#lizards #WhatYouWereBornToDo #DoForOthers
If someone put a lizard (toy ) in your lasagna, would you: 1) go eeeuuu? 2) wonder why someone would do such a thing or, 3) just laugh?
Sam Glenn’s mother did that to him. He laughed. If it got him to laugh, his mother told him, then the idea worked.
Glenn’s story is one of creating a new life from having nothing. After having hardly a dime to his name, and feeling sorry for himself, Glenn today is a successful motivational speaker and author.
His book, as you might guess, is titled “Who Put A Lizard in My Lasagna?: Change Your Attitude, Change Your life.”
His mantra: “Talking about it never gets the job done. Doing does. Go do what your were born to do! Live the life your were born to live. Don’t look back in regret. Look back and say, ‘I’m glad I did.’ That is living.”
So it begs the question: how does one KNOW what he or she was born to do? As Glenn advises, don’t think about what you can do for YOU. Think about what you can do for others.
“I began learning long ago that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others,” Glenn quotes Booker T. Washington.
The back cover of Glenn’s book says it best: “Determine your unique gifts and then apply them to where you are right now, with a positive attitude. The result? You’ll begin to experience more of what you want in life by using the best of who you are.”
Again, how does one know what he or she was born to do?
We mostly get ideas of our talents from parents, teachers and other adult influencers as children. “You’re not good with your hands, so you need to do something with your head,” a mother might tell her son. “A woman’s job is to get married, raise a family and be supportive of her husband and children,” a mother might tell her daughter.
Then, as we grow, we get guidance on what our abilities truly are. Athletes figure out they are good athletes fairly early on. Students find out they are good students early in their education. But if you turn out to be a good athlete, or a good student, how far will that take you? In either case, it won’t take you very far if you don’t work at it.
Even if you do, you may find the competition more difficult at every level. You will reach your level of incompetence, perhaps, at a fairly young age. The few who combine ability with hard work will go furthest.
What if you are not a good athlete, or a particularly good student? How does one in that category find what he is “born to do?”
He or she may have to look harder and longer, but even he or she will eventually find his passion.
If you are someone still looking for what you were born to do, you may have to look in places you would not think to look. For one starting place, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You may not find what you were “born to do” there, but you might find something that could give you a taste of success as you look for your passion, as you help others in the process.
Sam Glenn built his success from having nothing, and looking for something. His catalyst was borrowing $200 to attend a motivational seminar, featuring Jim Rohn and Mark Victor Hansen – two of the best motivators and success builders ever.
Anyone can do what Glenn did, if he or she has the will. If you are content to have nothing and do nothing about it, you’ll reap what you sow. The road to success begins with the mindset that one can achieve what he wants. Finding what you were born to do, and doing it, can give birth to great success for anyone. As you help others succeed, success will continue to be bestowed upon you.
Peter