I think I'm getting taller

October 3, 2012

Have you ever attended a Little League baseball game? My youngest son is 11 and plays on a local team. He absolutely loves it. This year he’s playing third base, and every now and then he pitches. I enjoy watching him play with the exception of the hard wood benches that the parents sit on during the game. Even though its Little League the kids take it pretty seriously. As a spectator I often find myself passing the time observing the mindsets of the different kids on the field. How they react when they get a hit or make a great play and even how they react when they strike out.

I recently attended a game that was quite interesting. It looked like my son’s team was playing the NY Yankees. The other kids hit every ball to the fence and their pitchers threw fast balls, curve balls, and even a breaking ball. They were really good and my son’s team lost 9-0. If you are familiar with the movie the Bad News Bears that’s how my son’s team played that day. Two kids on his team actually ran into each other in the outfield and the ball dropped in between them. Every kid struck out that day including my son. On two different occasions the ball was hit to third base, and as my son bent over to scoop it up the ball went in between his legs. The first time it happened he looked confused and the second time I thought I noticed a little smile on his face.

The game ended with a boy on my son’s team striking out. The winning team threw their gloves in the air and cheered. The only sound louder came from the kid who was next to bat on my son’s team. Since the game ended right before he came up to bat he put both hands in the air and yelled, “Yes!!! I didn’t make the last out!” He appeared to be the only happy player on the team. Several kids were crying and most had their heads down including the coach who seemed a bit embarrassed. Then I noticed my boy with a smile on his face congratulating the other team. In the car ride home we called my wife so she could get a baseball update directly from the source.

I put her on speaker phone and her first question to Hayden was “How was the game?” Without missing a beat Hayden said, “It was a great game for the other team.” My wife laughed and I looked to see if he was being serious or sarcastic. Surprisingly, he was seriously happy for the other team. Then my wife asked for the score; when she heard they lost 9-0 she asked if he still had fun. He didn’t even hesitate when he said, “Mom, I got to play baseball today for over 90 minutes, how could that NOT be fun.” Lastly she asked him how he did. First he said that he struck out twice and he needs to work on becoming a better hitter - he’s looking forward to batting practice. Then he looked at me with excitement and said, “Hey Dad, did you see those two balls that went right through my legs?” I told him I did and he said, “Isn’t that great…I think I’m getting taller!” He sure found a way to focus on the positives that day.

There’s a saying that you can’t control the circumstances in your life but you can control how you react to them. All of the kids on my son’s team were at the same game but they choose different ways to experience it. It really comes down to your mindsets. You’ve probably experienced this in your own life. When you choose to focus on situations that make you sad, angry, or disappointed then you end up finding more reasons to be upset. However, if you focus your energy on what is positive, even the upside of a down situation, then you begin to experience more positives in your life. As you go through your day, remember how lucky you are that you get to pursue your dreams. With this type of mindset you will always win the game of life, no matter what the current score is.

Until next week…

Live Your Dreams

Sometimes you have to change lanes to get where you want to go...

September 26, 2012

"I've been shot! The crazy kid shot me. He shot me two times - once in my leg and once near my hip. He wasn't tryin' to kill me but he was sendin' a message for sure. Any other day, I woulda destroyed him. I woulda used my own gun on him. I woulda sent him a message, and it woulda been final. Ya don't mess with Mike. I will end you. But not today. Today was different. Today I decided I was leavin' the gang. Today is the beginning of a new future. No more runnin' from the cops. No more lyin' to my mother about where the money comes from. I'm out. They'll find a new leader. The price to get outta the gang was bein' shot by this crazy new kid who wants to join. So be it. These wounds will be a reminder of an old life - one I'm done living." After Michael finished that long rant he looked me straight in the eyes and said, "So Scotty, what are you gonna teach today? I'm ready to learn." I could hardly believe what I was hearing as 18 year old Michael told me his story at the beginning of class.

I was in my early twenties when I first met Michael. I was teaching a youth entrepreneurship class in a part of New York City known as "Hell's Kitchen." Michael was a tough kid sitting in the front row. I asked if anyone knew how to spell entrepreneur and Michael raised his hand. I gave him a piece of chalk and he completely massacred the word on the board. What I loved about him immediately was his willingness to take a risk. Little did I know that he was the leader of one of the most ruthless gangs in NY - The Decepticons. Michael was eager to learn about business. He had amazing street smarts which easily translated to business smarts. Two months later, he decided to leave the gang. Apparently, leaving isn't as easy as you and I might think. In order to leave, he had to get shot. Not with a fatal intent but certainly to deter defectors and to remind him to keep his mouth shut.

When I asked Mike what he was passionate about he told me he always loved elevators. He loved the mechanics that enabled them to work. He regularly complained that all the elevators in the housing project where he lived were broken. No repair men would come onto the property because they would get mugged. Michael had an idea. He would become an elevator repairman. After all, who would dare try and mug him. He asked me how he could start his own elevator repair business. I suggested he first get a job working as a repairman to see if he liked it and to also learn the trade. Michael called for an interview and was told there was a long waiting list and it could take months to even get an appointment. He didn't let that deter him. He asked to speak with the president of the company and the receptionist said that wasn't possible.

The next day, Michael put on a business suit and went to the parking lot of the Otis Elevator Company at 6 AM. He found out that the president gets their early everyday around 6:30 in the morning. When the president arrived he was surprised to see a well-dressed teenager waiting at the door. Michael told him he knew the business didn't open until 8, but he came early to meet with him. He explained his passion for elevators, his ideas about expanding repair service to the toughest neighborhoods, and his burning desire to learn the business-even at an entry level position. The president took out one of his business cards, scribbled a note on the back, and handed it to Mike. He told Mike to come back when they open and to give the business card to the front desk manager. With that, they shook hands and parted ways. Mike's heart was pounding as he looked at the business card and turned it over. He was stunned as he read the two words that the president wrote on the back of the card..."Hire him." To make it official, the president signed his name.

What's your burning desire? What old ways are you willing to part with because they don't serve you anymore? It takes courage to make a change in your life. It's not too late. It's never too late!

Until next week...

Live Your Dreams 

Passions into Dreams

September 19, 2012

Johnny was a tough little kid. He often tugged on the braids of the girls in his class. He wasn’t interested in school and his grades were poor. At the age of five, Johnny got into a fight on the school playground and was suspended. The teachers thought he was simply acting out because his father was away from home so often and his mother didn’t know how to discipline him. As he got older he was too much to handle and his mom sent him to live with his aunt and uncle. Johnny felt depressed and turned to his love of music for comfort.

Tragedy struck when Johnny was 17 and his mother was killed in a car accident. Once again he turned to his guitar for comfort. One day on the bus ride to school he heard that another kid lost his mother to cancer. That kid was James and he was only 15. Johnny felt bad and sat next to him on the bus. They shared a similar interest in guitars and the two of them started playing chords and making up lyrics.

They had an idea to form a band but they needed one more person. James recommended his friend George, but George was only 14 and Johnny thought he was too young. They couldn’t find anyone else so George was in. They called themselves Johnny and the Moondogs. They weren’t that good, but they loved to play, and they practiced a lot more than they did their homework.

The three guys played cover songs at school events, church outings, and in a little coffee shop owned by the mother of their friend Pete. Pete played the drums and when he joined the band they changed their name to The Quarrymen in honor of the local Quarry where none of the boys wanted to work. They made a pact to keep practicing so they could eventually get paid to play music. No one hired them because they were just kids, but Pete’s mom, in an effort to keep her son off the street, allowed them to keep playing at her coffee shop.

A few years later they were hired to play at a nightclub. Even though the money wasn’t that much, Johnny believed it was a sign of positive things to come. They asked their friend Stu to come along and now the band had five members. The good times didn’t last that long because George was arrested and sent home for being under age…he was only 17 at the time and it was illegal for him to perform in a nightclub. The guys went home too and continued to practice clinging to the thought that their day would come.

Johnny and James wrote a song and a local radio station agreed to play it. The song was pretty catchy and the guys got an appointment with a record label, but the label turned them down saying they didn’t like their music, and noting that guitar music was on the way out. However, that song kept getting played and it wasn’t long before “Love Me Do” was a smash hit. After a few more adjustments to the band, their lives were about to change. Stu decided he would rather pursue being an artist and Pete was replaced. The final four included John Lennon, James Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr and with one more name change, they became forever known as The Beatles. Within four years Beatlemania swept the world and in addition to living their dreams, the friends all became millionaires.

It’s estimated that the Beatles practiced for over 10,000 hours before they became famous. That’s the equivalent of working 40 hours per week for 5 years. Not many people are willing to work that hard to achieve their dreams. Most of us want our lives to change without the effort and persistence that is required. As journalist Sydney Harris put it, “Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.”

The process that transforms a band into the Beatles is the same process that transforms your passions into your dreams. When you do what you love and you maintain a burning desire to succeed, it rarely feels like work. 10,000 hours becomes a journey of joy and it often leads to what others call an overnight success.

Until next week…

Live Your Dreams

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

July 5, 2012

Today is the 4th of July and in America we celebrate Independence Day. For many people it’s a holiday and a time to cherish freedom. I believe that the greatest freedom we have is the opportunity to control our own thoughts. As I’ve said before, if you change your mindset you can change your life. There are now over 2 million people around the world who receive these weekly stories. I’ve decided to re-run one of the fan favorites from last year. For many of you, this story is new. For those who have read it before, I encourage you to read it again. This is a story of freedom and not just living the American Dream but of how to live any dream…

Harry stood out from the other kids. He seemed to have more street smarts than book smarts. Perhaps that’s what develops when you grow up poor. Harry’s grandfather was in the garbage removal business and many people looked down on him for that. Harry’s own father didn’t want anything to do with garbage removal so he steered clear of it. But Harry was different; he liked everything about the big trucks and didn’t mind getting dirty.

Very few people aspire to become garbage men and Harry decided to pursue college instead. To help pay for school he pumped gas at a local station and drove a dump truck part time. He quickly learned that he really wasn’t cut out for college. He loved to play practical jokes and one time he got in trouble for bringing a baby alligator into the college dorm. At the start of his sophomore year, Harry decided to drop out. He joined the Army and after a few years he still felt lost. It was time for him to pursue his passion, no matter what others thought about him.

At the age of 25, Harry started working in a garbage removal business. He lived in South Florida and the region was experiencing significant growth. Harry saw an opportunity to go into his own business. His family was poor and he didn’t have much money either, having just recently married. He had an idea and he made an offer to the owner of the garbage company. He asked if he could buy just one old garbage truck and the collection route for 20 customers. The owner decided to sell him one of the oldest trucks he owned and a list of customers in a lower income part of town. Harry was able to borrow $5,000 from his father-in-law.

One of Harry’s friends from high school saw him driving the garbage truck and thought he must have hit rock-bottom. Harry would drive the truck from 2:30 in the morning until noon, picking up garbage throughout the day. Then he would spend the afternoons knocking on doors trying to get new customers. His hard work paid off. Little by little he would add more customers and then buy another used truck and hire a driver. In a few years, Harry accumulated over 40 trucks and then he merged his business with another garbage removal company in Chicago.

Harry had an even bigger idea. He decided to buy smaller garbage companies all over the United States and roll them into one big company. By the time he was 37; Harry Wayne Huizenga (pronounced High-zinga) was a multi-millionaire and owned the largest garbage removal business on the planet, Waste Management, Inc. Over the span of twelve years, he had acquired over 150 garbage companies and his stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

A dozen years later, Wayne (he goes by his middle name) ventured into a new business but used the same strategy. He bought a small video rental chain for $7 million and then started acquiring hundreds of mom and pop video stores. In less than ten years Wayne owned over 3,700 stores and his company, Blockbuster Video, was valued at over $4 billion. Blockbuster was the second company Wayne took to the New York Stock Exchange. He later sold Blockbuster to Viacom for over $8 billion.

I met Wayne shortly after the sale to Viacom. We were mutual friends with Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, and the three of us met to discuss youth empowerment. Wayne told me about his latest venture called AutoNation, the first national chain of car dealerships. He eventually grew AutoNation to 370 stores and they became the first car dealership to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. Wayne is also the only person to have owned three professional sports teams, football’s Miami Dolphins, baseball’s Florida Marlins and hockey’s Florida Panthers.

I still remember Dave Thomas joking that Wayne did pretty good for himself, especially for a garbage man. This reminds me of the saying that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. How often do we let other people’s opinions get in the way of our own dreams? It’s time to embrace the 100% Accountable mindset and take out the head trash stored between our own two ears. Simply put, find what you love and pursue it with passion.

Until next week…

Live Your Dreams