Creating Thanks and Catching Up
November 25th, 2015 // 11:43 am @ Scott Manning
Sure I look forward to the Holidays but probably for different reasons than most. I like to think that I do a pretty good job of staying in touch and showing love and appreciation to my family all through the year, not just on a couple days each month.
But, I do know that the rest of the world goes on ‘pause’ for a few days every time a Holiday passes and it gives me a chance to hit the gas pedal and get some much needed time to catch up.
Oh, of course I’ll have the routine Thanksgiving day celebration and we’ll do our part to try to raise the retail stats for Black Friday. In between all of that, I’ve got undone projects and lists of stuff that’s been waiting. It’s time to practice what I preach when other people slow down, I speed up. I’ll let you know how it goes…the funny thing is, when focused it’s amazing how much one can get accomplished and put into motion.
About Thanksgiving…I find of all things to be thankful for, most aren’t thankful enough about the time they have and the opportunity that’s available. I’m not one to take ANYTHING for granted, but I’m also pretty fatalistic. I’m one of those people who wakes up reminding myself that I’ve now got one less night left, and soon, one less day.
Call me crazy – I’m not negative about it – I look at it as the ultimate appreciation and respect for what we each have to be thankful for. I don’t want to waste what has been given.
See, I believe just waking up is the greatest gift of all, and it so happens to be the one we all have in common regardless of anything else. The rest of the stuff we’ve got to be thankful are a result of the decisions we make and the actions we take.
My rule for Thanksgiving is simple, giving thanks is not a Holiday event but a daily occurrence and the more you practice it, the more things you’ve got to be thankful for.
We call it being self-reliant. Not to take away from all the wonderful things like freedom, family, health, etc, these are all things to be thankful for and never look beyond. But at the end of the day, what separates You, me and us as entrepreneurs is our willingness to take on the responsibility of providing, creating, and sharing reasons, opportunities, wealth, and things in general to be thankful for.
Show me someone who’s a practitioner of “thanks” giving and I’ll show you someone who’s got a lot to be thankful for. No coincidence.
After eating well, loving a lot, and sharing some moments with my family, I’m going to dive into work and follow my personal motto of working when others aren’t and get busy creating more things to be thankful for.
I’ll leave you with two parting thoughts…
We’ve all heard the saying “love is a verb”, not a noun or state of being but an action, one of doing, showing, sharing. At least if you want to stay that way. I think the same for being thankful. A verb, not a day, an event, a noun – but action, one of doing, showing, and sharing.
Give special thanks to your family tomorrow, then make a promise to yourself that Thanksgiving next year might be a ‘family get-together’ but it won’t be the only day you give thanks to those you love.
Lastly, one of my favorite stories of a religious nature, again which you’ve probably heard from me or others…
A Man walking along side a road stops and sees another man working in his garden. The man walking speaks to the other man and says, “you’ve sure been blessed by god with this beautiful garden.”
The man in the garden quickly responds, “no question about it, gods been good to me, but you should’ve seen this garden when he had it all to himself.”
Or something like that.
The point is simple and should be obvious. I’m no religious expert, but I do know God didn’t intend for us to sit back and watch him do the work. Quite the opposite. So think of Thanksgiving like this, your life is your garden… everybody around you is waiting to see what you do with it. You’ve got a lot of people to thank, but start first with yourself. Because until you do something, ain’t no body doing anything for you.
We’re in a position of leadership, power and influence, it’s why I’m often criticized by saying those who’ve got the most give the most, and you can argue all you want, but they do, it’s a mathematical fact. And it’s the law of the universe that can’t be broken…you’ve got because you give, not because you keep.
Allow me to say THANKS to you and know how much I appreciate you. I’d like to give you a little pat on the back that you do deserve. Use your entrepreneurial influence to create more reasons to be thankful to yourself, and you’ll be giving everybody around you more to be thankful for.
Enjoy the Holiday, your family, the food, and get out there and spend some money and help fuel the Holiday Season off to a good start. It’ll thank you for it in ways you’ll never know.
Category : Blog
