It’s not your imagination…happiness isn’t running wild on the hillsides of modern day Corporate America. Hitting the Wal-Mart or convenience store at 6am I’m given a bird’s eye view of what you’re feeling before those two feet hit the pavement leading through the front doors.
Something’s seriously wrong when the orange suited inmates at the local prison shack seem to have it a lot easier.
Stop! There’s no need to whip out and bust open a can of law breaking. That’s the last thing you need to get tangled up in your family history.
Initiative equals happiness. I didn’t say it…author and motivational speaker Seth Godin preaches it.
Fresh, stylish, remarkable and new lead to marketplace rewards. Putting forth the required energy that creates an initiative acts as a guide like that of Willie Wonka showing off his giant chocolate factory to Charlie and his uncle. The candy maker’s life had become long, drawn out and boring until the day he began to hide incredibly large golden tickets inside yummy to the tummy chocolate bars.
Willie took what he knows and made what he owns better.
Seth Godin points out the fastest growing churches are the newest ones. The best selling books are always surprise hits that come out of nowhere. Tax shelters are always based on the latest rulings.
But how can you be fresh, stylish, remarkable and new at a place of business that doesn’t allow you to stretch your hidden away creative wings? I’m always amazed at the number of people who can’t see their image in the bathroom mirror. The moment you stop taking note silence is given permission to grow.
It’s too easy to stop believing in yourself. The most difficult journey of your life is trusting the heart, brain and the legs that have gotten you to where you currently stand. Most of the time the only thing we see are the faces of defeat followed by an easy to convince personal drive that reminds you to stop by using only two words, “What for?”
I openly admit my confidence level dropped dramatically the day I no longer saw my image practicing 2,000 year old martial arts moves in class. When we’d quickly turn and that face would hit the mirrored screen, my eyes instantly shot to the floor sending my shoulders inward which gave permission to my legs to cramp out. Having no faith in a future that comes at us every time the clock ticks turned me into a stale piece of bread that refused to dry up and blow away with the wind. The spirit of martial arts was kept alive but I allowed it to be eaten up by self delivered mold and mildew making any initiative too heavy to carry.
Correcting the situation required me to retrieve what I already own then deciding to make it better. I’ve always hated running. Without it I was weak. I couldn’t win Tae Kwon Do tournaments if the system was willing to give out 45 seconds into a match. Since September I’ve patiently turned a hatred for heart rate risings into a nearly polished tool that can be used in the art of making me a better martial arts student. The techniques of breathing, holding the body, pushing the mind taught at school keep me motivated to reach through the running wall with an end result that’s trimmed 15 pounds off the frame while giving me a noticeably stronger positive appearance in every hallway I walk.
Take what you know and own and make it better. Initiative equals happiness.
But once again, what about places of a business that continuously steal the air from your lungs almost never giving you the opportunity to invite fresh, stylish, remarkable and new to their landscape? It’s their way or the highway. Trust me 32 years of radio broadcast I know where you’re coming from. The last time I had an original idea was the moment I chose career suicide over getting another paycheck.
Life is a business and should be treated as such. Take what you know and own and grow. If the company you work for looks away each time you share an idea, stay cool while being true to you. I’ve yet to meet the man or woman that sits on the edge of their final breath complaining about not catching a break at Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory.
When you start with you…the rest of you will follow. Initiative equals happiness.
In martial arts they teach us wherever the attackers head is…so goes the body.
I will always believe in you first…but not today. This is your day to believe in you first. I’ll be back here screaming, “Yes! I knew you could do it!”
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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