Chapter 1
Inner Spark
Here is the deal, plain and simple, if you do not have an inner spark, you would not be reading this book. So, congratulations - you have what it takes! What do I mean by inner spark? At its most basic description I mean the fire within you to do or be anything. All of us have some version of it within ourselves, maybe without even realizing it. It is the part of you that ignites and causes action. On a basic level it may be that you never want to go hungry, so you do what it takes to fill your stomach. On a grander scale it might be that you want to be President of the United States, so you begin a life in the direction of a politician. Whatever it is, it is the part of us that sets us off on a path. And it is a vital part of us that needs to be harnessed with intention. If you are feeling the latter, then know you most likely will fail. The spark is what breathes motion into us, and the spark is what can ignite a whole and prosperous life. So the spark is where we need to start.
Potential. My early life was not exactly rich with role models. My father was an alcoholic, my mother a bit harsh and cold, and my stepfather a hard-working practical man. Raised in the United States during World War II, my experience was like many during that time, strained. Our home was poorly built, allowing small flurries of snow to collect at the bottom of my bedroom window in the winter months. Any parental figure was hard to find during the day because they were always working, yet barely making ends meet. The message that I was getting over and over again from the world as a child was that life is always going to be filled with hard work, and you shouldn't expect anything else.
My expectations for myself didn't really move much beyond everyday existence until I was 15 years old and my stepfather got me a job at a local mine placing for gold by shoveling dirt out of a dump truck. I was skinny and small for my age but had a strong sense of what a work ethic should look like. I showed up for the first day of work with the intention of working hard and contributing to the family. Instead, I found myself knee deep in filth, arms trembling from exhaustion and the recipient of outward disdain among the other workers for being slow and sloppy. I wasn't even entirely sure what I was doing wrong or how I could do better. I continued my clumsy method of shoveling until a man with a suit and tie walked up and abruptly asked me what the hell I was doing. Unsure what he meant exactly I explained that I was shoveling the dirt out of the dump truck.
What followed next would forever influence my life. This man, in his suit and tie, looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Do you want this job?" I nodded my head. "Then I am going to show you one time how you do it correct. After that I expect that you can do it efficiently on your own. If not, then you no longer have a job." Unsure what to expect I nodded again and watched as he took off his suit jacket and folded and placed it out of the path of dust and debris. He then grabbed a shovel and proceeded to hop into the back of the dump truck along side of me. For the next twenty minutes this man who had the responsibility of running a gold mine from an office, not a laborer, showed me how to properly and efficiently shovel the entire truck bed filled with dirt into the sluice box. Several things occurred to me during that 20-minutes. First, I learned that I was more physically capable than I could even imagine pushing myself. Second, that taking the time to teach an employee how to properly do a task is vital. And third, that a true leader is someone who gives time and energy to even the smallest of positions, even if it is only for 20 minutes. In that small chunk of time, he earned my respect, loyalty and hard work. I would live the rest of my life remembering those three lessons. He was the first person to lend me a small fraction of time to prove my potential. And when the last pile of dirt from my shovel hit the ground and this man stepped down from the truck and asked if I could do this on my own from here on out, it was a deep sense of self-gratification that I said and meant yes to all challenges that would come my way.
Desire. What the inner spark fuels the most is our desire. Desire to be happy, secure, prosperous, wise, kind, compassionate, the list goes on. We all experience different types of desires throughout our lives, and for the most part they are healthy. Assuming that you are not harming others or yourself, desires keep us moving toward fulfilling new and ever evolving goals. At its purest form desire is energy toward changing or improving yourself.
My greatest desire as a young person was to have a more secure and prosperous life than my origin. Growing up poor, surrounded by relatively negative people and conditions, I had a strong desire to experience life beyond those limited walls. Because I was young, I didn't know how to create a different future beyond my current reality but I held the belief that it was possible in my heart. It was through this strong inner conviction and desire that the right resources entered my lifetime and time again.
One of the more influential sources of support came from the Boy Scouts. This was the first place where I found real structure and discipline that had an immediate correlation to progress, growth and stability. Through the tried-and-true process of earning badges I learned how to absorb information and apply it. I learned the importance of knowing your environment and being skilled in survival. And I started working on my inner strength building a moral compass around the Boy Scout law of being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.3 It was a haven for me, and an unquestionable place of confidence building. Among many other benefits I was also blessed with solid scoutmasters who were stern and formidable in their own rights, but they were dependable, solid, and my first real advocates to believe in my possibilities. Much like my future dirt-shoveling boss, these were adults who took the time to see and believe in me. And what they saw in me fueled my desire to be more.
Finding the Experts. There are no mistakes. Yes, I'm making that very bold statement. In both good and bad situations, there is a reason for the experience, and it is our responsibility to learn, adapt, and grow from its wake. As I've already established, my life did not start off exactly easy. One of the more prominent influences in my world view at a young age was my father. He was a representation of all things I didn't want to become. He abandoned my sister, mother and myself to booze, but eventually remarried and abandoned an entire second family. He was angry, self-destructive, and ultimately a weak individual. My mother remarried my stepfather, Rod Greenway when I was 8-years old. Rod was a hard-working honorable man who did his best to provide for the family. But the lesson I learned from him was that life was difficult, it required constant hard work and it didn't necessarily get better. From both father figures in my life, I was being told time and again to not expect better for myself.
But that was not the lesson I was destined to live by. When you are young and unaware of the power you hold as an individual to be whoever you want to be (if not outwardly then definitely inwardly), you are naked and exposed to the elements. Sources from beyond your immediate control have a way of showing up, and for me it came with the name Jerry Osman.
Jerry was my high school math teacher and wrestling coach. He was one of those miraculous people who took the time to see me for my strengths and potential. He knew that I was a hard worker and had a determined personality but more importantly he took the time to see my whole picture. He knew that there was no one in my life advocating for a future beyond Leadville. I was a terrible academic student but felt that at my core I was highly intelligent and simply needed to understand the long-term benefits of applying myself to my studies. Jerry sat me down and walked me through the necessary steps to apply and go to college. This was a possibility I had never even remotely considered. I didn't have great grades, I did not have the money, but for the first time in my life I had an adult who was willing to walk me through the steps and remain by my side until I had accomplished my goal. This was vastly different from the dump-truck boss. Jerry was invested in me as a person. He believed in me.
With Jerry's help I spent my senior year of high school becoming a straight-A student, securing a wrestling scholarship at the Mesa College got a job working through Jerry's roommate Guy Cherp at the home of CD Smith Wholesale and Drug Company and secured free housing for college. He connected me with the right resources, right people and my own inner belief that I could be something beyond my family situation. Jerry was my first and dearest life mentor. I was his best man at his wedding when I was a senior in high school.
Jerry represents one of the most important aspects to creating your full and successful life - finding the experts. Subsequently Jerry found me, but what I learned from his influence is that there are people out there who know what to do, and how to do things. Sometimes they come in very subtle and seemingly minor roles like the very generous and sweet wife who ran the CD Smith Wholesale Drug Company at whose home I lived at, Bryl Smith. She opened her home to me and let me live in a small room throughout my Jr. College years, paying my...
