Hindsight is a funny thing, and if we knew better about throwing away so called "unwanted" gifts we all could become Ebay ka-billionaires. Case in point...
Anyone out there remember opening up a holiday gift from someone special in your life...and it inside the box wasn't anything you wanted but what some adult thought you needed...like. . .
It's possible we didn't appreciate those socks, did we? We didn't get the Chuck Taylor Converse b-ball sneakers,. . . just socks. We didn't get the fishnet panty hose Momma thought young ladies of age 15 were too young to wear. . . . but socks? Yep!
Now why do you 'spose we got those blasted socks?
Back in the day when the McDonald's Big Mac commercials ran rampant on the airways in competition with that "Where's The Beef" lady on the only channels we had (CBS, NBC and ABC) free of political fillibustering, there were all kinds of promotional tidbits. One of them was pair of "Big Mac Socks."
Admit it! We may all complain and criticize about our fashion statements of our kids, nieces and nephews...but NOBODY could out-do those Big Mac Socks! Knee highs at that.
At the top of the elastic was the graphic of the top of a sesame seed bun, followed by (you guessed it) onions-pickles-cheese-lettuce-special sauce-& two all beef (or was it mystery meat) patties. And the bun bottom.
Even though I didn't get a blueberry-hill thrill from wearing those socks, they got me and my skinny 9th grade legs noticed.
Those socks literally became the topic of conversation at Anderson High School.
Those socks helped me make new friends when I was too shy to talk from being bused across town from our all white neighborhood to the inner city. (When you're the only black student on the bus, those rides could get pretty lonely back in the heat of the Civil Rights "Say it Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud" movement.
But it was those unwanted, proven to be very useful socially commendable Big Mac Socks that got me thru many days that would have been otherwise mundane and boring.
So now that we're off the sock-kick, what gifts have you received in your networking life from people or situations that you really didn't want?
Did the economic challenges of 2009 cause you to feel sorry for yourself, or did the challenges cause you to be thankful for the ability to think "outside your socks?"
Every situation in 2010 that occurs can be seen two ways:
1) Either people will gripe when you change or
2) Or people will leave you if you gripe. In other words, stop pleasing people, play the game by the rules; and break the rules that don't make sense.
Tradition should always be subject to question.
A quote sums it up by a dude named John Atkinson (shared by Melissa Boston, the keynote speaker at a recent Indianapolis Business Training event at Hilton North last Oct 12):
"IF YOU DON'T RUN YOUR OWN LIFE, SOMEBODY ELSE WILL."
And metaphorically speaking, "If you don't appreciate your own socks, someone else may choose to wear them and get all the attention."
Happiest of 2010...And for all who got missed on their birthday...or if it's coming up...Here's a Card For y'all.
Bring Out the Champion in You!
Cynth'ya & Ken Reed
YTB Franchise Promoters
CEOs of The R and L Group LLC
CashBack247.info
NeverOverSpendAgain.com (on any and everything..even socks.)
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