Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

A couple of weeks ago I was working on my business in an M&S Café which I do on a regular basis as I find it really enjoyable to work in such a lovely atmosphere.  The Café was busy, but this day they seemed to have a lack of staff available. There could have been illness or some other reason, but the trays were piling up all around.
 
During this time, I noticed a grumpy old man in his late 70’s sat nearby who was with a couple of people and he appeared to be moaning to them as he looked around. This went on for quite a while then he stood up abruptly and marched over to a member of staff who was doing his best to get the dishes into a dishwasher as well as collecting all the trays and dishes.
 
 
He looked quite irritated
 
I watched as he did this and I could see he was deep in conversation and was gesticulating with his arms as he debated the situation with the poor man. This went on for a little while then this grumpy old man turned around and marched off.
 
As I continued to observe this drama unfolding, I noticed that instead of sitting back down he went to a table which had a couple of trays, he picked one up and took it to the young man who was filling the dish washer. He then continued this process until every tray had been collected and the dishes were in the dishwasher.
 
This completely blew me away and made me feel bad for not doing the same. As he passed me, I congratulated him on his great work, and he smiled and told me how much he enjoys helping people. He wasn’t a grumpy old man he was in fact a caring man with a generous heart.
 
 
Within a few minutes everything changed
 
Soon enough the whole place was looking great. He then went back to his table, and they continued to chat. This time I didn’t see a grumpy old man, this time I saw someone who was kind and generous.
 
The only thing that had changed was my perception of him. Initially based on my assumptions I believed I was watching someone who was angry and miserable when in fact the truth was that he was a nice man.
 
This really made me think about how easily we can make assumptions about people, and we label them according to our limited knowledge. We are then convinced that our assumptions are correct, and they become our reality.
 
 
Elvis never gave up
 
Elvis Presley, born in 1935, was a famous American musician who’s sold over 1 billion records worldwide. Yet, while Presley’s fame is often celebrated, his failures are usually overlooked.
 
The family lived in a shotgun house for several years until hard financial times forced them out due to an inability to maintain the payments.
 
In 1948, at the age of 13-years old, Presley’s family moved to Memphis, Tennessee from their home in Mississippi.
 
They lived in boarding houses, which were temporary rooms that could be rented in a larger home where the common areas were usually maintained, before being able to afford a two-bedroom apartment in a public-housing complex.
 
In 1953, when he was 18-years old, he walked into Sun Records, where he recorded a demo disc. Nothing came of it. One year later, in 1954, he walked back into Sun Records to record another demo, which he also failed to make any traction with. 
 
The same year, he failed an audition to become part of a vocalist quartet called the Songfellows. When asked by his father what had happened, Presley stated, “They told me I couldn’t sing.”
 
He was so frustrated, that he decided to take up a job as a truck driver. Through a friend named Ronnie Smith, Presley met Eddie Bond, who led Smith’s professional band. Turned out they were looking for a vocalist.
 
They arranged some more recordings, which nothing came of until months later when Presley randomly launched into “That’s All Right,” Arthur Crudup’s 1946 blues number. That got the attention of a professional DJ, and the rest, as they say, is history.
 
This is a great story of endurance, self-belief, and hard work. Elvis could have given up many times, but he didn’t. He believed that he had something to offer the world and this kept him going regardless of rejection and failure.
 
 
A remarkable attendance
 
This week I have had the pleasure of delivering Masterclass 2 from my Mind Resilience Programme to the worldwide staff from Siemens Gamesa. I delivered Masterclass 1 last October twice in one day, one at 8am and one at 2pm to catch the two time zones. This was online and delivered as a Webinar on TEAMS.
 
A staggering 5,500 staff tuned in across both sessions and the feedback was excellent. So, on the back of this Siemens booked me to deliver Masterclass 2 using the same format. I will be honest with you I wasn’t sure how many would turn up for this one as they could have all tuned in to the first Masterclass out of curiosity.
 
Both sessions went well, and I took them all through a relaxation exercise and a full visualisation exercise where they visualised a happy place. This is one of the powerful techniques I teach to help people reduce stress.
 
When we received the stats from both sessions, we found to our delight that just under 5,500 staff had tuned in again which completely blew me away. The feedback again was excellent.
 
 
Everything changed with a mindset change
 
8 years ago, I was decorating earning £70 a day, with huge debts and living with my mum. Now with mental resilience and hard work I am blessed to be working with some of the largest organisations in the world.
 
It is never to late to get it right. Wherever you are right now you can improve your life by changing the way you think and speak. This is what I did and what thousands of people are now doing after attending my Masterclasses.
 
I will never take this for granted and I am humbled and stunned to be in a position at the age of 69 to be impacting so many people.
 
 
Thoughts for the week 

1. Do you feel that you can achieve more than you are achieving right now?
2. If you do, then start to believe that this is possible for you.
3. It won’t happen overnight but if you improve your thinking and your speaking you will start to experience higher energy and higher motivation which results in higher achievement.
4. This then becomes an ever-improving cycle taking you higher and higher.
5. You then just need mental resilience to bounce back when things go wrong, and this upward cycle will continue. 

Well, that’s it for this week, have a wonderful weekend and keep believing.

Warm regards

John

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