E1: Origin Stories: Uncle Jamie and the one small job

Boots on, radios crackling, orders received, the scrubbing squad is standing by. Ready for real-world missions, adventure, and fun. And there is one hero they cannot start without. You. Report for duty. Heroes start here.

Hero HQ. Fall in heroes. Today's mission is about to begin. Heroes, this Monday we start at the very beginning. Because today's origin story is mine. Uncle Jamie. Founder and base commander Hero HQ from the United Kingdom. And I will tell you something most people do not know about the man who runs Hero HQ. When I was your age, I was hopeless at mornings, truly hopeless. Socks lost, teeth unbrushed, shoes in two different rooms.

My gran used to say, the morning won before I even got out of bed. It was my gran who changed it. And she did it with one move. She stopped giving me lists. She gave me one small job, just one. My job was the curtains. Open them the moment my feet touched the floor. That was the whole job. And a strange thing happened. When the curtains were open, I felt like someone who does his jobs. So I did another one. Nobody asked me to.

The first job pulled the second one along behind it, like a little train. Now, many years later, I looked around my street and I saw children stuck indoors, staring at screens, mornings winning everywhere. And I thought, I know how to fix this. And heroes, here is where I got it wrong. I made a big plan. An enormous plan. A club with a rule book so thick you could stand on it to reach the biscuit shelf. Charts for everything, rules for everything, whistles. On the first day, lots of children came. On the second day, fewer came. On the third day, it was me and the rule book. Nobody came back.

My big plan had won on paper and lost in real life. I sat in the empty room for a long time. And then I heard my grand's voice from all those years ago. Not a hundred rules, one small job. So I threw away the rule book and I kept one thing, one small mission a day, done for real, and someone who notices you did it. That is the whole squad. That was the first day of Hero HQ, and I opened the door with the first key on this belt. And I have carried that key ever since, because it reminds me the door only opened once the plan got small.

And that is the part worth keeping, heroes. Uncle Jamie did not fail because he cared too little. He failed because he planned too big. Small missions done every day beat big plans every time.

She said it better than my rule book did, and she used 98 fewer pages. And next Monday, Heroes, Auntie Ellie takes this radio and tells you her own story in her own words, including the question she asked me that the big plan forgot. Heroes, your mission. If you are four, five, or six, tonight, choose one small job for tomorrow morning, just one, and tell a grown-up what it is. Maybe it is the curtains, maybe it is your socks. If you are seven or older, choose your one small job, do it tomorrow before anyone asks you to, and then keep it going for three mornings in a row. One job, three mornings. That is a real mission.

Ace here, heroes. Ace mode version. If choosing is the hard part, ask a grown-up to offer you two jobs and you pick one of the two. Then draw your job on a piece of paper and put it by your bed. So tomorrow morning the job is already waiting for you.

Same mission, your way.com. Heroes, this is Uncle Jamie. Mission accepted.

Little missions, big heroes. Heroes start here.

Thank you for listening to the Scrubbing Squad Hero Missions Podcast. For free episode downloads, visit ScrubbingSquad Podcast.com. Scrubbing Squad and Lobster Bob Scenic Tours are the property of Mike J. Midgley. Operated under license by Scrubbing Squad Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction or adaptation of this podcast in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission.