Friday, June 1, 2012

Say more by Saying Less

I've recently been introduced to a new kind of greeting card that I have become rather fond of.  They're from a company called "Talkless" (www.talklessgreetings.com).  These cards are the brain child of graphic artist Juan Markos and Francine Beppu from The Real L Word.  A sustainable green greeting card, their name says it all, cards with the initiative that you say so much more of what you mean by saying it simply.  Their signature greeting card is one of a woman with lips that say "talk less" on the outside of the card and then "do more" on the inside.  Another card says "happy birthday, get ready," on the outside, followed by "we're having birthday sex" on the inside.  Fabulously clever and to the point.

These cards have gotten me to think, "talk less and do more, what does that mean?" It reminds me of a story in Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich where a clergyman who had a definite desire to create a school in which students learned by doing rather than studying.  He had a definite vision for this desire, but knew it would cost $1 million to create.  For months he thought and thought until an idea came for him to give a sermon on the subject.  The instant the preacher made that decision all sorts of ideas came to him about what he would say, and the sermon practically wrote itself.  When he got up to the podium to give the speech the following day, he realized in his haste to get to the church the sermon had been left at home.  With a deep breath he closed his eyes and like that he was able to deliver all the important points of his sermon with ease.  At the end of the speech a man from the back of the room came up to the podium and expressed he was so moved by the speech he decided he would give the clergyman his million dollars the very next morning. 

In essence like the greeting cards I'm urging you to think about what you want, decide what you could do for that goal, and start on it right away.  The more ideas you follow, the less explaining you'll have to do when things don't work out, because you'll know you are creating your own destiny, and that all parts are part of the master plan.  Success comes from having an idea and following on those instincts to put that idea into action.  Deciding what to do, and doing it: "Talking less and doing more."