Your Workshop

Friends and acquaintances are like your workshop. Full of stuff, nuts, bolts, nails, parts ,can be like things we are tempted to throw away when we don't have an immediate use for them or when they don't immediately fit our self-serving plans. Even a broken tool sometimes has its uses. A discarded piece of wood might save the day. We forget that we may need people in the future. And an old friend is a sanctuary - someone who understands us and forgives us and overlooks our weaknesses, who will listen to our ideas and our woes and complaints and still love us. Someone who will help us, just because of who we are, not for what we can do for them or who we know.

As I get older I realize that our values shift with maturity and that a quick buck and instant gratification are no longer a benchmark for success. I have tried many business ventures that didn't materialize as we'd hoped, because that is the nature of being an entrepreneur. You have to try many things to find a few that work, and those few make you successful. Not many people understand that. They tend to overreact because of weak self-esteem. They take things personally and criticize, discard, blame and rant. They fling the plank out of the shed and onto the fire, when it would have served them well to keep it. Often, when a great opportunity arises, people who have cut ties have cut themselves off from great future benefits in the process.

Perhaps we should think about the people in our lives differently, from an unselfish perspective. Perhaps we should reestablish a few connections, before it's too late and embarrassing. It's easier than you think. A cup of coffee with someone you really care about is worth a hundred business deals.

And who knows what the future holds? A tip that proved very valuable to me: When you are looking for something, need something or want something, call EVERYONE you know and ASK. "You have not because you ask not" is true. But what if there's no-one to ask, nobody to share your pain, dreams, fears and success with? Let's store up our true treasures: people