Last week I was having a conversation with my good
friend and business partner, Jon
Gordon, when a topic came up that really made me think
about how I look at the life. Jon is a best- selling author,
speaker, and energy coach. Together, we have branded Jon as
"America's #1 Energy Coach" and successfully positioned him
with appearances in an amazing amount of national media, thus
enabling us to share his message with hundreds of thousands of
people all over the globe.
I must admit that when we started out I was very naive to
the whole process of publicizing an author, but that naivety
enabled us to do some things that most "seasoned
professionals" probably would not have done. The result was a
dynamic formula for success.
But then an odd thing started to happen. As I became more
seasoned, I also started to loose some of that naivety and
began allowing experiences to limit my perspective and
accomplishments. Kind of like a downed tree blocking the road.
Early on, I would just go around the tree and find a new way
to get where I wanted to go but as time went on, instead of
going around the tree I would start to avoid that particular
road entirely... thinking that I already knew that path was
bad.
I started letting the "no's" and objections of others start
to change how I went about achieving success in things I set
out to accomplish. I started letting any small failures that I
faced become influencers in my decisions instead of just
moving on to the next opportunity.
Sound familiar? Have you ever had a dream or a desire to do
a certain thing but you are met with objections from others
who just can't see the bigger picture? Those who, because of
their own experiences or lack of passion and belief, say "you
can't do that" or "that's not the way to do it, we've always
done it THIS WAY."
Jon calls those people Energy Vampires and they will suck
the life right out of you if you let them (and I think I was
starting to let them).
Consider this...
1. Lucille Ball's (I Love Lucy) career didn't start
off so well. She was once dismissed from drama school for
being too quiet and shy.
2. Big companies that have gone
bankrupt:
- Quaker Oats (3 times)
- Pepsi-Cola (3
times)
- Borden's
- Aunt Jemima
- Wrigley's (3
times)
3. Clint Eastwood was once told by a
Universal Pictures executive that his future wasn't very
promising. The man said, "You have a chip on your tooth, your
Adam's apple sticks out too far, and you talk too slow."
4.
Albert Einstein did poorly in elementary school, and he
failed his first college entrance exam at Zurich Polytechnic.
But he became one of the greatest scientists in the history of
the world.
5. Henry Ford failed and went broke five
times before he finally succeeded.
What if these people listened to the naysayers and gave up?
What if they let their negative experiences stop them from
pushing on. What if they decided to avoid the tree in the road
instead of finding a way around it? Many of their great
contributions and successes would be lost. What about Jesus,
who was rejected in his home town of Nazareth? What if he did
not venture out of town and instead allowed the disbelievers
to refute His claims?
The point is this...
There are always going to be people who can't see what you
see. There will always be circumstances that shape your
thinking and slowly begin to cause you to loose that drive and
determination you may have once had. The key though, is to
never give up and do what you feel is right. Constantly
reinvent yourself and what you do. If you hit the tree in the
road and turn around or avoid the tree all together, you'll
never know what was on the other side. You may have been on
the brink of something huge.
As the conversation with Jon ended, I realized that I was
guilty myself. I had begun to let the world change me instead
of doing what I do best... being me. I hadn't stopped long
enough to look at myself, honestly, and evaluate what I was
doing. From that day forward, my new personal mission
statement has been this "Don't let the world change you.
Change the world!"
This week, I encourage you to live out your dreams and
Change the World.
Together, we are making the world a kinder place. By being
kind to others, you are making a statement of change. A change
that says you are not willing to let the hustle and bustle of
today's fast-paced life cause you to forget what is most
important... the simple gift of kindness from one to another.
-Daniel
Kindness. It starts with you, pass it on.
