I’ve recently, well a month ago, come back from a National Entrepreneurs Conference in Birmingham. It was a 2 day event at the ICC with the main hall crammed full of business owners from solopreneurs to multi-millionaires. Guest speakers included Steve Wozniak (or Woz) to his friends (like me, of course) and the absolutely amazingly inspiring Debra Searle. Her talk hit a nerve with me; such was the power of her story. But I’ll share with you just two quotes from these inspiring people,
Firstly from Woz who reminded me to;
‘include a little bit of fun in everything that you do’
Now this is hard for an accountant right? Come off it, since when does a job title dictate a personality? I’d forgot about having fun for a while and everything in life and work got serious, but I’ve since rediscovered what I get enjoyment from so in a FILDI moment I’ve decided on my challenge for next year….I’ll tell you more soon.
Secondly, from Debra. She’s such an amazing woman when you read her story. But that pales into insignificance when you listen to the passion in her voice. My hairs still stand on end when I recall her talk and what she has been through whilst building her business. She’s an adventurer who has turned her adventures into her business. Now that’s a business model I’d like to get involved with, sadly I have a face for radio more than television. Anyway, I digress, her quote, well one of many, but the one I think of each and every day
‘Choose your attitude’
We’re all faced with choices in life, for example, when someone tells you they have Cancer, how do you help them? How do you deal with changes needed that you do not choose yourself? The answer is in your own attitude. Each and every day you wake up and it is you and only you that can choose your attitude for the day.
My choice today was to fix some IT issues, to resolve an on-going Intellectual Property dispute and to blog. The emails are now backed-up as are the data files that I needed. The Intellectual Property issue is now with my lawyer to fire off the first round of papers and my blog, well you’re reading it.
The point is, only YOU can make something happen, only YOU can drive you’re ambition, only YOU can pull yourself up when you’re down and only YOU can get done the things that YOU need to get done. So don’t sit there and wallow in your own self-pity, now matter how low you may be. Wake up and make that decision, choose your attitude and do whatever you need to do.
My biggest barrier over the past month was not wanting to write my blog, I know why, because I’d lost the love to writing Copy. But writing good copy only comes with practice (thanks Creaser), so writing a weekly blog is part of my practice. I’d simply got out of the habit because life and work had got in the way. It happens to us all in business, we are not infallible, but what we can do is choose our attitude each and every day and face the day feeling strong.
My attitude today was FILDI and this blog was brought to you The Prodigy and Firestarter. Why? Because it is my training song to remind me of the pain and suffering I put myself through when looking to achieve my Triathlon and Marathon goals. It reminds me of what I put myself through to achieve those goals and more importantly it reminds me of the feeling of success when I achieve those goals. That is when I’m happy. And now I’m happy because I’ve achieved what I wanted to today, including writing this blog in less than 3 minutes and 47 seconds, so apologies for the grammar and spelling.
Have a dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5WkOuPw
Listen to Debra speak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znYbn46Mies
And if you need to ask about FILDI…..don’t.