Chapter One
"Don’t Just Sit There, Do Something!"
"Even
if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."
-- Will Rogers
I always liked the story of
the faithful man who prayed day after day for months on end that he might
win the lottery. He prayed with passion, conviction, dedication, and hope.
He was not the least bit deterred when months of prayer became years of
prayer without any success. The man did not win the lottery – not
even a small prize – not even once. Finally, in a state of great
hopelessness, he turned to the skies and shouted, “God, I am a good
and faithful man. I never harmed anyone. I worship and pray regularly.
All I have ever asked of you is to let me win the lottery, just one time!”
Suddenly, there was a loud clap of thunder and a booming voice replied
from the heavens: “Hey! Meet me halfway here. Buy a ticket, already!”
The fifteenth century writer
Sir Thomas More gave voice to a much wiser and more realistic version
of this same prayer, “The things, good Lord, which we pray for,
give us the grace to labor for.” The wisdom of this prayer is that
it recognizes that success in life is not just handed to you -- rather,
you have to participate in your own success.
Success is not something that
just happens to some people and doesn’t happen to others. Each of
us must be willing to take personal responsibility for the design and
construction of our lives – at home, at work, and in all other aspects
of our lives. If we are not successful, then we must be willing to hold
ourselves accountable. Blaming others for our own lack of success has
never achieved anything. In short, we must become active participants
in the creation of our own success.
There are many different doorways
to success. What should you do to be successful? For a start, just do
what’s right in front of you right now. If you’re in a boat,
for example, you need to row that boat. You don’t just row it once,
you need to row, row, and row it consistently. If, for example, you want
your work environment to be a joyful place that nourishes both you and
your co-workers, then you have to be active and energetic in making that
happen. Few things can help us more in our lives than realizing that we
don’t just play a minor role in the story that is our lives. We
have the lead role and what happens is monumentally influenced by the
reality that we create.
A perfect example of this truth
is illustrated in a story my friend Rick Curwin told me. Rick is a management
consultant who travels virtually everywhere with his adorable lapdog,
Otis. One day while taking a walk through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco,
Rick spotted a woman relaxing against a large boulder. She was, he said,
the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. As Rick looked around more
carefully, he noticed a group of people huddled around a battery of lights
set up to illuminate a nearby outcropping of rocks, and he realized that
this woman must be a professional model on a break from a photo shoot.
“Normally a woman like
that wouldn’t even give me the time of day,” Rick confided
to me, “She had that kind of ‘Don’t bother me, I’m
bored with you already, I’m too cool to exist,’ look in her
eyes. She definitely knew that she was one of the ‘Beautiful People.’
I wanted to meet her, but I figured I would just walk on by. Then, I happen
to think about my secret weapon--- my dog, Otis! When Otis bats his long
eyelashes at you, he is irresistible.”
Sure enough, as Rick approached the woman with Otis in the lead, her eyes
lit up at the sight of the little dog waddling towards her. She bent down
to pet him. “What an adorable dog!” she exclaimed.
“If you can guess my
dog’s name I’ll buy you dinner tonight,” Rick said playfully.
“I’m not interested,”
replied the model.
“That’s right!
You got it! That’s his name!” responded Rick enthusiastically.
There was a brief moment of
suspicious silence between them, and then the model began laughing. “I’m
still not interested!” she said emphatically through her laughter.
“Maybe I didn’t
get a date with this gorgeous woman,” Rick told me later. “But
I had fun, and she did, too. And in truth I probably had more fun in those
few minutes than I would have had if she had actually agreed to go out
on a date with me. Besides that, I saved the price of a fancy meal!”
Rick’s story shows how
easy it can be for us to create joy and laughter in our lives if we can
remember not to just sit there but instead, to do something. One of the
things that I appreciate about this story is that it demonstrates that
when we bring happiness to ourselves and others, we just keep on reaping
the benefits. As Rick recounted his tale to me, I could tell that he was
experiencing great joy in the re-telling of the story. Once a playful
interaction has passed, it can live on many more times in the retelling.
Some might argue that Rick
was not successful with the woman at all; yet, as Rick told me the story,
it certainly sounded like success to me. Rick’s attitude was one
of triumph rather than failure, and the attitude that we have about our
experiences is a much better indication of our success than any other
measure.
Every person’s life has
a unique formula for creating success. This book will help you answer
important questions about how to construct your own variety of success,
happiness, and joy in your life, and especially your life at work. In
these pages you will discover your own answers to many questions.
How am I going to produce the
kind of success that I am really after?
What am I going to do to generate
more happiness in my life?
How can I craft a reality that
will bring me peace and joy in my life everyday?
What am I going to do to get
actively involved in creating more success in my life and at work?
How can my life be a dream
come true?
You’re in the boat. It’s
time to row!
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