Sunday, June 28, 2009

EVERY LITTLE BIT OF IT

This is about savoring. About taking every positive event and piece of information one
is excited about and enjoys and just gobbling up every delicious bite. Like the Eskimos taking every piece and part of that whale they've caught and using it, down to the tiniest bit of bone. I've always liked that as a metaphor, an image of how intensely and how intently I want to experience the joys of life as they come along.

I actually got the idea for this stream-of-consciousness report from my friend Barry Dunlop in England, creator of www.incomediary.com and several other successful and dynamic websites, and a first rate Internet entrepreneur. Barry got in touch with me to tell me how impactful Moneylove had been for him. It is only recently that I realized he had never read the book itself, but was referring to the Nightingale-Conant album of cassette tapes. I produced those tapes by sitting in a studio in Chicago for eight hours with just a few short pages of notes, and did them as if I was talking to an individual. They had suggested I just read directly from the book, but I wanted all new material, as the book was already almost ten years old when I did the tapes. Unfortunately, they have long been out of production, but I will probably take the best material and incorporate it into the revised edition of Moneylove that I will publish later this year.

Back to Barry. I got the sense that he took "every little bit" of information I shared on that tape album and made the most of it in his own entrepreneurial adventures. I have just managed to obtain a few copies of Moneylove in hardcover in mint condition and asked Barry if he would like one. This is when I found out he hadn't read it. He responded that he would love a copy and that I knew he would treasure it. Well, I know he will more than treasure it--he will turn whatever ideas and concepts appeal to him into treasure. Barry is an "every little bit of it" guy. He will embellish my original concepts and thoughts with his own and come up with something completely new and exciting.

I remember my friend and mentor, Ray Bradbury, once saying that in order to innovate you don't have to start from scratch. He even suggested taking one of his fantastic stories and imagining how it would be if it turned out differently, and then writing it with that new direction. Ray said this was as original as anything any writer ever turned out. It's about using every little bit of it in the creative process.

Of course,in this online world, when we're inundated with interesting and valuable and useful information every single day, we have to apply profound editorial skills, to pick out what we want to pay attention to. At the top of this, I said it was about taking every piece of information we enjoy and are excited about and gobbling up every bite.
In other words, savoring every little bit of it. But in today's world, we have to make sure we choose the most exciting and most enjoyable and most profitable meals from a vast and varied menu. I think a life that involves skillful selection and skillful savoring is a life well lived.
Jerry

By the way, I also like to savor every little bit of the email I get. So do let me know your thoughts and ideas about this blog.
jerrygillies@gmail.com
You can also get information, when available, about my upcoming Moneylove projects. And right now, if interested, about my team I'm building to enjoy every little bit of the healthiest and most delicious fine Belgian dark chocolate, including the best business opportunity I've discovered in thirty years.

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