Success Tips
Newsletter
In this issue:
A
very different newsletter
by Eric Albertson
This is going to be a very
different newsletter.
I got an email
from a dear friend this week. It is important to know
that this friend had a very rough start in life, but
found spectacular success in business as the CEO of a
media company that worked with the likes of Intel, HP,
Compaq, IBM and so on.
My friend sold
the business and retired to be a full-time dad to his
three kids, a good husband to his wife, and a friend to
dozens of lucky people like me.
My friend's name
is Jeff. This year Jeff has taken on a number of very
challenging business ventures that have sucked him dry
financially and emotionally. Don't we all have that
cloud in our lives from time-to-time when we are
striving for a new future?
Jeff needed some
pure joy in his life last September; that joy arrived in
the unexpected form of a stray kitten. In no time this
little stray gray kitty had stolen Jeff and his family's
hearts. I heard the joy in Jeff's voice every time kitty
was mentioned. I think it is safe to say that kitty made
a very, very difficult year for Jeff as tolerable as it
could be.
Succeeding in
business is not always about goals, marketing, selling
and boosting margins. Even when you are doing that well,
you can still be emotionally at the end of your rope and
feeling very blue.
The whole point
of this email is to encourage you to stand back as we
finish off 2007 in the next few months, and seek to add
something in your life that will bring you great joy.
Jeff's kitty joy
ended last week. Kitty made a one-way trip to the vet.
Jeff cried for two days, he told me. Kitty sadly didn't
stay on this earth long, but made a profound difference
in the life of my friend Jeff and his world.
No matter how
you feel about kittens, cats, or pets in general, the
obituary that Jeff penned is a worthwhile read. Jeff
wrote it to process his grief. I am suggesting that it
is a gift to us all as a reminder to stop, smell the
roses and remember that success in life is about much
more than making another buck.
Here's the
obituary he wrote:
------------------------------------------------------------
Penny "Kitty"
(Martin)
Born: August 4, 2006
Found in a box soon afterward
Died: August 31, 2007
Kitty was put to
sleep at the Parkway Vet Hospital after a brief battle
with feline infectious peritonitis.
Kitty was a
surprise 49th birthday gift to her human
father. Surprise, because he had given up the idea of
having any more pets. Surprise, because his human wife
had declared no interest in having a cat.
Surprise, because it is rare for a man that age to get a
kitten as a gift.
Kitty is
survived by five humans that loved her very much. Sam,
twenty-four, taught her to climb trees and fly high in
his outstretched arms. Con, nineteen, let her sleep
under the covers of his bed when he was home.
Lucy, seventeen, was afraid of Kitty when she got rowdy
and they fought sometimes, as loving sisters do.
Kitty had a
special relationship with her human mother Liz. Liz had
had no use for cats before Kitty. In no time, Liz and
Kitty were best of friends. Kitty liked to tease
Liz by scratching furniture, or jumping up on the
kitchen table and then running away when Liz came to get
her. They read together, watched TV, played string
games, and did work on the computer together.
Kitty was a gift
to Jeff. The pressures of a life full of
responsibilities and commitments have worn down Jeff.
Kitty was a reminder to Jeff that the simple joy
provided by a kitten can make a happy life. That a grown
man can give his heart to a kitten indicates something
more significant about the man than the kitten. We are
made for love; we are made for laughter; we need so
little to make us happy -- if we choose, and losing
something or someone you love hurts, but it is worth it.
In her life,
Kitty caught two mice, one mole, two hummingbirds, and
one non-descript other bird. She was a proud hunter, and
great playmate. And she changed a family forever.
--------------------------------------------------------------
All the best,
Eric
|
