Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Are You Connecting With Your World?
I got copywriting expert Craig Garber's newsletter lately and he had an interesting story to tell.

He talked about something he witnessed while out for dinner. A couple at a nearby table had their small boy along. The boy was quiet. You wouldn't have even known he was there.

But Craig felt sorry for him.

Why?

While the boy's parents had a pleasant (and distraction-free) meal, the boy sat there so immersed in his personal DVD player that he was barely aware of where he was.

I'm not going to get into a big parenting spiel. My wife and I raised six children.

I KNOW the adventure it can be taking small children to a restaurant. And I know that that adventure is not always comfortable.

What saddened Craig, though -- and what saddens me --was that that child lost a chance to learn a little about the world outside that little "pineapple under the sea" that dominates his life. That child learned instead that when life puts him in an unfamiliar situation, he should expect someone to hand him a security blanket that he can hide behind.

I don't fault his parents for wanting to have a distraction-free meal.

But I wonder how well that boy will ever learn how to deal with the bigger world in which he lives if his parents always give him the easy route in life. By keeping him mesmerized in front of a screen he lost the chance to learn how to fit into a world in which he's not the center of the universe.

I know that world. As an only child in a neighborhood with no other children anywhere near my age, I grew up with TV as my main "playmate." I know what it's like to see the world as a place that exists to entertain me. And I know what it's like to find it puzzling to interact with classmates for whom entertaining me was not their chief concern.

We all, though, have those areas of our lives that we need to strengthen in order to do succeed in the bigger world of business -- and the bigger world of life. Life is filled with challenges that get us to learn and grow into the next level of it.

For a small boy, it can be the challenge of stepping beyond the security blanket that that DVD served as. For him, it could be the challenge of experiencing what it's like to sit and eat in a grown-up restaurant.

For us, the challenge may be far more advanced. For us, the challenge may be for us to step outside of years of living under our own little security blankets. It may be to learn how to truly connect to the people whose problems our businesses seek to solve.

But there are no shortcuts. There are no security blankets behind which we can hide from the world with which we need to connect. We will succeed to the degree that we learn to connect with the world as it is -- instead of as we would find it convenient for it to be.
Jeff


P.S.
One thing I've found VERY useful in helping me sort out the "security blankets" that held me back is Mike Kemski's BANABU course. BANABU takes a no-nonsence, common sense approach to growing beyond what you are into what you are capable of being.

Check BANABU out if you're tired of the security blankets that keep you from becoming what you are truly capable of being.

Labels: goals, mindset