I had a beautiful sunrise drive today out to do a talk at the Stellenbosch Business Network and was struck by this stunning city I live in. It got me thinking about how easily we can take things forgranted. I decided to make the focus of my presentation the importance of gratitude in our life journey - as people and as business owners. I have certainly chosen a hugely challenging road - filled with amazing ups and heartbreaking downs. But, it strikes me that the 'pain' of it only really comes from focussing on what isn't here, what's missing and forgetting to look around and say thank you for what is here and what is working.
It seems to be the human condition to always have 'here' where we are, and 'there' where we want to be - and the bigger the distance between the two, the unhappier and more frustrated we are. This industry means that 'there' is invariably always a long way off - not enough airplay, shows having poor attendance, not getting booked on the big festivals, not selling millions of albums etc etc etc.
BUT - as I discovered during the lucky packet project, when I decided to get grateful for what was 'here', things really started looking up. When I started noticing the support that I did have, the albums that I had sold, the fans who did come to shows, the radio stations that do play us - all of a sudden 'there' wasn't so far off. Yes we have miles to travel as a band and a huge vision to fulfill and most likely many frustrating twists of turns of 'when is it going to happen???'. But, we do have over 2000 amazing people who have supported us thus far, we do have one great album and a second one ready to be recorded, we do have people who pull their friends together and come to support our shows, we do get booked for fantastic corporate shows etc etc etc.
So my point... the only difference between 'here' and 'there' is one letter. And that letter is 'T'. And, when you let 'T' stand for THANKFULNESS for everything you have right here, suddenly there doesn't feel that far off anymore - because you are present with what is and not stuck in the gap of what's missing. Yip - it all comes down to gratitude & being present!