A friend of mine Homer H. Hillis sent me the most wonderful book a while ago called Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads by Roy Williams. I read and re-read and re-read it whenever I need a fresh perspective. It's effin' brilliant. Life changing. Get a copy. Seriously.
In one of the essays the author suggests that you do not have to answer every email. In fact, he only answers a small percentage of them. That is something I really took to heart. We don't owe everyone our time. In this age of hyper connection it can be easy to forget that. Our time belongs to us. We can spend it as we see fit. We can give back in a myriad of ways without compromising our ability to make the money to pay the rent.
If we spend hours every day answering every email, text message, phone call, Facebook message, wall post comment, blog comment...where is the time to do the thing we love? The thing we love feeds our soul and more importantly pays our bills. We can give back by doing what we love with passion and joy. Then others will see that it is possible. If they want to see you as a bad guy because you won't stop working and devote your attention to helping them figure out how to do what they love and make a living, that's their problem.
Six years ago I was a woman at the end of her rope. I had lost everything. I had tried everything. I was completely and utterly out of answers.
I sat down at my little crappy computer in our tiny kitchen between the refrigerator and the stove and I began creating a new reality. I barely knew how to use my email. I was completely computer illiterate, but I learned. I didn't have money, but I knew I was smart, creative and tenacious and I believed in myself. That's what it takes to succeed. I'm still not rich, not by a long shot. We still struggle to make the bills and there are often things that knock me to my knees, but I know I'm on to something here. Something I made all by myself. I'm proud to say that. I had no road map or compass or guide or sherpa, I just got up every single day and made it up. I'm still making it up. So can you.
If you want easy answers, you'll find them hard to come by. If you want success, you're going to have to work really f*&%ing hard. There will be days you feel like folding. There will be days you feel like crawling into a cave and never coming out. But then there will be days it all comes together with such total serendipity you'll feel like you won the lottery, but you'll know it's because you dreamed big and you worked hard. That, my friend, is a mighty good feeling.
The more you expand, the more other people who live in a state of lack and fear will be threatened. I can't believe how crappy people can be when you start to create success. It's sad, really. You may find yourself with a lot fewer 'friends' as they drop away as you ascend. So be it. They weren't your friends anyway. You'll also probably find yourself with a lot of new friends, but unfortunately many of them will have an agenda. Just remember that. Everyone has an agenda. Your real friends are the ones who are there for you when you're soaring high and when you're down and out.
I am out of time to answer every email or message or question. I am sorry that I can't do that anymore, but I have to pay my bills. I've answered most of these questions again and again here in my blog and on my website. My best advice is, stop looking for magic beans and start making your own magic. It is entirely up to you. I wish you joy and success and most of all I wish you love. That's what's real. The rest is just what we do to pass the time.
If you want it badly enough, you will make it happen.
Love
Madge
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