Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives



What’s the secret to becoming a doer from a dreamer?

An activist from a moaner and groaner?

An agent for change from an armchair philosopher?

An achiever from an admiring watcher from the sidelines?

Simple.

Take the first step.

The First Step can Change Everything

The first post or article we write.

The first song we compose or sing.

The first dish we cook.

The first audition we go to.

The first presentation we make.

The first rock we climb.

The first fear we conquer.

The first emotional victory we achieve.

The first business step.

The first day of being clean.

First steps lead to bigger steps.

This I have seen.

From Sunshine Foods to Trident Fabrications
There is a hamburger cart in Bangalore which bears the sign “Sunshine Foods”. This cart was one of the first steps in the amazing entrepreneurial journey of my brother-in-law Arun.  Even before completing his engineering, he took up a machining contract from Mico and used a friend's shed on Tannery Road to execute the work with his friend Chakrapani's help. After getting his engineering degree, he started making helmets in his garage. Then he met a friend out of catering college and the two of them came up with the idea for Sunshine Foods. From selling burgers from a cart and fabricating helmets, Arun went on to set up 2 industrial plants in Peenya  to design and manufacture a wide range of products for the transportation industry, including earth mover cabins and seats. Recently he spread his wings and developed Sundance serviced apartments in a prestigious locale in Bangalore.  Arun is a great example of what a single person with a vision can do when they take the first step.  And one of the first steps in Arun’s entrepreneurial journey was Sunshine Foods.

From Ungal Butterfly to Slum Dog Millionaire
Ungal Butterly was a jingle composed for a tv commercial for the Butterfly range of cookware. It marked one of the early steps in the musical journey of A. R. Rahman.  From this ordinary beginning of composing and recording jingles for tv commercials, A.R. Rahman went on to become a leading composer in the Indian film industry, and eventually a global sensation as the well-known creator of the soundtrack for Slum Dog Millionaire.

From driving a single garbage truck to being at the helm of 3 Fortune 500 companies
In the 60’s, a garbage truck made its way around a Florida suburb from 2:30 a.m. till noon every day. Its owner-driver was Wayne Huizenga. That garbage truck was the start of an amazing business story in which Wayne founded Waste Management and bought 133 garbage hauling companies to create the largest waste disposal company in America.  Wayne would go on to create two other Fortune 500 companies - Block Buster and Auto Nation. And it all started with a single garbage truck he bought as a teen.

The First Step

Whatever our goal - financial, entrepreneurial, physical, emotional, spiritual or creative…it all starts with the first step.

When we take that first step, we are on our way.

We get connected with what we want from our lives.

Even if it’s different from what everyone else wants.

Even if it’s different from what others think we should want.

The first step may be a garbage truck.

A hamburger cart. 

A jingle for a commercial.

A car wash service.

A batch of cupcakes.

Only we know where we can go with that.

Others may not be able to see at all.

They cannot see beyond our first step. They will take it at face value.

When college-going classmates saw Wayne picking up garbage in his garbage truck, one of the classmates looked at another classmate and said– “just imagine that might have been us - driving a garbage truck!” The classmate had no idea. Wayne had big plans. Owning and driving the garbage truck was just the first step.  He did not know the vision Wayne had for himself. He did not know where that vision would end up taking Wayne.  To the top.  To making him the owner of the largest waste disposal company in America. And much more.

Following Our Vision

The first step.

Taking it means not letting anything hold us back from our vision.

The weight of our parents' achievements and expectations.

The weight of the values (and sometimes hot buttons) of the people in our lives – our family and friends.

The weight of what everyone else is doing. (Majority thinking).

Following our vision will require us to be strong and individual.

We are socialized to think in terms of “what can I do which will make the maximum income and bestow on me the maximum status and allow me to buy a fancy house and furnish it with envious appliances and furnishings and have a fancy car and clothes to go with it and go on fancy vacations?”

We will have to buck that.

We will have to ignore the voice in our heads that says “am I crazy – to be wanting to drive a garbage truck, to sell hamburgers from a cart?  I should just follow the crowd.”

Don’t.

Don’t be afraid to think what you think.

Don’t be afraid to want what you want.

Don’t be afraid of the ideas you have.

When people go on a vacation to Italy and we see the work of Michael Angelo or Leonardo da Vinci, no one stops to think:” Why aren’t our times like the Renaissance?  What would it take for a modern day Michael Angelo and a modern day Leonardo da Vinci to flourish?”

Maybe you have thoughts like this.

A Renaissance type flowering of the arts in our lives is possible.

I am not too cynical to hope for it in my lifetime.

One reason why artists flourished during the Renaissance was because people invited them to compete for art commissions.

Can we promote art in our times doing something similar?

I invite you to think about this.

I thought about it and came up with the idea of One Wall.

One Wall would be an online site which would showcase various artists who could offer their services to the public.  Maybe, like Michael Angelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, people could sign up to have a modern day Michael Angelo paint one wall of their home.

If everyone had one wall of their house painted by an artist, we would have a lot more art in our lives, it would help the arts to flourish, and we would cherish our houses more - think of them as beautiful keepsakes rather than as investments.

Anybody ready to take up the challenge of creating One Wall?  I hope someone somewhere will read this post and make it happen.  Or come up with their own idea to create a Renaissance in our times. The idea can be extended. One Song (you select from different bands to compose and perform one song for you – a birthday song, wedding song). One Skit.  And so on and so on.

But back to what I was saying about taking the first step.

Here are some of the first steps I took in my life I am so very grateful I took and am happy about till today…..

Starting this blog
As many of you know, this blog means the world to me. The first step I took to get it going was writing and publishing my first post 4 Decisions I Wish I Had Made Earlier. This was on December 27, 2010.  I am now on my two hundred and twenty second post. Yay.

Learning to Meditate
As my post Connected Minds states, my life changed in many different and wonderful ways after learning to meditate.  The first step I took was to apply the technique suggested in the book How God Changes Your Brain.  Initially, it was hard to go for 20 minutes, but I kept at it and now it’s a regular part of my life and I never watch the clock.

Starting Purple Patch
Running my own creative shop -Purple Patch – was a hugely fulfilling experience for me.  The first step I took was to leave HTA and spread the word about my availability for freelance creative work.  I did this knowing full well I might fail and have to eat a large slice of humble pie.  But Yay - Purple Patch had a great run and even spawned the careers of two other copywriters.

Becoming an SPM Consultant
I love being an SPM Consultant.  It has given me the opportunity to work at several different companies and on several different implementations and projects.  It has given me exposure to sales commission plans in a variety of different companies – Trepp, Salesforce, Splunk, Fusion IO, Lynda, Epicor, White Hat, Cyberonics and Varian Medical.  And I have met and maintain contact with several wonderful people whom I met on assignment. The first step to becoming an SPM consultant was not letting a bad economy stop me from giving up my full time job as a commissions analyst.  With a few strategic steps  -and the good fortune to get connected with Solution Partners and Spectrum Technologies -, I have been able to enjoy this for 3 years running.

Giving Up Anger
As you know from my posts The Path To Change and How Many Times A Day Do You Visit Ireland?, learning to deal with my anger issues is one of my big emotional victories.  My first step was to observe the thoughts in my head while angry and not act on them.  When you do that, typically the thoughts subside and the anger goes away.  Expressed anger usually leads to more anger, as in “I can’t believe you made me so angry that I said that or did that”.

Getting Over My Fear of Public Speaking
Most people have a fear of public speaking.  Mine was a crippling fear. The first step to dealing with it was to join Toastmasters and do my Icebreaker speech. Before I knew it, I had completed the 9 other speeches and earned my CTM badge. And all I had to do was take the first step of joining Toastmasters.

What are the first steps you have taken in your life?

And what first steps are you getting ready to take?

What is big in your heart to do?

A new direction?

An unexplored creative pursuit?

A secret passion?

A new idea?

A desire to share the truth about yourself with the world?

Well, you know what you have to do.

Just one thing…..

....take the first step!

As always thanks for reading and have a great day and week…I hope this post will inspire future Aruns, future A.R. Rahmans, future Wayne Huizengas.......M….a Pearl-Seeker like you. P.S.  If you need further inspiration to take that first step, read my post What's Next For You? and my post The Element of Release from Inhibition and Its Hope for Discovering Our Creative Self.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Brilliant and insightful minoo..so very inspiring!!!