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Most of us, when we started our business, the very thought of even starting a business seemed like a Herculean task. Frankly, that’s only because it hadn’t been done before for most of us. Many of you have served as literal pioneers in what you’re bringing to the market.
I’m sure that when Ben Franklin discovered the electrical effects of lightening, he thought it was a pretty big deal at the time as well. However, the availability of electricity is a very common assumption for most of us all over the world nowadays. In fact, I’m so accustomed to it, that on those rare occasions when it does go off during a storm or something, I find myself thinking, oh well, I’ll just watch some TV while I wait for the power to come back on. (Do any of you do that too?)Anyway, while we’re not disputing the value of electricity in our lives, we do have to recognize that it wasn’t the top of the mountain, or the ultimate accomplishment, so to speak. So much more has been done to generate power, and ease and convenience in our lives since then, right? And we all realize that we have to learn to walk prior to running. However, most of us mistakenly give ourselves way too long of a trial period for walking before we attempt to run. And in doing so, we limit the amazing ripple effect that could have been realized, had we pushed sooner or harder. We hesitate to participate in a bigger league or broader scope of possibilities. What I’m teaching you here is that we need to be acceptant of larger and more successful beginnings. There’s always a beginning- But the beginning is perfectly capable of BEING GREAT! Beginnings need not be feeble, sub-standard, or insignificant. I worked in a print shop when I was 13, and I always came across interesting printed matter. One customer had a bumper sticker printed up just for her, and I have NEVER forgotten it, because I found it to be so profound. “Just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t after me.” Just because someone is new doesn’t mean they can’t do a good job. Just because we do make mistakes, doesn’t mean we’re not competent.
Michelangelo is well known for his work on the Sistine chapel… what you may not know, is it wasn’t because of his experience in painting that made this wonder of the world so magnificent!
He was from Florence, Italy. In those days the Pope could basically just demand that you do such and such. If you did not perform, you would be imprisoned without a second thought and for the rest of your life!
What most people do not know is that he was NOT a painter. He was a sculpturer! He was still required to do this task though. So he took a mere 3 months of painting training, and he then went to work and painted the Sistine Chapel! Isn’t it interesting that reality would suggest that those who TRAINED Michelangelo would be better suited for this task. But no. The burden was laid on Michelangelo to perform superbly. I suppose he could have done an “OK” job. I suppose he could have excused the absence of a perfect painting to the fact that this was after all, his first attempt. But he was armed with this TRUTH. There’s always a beginning. But a beginning is not an excuse, reason, or cause for a sub-standard performance. Even though many of us are “beginning” a new path, a new career, perhaps even a new workout regime or other discipline, it need not be feeble. It can be splendid!
Those of you who have the privilege of being parents- When you first held your brand new baby in your arms, didn’t you find yourself saying “Oh, he or she is so “Perfect”?! This little bundle of joy is merely at the beginning of their life. And yet most of us look at them and hold them and see just how perfectly beautiful they are. Is not this indicative of the truth that beginnings can be fabulous?
Walt Disney first created Disneyland. It was a massive undertaking. He was scoffed at and scorned for dreaming so big! Millions of individuals have attended that theme park over the last 50 years? with a critical, even cynical perspective, and yet millions have been converted to it’s magic… to his belief that a beginning effort can be wonderful! He then went on to prove that it wasn’t a fluke! He did it again, even better with Disney World! Guess what. Euro Disney was not so successful when it first opened. Even as great as the other two Disney park ventures were, it didn’t mean that they all were going to be great and wildly successful. But that doesn’t lessen the success of their beginning, right?George Washington was the first ever General of the United States as well as the very first U.S. president! And what a fabulous job he did in both of those capacities.
Don’t get me wrong…Michelangelo, Child Birth, Walt Disney, George Washington- all of these involve a great deal of labor and challenges. But they are STILL worth it, right?. And they can still be amazing. There’s no rule that says a beginning has to be mediocre.
There will be all of these same challenges inherent in a project that doesn’t start out so wonderful as well.
We are all plagued with some type of malfunctions- but does that mean that we are in any way programmed for failure simply because we are new at something or “just” a small business owner? Believing in beginnings is actually critical to your happiness and success. Because if you allow yourself to perceive otherwise then you can and WILL always blame someone or something or some circumstances in your life for you mistakes, shortcomings, etc, and then you will ALWAYS perform less than you are truly capable of. Remember, “there are no victims, only volunteers.”
We can’t bar ourselves from doing something new because it’s imperative to our success as business owners. We’ve got to be willing to forge ahead in order to stay relevant to our customers. We can’t afford to tell ourselves that we’re not even going to try because of fright, intimidation or some other reason, because in a lot of cases in today’s economy, we may be ignoring our only shot at playing in the game. As Robert Ringer says, “If life’s a game, we might as well play hard to win.” Why NOT have fun and try to win?
*********** That’s all of it that I got permission to share for now. I strongly recommend that if you’re an entrepreneur, you register as a primary member of 3M Mastermind. It’s free! And their monthly training webinars are excellent! Just go to http://www.3mmastermind.com/
Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.
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