The Power of One

“When I arrived in Virginia I didn’t know anyone.  Then, I met one guy who became my friend.” – Alfredo Gallegos

The Power of One

“This is still the land where dreams come true!”  Alfredo said to me as we ate a celebration dinner with our wives.  As it turned out, Alfredo show me that we have a lot more to celebrate than I was thinking when our dinner began.

Alfredo Gallegos is a successful husband, father and business man.  Some would look at his success and think that perhaps he was “lucky,” or he inherited success from his family.  I knew that wasn’t the case, but as I sat talking with him, I could hear Kristin Murdock’s voice right up front, in my mind. 

“The harder I work, the luckier I get!”

As a young man in his early twenties, Alfredo discovered he needed to finish his college degree to climb the corporate ladder.  So, he did some research and then got on an airplane to Virginia, with a suitcase containing two pairs of sacks, jeans and a couple of shirts.

“When I arrived in Virginia I didn’t know anyone.  Then, I met one guy who became my friend.” Alfredo explained.

This one person befriended Alfredo because they had both once lived in the same area.  That one commonality created a connection between the two.  It was enough that the stranger began to help Alfredo in school.  He introduced him to his network of friends and they began to go to social events together.  They remained close friends right up to the time when Alfredo decided to go to Texas to attend another university.  Once in Texas, Alfredo worked hard to finish his degree.

Texas is also where he met his wife and began his family.  Then, when his wife told him she’d like to move to Utah because her family was living there he simply said, “o.k.”

“By this time, I knew I could go to a new place, make new friends, work hard and build a business.  And, I knew I wasn’t starting over again, alone.  Now, I tell my kids my story and let them know that they can build an exceptional life for themselves, if they will just work hard. This is still the land where dreams come true!”

“The harder I work, the luckier I get!”  Kristin Murdock’s voice said to me as I watched Alfredo tell me his story.  His eyes are a different color than Kristin’s, but they share the same, common, look of determination and belief.

They still believe that one person can make a difference in the design and planning of their own life.  They both know that hard, persistent work every day, toward living a desired, designed outcome will allow them to ultimately succeed.  Perhaps just as significant, they know that using personal experience and friendship, one-on-one, can make profound changes to lives now and to lives yet-to-come.

Alfredo was making a profound change in my life with every word of his story.  

“He’s the living persona of the power of one.”  I said to myself as he talked.  Hum, can the power of one become exponential?

As it turns out, Alfredo and I were celebrating more than I was thinking when dinner began.  Our time together was really a celebration of the power of surrounding ourselves with great people, one at a time. 

One, has the capacity to change each one of use more and more rapidly, when we employ its secret personally.

Live “The Power of One!”