LIttle Breaks Don't like waiting the way big breaks do

​It's Monday. Another day; another week.

Maybe this is the week. This is the week you'll get your big break.

Or, maybe you're like me, and you'll realize this is the week to start making the most of little breaks. This is the week to realize it's those little breaks that will one day become that big break we've dreaming of.

Several years ago, I was working in a job I hated. Every morning I had to remind myself of the verse in Colossians that says we should work at all things as if we're working for the Lord. Many days I found myself saying, I love having you as a boss, Lord, but I'd love you more if you were my boss in a different job!

Then along came an opportunity to lead a grant project in my local community working to reduce alcohol related crashes among young people.

I'd never led a grant project. Didn't have much experience as a community builder. The pay was less - much less. The only experience I had appropriate for this job was that I used to drink way too much.

Nothing on earth said this was a big break, but I ended up with that job anyways.

A year or so into working on that grant project, a part-time position came open at the local college educating young people about the challenges of alcohol and drug issues.

I'd partnered with the college on some of the grant work I was currently doing, and I now had some experience working on the issues the position required.

This felt like more of a break. So I took that job.

A couple of years later, when the grant funding ended - along with my primary source of income - a full-time job came open with the Virginia state government. The job was in the department that had managed the grant I'd just completed. My potential boss was someone I'd worked with during the grant - a woman I came to admire greatly.

A couple of years into this job, I sat in a training on the impacts of adverse childhood experiences. This training changed my life in many ways. It certainly changed the work I did and do for the state.

I took the lead on a project that trains presenters who educate their communities about the impacts of adverse childhood experiences. I do a lot of presentations on my own, as well as speaking at numerous events and conferences.

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself being interviewed by some folks in England who are putting together promotional videos to educate their country and places around the world about the impacts of adverse childhood experiences.

They had reached out to me because the co-founder of the company that trained me in this work - who was working with the folks in England on this project - told them this about me: "Keith is a passionate speaker - I think the best of everyone we've worked with. He is heartfelt, articulate and insightful. You will love interviewing him."

During that interview with these folks, I felt like I was in the middle of a big break.

So why am I telling you all of this? I promise you it's not to brag about me or my resume. If you've been following me, you know my resume is far more flawed than it is anything.

I'm telling you this because after that "big break" experience, I realized it was a "big break" I'd never even dreamed of. It wasn't one I'd been hoping for. Instead, it was a moment in time culmination of a bunch of small breaks I'd had and taken advantage of along the way.

Because that's what happens in life.

Most of us don't win the lottery. Most of us don't receive the windfall of a huge inheritance. Most of us don't walk into a dream job or dream relationship. That's just not how life works.

Life works best when we wake up on Monday. We look at every single thing we do today as a little break. And we make the most of them. Realizing that the only way we're ever going to experience a big break in life is through taking advantage of the daily little breaks we too often ignore.

We do that believing that at the end of this week - or at the end of next week or next year - we're going to be sitting in what feels like a beautiful "big break" experience.

And we're going to look back and be grateful for all the small breaks we had along the way.

The small breaks that start today.