I have been thinking about setting up this site for quite some time. Finally, a few weeks ago, my son, Jay jumped in and off we went. Now that it is us, the pressure is on me. What to say? How often to post? How to make this relevent? And how to reflect ME? I decided to just go with it, to post when I can, to not worry about length, perfect grammar or spelling and hopefully not to offend anyone (well, not too many). Those who know me would say that I am never shy or short of something to say. My issue is of my many thoughts, which to write about, how to be concise and should their be an order to my postings? After reflecting about this, which I do often, I knew I wanted to write about optimism.
My DNA makes me an optimist. Even my blood type is B+. No kidding, it really is! I can’t help it. I like being an optimist and I share this all the time. I have many sayings about it too. One of my favorites relates to the glass half full or half empty. In that situation, get a smaller glass! As a problem really is the opportunity for a solution. This is not to say that bad things have not happened to me. Both personally and professionally. The tragic loss of my son, the loss of my father. Both work and client issues over the years. These are things that could have stalled me, stopped me or caused a complete reversal of my attitude. The journey through these events was painful and often times brought me to a place that was dark and negative. But, as I know, my happiness, my being is a function of tomorrow, not yesterday. I think of two of my earliest clients. The first was a brilliant man. A visionary. He was in his mid 70’s, had worked for a large corporation and then spun out his own company. He was respected and was successful. However, at some point, not everything went his way. This isn’t to say he wasnt financially or personally successful, these were smaller items, disagreements with some of his staff and partners, concern over taxes, the government, the economy. Concern over concern over concern…. Endless concern and the loss of hope, about life, about tomorrow. When did this happen? Why did this happen? Is it a function of age? Or some chemical imbalance that popped up? I really don’t know, but, there was a day, month or year that this crept up and changed this man from positive to negative. He left his company, sold his interest and went into a hibernative mode. My regular calls and meetings turned into a few to no calls an visits as his misery grew. Why? The other story is another client. He was about the same age as the first. He was an entrepeneur. I think he both made AND lost more money that most in their lifetimes. Early in our relationship he called and asked how I was doing. I told him that I had a cold, that blah, blah, blah….. complain complain. There was a pause on the phone and then he said told me something that I have never forgot. “Fred, when anyone asks how you are doing, there is just one answer. You are doing GREAT!” He was right. People don’t like to hear negativity, complaining, kvetching. They like hearing you are doing well, positive. That isn’t to say you don’t have bad days, weeks or years. But, sooner or later, I have to crawl out of my place, recognize how I am wired and begin to feel great. The first step for me is saying it. I don’t want to drift into a state of negativity. I don’t want to annoy with complaining. I want to be happy and make other feel good. I want to stay positive! So, how am I doing? I am doing GREAT!! Heck, even my blood type is B+!!