Life – A series of near misses

I’m currently reading a book by Howard Schultz who is the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks; it’s titled “Pour Your Heart Into It – How Starbucks built a company one cup at a time“. It’s a book about how he was introduced to the company when it was just a retail store selling bagged coffee beans! He talks about his journey from a young boy who was brought up in the projects of Brooklyn, New York to the employee of a coffee store; and about Starbucks’ journey from a small retail store in the heart of Seattle to the multi-billion dollar empire around the globe that it is today. It is a fascinating account, especially because it’s right from the horse’s mouth!

Towards the beginning, he talks about how he had gone from New York City to Seattle to meet the owners of Starbucks to interview for a position and help in the shaping of the growing company. After the dinner meeting, the next day he received a call declining the offer. Howard Schultz at this point, mustered up all the passion he had about the company and protested and somehow convinced the owners how he could offer everything Starbucks was looking for etc, etc. Long story short – he got that job. And he writes the following:

A whole new world had just opened up in front of my eyes, like the scene in The Wizard of Oz when everything changes from black and white to color. This barely imaginable dream was really going to happen…

In the fifteen years since then, I’ve often wondered: What would have happened had I just accepted his decision? Most people, when turned down for a job, just go away.

Similar scenarios have subsequently played out in my life, in other setting and with other issues. So many times, I’ve been told it can’t be done. Again and again, I’ve had to use every ounce of perseverance and persuasion I can summon to make things happen.

Life is a series of near misses. But a lof of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It’s seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It’s seeing what other people don’t see, and pursuing that vision, no matter who tells you not to.

In daily life, you get so much pressure from friends and family and colleagues, urging you to take the easy way, to follow the prevailing wisdom, that it can be difficult not to simply accept the status quo and do what’s expected of you. But when you really believe – in yourself, in your dream – you just have to do everything you possibly can to take control and make your vision a reality.

No great achievements happen by luck.

I’m just about done with the book, but all I can say that it is facinating to read how a gigantic corporation like Starbucks got started and it is amazing to trace through its developments and understand yet again that any successful endeavor requires hard work, blood, sweat and tears!

As it’s rightly said, Rome was not built in a day.

A Moment in Time

Every once in a while there comes a moment, just a brief moment in time that puts everything in life into a different frame of reference. Every now and then will be a moment that will change completely the way you think. It will exhilarate and excite you because you had never realized something till then, when all that time it has been right smack in front of your face. That one moment in time changes your perspective and adds another arrow to the quiver of our belief system. Something that makes your heart skip a beat and exclaim – Woah! That one moment – one minuscule moment – gives your thought process the much needed sense of direction that you’ve been searching for. It seems to be the answer and provide explanations to things that happen in your life, in your career, in your business and in your relationships. It also provides explanation for things that are not happening in life! It seems to give you that one ingredient that was missing from the recipe of life that would have added the thrill and the excitement that comes with success and empowerment and effective leadership and better relationships.

Just one moment …

For me that one moment was last night. I qualified to attend a leadership training yesterday. Of the twelve hours of the most fantastic teachings from the country’s most knowledgeable leaders, there was one moment at about 9:15PM that, I can say without a shadow of doubt, has transformed my life and my way of thinking. I will obviously not elaborate on the content of that moment as it will not make any sense out of context.

It takes just one moment to change your life – provided you have an open mind and a happy heart.

… only One moment!