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Snow, snow, go away…
Okay, so the Groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of Winter. That’s kind of silly because regardless of whether the groundhog predicts an early Spring or an extended Winter, there are still an additional 6 weeks until the Vernal Equinox. It’s interesting how a foregone conclusion such as this can be repackaged with the addition of a cute mascot. This worked phenomenally well for the California Raisins back in the 1980’s. Not so much for Jack Frost back in 1979.
After a long run of hit stop-motion holiday specials, Rankin & Bass branched out from their successful niches in Christmas and Easter to give Groundhog’s Day a shot. It had the classic formula of cute puppets, snappy songs and a comic villain. Somehow it didn’t catch.
Rob, what the heck are you on about?
Well, the point of this diversion is to illustrate a point. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it doesn’t necessarily lead to business success. If you’re missing one crucial ingredient, the whole thing comes down like a house of cards. This is one of the many reasons so many people fail at online business. You can have a very explicit set of instructions and still fail miserably.
The thing is that you can have a completely wretched plan and succeed with spectacular results as long as you believe in yourself, really believe in yourself. It isn’t the act, it’s the actor. You may or may not believe in things like the Law of Attraction. You may or may not believe in a higher power of some kind. What it really boils down to in the end is whether or not you believe in yourself and what you are doing. An Olympic gymnast can totally face-plant if his belief in his ability to perform wavers even a little, yet an average person can do spectacular things when the need arises. We’ve all heard the stories of frail grannies ripping off car doors to save children from harm or average guys lifting fallen trees off of fallen friends. For these people, it’s more than just belief. It is necessity and it is a foregone conclusion in their minds. Without really thinking about it, they do what must be done.
That is how we should be in business. Our happy endings should be as much of a foregone conclusion as breathing, eating or blinking our eyes. Think about how we go about our daily business. Do you doubt your ability to successfully eat breakfast? Do you worry about whether you will have enough air to breathe? Do you consider the possibility that the sun will spontaneously darken at noon? Just the same, we do these things in our business. Can I build a squeeze page? Can I get enough traffic? Will Google slap me? We worry when we should act in confidence. Well, as Bob Newhart says: Stop it!
In the case of Jack Frost, the missing piece was the happy ending. I’ll let you watch the show to see what I mean by that. I’d like to see your adventure turn out better than his. Tell me about your happy ending.