Closing the Gap

First off, will someone please tell 'summer' to slow down! It always goes too fast, doesn't it? Especially when you are a McNair scholar busily working on your research, studying for the GRE and preparing to apply to graduate school. Yikes! That's alot. You are all working hard, yes you are. The SRI is intense, yes, but try to keep your eye to the 'big picture' of things. Keep your eye on your long-term vision of where you see yourself down the line, after you finish up your undergraduate career. The work you are doing right now is helping to define that vision and what your reality will ultimately be.

Think about how proactive you are being and how advantaged you are in terms of realizing your goals. You are developing your interests, exploring really cool programs that you could go to, thinking about how you want to develop your talents as a highly educated person.

The Winner's Circle just ran a nice piece on "closing the gap." Meaning closing the gap between your current reality and the vision you have in mind for your future. I think you might find it to be a good reminder of why you are doing what you are all doing right now.

"Closing the Gap"

How do you close the gap between the reality you are living in now and the life you want for yourself in the future? The life you are living right now is not the one you want to live. You could do and be so much more, and you know this. However, somehow things just never seem to change much for you.

Does this sound familiar? Are you or someone you are close to trapped in a life you don’t want, feeling stuck and unable to move? Let me make a suggestion. Why don’t you try imagining the future you want for yourself? Imagine it so vividly and specifically that you can actually see it. Then, take it even further. Hear it, taste it, feel it, walk around in it! Make it like a movie, starring you.

When you come back to reality, of course, you will be aware of a gap between where you are now and where you want to be – but that’s good! You see, it is this gap that releases your energy and creativity. Did you know that automobiles only move because they have a gap in the spark plug? There has to be room – a space – for the spark to ignite.

For us humans, that gap, between the way things are and the way we want them to be, is that space where our drive, energy and creativity have room to ignite. And the drive and energy are what is required to close the gap. Without a vision, a vivid picture of the future in the mind, there is no gap, and you will never discover your own power.

Try creating a vision, then work at strengthening it every day, and see what happens.

Lou Tice, The Pacific Institute