The Win You Never Saw Coming
How Simple Acts of Kindness Help Us Grow

Last night, I watched a remarkable On the Road story by Steve Hartman about a group of students who noticed something most of us have seen but seldom pause to consider: someone eating alone.   

That's why Denis Estimon, a Haitian immigrant and student at Boca High, started a club called "We Dine Together.Their response was beautifully simple. Whenever they saw a student sitting by themselves, they walked over and joined them.

There was no fundraising campaign, elaborate strategy, or promise of recognition. They simply saw a need and acted. Yet that small gesture carried tremendous power. It reminded someone that they mattered—and it challenged the students offering the invitation to step beyond their own comfort zones.

Earlier, I had been reflecting on something James Clear wrote about the relationship between winning and growing. Winning feels good, particularly when we accomplish something for the first time. But repeated success can eventually become familiar. We may continue winning without necessarily growing.

Growth asks something more of us. Sometimes it asks us to pause, look beyond ourselves, and take a seat beside someone we do not know.

Growth begins when we notice. We live in a hurried world, often moving from one responsibility to the next with our attention fixed on what lies ahead. Yet opportunities to make a difference rarely arrive with flashing lights. They appear quietly—a person sitting alone, a colleague having a difficult day, or someone who simply needs to know they have been seen.

Awareness interrupts our routine. It asks us to look up from our own lives long enough to recognize what may be happening in someone else’s.

Growth requires stepping beyond comfort. My granddaughter, a psychology major at Liberty University, reminds me that introverts and extroverts each bring unique qualities to the world. Reaching out may come naturally to some and require tremendous courage from others.

The point is not that we must all respond in the same way. Growth happens when we stretch beyond what is comfortable for us. Walking across a room, beginning a conversation, or sitting beside a stranger may seem insignificant, but it can represent an enormous personal step.

In meeting another person’s need, we often discover a strength within ourselves that we did not know was there.

Growth depends upon timing. I frequently speak about timing as an essential part of making a difference. Kindness delayed can become kindness denied. The opportunity is often present for only a moment, and if we overthink it, the door may close.

Yes, stopping may interrupt our schedule. It may delay our plans or pull us away from the mission we considered most important. But perhaps the interruption is the mission.

When we act in the moment, everyone can win. Someone feels less alone, a need is met, and we learn something about compassion, courage, and ourselves.

Most of us want to be winners. But the victories that shape us most deeply may never come with trophies, applause, or recognition. They arrive when we pause, notice, and choose to act.

The next time you see someone sitting alone, struggling quietly, or needing encouragement, do not underestimate what one simple gesture might accomplish. You may brighten another person’s day—but you may also discover that the life being changed is your own.

Colorful Takeaway: 

Sometimes the greatest win is not reaching the head of the table. It is noticing the empty chair beside someone—and choosing to fill it.

The Masterpiece Is in the Showing Up
“How long did it take you to paint that?”

It may be the question I am asked more than any other. I never take offense, but I sometimes hesitate before answering. Do I tell them the number of hours I spent standing before that particular canvas—or the nearly fifty years it took me to learn what to do while standing there?

A story often attributed to Pablo Picasso captures the dilemma beautifully. While Picasso was enjoying lunch, an admirer repeatedly asked him to draw something on a napkin. Finally, Picasso picked up a pencil and, within minutes, produced a delightful little sketch. When the admirer reached for it, Picasso named an astonishing price.

“But it only took you five minutes!” the man protested.

Picasso replied, “No, my friend. It took me fifty years to learn how to do that in five minutes.”

Whether we are creating a painting, writing a book, building a business, or shaping a meaningful life, the finished work rarely reveals the countless hours that made it possible.

Consistency develops what talent begins.
Talent may give us a promising start, but it cannot carry us across the finish line by itself. Every painting I have created has taught me something about composition, color, light, patience—and myself. Some lessons arrived through success; many more came through paintings that simply did not work.

The willingness to return to the canvas is what eventually turns potential into proficiency. Talent opens the door. Consistency teaches us how to walk through it.

Small investments create remarkable results.
Writer and illustrator Tim Urban once observed how much a person can accomplish by writing three hours a day, five days a week. Fifteen hours may not sound extraordinary when viewed within an entire week. But repeat that routine for forty weeks, and you may have written a book.

We often imagine prolific people working around the clock, possessing discipline or energy unavailable to the rest of us. In reality, their lives may look remarkably similar to ours. The difference is often a relatively small portion of time invested consistently in something that matters.

A few focused hours may appear insignificant today. Added together over months and years, they can become a career.

Progress is often happening before it becomes visible.
One of the hardest parts of any worthwhile pursuit is continuing when the results have not yet appeared. We practice, prepare, revise, and occasionally wonder whether any of it is making a difference.

But consistency is quietly working beneath the surface. Each effort strengthens our judgment. Each mistake sharpens our instincts. Each ordinary day prepares us for an opportunity we cannot yet see.

The masterpiece is not created in one inspired moment. It is created through thousands of seemingly ordinary moments when we choose to show up again.

The Takeaway

Whatever dream has been tugging at you, do not be intimidated by the finished accomplishments of others. Begin with the time you have. Give it your attention. Return to it tomorrow. You do not have to work constantly—but you do have to keep showing up.

One day, someone may look at what you have created and wonder how you made it appear so effortless. Only you will know how many years were contained within that moment.

When the Stage Became Another Canvas
Following My Bliss from Professional Artist to Keynote Speaker

My journey as a professional artist began in college with a 59-cent tray of watercolors. I was very much an amateur, searching for a medium that might give voice to something stirring inside me. Watercolor became that medium. It opened my eyes to the remarkable beauty of North Carolina—an artist’s paradise of mountains, coastlines, farms, gardens, and historic places.

What began with that inexpensive tray of paint eventually carried me around the world, introduced me to extraordinary people, and placed my work in collections I could never have imagined.

Joseph Campbell encouraged us to “follow your bliss and don’t be afraid,” promising that doors would open where we never knew they existed. Looking back over nearly five decades, I understand those words more clearly today.

Follow the thread, not simply the path
Following your bliss does not mean choosing one path and remaining on it forever. It means recognizing the thread that has been running through your life all along—and having the courage to follow it when it leads somewhere new.

The path of my career has included traditional watercolor, contemporary acrylics, commissioned works, books, charitable projects, and now speaking. The mediums have changed, but the thread connecting them has remained constant: creating something meaningful that moves another person.

Allow your medium to change
Over the years, I have been inspired by magnificent creations from other artists and by the many ways they expressed their gifts. Some moved confidently among different mediums. Others used their work to celebrate important milestones, raise awareness, or support significant humanitarian causes.

Their example helped me understand that art can do far more than decorate a wall. It can preserve a story, awaken compassion, bring people together, and help someone see the world differently. Growth often requires us to loosen our grip on the familiar. The gift remains, but the way we share it may need to change.

Your bliss becomes more meaningful when it is shared
Eventually, my creative journey led me to an entirely different kind of canvas—the stage. Instead of relying solely on paint, brushes, color, and composition, I now use stories, humor, vulnerability, and lessons gathered through a lifetime of creating.

Speaking allows me to share not only what it has taken to become and remain a professional artist, but also something I believe applies to everyone: we each possess gifts and talents capable of making a difference.

We may not all stand before an easel, but we are all creating something—experiences, relationships, organizations, communities, and opportunities. The question is whether we are using what has been placed in our hands to leave the world a little better than we found it.

See Where The Journey Has Led Me

My new speaker reel offers a glimpse of what happens when my life as an artist meets my work as a storyteller:

Perhaps your association, company, conference, club, or community is planning an upcoming gathering. If your audience would benefit from an uplifting message about recognizing possibilities, navigating change, and using their gifts to make a difference, I would be honored to be part of it.

The stage may be a different canvas, but my purpose remains the same: to create something meaningful—and encourage others to do the same.

Where Generosity Becomes Good Medicine

Years ago, before GPS and Google Maps, we relied on something called a road map—and occasionally a generous helping of good fortune. As an artist roaming North Carolina’s backroads in search of something worth painting, I got lost more times than I care to admit. I backtracked, guessed at unmarked turns, and sometimes wondered whether I would ever find my way home.

One afternoon in Ashe County, I managed to outdo myself. I had coaxed my Jeep onto an old tractor trail while searching for a distinctive view of a farm I wanted to paint. Then my radiator hose burst. The Jeep ran out of steam, and did any sense I had of where I was.

I remembered passing a house more than a mile back, so I began walking. When I finally arrived, I asked the woman who answered the door if I might use her telephone, (before cell phones were invented!) and calling AAA was my only hope of being rescued.

She graciously invited me inside. What began with a telephone call soon included a glass of iced tea and a friendly conversation. When I explained why I had wandered so far off the beaten path, she told me about another place where I could see the farm from an even better vantage point. 

She was right. That interruption led me to the view that became Appalachian Beauty. What had seemed like a frustrating breakdown turned out to be the break I needed.

Writer James Clear recently shared a reflection about learning to love life’s interruptions. His words brought that afternoon rushing back to me and left me with three things worth remembering. 

An interruption may be an invitation.
Our first reaction to an unexpected delay is usually frustration. But occasionally, life closes one road because something is waiting for us on another. Had that radiator hose held together, I might have driven away with an ordinary perspective and missed an extraordinary one.

The people along the detour may become part of the destination.
I knocked on that woman’s door because I needed a telephone. What I received was kindness,
hospitality, and knowledge no road map could have provided. We can become so focused on reaching our destination that we overlook the people who may enrich the journey.

A change in perspective can change the entire picture.
As an artist, I understand the importance of perspective. Move a few feet, climb a little higher, or look from another direction, and an ordinary scene can become remarkable. The same is true of life. We may not be able to change the interruption, but we can change how we see it. Frustration can become curiosity. Delay can become discovery. A breakdown can become a breakthrough.

Most of us would still prefer the hassle-free route. I certainly would. But some of life’s finest gifts are tucked inside days that refuse to go according to plan. The next time your plans unravel, pause before deciding the moment has been wasted. Look around. Talk to someone. Stay open to the possibility that the inconvenience may be carrying you toward something you could not have discovered on your own.

After all, I went looking for a painting and found myself stranded on a tractor trail. Yet somewhere between a broken radiator hose, a stranger’s kindness, and a glass of iced tea, I discovered Appalachian Beauty.

Where Generosity Becomes Good Medicine

The room was already buzzing when my longtime friend Bob Rodman stepped forward and took the microphone. In front of him sat an extraordinary collection of auction offerings—fine jewelry, a prized bourbon collection, and family adventures stretching all the way to Bryce Canyon. My two original paintings waited beneath the lights as Bob worked the crowd with the warmth, humor, and persistence of someone who understood that every raised hand represented far more than a winning bid.

It represented a community taking care of its own.  The historic Hound Ears Open began in 1970 as a tribute to Grover Robbins, one of the three brothers who founded Hound Ears Club near Boone. Over the years, the tournament and auction have raised more than $2.5 million in support of the Appalachian Regional Health Care Foundation and its work to strengthen healthcare throughout North Carolina's High Country.

That is an impressive number, but numbers alone rarely tell the whole story. The real story is found in the people who continue to show up.

Someone has to care enough to lead.
This year’s festivities were beautifully coordinated by Libba Gaither and Mac Parrott. Following the golf tournament, guests gathered for cocktails and dinner before leaning into an energetic live auction.

Events like this may look effortless from the outside, but they never are. Behind every welcoming smile and perfectly timed moment are people who have invested countless hours, invited others into the cause, and cared enough to make the evening matter.

Bob and Anne Rodman are relatively new to Hound Ears, yet they have already immersed themselves in both the community and its way of life. Bob didn’t simply serve as auctioneer. He brought his enthusiasm, relationships, and personality to the room. He reminded us that joining a community means more than occupying a place within it. It means finding a way to contribute.

Someone has to offer what they have.
For this year’s auction, I created two original paintings celebrating the character of Hound Ears. “Hound Ears No. 5” captures the magnificent new fifth hole, while “Hound Ears Rocks” portrays the distinctive formations that gave the resort its name.

As an artist, I never quite know where a painting’s journey will lead. It begins alone in the studio, but its meaning often expands when someone else discovers a connection to it.

David and Debbie Sapp, along with their son Mac, purchased “Hound Ears Rocks.” I especially enjoyed learning that David once painted in watercolors himself. Perhaps he saw not only a familiar landmark in the painting, but also something of his own creative journey.

Anthony and Jeannie Sedberry purchased “Hound Ears No. 5." By the following morning, Joy and I stopped by and hung it in their dining room. That quick trip from auction floor to a family home felt like the perfect final brushstroke.

By evening's end both paintings had found new homes, becoming part of a larger story of generosity and a community willing to invest in the well-being of its neighbors.

Someone has to answer the invitation.
Local healthcare is one of those things we may not think about until we need it. Yet it remains a bedrock of every thriving community—caring for our families, supporting our neighbors, and standing ready during some of life’s most vulnerable moments.

The generosity surrounding the Hound Ears Open is especially meaningful because those who have been blessed are choosing to lean into a cause that serves the entire region. They aren’t simply giving back. They are helping ensure that excellent care remains close to home.

A strong community is not created by one generous person, one successful auction, or even one beautiful evening. It is created when organizers, volunteers, donors, bidders, and friends each bring what they have and trust that, together, it will be enough to make a difference.

That evening, every raised hand told the same story: We are fortunate to be part of this community. And we are willing to help take care of it.