Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Brad Abouchedid. Happy Birthday!
Once upon a time there was this woman who was the envy of all her friends. She had two boyfriends, one was named Bill and one was named Charlie. Bill knew of Charlie and Charlie knew of Bill. This went on for about two years.
One Friday night, Bill came over as he normally did on Friday nights to take her to dinner. Bill who was usually late, showed up on time. Bill who was usually mellow, was a bit nervous; and Bill who was normally pretty sloppily dressed, wore a suit. They had a nice dinner and right before dessert, Bill took out a jewelry box and gave it to the woman. It was an engagement ring and Bill asked her to marry him. Well, the woman said the worst possible thing next to a flat out no…”Let me think about it.” So Bill blew up they got into a fight and he never wanted to speak to her again.
The woman went home upset until the next night, when she saw Charlie. Well Charlie who was normally on time was early. Charlie who was normally personable, was really excited; and Charlie who was normally well dressed, wore a tuxedo. So they went to dinner and the same thing happened, right before dessert, Charlie took out a jewelry box and proposed marriage to the woman. And the woman said the worst possible thing next to a flat out no…”Let me think about it.” Charlie also got angry and never wanted to speak to her again.
The woman goes home and lies in bed depressed because she went from two men that were completely in love with her to nobody.
So the only person that could save this woman shows up…her fairy godmother. The fairy godmother saw that the woman was upset asked her what was wrong. “Both Bill and Charlie proposed to me and I don’t know what to do.”
The fairy godmother knew the answer. “Just take two pieces of paper and write the name Bill on the top of one and the name Charlie on the top of the other. Take as long as you like and write the thing you like most about Bill and the thing that you like most about Charlie. Then, your answer will arrive.”
So the woman took the paper that said Bill on top and thought and thought. It took her three hours but finally wrote down what she liked most about Bill. Then she took the paper with Charlie’s name and took another three hours and finally wrote down what she liked most about Charlie. As the fairy godmother predicted, the answer appeared instantly to the woman and she lied in bed as excited as ever.
Her fairy godmother showed up once again and said, “Now you seem like you’re back to your old self. Have you made a decision?”
“Oh yes, I choose Charlie.”
“Well that’s great, what did you write down about Bill?”
“Well when I’m with Bill I feel that he’s the most wonderful person in the whole world.”
The fairy godmother, quite confused replied, “Then why did you choose Charlie?”
“Because when I’m with Charlie, I feel that I’M the most wonderful person in the whole world.”
That’s the whole thing, whether you’re in a relationship, team at work, sports team, sales team or academic team, in order to stand out from everyone else and start making a difference, all you have to do is stop focusing on yourself and start focusing on others.
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Bonnie Jean Wasmund
Thanks for reading.
