Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Most People Want to See You Succeed

Most People Want to See You Succeed!

In reading this blog, you may come away with the impression that the world is full of Con Artists and Crooked Bankers and basic Criminals, all wanting to rip you off and take away your hard-earned dollars.  And to some extent, this is true - there are a lot of bad people out there, or just bad bargains and companies without your best interests at heart.

But the good news is, you can choose to walk away from such bad deals and succeed in life.

And the better news is that there are a lot of folks out there - most folks, in my opinion - who want to see you succeed in life.  After all, if you fail, we all have to support you with our tax dollars, right?

But beyond that, we all want to help others and see young people get ahead.  No, really.  And in my own life, I've gotten ahead because people provided me with opportunities - because they wanted to see me get ahead.

We just returned from a trip to NYC and stopped at the Carnegie Deli, which is sort of a tourist trap and rumors are, it is going to close.  You can't eat a one-pound pastrami sandwich on a regular basis - it is a bit of a come-on.  But it was fun to see this New York landmark, and the pastrami was good.

We sat next to some young folks, and one, in his mid-20's had just graduated from the Cordon Bleu in L.A. and was moving to New York to get some experience in the restaurant business - and New York is a good place to get that.  He was going to have to share an apartment with friends and live frugally.  I told him he would do well.

Why is this?  Well, since he is young, he can afford to work for cheap - to get the experience.  And people will want to see him succeed - if he works hard and has some talent.  No one takes pleasure in pissing on someone else's dreams.

And perhaps I was a bit jealous, too.  While my life is settled and secure, he was about to start out on a great adventure - living as a young person in the Big Apple, on the ground floor of the restaurant world.  It would be a heady time for him.  I wished him luck.

People want to see you succeed - if you show that you are trying.   Of course, we all have to run our businesses, and we have to make a profit, or go under.  So yes, you may find your boss to be "harsh" if you show up late, call in sick, and steal from the company.  But in that situation, you are just dragging him down with your own depression, and making his life difficult as well.  Employees like that cause no end of anxiety for employers - and no one "enjoys" firing people, despite what you may think.  In some employers, it induces panic attacks.

But if you have a skill, some training, some talent, and are willing to work hard (which means just showing up on time, not calling in sick, and just doing your job) you will succeed.  And I know this because there is a very big shortage of people willing to do that, in this country.  The slackers of the world do serve one useful purpose - they make the rest of us look better in comparison.

Good Luck!