  |
|
HOME Archives Subscription Money Chatter Services Advertise Area Rugs Iphone Shop Iphone Gossip Criticizing Power Selected Sites About Us Contact Terms and Conditions 
|
If Your Business Is In Trouble... Then It's Time To Watch Cartoons By Tatiana Velitchkov © 2002 Many of us have probably heard of Robert Fulghum's best selling self-improvement book: "Everything I Needed to Know I Learned In Kindergarten." And like many other inspirational and "how-to-succeed" books out on the market today, it's the kind that drives home the idea that "everything we needed to learn to become successful, we already knew as kids." "Every child is successful." observe even the facilitators at PSI seminars. "When they want something they cry until they get it, and they don't apologize to anyone for wanting it in the first place. "When they start learning to walk they don't care how many times they fall, and they don't get embarrassed whether a crowd sees them or not. They can walk into a room full of people with their heads held high... even when they're not wearing anything at all!" Of course all that confidence, persistence, and we-can-do- anything attitude usually gets muddled up as we slowly turn into adults, "but it's never too late," assure those how-to-succeed books, and any moment that we start thinking like kids again is the moment that would lead us back to the path of success. But how do we start thinking like little kids without abandoning our responsibilities as adults? (And without -- for that matter -- causing enough suspicion in our family members for them to have us committed?) "That's easy," offers my friend Aileen, who is a writer, a mother, and a facilitator for creativity workshops & seminars. "You just sit down with them and watch cartoons." Which cartoons? Here are 3 excellent "feature-length presentations" to start with, films that have inspired me and other people I know. Rent them out, watch them with kids, enjoy their company & laughter... ....and get ready to learn the "7 Habits of Highly Effective Business People -- Which We All Learned In Kindergarten, Until Someone Moved Our Cheese." =) * LION KING * Summary: Simba is a young lion cub, and ever since he was born he knew that one day he would take his father's place as King of Pride Rock. But his uncle -- who wants the throne for himself -- executes a plan that kills Simba's father, makes Simba feel responsible, and drives the young lion cub away from Pride Rock. As Simba matures and becomes a full-grown lion, he seems to forget his destiny as the future king, and lives a life with "no worries, no responsibilities." But then he realizes that this isn't really the life he wants, and that -- whether he likes it or not -- he has to face his past in order to control & create his future. Lessons: 1) Remember who you are. When we were young we felt that we could do anything, be anything, and we just KNEW that one day we will grow up to accomplish great things. Just because we're all grown up now & have experienced disappointment many times over doesn't mean we can say the kid in us was "wrong." Great minds & powerful leaders throughout history have always believed that everyone has a purpose for being, that each one of us has a contribution to make in this world. And if that's the only thing we remember about who we really are, then it would be enough. 2) The past CAN hurt. But you can either run from it... or learn from it. Thomas Edison made over 3,000 "failed" light bulbs before he came up with one that worked. Instead of letting the experience of multiple failures discourage him, he looked upon them as valuable lessons. In fact, he called them "results." "Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results." Edison said. "I know several thousand things that WON'T work." And because he chose to learn from ALL of them, we now experience the convenience of the electric bulb... and the gift of light. 3) Change is good. Change is the only thing we can be sure of, the one thing that is bound to happen in our lives sooner or later. And whenever it does, it gives us new opportunities to start over, make different choices... and essentially live much better lives than we originally thought possible. * POCAHONTAS * Summary: Pocahontas is a Native American princess who believes it is possible to create peace between her people and the English colonizers. But she faces so many hardships in this lonely cause: her best friend accuses her of turning her back on her people, her fiancé is killed while trying to protect her, and her true love is captured and scheduled for execution by her own father. These are enough to make her seriously doubt all the choices she made, making her feel helpless & lost. Until something assures her she'd been right all along: she HAD chosen the right path, and now that she's sure, the only thing left to do is to follow it. Lessons: 4) Ripples are so small at first, yet look at how they grow. Somebody just has to start them. That crucial first step is always the hardest to make. But once you make it, the job is already half-done. As someone else put it: "Business is like a wheelbarrow. Nothing ever happens until you start pushing." 5) You know your path. Now FOLLOW it! My friend Joe Vitale, in his book "Spiritual Marketing," says that "When you reach a clear inner state of being about your service to the world, the world will come to you." And that's exactly what our mission/path in life should be all about: service. It doesn't even have to be a grand service, or a high profile type of mission. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michael Angelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets as well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say: Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job so well." * HERCULES * Summary: Hercules is a god-turned-mortal, and his one dream is to return to Olympus & rejoin the gods, so he would know what it's like to feel he finally belongs. Phil is a retired hero-trainer, whose one dream is to train the greatest hero of all time -- a hero so great that the gods will hang a picture of him in the stars, and everywhere people will say, "Look! That's Phil's boy!" Together they help each other pursue both visions, and they stop at nothing until their dreams come true. Lessons: 6) Visualize your goal, and do everything you can to get there. Research has proven that athletes who "visualized winning" along with undergoing rigorous training often won over their competition during the actual game. But more than being just a "feel good" positive thinking strategy, this method of visualization & expectation is beginning to gain scientific foundation. Physicists, for example, have recently isolated the subatomic particles that exist in and around everything in the universe. The peculiar thing about these particles is that they seem to take on whatever properties that each scientist studying them expects them to have. This leads to the theory that these particles are the creative building blocks of the universe. And because these particles surround us and compose everything inside and outside of ourselves, then it's now scientifically plausible that whatever we expect to happen WILL happen! So let's all focus on our goals, tell people about them, and visualize ourselves already accomplishing them. This way they'll have better chances for quickly coming true. 7) A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart. This is especially true among us business owners, we who experience disappointments, failures, and setbacks of different measures each and every day. But it's not the number of times that we fall down that matters; it's the number of times we got back up, dusted ourselves, and said, "I'm going to try again." It requires a strong heart to do what we do, and an even stronger spirit to keep at it when everything else seems to pull us down. THAT'S why we need to keep working together, encouraging each other... and passing on the popcorn as we watch more cartoons. © Tatiana Velitchkov About the Author: Tatiana is the publisher of: http://www.TheFortunesEzine.com , the FortunesEzineWeekly at http://www.TakeYourFortune.com, and owner of the traffic-solution slam advertising sites http://www.Guaranteed-Hits.com and http://www.Guaranteed-Hits.net |