They Told Me I Was Crazy

Commentary: This is a summary of an essay about success. Debbie Allen authored the essay expressing the mistakes she made and points to lessons she learned. Learning from other people is just as important as making your own mistakes. Mistakes are not avoidable. They are put in your path deliberately in order for your personal development.  It is how one handles mistakes that differentiate success from failure.  

Allen had come up in a family own business culture. Her father was enterprising and started many businesses then dumped them into her lap to sustain.  After years of this she decided to leave the family business. She, with no experience in retail, took on a failing women’s apparel store. Everyone was nay-saying that she was doomed for failure. Nonetheless, she had an inner-fire to make all the decisions and own her business 100 percent.  She also had to make 100 percent of the mistakes. The lessons she shared follow:

1.     Have an unstoppable belief system and the commitment to make it work.

2.     Many heads are better than one. Network and build a strategic alliance of mentors, coaches, teachers, and motivator friends.

3.     Luck is a residue of design. One finds luck through opportunities sought and acted upon.

4.     Set big, crazy, and even unrealistic goals to stretch yourself.

5.     When you do what you love and make a difference in lives, you will never have to go to work ever again.

Allen pointed to nay-sayers in her journey.  In another works, The DreamGiver, by Bruce Wilkinson nay-sayers are only one kind of bully in the path to success. According to Wilkinson, as you step out of your comfort zone a variety of obstacles immediately get in the way. The first are the nay-sayers who try to reason and discourage you from pursuing your dreams. Gatekeepers and landlords are next and they block access to the path to success. The nay-sayers, landlords, and gatekeepers are border bullies. Once you get past these loneliness sets in, then faith pulls one through.  There are other obstacles and Wilkinson concludes that life is not meant to be impossible. Life is a journey of growth. Growth is not possible unless you dream and take the risk to pursue those dreams.  

I tend to pick up on lyrics in songs. Aerosmith released a song, “Dream On”, in 1973. The song’s lyrics appeal to the aging process and doing something productive with one’s life. Steven Tyler sings that you learn from fools and from sages, that its everyone’s sin to lose in order to know how to win  before going into the chorus of Dream on, Dream On, Dream on until your dreams come true.Tyler themed persistence.

 Dream on.

References:

Misner, I and Morgan, D. (2004). Masters of success: proven techniques for achieving success in business and life. pp 248-251. Canada.

Wilkinson, B. (2003) The Dreamgiver. Ovation Foundation, Inc. USA