We all do it. We put things off and sometimes years can go by and we still haven’t done the deed. We figure the thing will always be there when we get to it. The trouble is that’s not always true.

I’d been wanting a Cosco stool like the one we had at work. It was a folding two-step stool but the biggest draw for me was that you could pick it up with one hand and it would immediately fold up. This stool did not have a locking mechanism and the movement was so loose and free that you didn’t need to push it closed.

I wanted one. Badly. The trouble was I wanted one EXACTLY like the one at work which was Hunter Green, the perfect color to match our kitchen. None of the local stores sold them in any color but I found one on the internet. It was white so I did not order it holding out for a green one.

Two years passed and I’d given up on finding a green one so I went to the website to order the white one. It wasn’t there. I searched the internet high and low to discover that Cosco was no longer making the easy-close step stool and neither was anybody else as far as I could tell.

I even called them on the phone. I guess all it takes is a couple of careless people to misuse an item and cause themselves harm and the next thing you know, safety features are forced on the rest of us that we don’t want such as auto-locking step stools.

I know it sounds silly, the quest for the easy-close step stool, but if you’ve got your heart set on something it isn’t silly at all. I even considered posting an ad on Craiglist offering to buy someone a brand new locking step stool in trade for their existing easy-close step stool. Perhaps my polar opposite is out there wishing they had one that locked but not able to justify buying it when they already have one that doesn’t. I could only hope to get so lucky.

What are you procrastinating over? What are you putting off that would make you very unhappy if the choice were no longer available to you? Whether it’s a small purchase or a proposal of marriage, if you don’t have a really good reason for putting it off then go for it, take the next step, don’t miss out on something you really want.

Tags: cosco, don't miss out, don't put off til tomorrow, don't put off till tomorrow, don't put off to tomorrow, don't put off until tomorrow, folding step stool, procrastinating, procrastination, put it off for tomorrow, put things off, putting things off, safety feature, safety features, step stool, you snooze you lose

Category: Pay It Forward

Struggling with a choice or decision can be very difficult especially when it involves your business. I had just completed a major goal and it was time to decide which goal I would tackle next. There were many possibilities and never enough time.

As the woman behind Gypsy King Software games I had several game related goals. There were older games that hadn’t been moved to the new millenium but could be. There was one game in particular I’d been wanting to bring forward.

Then there were the brand new games that were part way done that needed to be finished, two in particular that were tugging at me. In addition there was a game update that I considered important.

In addition to games, there were books. Now that the door had opened to allow me to publish my books, I had half a dozen already written and just needing to be polished and edited, and half a dozen more in my head wanting badly to come out.

On top of that there were websites to be updated, blog posts to be written, t-shirt designs to be released, marketing to be done, and the list goes on. With so many choices how on earth do you pick one to focus on?

The answer turned out to be quite simple once I knew how to approach the decision making process. I was spending the afternoon at the doctor’s office reading Les Brown to pass the hours. If you’re not familiar with Les Brown, you should be. He’s an amazing motivational speaker and writer who I first encountered on public television and he can set you straight.

I was reading his book called Live Your Dreams and like a magical genie called forth to answer a question, I came to a segment about making decisions. He said to close your eyes and imagine each option, moving forward with the option as if you had chosen it. Imagine yourself completing the goal or moving forward in that direction. How does it make you feel? What emotions do you get from success with this option? Then move past the emotions and beyond, what do you see as the result of choosing this option?

Do this mental exercise with each choice and see if it clarifies the decision making process. I was skeptical. I’m not good at foreseeing which option will be the most successful when it comes to business. Back in the day when I had released several different shareware games, I would have put my money on the political game to be the most successful. I was so wrong. A more common game that I didn’t expect to do anything at all turned out to be the dark horse which took off and left all the others eating dust.

Knowing my track record, how was I supposed to trust my imagination to fill in the blanks? Nevertheless I closed my eyes and followed each option mentally, seeing it finished and released, following it into the beyond. I was amazed at the answers that came.

The option I was leaning toward was a non-fiction book, already written and needing just minor changes. I knew the book presented useful information and could be finished quickly. From that logic it made perfect sense to pursue it. However, when I followed the book mentally as Les Brown had suggested, I discovered that my emotions on completing and releasing the book were not joy and elation, but embarrassment! The subject had been so overdone by so many different people, the entire topic had somewhat of a bad rap.

The next option on my list was to bring a game forward into the new millenium. I really believed this game would be well-received and I’d already undertaken the task of updating the graphics. I closed my eyes and followed this game to its re-release and beyond. Again, the result surprised me. Instead of feeling joy and elation, I felt like I’d just wasted several months that should have been focused elsewhere. I’d had this conversation with myself many times before and always I came to the same conclusion: If I were going to work on a game there was only one game it should be and that wasn’t it. This realization nixed another option that had been high on my list as well.

That left two other prominent options, both of which would bring joy and elation to finish and release, and both of which I felt had a good chance for success with the primary difference being which one could be done quicker. The answer was immediate. One was already near finished. The decision was made.

There are two morals to this story. The first being that the next time you have to choose between several options, especially in business, try this technique. The results might surprise you. The second nugget I hope that you take away from reading this is to acquaint yourself with Les Brown. If you’re needing direction, motivation or just a swift kick in the pants, Les Brown is your man!

Tags: business, choices, decision making, decisions, goal, goals, les brown, live your dream, live your dreams, mental exercise, mental exercises, motivation, motivational book, motivational speaker, power of the mind, power of your mind, tough choices, tough decisions, visualization

Category: Moneybags, Pay It Forward

1982

Christmas was peering out from its normally forgotten room. Dottie sighed with despair. She wasn’t looking forward to this particular Christmas. Her friends and family were scattered from California to Illinois to New York. Dottie had nobody to share Christmas with.

Still she had outdone herself. A four foot Christmas tree stood in the highest place of honor she could bestow upon it: the living room table. No matter where in the room she sat, the little Christmas tree twinkled it’s happy lights. Shiny garlands draped every doorway. Christmas ornaments hung from chandeliers and windows. Lights twinkled throughout the apartment framing every available opening. Though it was beautiful to look at there was no meaning to be found in the glitter. An empty feeling crept into her heart. Dottie felt very alone.

Always with a ready smile and a Merry Christmas, to the world Dottie appeared to be jolly with the spirit of Christmas. Santa Claus pins, candy cane earrings and little ringing bells adorned her. Outwardly she exuded a happy face but inwardly, the loneliness was overwhelming. Dottie never told a soul how lonely it felt to face the holidays by herself. She put on a happy Christmas face and hid her sadness.

At work they normally drew straws to see who’d be stuck working Christmas Day. She knew that the other two bartenders, Jessie and Polly, had places to go and families to share the holidays with.

Jessie had pulled the short straw the year before and had worked while her husband and son visited family in another state. That had been a miserable Christmas for Jessie. Dottie couldn’t bear to see her friends suffer that way so she offered to work a double shift Christmas Day. Jessie and Polly could be with their families and Dottie would be better off out of the house on Christmas Day.

Dottie spent Christmas Eve opening the presents sent from her far away family as she watched Miracle on 34th Street with her cat. Loneliness engulfed her.

Christmas morning dawned and Dottie pulled herself wearily out of bed. Depression touched every corner of her soul and getting ready for work was a supreme effort of will. She dressed in green pants, a white blouse and tied a red ribbon around her neck. The ribbon felt like a noose.

Dottie couldn’t help but imagine what the rest of the world was doing. Visions tormented her of families sitting cross-legged around the Christmas tree laughing and sharing hugs and kisses and love. Her eyes filled with tears.

She prayed that a few lonely souls would somehow find their way into her bar. She knew that her hopes were empty ones. It was going to be a long twelve hours of trying to look cheery for what she knew would be her only customer: Pat, the dining room waitress. All the hotel guests were back home and the only customers would be families eating Christmas dinner out.

Jessie, one of the bartenders who Dottie was working for, had previously instructed Dottie that there was a present locked in the cupboard for Pat, who’s name Jessie had drawn from the hat.

In the cupboard stood a tiny Christmas tree next to a box full of presents, all gift-wrapped with colorful paper and ribbons and bows. Jessie sure had gone all out for Pat. Dottie took the tree and the presents out of the cupboard and found to her greatest surprise that the tree had her name on it! The tree was a foot tall, twinkling with lights and sporting a yellow star on top.

She took a closer look at the box full of presents. The first one had Pat’s name on it but all the rest were for Dottie! Awe and wonder danced across her face. For her? They’d done all this for her?

Tears filled Dottie’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She put the tree on the bar and arranged all the presents around it. Jessie and Polly had been so grateful that she’d volunteered to work that they’d engineered a surprise visit from Santa.

That little tree became huge in Dottie’s eyes. It became the symbol of the true Spirit of Christmas. Dottie could feel their warmth and their love embracing her as she sat spellbound watching the lights blinking on the tree. Tears of despair turned into tears of joy. This is what Christmas was all about: the warmth, the caring, the thoughtfulness, the sharing between people, not of presents, but of themselves. It was a piece of Jessie’s heart and Polly’s heart warming the bar all around the tree, chasing Dottie’s loneliness away.

Suddenly Dottie didn’t feel so alone. Their friendship had reached out into the lonely bar and lit it up with joy. This was the real Christmas, the Christmas that gets lost amid the hustle and bustle of parties, the mountains of presents, the hoards of food and the glitter of tinsel.

It touched Dottie deeply that they’d thought of her there all alone and she realized that she wasn’t really alone after all. Jessie and Polly had filled her Christmas with their outpouring of love. For years after, whenever she put up the little Christmas tree, Dottie remembered her friends at work who had given her the most wonderful gift of all
– The Spirit of Christmas.

To Jessie and Polly wherever you are, almost thirty years later I still remember what you did for me, and it still makes me cry. Thank you!

Tags: christmas, christmas alone, christmas angel, christmas joy, christmas spirit, little christmas tree, lonely christmas, real christmas, secret santa, spirit of christmas, surprise santa, tiny christmas tree, true christmas

Category: Pay It Forward