Self-Evident Truths for Business and Life
Walking through a bookstore one day, we saw a metal bookmark with the following quote by Carl Sandburg, “Nothing happens unless first a dream.” This has always been true and will always be true. Without imagination – without dreams – without the desire to be more tomorrow than you are today, you will be exactly where you are now 50 years down the road.
Children love to dream! They can fantasize about anything they want, but as we grow older, for some reason we lose the magic of dreaming. Nothing is worse than a responsible mature adult. Millionaires dream – responsible mature adults do not.
Without dreams, you simply aren’t going to make it. Artificial barriers created by what you believe is being responsible prohibit you from making money, it stops you from realizing your full potential, and it inhibits the very essence of you.
Dreams are free – probably the only thing in life that is. It costs you nothing, it is fun to do, and it opens your mind to possibilities.
We love serious, hard-working clients in their business suits who are made to wiggle their toes in the sand and go back to the basics of dreaming. After all, it doesn’t hurt and is frankly a break in the routine.
We refuse to do our programs at the client’s office. We used to have lovely offices in downtown Raleigh, and we closed them. We discovered that if we met clients in our offices they couldn’t shed the professional ego. If we saw them in their offices, they had to prove to us that they really didn’t need to talk to us; that darn ego again. Either meeting seemed to have at the fore-front a price tag of how much will all this cost me.
We then made a drastic decision. We closed our offices. We offered a free half-day consultation at our home, sitting on the back porch in blue jeans, with an agreement to just talk. We would answer any questions they wanted, and we would give them whatever advice we could during that time. No Commitment. No expectations. Just two or three human beings trying to find out what was important.
It was a brilliant move if we do say so ourselves. We started getting people who were truly interested in looking beneath the professional layer. They would come with hat in hand, enjoy our home, playing with our dog, and talk about what they really wanted out of life. We heard stories of failed marriages, workaholic careers, and even worries of ill parents. The career, the office, or the problems became secondary. By removing them from their normal surroundings of day-to-day responsibilities, we got them to remember what it was like before the responsibility of life took over.
We believe the most common phrase we hear is “but I have responsibilities.” Well no kidding! We all have responsibilities. The difference is not to allow the responsibility to be a barrier. When you take care of yourself, you can take care of others..
The majority of the people we work with forget their responsibility to themselves, so we have implemented this policy. If you want us badly enough, you have to make a personal commitment to resolve something in your personal life. We have probably been responsible for more weight loss programs than Weight Watchers, but it works. We are teaching our clients that they must take care of themselves to take care of others.
We don’t care what you start dreaming but rather that you dream. To define vision, you have to create it in your mind. You have to see yourself as having infinite possibilities. You use words like “when” rather than “if.” You become positive rather than negative because you are excited.
About the Author
Owls were considered creatures of wisdom and Dave Favor and Cheryl Leone are no exception as they write as The Wise Owls. With almost a century of experience together in business and life mentoring, Dave and Cheryl bring a new thought process to owning a business and owning your life. Together they live in Raleigh, North Carolina, and through their parent company own Catalyst Group, Inc., home of Wise Business Leader. Watch for the newest book Gone for The Gold: Self-evident truths for living and working coming soon. Questions? Email the Wise Business Leader (a.k.a. Dave Favor).
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