I awoke to find the driver’s side window of my car smashed in. Yay. What does that have to do with blogging and online marketing? Plenty.
For your listening pleasure as you read, I present Ladytron‘s Destroy Everything You Touch.
It had rained the night before, and although I was up (I’m usually up late) I didn’t hear a thing. Next day, I’m sitting in my office when my step daughter tells me the car window was smashed in. So I go outside and see the glittering bits of safety glass everywhere. The hole in the window and the pieces still clinging around the edge. Glass all over the seat and console.
I love how some people just don’t have anything better to do with themselves other than get screwed up on something and go smash other people’s shit. Nothing was taken or broken, and I’m sure the repairs will be less than the insurance deductible.
You know, you just can’t prepare for this sort of thing. It happens and then you simply have to deal with it. But it wasn’t just the window that got smashed. My lassitude got smashed as well. Since my last post I’ve been thinking a lot about where I’m going and where to steer Remarkablogger. Thinking for me is really more like deep daydreaming. Not much happening on the surface, but later something good bubbles up and I really am not conscious of where it came from.
Left on my own I can hang out in that space for quite a while. Images come to me of some final product or event and I start working backwards from that: how do I get there? How do I make that glimpse, that dream image, into something real? And it’s normal to never quite feel that you are ready. But you have to go, anyway. That is something every entrepreneur must go through. You go through it when you start your business, start a blog, launch a product… you name it. Everything. You have that not-quite-ready-but-you-need-to-go-anyway feeling.
Nothing like getting startled out of that and into action by having your window smashed. My imagination spun out into this whole disaster scenario that may develop all because I didn’t get moving on this fast enough. But even more, I just have some great ideas and stuff planned for you guys and I’m excited about it. I’m not sure yet about everything but getting my window smashed was a wake up call telling me not to wait. Details can be worked out later.
In the big picture, having your car window smashed in by some random drunk asshole is not a big deal. But every event is an opportunity to see in a new way. To wake up.
What was a wake-up moment for you? How was your window smashed, so-to-speak, and what did it mean for you? What did you do differently afterward?
Me and hubby had a bit of a “review” moment this weekend. We watched the movie “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Got us thinking and revisiting our own bucket list and creating some new energy and momentum. It was a feel good motivator.
However, as you point out with your own experience, quite often it is the not so pleasant experiences that give us a kick in the pants and thinking in new directions. We had one of those a couple of weeks ago when my son got ill and had to go into hopsital. Thankfully he is fine now but those moments that seem so dark can stop us in our tracks and a whole load of good can come out of them. For me and hubby, our son's stay in hospital deepened our resolve to live, work and play on our own terms and to keep following our dreams.
I think what really separates entrepreneurs from the rest of the pack is that they see every obstacle or problem as an opportunity or at least as a chance to gain understanding and wisdom. It sucks that bad things happen for no reason, but it's a testament to humanity that we can always MAKE good out any situation.
Ugh, Michael, no fun!
The same thing happened to us early last winter, while our car was parked in the parking lot of a church where my husband volunteers. An old digital camera was taken, which needed to be replaced anyway. Plus maybe $40 worth of coins (don't ask).
It sucked that we had to have the window replaced and pay for it. But the worse part was the feeling of violation. That a stranger with malevolent intentions had invaded our private space, destroyed something we owned personally, a space my children, spouse and I spend a lot of time in.
At the same time, how sad that somebody would risk the loss of personal freedom for fistfuls of coins and an old camera he probably wouldn't be able to sell or pawn anyway.
You're right, something violent like this can shock you out of inaction or indecision. In our case, the experience helped me and DH shake off a certain mindset we had acquired shortly after migrating to Canada.
It's a long story, but let's just say the new mindset was way better.
We moved on from the experience with pride in what we had accomplished so far and a strong conviction that we could overcome our challenges.
I'm laughing a little at the mental image of some homeless dude running around with a heavy pocketful of coins and a camera. Was he going to document how he spent it?
But yeah the feeling of violation is very unpleasant to deal with. My six-year-old granddaughter was very upset and cried. She wanted the police to catch “him” and put him in jail. Sigh…
I'm glad you came out of your experience with a better mindset!
They call these “random acts of violence,” but I'm not so sure the universe is as entropic as we might think. Serendipity has a way of showing up just as the party gets boring, doesn't it?
Sure, getting your car window smashed sucks – it's costly, time-consuming, and just plain wrecks your day. But beyond that, it made you think about something important in your life and your business. It awakened you and, in so doing, most likely started you on a path that will be good in myriad ways.
For me, an awakening happened on a beautiful September morning in 2001. My business and world view were both shaken to the core, but that terrible event led to a complete reformation of the way I did business and approached my personal relationships.
Finding the silver lining can be nearly impossible, but I'm glad to hear that you've recognized yours.
Good luck getting the window repaired.
We humans have a remarkable capacity for reading patterns and making meaning from them. So much so that many believe “everything happens for a reason.” I don't believe that at all, but I have found there is always something to learn or a benefit/opportunity to be found.
When life hands you lemons, I suppose. I always enjoyed the subject
of chemistry when I was in high school; the elegance of both sides of
the equation always balancing out appealed to me. I may be older now,
but that appeal still holds.
Awesome post, awesome discussion… thought I'd add my two cents here:
“Everything happens for a reason” & “There's always opportunity to be found” are 2 sides of the same coin.
Take a human being who has limited perspective and vision, and has difficulty noticing opportunities — they'll certainly claim that everything *does not* happen for a reason, and life sucks.
Now take a human being who's so pro, so creative, so visionary in her spinning meaning into opportunity, and then look at her biography, and you'll find that overall, “everything happened for a reason” and she's thrilled about it.
And then there's people inbetween…
That's my view on it anyway, rock on guys.
Or those folks will adopt a fatalistic attitude. They DO believe everything
happens for a reason, and that their reason is to suffer (and whine, and
complain, and say woe is me, etc.).
Thanks for sharing your insights with us!
Hi Michael,
Your point about patterns is very interesting as I wrote about this recently. Instead of breaking out of patterns, such as self-destructive or non-productive cycles, I try to create new patterns to re-wire how to behave.
Plato made the point over 2000 years ago that good habits – patterns – are the cornerstone to success. It’s as true now as it was then.
the article is here http://www.ivanwalsh.com/creativity/patterns-breaking-in-to/4561/
Regards,
Ivan
Hi Michael,
That's complete shit. Like you, I can't understand why some people have to destroy other folks stuff for kicks. But I admire how you've responded, and I like the style of this post a lot. Can't wait to see how things emerge for you from here.
Last year my partner got swine flu. It was at the height of the outbreak when the hype was telling us everyone was going to catch it and people were actually dying. Steve had it really badly and for days I thought I was going to lose him. Since I have lost just about everyone else in my life, this was big shit. Thank God he pulled through okay.
Still, the experience caused us to step back and reflect. What were we doing with our lives? Were we truly happy? What did we really want? Where did we really want to be? Those conversations catapulted me into my blogging career (!) and the pair of us out of London. We were hating the city, but putting up with it because we reckoned that in the economic climate we wouldn't sell our house. In the event we hatched a plan to rent it out and rent ourselves some place in the country. I can't believe we're coming up for a year here already. I have no regrets at all for making this move!
Wow I had no idea why actually moved to the country. I didn't realize your
motivation was so powerful. Thank you for sharing that. I'm so glad you did
that, I bet you are too!
Take a human being who has limited perspective and vision, and has difficulty noticing opportunities — they'll certainly claim that everything *does not* happen for a reason, and life sucks.
What a coincidence, Michael. Something told me to stop by and read your blog at this moment. Two hours ago I left my garage door up and went around the back to grab my daughter's bike and when I came back to the garage 3 minutes later I found that within that short space of time someone had stolen my mountain bike.
My mother in law and my 6 month old were in the house as the whole thing happened so I'm glad that that's all that happened. The big irony is that we live in a pretty decent neighborhood where people leave their front doors open and garage doors up all of the time and I had mine up for a couple of minutes and had something removed from my property.
I could just say the whole incident sucks but after reading both your posts and the comments here I'm going to try and find the not so obvious takeaways that the situation offers.
Thanks, Michael.
Sorry to hear that, Benin. I hope you can find something good out of the
incident.
Thanks Michael. Yeah, my biggest take away is to use what you already have at your disposal. In this case it would have been to leave the garage door closed. But online its just to not forget about the tools that are already at our disposal.
Otherwise, thanks for the uplifting dialogue.
That sucks that your window was smashed in. Two years ago, a homeless guy made his way around our block getting into our cars and taking change out of ashtrays and things like that. Luckily for me, my door was unlocked.
So he had easy entry.
My wakeup call for my blog recently came not from something irritating and scary but has come from experiencing a bit of success. Funny, when you're traveling on cruise control for awhile, and things are steady, it's easy to think you're doing things right. Then, you get a bit of success – be it increased traffic, or some new connections, or increased subscribers or something – and all of a sudden you start questioning your direction. How's that for irony?
thank you
It's amazing how weird setbacks can launch you in another direction that you may not have considered before. Maybe it's because it makes you focus on the present.
I started a project early this year and because it was so gigantic, I concentrated on one little aspect at a time. Piece by piece, small task by small task. It's amazing how much can be achieved in this way!
The overwhelming number of inventions that have endured came about as the result of a problem coupled with Man's insatiable desire to control his or her environment.
Sometimes a broken car window opens a window into your mind's imagination.
thanks
Tell me about it. We had a 7.1 magnitude earthquake about a month ago. Waking up to find your chimney all over your driveway is also an excellent spur into action. At the end of the day, these things happen – all you can ever do is find the lessons and press on.
This damn commute I do everyday may just be my “smashed window”
There Are Moments In Life when something bad happens to you but rather thinking bad about it or better say wasting time on it, We Should Move On.To see that in a different Positive way.
Great post
Hi Michael (great name) how did everything work out?
Keep up the good work!
It is never pleasant to have a windowscar smashed
Did people already invest like you wrote about last year?
Great to see you still blogging
Hi, Michael! I love your humor of things, and the way you write keeps me interested!
I have been studying biology for awhile now, and I was reading just the other day that chaos comes out of order. Yes, I know, it sounds like an oximoron! But it made sense how, when we put things in order there is always a bit of chaos left behind. I hope your granddaughter (same age as my daughter) learns from this as well. Its a sad truth we have to let them face, but it builds character. Who knows, maybe she will be a high-end prosecutor some day! Or a forensics major! : ) Thanks for keeping spirits bright and keep on smiling, because a smile really is like dominoes!
Matt Smith,
Ive had my car window broken also when i was not present. It really makes you wonder who has the time to do this kind of stuff and what they really get out of it?
But your right on the bright side there is plenty of good things to see out of it. I saw it as a stupid and annoying “act of random violence” – JayFleischman, but then i started to think maybe i could get my wife to let me get the windows tinted along with the repair(this had been an argument for many months). 2 weeks later i had the car fixed and tinted. And from now on i keep it in the garace at all times when im sleeping.
Being optimistic is the key to make your business flourish. In fact, the word “entrepreneur” literally means “risk-taker”. It is normal to have a lot of unfortunate events that would storm you from the beginning, but eventually an optimistic entrepreneur would gain some insight in this and succeed.
Well, what's a smashed window in the grand scheme of things.
“remarkablogger” is a great name, very clever.
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