Ask and you shall receive…not always true, but you still have to ask, what if?
Back when I was preparing to open our first business, a coffee & ice cream shop, I spent a lot of time researching the industry as well as building my mind muscle. I read numerous motivational books and attended several business workshops. One of the books that I read and relied on for inspiration was The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. To this day, it remains one of my favorite books.
In the forward of the book, there was a message that asked for readers to help spread their message. After reading it, I decided that I wanted to help. I wrote to the company and asked them for 100 free books so that I could give them away at the grand opening of my new business. I had planned a big grand opening event (any excuse for a party!), and I wanted to entice the first 100 visitors with freebies.
I ordered all kinds of things to give away. As it got closer to the big day, the shipments were piling in our garage. The boxes arriving were small to medium in size, but unfortunately, nothing big enough for 100 books. No big deal, the planning and organizing continued.
Every day I would go through a few of the boxes and begin to organize the supplies. After a couple of weeks, I was opening the remainder of the boxes and to my surprise, one of the medium sized boxes contained 100 condensed versions of The Power of Positive Thinking! I could not believe it!
That was a lesson I will never forget. I gave away all the books, except for one. I kept one for myself and have it displayed on top of my bookcase facing my desk to serve as a reminder to never be afraid to ask for something. It isn’t up to us to decide how someone wants to answer our request. So go ahead and ask for it! Why the hell not?
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Trust the Process
Trust the process
I am a control freak. There, I said it. Are you happy? I finally have come to terms with the fact that I want control, love control, and relax when I am in control. It really has been one of my most difficult traits, and I have had to learn to adjust it. Not let go of it completely, but adjust it.
I’ve always been the type of person who plants a seed and then messes with it until it’s damaged. And then I see that I’ve caused the growth to slow down or worse, to never grow at all, just from my interference.
I have learned over time that once you plant a seed, you have to let it go. It will flourish on its own when the time is right. Trying to control or fast forward an outcome is dangerous. Not only can you damage the outcome, but you may miss out on an important part of the developmental stage. Often times, it is in the developmental stage that the “break-through” moments appear.
Every destination comes with a journey. Every journey involves a process. Trying to rush things or control the outcome is a surefire way to end up with damaged goods. I have finally learned that the process is not within my control. And I have had to let it go and trust it.
It is still not an easy thing, but it’s nice to know that the uncertainty the process brings will eventually lead to the ultimate goal. It gives my mind a comfort and more settled feeling when I accept that the process will introduce me to things I didn’t know before I started. So, let it go and trust the process.
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Taking a Leap of Faith
Taking a Leap of Faith
We like to end every episode of The Nooner Show with the famous quote by Margaret Shepard,
“Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.”
It’s a nice sentiment, but what does it really mean? Are you supposed to make a life-altering decision and then just go for it? Is it blind faith? I don’t think so.
Major life-changing decisions need to be well thought out. You have to plan, organize, work hard, and often struggle in order to reach your goals. But there comes a point after you’ve made all the right decisions to lead you in the direction of change, that you can’t analyze things any further. Hard work will only take you so far. And when you reach that point, there’s only one thing you can do. You have to rely on faith.
If you have a goal or dream burning in your soul and you’ve analyzed the pros and cons of that dream and developed a plan, then at that point you just have to take a leap of faith. You have to believe it’ll work out.
In other words, put the action in place. Lay the groundwork first. You won’t know until you try. And if you don’t try it, someone else will. So why not let it be you? It could be the one decision that changes your life forever! Why the hell not?
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Calling all Misfits
Calling all Misfits
ˈmisˌfit/ a person whose behavior or attitude sets them apart from others in an uncomfortably conspicuous way
Misfits are too often labeled as outcasts—people who are somehow less than others because they aren’t quite “normal” enough. But time and time again misfits prove that there’s nothing wrong with living outside the box. In fact, it’s something more of us should strive to do.
Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Coco Chanel. They were a part of this elite group. And yes, I mean elite. At one time or another, all of them were labeled as misfits and scorned for not following tradition.
The thing that made these individuals exceptional was not that they followed mainstream tactics and trends. They didn’t stick to conventions and do what everyone else thought they should do. If they had, they probably wouldn’t have become such household names.
They weren’t afraid to stand out. The very thing that gives misfits a bad reputation is the thing that makes them unique and admirable: they boldly march to the beat of their own drums. They aren’t afraid to go against the grain.
Steve Jobs turned Apple into the powerhouse company it is today. And there’s a reason Apple products are so immensely popular. It’s not because the company created the same products every other company was making. It was because they weren’t afraid to be bold, to stand out. Steve Jobs celebrated differences and encouraged individual artistic expression. And he will be forever remembered for it.
Walt Disney’s brother tried to convince him to become a vacuum salesman, a sensible job, but Walt had other plans. If he had stuck to the safety of a traditional and stable job, the world might not have Mickey Mouse, or Moana, or Disneyworld. And let me tell you, that world would be a darker place!
The point is, if you have a passion, you have to pursue it. If there’s something special about you that makes you stick out, embrace it! The world doesn’t need more people who blend into the crowds. The world needs more people who aren’t afraid to stand out. Because those are the people who will inevitably leave their mark on the world. Those are the people we’ll remember.
Do you want to be remembered? Do you want your chance to stand out? Quit trying to be just like everyone else. You were born for more than that. Be a misfit!