About a year after winning the lottery, the person who won the money will come down from all the hoopla and experience, roughly, the same level of happiness they were experiencing before they won the money. One year.

Subsequently, if you were to lose both your legs, you’d be depressed and unhappy, but eventually you’d get your happiness back at your “pre-leg” levels.

I find the whole idea extremely interesting, especially the part about losing one’s legs. We often hear about lottery winners and the extremely wealthy being no happier or better off than non-winners. Maybe, in extreme examples of pain and despair, it could have the same result.

Of course, being blessed and fortunate to have both my arms and legs, I’m not willing to say if this is particularly true. I can’t imagine what that would be like.

But…

Here’s the thing. You’re happiness level here and now, at this very moment, might be the best it’s ever going to get.

The key is, are you allowing yourself to see the beauty in the present moment – not something down the road, or tomorrow, or next year, but now?

Remember when we were kids and we could spend hours not worrying about time, or looking at the clouds, or splashing in the water, or playing with our toys. It’s that sense of contentment we need to get back.

Many of us are trapped on the hamster wheel, chasing something that’s always just around the corner. We never seem to actually get around the corner. Maybe instead of chasing, you could simply stop, get off the hamster wheel, and start seeing things a little differently.

Imagine if this was your peak moment, here and now. Nothing more or less was going to make you any happier then you are now. What would you do differently?

What would you change?

If you’re the captain of a ship in the midst of a dense fog and you hear a foghorn, you need to realize that it’s being blown for a reason. Its purpose is to let you know there’s a danger or hazard ahead. It’s purpose is to warn you, loud and clear, that you need to change your course.

When a 12-time best-selling author tells you that he’s moving on, and will no longer publish books the traditional way, the same way they’ve been published for years – it’s time to pay attention. The foghorn is audible.

Captains who refuse to pay attention to foghorns, or take the warnings seriously, end up hitting shoals and sinking their ships.

The captains of the newspaper industry refused to take the foghorn warnings seriously. The captains of the music industry covered their ears and refused to listen – what a disaster.

Traditional employees, working in traditional organizations, doing traditional work, captaining their own ships need to realize there’s a foghorn blowing. It might be faint right now, but if you listen carefully, you can hear it. If you wait long enough, it will be loud and clear. Or, it will be too late.

Those working on writing resumes, following the traditional rules of resume writing, and following the traditional templates, writing the same old boring resumes filled with bloated and hyped-up job experience, need to listen, and listen carefully.

Whatever industry you’re in, take a moment and clear your ears.

Is that a foghorn I hear?

One time many years ago, while on a fishing trip with my father, I caught my index finger in the door of his Ford truck. I almost lost the top-half of my finger, but it was saved by a boatload of stitches.

I’ve got another scar on the top of my head. This accident happened at a funeral home – of all places!

These are the scars I’ve collected as I continue on my journey through life. If you happen to see them, I might be eager to tell you the story that accompanies each one. Each of my scars has a unique story.

I’ve also had a handful of business ventures that failed. I’ve got silly ideas that I’ve told people about, only to be laughed out of the room. I’ve spent both precious time and money on businesses that have fallen flat, and I’ve had jobs where I quit after only a few short hours.

That’s just a start.

When I really think about it, these mental scars are very much the same as my physical scars. Of course, physical scars can happen for a variety of reasons beyond our control. I’m talking about our battle scars.

Our scars will always be a part of us. Regardless of how serious the battle may have been, the scars are there for a reason. I’m sure, deep-down, you’ve learned something from every single scar.

I’m always a wee-bit apprehensive when I meet someone in the business world without any battle scars. The warning bells go off even louder when they try to cover them up.

Show me what you’ve got. Your battle scars are what have made you what you are today.

Maybe they looked at you like you were nuts. Maybe they thought you were a little bit of a weirdo. Maybe they told you to stop daydreaming and get back to work.

Jack Dorsey, the creator and co-founder of Twitter, had the idea for Twitter brewing in his head since he was 15-years old. When he first used the service, at a preliminary stage with his friends as test subjects, they were annoyed.

“That’s great Jack, keep playing, but I’ve got work to do.”

You can watch Jack talk about the idea and creation of Twitter below. One of the key points is that very early-on, he was able to move a very rough drawing of his idea out of his head and onto a piece of paper.

One of the very first blog posts I ever wrote was called “Why you shouldn’t start your own business!” Looking back, my writing and blog quality has come along way, but the idea is the same. There will always be an ample number of people telling you how stupid your ideas are.

Most people will disagree and tell you to get back to work. They’ll tell you it’s too risky or it’s the wrong time to start a business.

Is it ever the right time?

There have been so many other stupid ideas before yours. For example:

Apple will never be successful with the iPod.

Lots of people said, and still say, “Twitter is dumb. I don’t get it.”

Your friends that once said, “I’ll never carry a cell phone,” are probably texting you right now.

Your friends that once said, “I’ll never join Facebook” are probably posting their fifth album of vacation photos this week.

The point is this:

• It will never be the right time.
• Your ideas will always be stupid to some people.
• Those same people will probably talk about you and your wacky ideas behind your back.

I say – “proceed.”

“There is no way of knowing how far intention and action can take you. This world offers no guarantees, only opportunities and vicissitudes. When you reach for the stars you may not get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”

This world offers no guarantees – only opportunities.

Think about that for a moment.

I live just outside of Windsor, Ontario and people are in rough shape here. The situation is the hardest on people who worked hard and sweated for years because of a guarantee, a promise.

They feel that guarantees and promises need to be kept. We’re looking to our governments to enforce those guarantees and bail us out. Can’t blame em, can we?

So what’s left? Where do we turn?

What’s left after we come to the realization that the guarantee wasn’t really a guarantee at all? It was a sham. We bought into it, and they tricked us. Good people got screwed.

What can we do?

Well, we could hope they might have a change of heart. “OK, you’re right. We’re sorry. We’ll reopen the factory and overpay you again, even though we can make the parts 75% cheaper elsewhere.”

We shouldn’t bank on this happening.

Therefore, the only thing left is opportunity.

Opportunities come from ideas, and we’ve all got great ideas.  We’re all capable of coming up with a few new ideas.

Take a look at the businesses I read about this week.

Butch Bakery Masculine cupcakes for men. Seriously… I love a cupcake just as much as the next guy; but if I can veto the pink sprinkles for some army camouflage, I’m buying. source – springwise.com

Soupcycle – soups made from organic and local ingredients delivered in an eco-friendly manner - source – springwise.com

Panty by Post – A Canadian company has decided to deliver sexy women’s lingerie on a monthly basis via subscription payment. Brilliant. source – springwise.com

If you’ve been hit by hard times now might be your opportunity to reach for the stars. Remember, there are no guarantees (ZERO), but the world has unlimited opportunities (UNLIMITED).

Unlimited is always a better choice than zero.

Homework:

Your assignment this weekend is to come up with five ideas for businesses or services you could create.  Send me a message if you need help with this assignment.

3-2-1 Go

Here’s the story:

I had just finished off my second Venti Bold Sumatra from Starbucks and was in desperate need of a washroom. I had to go bad.

I found another coffee shop, which I won’t name, but it rhymes with “Jim Morton’s”

I rushed to the washroom, only to find it locked. I looked up to see that all too familiar sign.

The sign read, “Washroom for Customers Only – Key Required”

As I approached the counter, eager to get the “required key” to gain entry into the Men’s washroom, the girl at the counter did her best to totally ignore me. Why -because I wasn’t buying anything? In her eyes I was not a customer and, therefore, wouldn’t be allowed to use the washroom.

The washroom was for customers only.

I used the washroom anyway.  While I was waiting for a few nanoseconds of attention from the girl at the counter, someone was exiting the washroom and I seized the opportunity. I was able to catch my foot in the door before it shut. No key required.

Here’s the problem…

I felt a lot better after relieving myself, but something really bothered me about the situation.

I’m a Jim Morton’s customer. I’ve given Jim thousands and thousands of dollars during my 29  years on this planet. I simply wasn’t a customer on that specific day.

I’m a Subway customer too, but on various occasions, I don’t need another $5 dollar footlong (meatball), I just need the washroom.

Does the lack of purchase at this specific moment disqualify me as a customer?

If so, why should I ever return? You expect my patronage and I expect you to be there for me when my bladder might explode.

But you weren’t there for me. The deal is broken or maybe it never existed to begin with.

My proposal – The Customer Loyalty Washroom Pass

Each time I’m a customer, I get a point, which gets automatically updated in an on-line database.

You give me a  little gadget, which I attach  to my keychain, and it allows me to access any washroom at any Jim Morton’s anywhere, at any time,  no questions asked. Provided of course, I have enough points. If not, tough luck for me, I need to buy something.

On any specific  day,  if I  buy a coffee, and  use the washroom during that visit, we’re even. If I come in and purchase a coffee, but don’t use the washroom, I get a point for a future visit to the washroom.

If I use the drive-thru, I’m owed one trip to the washroom without purchase.

I think this could work…

The problem is, most of us rarely do anything with those ideas.

Back in 2006, my buddy Dane Morgan had an idea for a site called “Songversations.” Dane’s idea was to encourage conversation through the use of music lyrics. Dane didn’t want the idea and was giving it away.

The idea is to encourage conversations between the users with a little twist. They are supposed to post their comments to one another in song lyrics. I call the site concept “songversations” (and at the time of this writing songversations.com is unregistered).

I loved the name, and Dane’s idea was enough of a whack on the head for me to further develop his idea. With Dane’s blessing, I purchased the domain name “songversations.com”

My idea was a little different, though. My idea was to post a new song everyday. You could preview or listen to the song, purchase the song, read the lyrics, watch a video… etc etc.

We would choose songs based on new releases, or historical moments (Michael Jackson’s death, Elvis’s Birthday) etc.

I believed that the site could have been monetized with options to purchase  the songs from  iTunes, or the labels and artists could sponsor the songversation of the day.

After listening to the song, previewing a video, or reading the lyrics, you could get involved in single threaded discussion regarding the song.

• How do the lyrics make you feel?
  
• What do you love about the song?
  
• What do you hate about the song?
  
• How does the music make you feel inside?
  
• What does it remind you of?

My idea was to create a new way for people to connect with the music and as a result discover more music. Maybe it’s like twitter solely focused on music.

As the site developed, people would be able to begin their own songversations or engage in a random songversations and discover new music.

Like many ideas, I’ve owned the domain names for a few years and never done anything with them. I’ve learned now, though, it was my fear of failure or fear of my idea being considered stupid that I never did anything with it.

The term songversation (as of 2008) is now listed in the Urban Dictionary.

Looking back on this idea now, I still think it could work. Anyone want my idea?

Share a great idea you have and never did anything with.