Daily Mood Quotes
Day 83 – July 25, 2011
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
~Mark Twain
Everyone has the potential for greatness, even me. But in my experience, few in positions of authority want to acknowledge the potential of someone else. Not because they don't believe in them, but because they don't want anyone else to believe in them. I find that to be very sad. At every job I have ever had, there always seemed to be someone who felt threatened by my skills, my knowledge even my ability to keep things confidential. I was always the one people would talk too, share information with and ask advice from. I could keep my mouth shut and others knew that intuitively. Maybe, it comes from a phrase I heard so often in the military, “loose lips sink ships,” An old but true axiom. I don't know, but I have always believed that gossiping was disrespectful. “They aren't my stories and information to tell” (thank you Reese Witherspoon of Legally Blonde). Anyway, when people would gossip outside my office door, ofttimes they would embellish the stories, to make themselves sound better or just to hear themselves speak and the person they were gossiping about sound more like an idiot. I would close my door, because I usually knew the truth and felt it was improper to participate in such disrespectful behavior. If that is how people get ahead in this world, then count me out.
In the movie, Working Girl, Tess McGill (played by Melanie Griffith) said to Oren Trask, (Philip Bosco) “You can bend the rules plenty once you get to the top, but not while you're trying to get there. And if you're someone like me, you can't get there without bending the rules.” So my question is, which is the lesser of the two evils? Or, is this what they call “nothing personal its just business?” Nice dodge (rationalization) but “personal” bad behavior that hurts others is still wrong, in business or not. It erodes the foundation of our lives like an acid.
So, as we start another work week, I'm still unemployed because I followed the rules. I am everything an employer ever wanted and everything they never wanted. An honest person (what they're looking for) won't cheat the books, bend the regulations, look the other way when bad things are dumped into the trash, tolerate unhealthy work conditions, or fall for the line, “It's just business”, (what they really want). I understand that this type of bipolar business behavior has probably always been this way, especially since government deregulation. But, it has become epidemic. When my husband and I started a business 15 years ago, the one things we promised to do was “To do it by the book.” We wanted to be the employer we always wanted to worked for. To incorporate legally, pay our taxes, honestly without shaving, in short, to do it right. Then, the very first piece of advice from our very first accountant was, “Don't incorporate, because you can get Social Security advantages and pay less taxes if you just remain a sole proprietorship, this is how business is done.” Despite our initial misgivings, we acquiesced. That advice eventually killed our business and us financially. He was a “small thinker” and conned us into thinking small too. Fifteen years later, after being audited twice, our savings pilfered by the next accountant we hired and a surprisingly heavy tax debt, that brilliant small minded advice, turns out to be not-so-brilliant. We should of trusted our own instincts. My husband says, this is the great regret of his life.
I guess the point I am trying to make here is, trust yourself and trust that “feeling” in your belly. If it feels wrong, it is. If your questioning expert advice, take it from my husband (an MBA with 30 years in business), there are no experts. Only people who sell themselves as experts. Trust your gut, think big even when people belittle your ambitions, or want you to “go small.” And...question everything the “experts” tell you. The path to success begins in you heart, not in the hands of others.
What are your ambitions today?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
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