothing effect of a promise, and a time when the word evokes in us bitterness and scorn”.
What Hoffer said intensified the realization that time could pass by me while I’m focused on eventually. Lost time cannot be found. I had to make some crucial decisions, which caused me to take action. Internet marketing is essential to my action plan: my stepping-stone.
Corporate America’s Mindset
Corporate America assumes that most of its employees are not innovators: ambitious enough to be entrepreneurs. Instead, they would rather work for corporate and earn enough to become credit-worthy but never earn enough to become debt free, which is now a problem. And, the larger problem is the lack of finances employees have for retirements.
Now is the time to decide on whose destiny you are willing to dedicate your life and hard work to making a reality: yours or your employer’s. Consider it in light of what I said about your innate ability in About You.
Don’t say, eventually, regarding an idea. You may never get to it. What you would regret most of all is that someone else subsequently had the same idea, pursued it, and became successful. It’s happened before and will undoubtedly happen again. Don’t be the next in line.
