No problem. What's the trouble?
I'm demotivated.
Why?
I have this vision for my business and people keep telling me I'm crazy.
That's the best kind.
Huh?
You have a vision and no one else sees it, right?
Yup.
And every time you try to explain it, they shoot down your idea.
Yup.
Is it possible you're breaking new ground?
What I'm trying to do doesn't exist.
Did you know that Amazon was originally created to sell books online?
No.
And did you know that Amazon didn't make any money in its first 9 years of business?
No.
And Jeff Bezos was considered crazy because we didn't need an online bookstore. Barnes & Noble existed. You could go to the bookstore and buy the book. And simply put, they only had had to set up a website to sell their books online to complete directly with Amazon.
But Bezos had a crazy plan. He quit his Wall Street job to start Amazon. He didn't want to sell just books. It was the first step on a staircase to heaven.
So people thought Bezos was crazy?
They still do. It's when they stop thinking he's crazy is when he should start to worry.
Ok. So my idea is good?
I didn't say that. But I'm not qualified to bust your dream.
Who is?
No one, except you.
But I'm having a hard time moving forward because these people are killing my dream.
No one can do that to you without your permission. You are giving them too much power over you.
You're hurt because someone shot down your idea. You took it personal. If they would have called you a terrible dad, how would you have felt.
I don't have kids.
Right, so if they called you a terrible father who didn't know how to raise children, what would you think?
I wouldn't care because I'm not a dad.
If a person says something that you know is untrue, you dismiss it. But if they say something that you're not sure of, you demotivate. You're afraid. When someone tells us something that we take the wrong way, it's because at some level, we believe them.
Holy shit. I get it. I'm giving them my power by letting them get into my head. I fight these demons every day and then someone else pulls it out and validates my big fears.
Thatta boy.
All this demotivation has killed my passion.
Where is passion?
I wish I could tell you. I had it, but I don't know where I lost it.
Ok. Fair enough. Let me ask you a different question. Where is the wind?
Outside.
Sure. But can you see it?
Yes. I see it when the leaves ruffle about or the blades of grass shift around.
You see the effects of the wind. You can feel it on your face as it brushes around your cheeks heading toward its destination. You don't see it. But does it exist.
Yes.
So if you go outside with a jar and lid. Can you capture the wind and seal it by closing the lid.
You're losing me. I'm starting to think you're crazy.
What you think of me is none of my business. And I disagree, so what you say about me doesn't affect what I think of myself.
Capturing the wind??? I'm lost.
Take a jar outside and capture the wind, where's the wind?
It's outside.
Exactly. The trees lean, the small hairs on your face dance and the blades of grass sway back and forth. It is the effects of the wind that reinforce in your brain that wind actually exists. Put it in a jar, and everything stops. Open the jar, and the wind doesn't make a whisper as you release it, as if it doesn't exist.
Ok, but what does the wind have to do with passion?
You don't see it. You can't bottle it. Directed properly, you can move mountains.
But I've lost it.
You can't lose passion just like you can't lose the wind. Passion shows up when we do things we love to do. Passion is an effect. It's not the root. If you look for passion, you'll never find it.
How do you know?
I was where you are five years ago. I went looking for passion. And realized that passion was inside of me. It's not something you find. It finds you.
How does it find you?
Go do stuff. Get to work. Move. Passion hates lazy people.
I'm not lazy.
Prove it. Passion parties with persistence.
Passion parties with persistence? I have a lot to think about. Thanks for your time today.
No problem. Never forget: your ideas are yours alone. Try not to allow others into your thinking, unless you respect them enough to act on their advice.
