Build Your Own Ladder

When your dreams feel just out of reach, and you’re searching for something to give you a boost, build your own ladder.

I learned this in the campo. One day, I was working on a latrine with a group of volunteers and Moreno, one of our OG Dominican team members. He was about ready to put the roof on the structure when he looked over to me and asked for the ladder. At that moment, I realized we had left it back at our basecamp and told him I could run to go get it.

He told me to stay put and without wasting a second, he swung out a machete and chopped down a few sturdy branches. With a hammer and some nails, he joined the sticks together to form a new, fully functioning ladder. We finished the latrine in the time it would have taken me to get the other ladder. This day stuck with me, and “build your own ladder” are words I live by.

Sometimes we wait to have the right connections, or training, or opportunities to move closer to our dreams. But now is always the right time. Nothing is going to come along and magically put you at the foot of your goals. You need build that ladder for yourself. Use whatever tools you have at your disposal to build it from the ground up, adding steps as you climb. When you look out from up top, everyone will wonder how you got up there.