I feel like I need to do more justice to my last post. There is a story behind this story that I find really inspiring and would love for you to honour. The author, Neil Pasricha, chose to do something for himself, presumably to help him through a pretty rough time, and it turned out to serve others and generate a profit.
What if Neil had told himself that his idea was “silly” or asked himself the question “who would want to read this?” or “what will people think?” – The Book of Awesome would not now exist. I find this a tremendous example of what can happen when you follow your heart and do something to authentically and positively serve yourself. I don’t really know if he intended to serve others (I’m betting that he did) but I imagine the response has been bigger than he could have ever expected. This is an important lesson of what can happen when you step into the unknown.
I’m also really excited about the success of Neil’s concept for another important reason. It proves something I’ve believed for a long time, people really do want to be reminded of what’s awesome in this world. We are inundated with so much fear-based “news” I actually choose not to pay attention to it. I have always wondered what if there was a news channel (or better yet, multiple news channels) that reported only the good news in the world? What if there was an equal amount of hope-based, positive “news” in the world – would people pay attention? I don’t know the answer to this yet, but I think Neil has done a fantastic job of adding some much needed light in this world and I for one have happily added the RSS feed to my iGoogle page. Thanks Neil, I am truly grateful!
Jodi