Just buy me Jordans, Dad!

byLiveMana

154 followers

9 years ago

I have always been an entrepreneur at heart. My parents both ran successful businesses however my mother was the slow and steady play it safe type, which has worked out for her pretty well i'd say. My father? He could create wealth and lose it in the same 24 hours however he has this unique ability to just keep pushing through. His life ended in success which I am grateful for and I am also grateful for the lessons he taught me early on. My mother has always been my rock but my dad taught me something I cannot and will never forget because it modified my DNA. You see, when I was 13 I wanted the new Jordans like every other kid and we certainly had the money to buy them for me he wouldn't. In my country club brat of a brain I could not understand why we can drive nice cars (well my parents drove, I was 13), be members at a country club, live in a nice home and never really noticed that we ever wanted for anything, besides Jordans. Heck, I wore Polo and Lacoste in typical Playboy in Training style just like my father did!!!

No, for some reason buying Jordans was off limits. He said to me " If you want them so bad, go buy them!" WTH really? I am 13 how can I do that Dad? "Get a job!" he declared and in my ever the smart ass tone, I said to myself, (because saying this out loud would result in a belt across my backside) " have you ever heard of child labor laws????" His insistence I guess made me believe getting a job was possible so, I went asking around. Come to find out there was a place called Pitch n Putt that had a driving range, Putt-putt golf, Bank Shot basketball and and endless supply of Dr Pepper with crushed ice. Somehow they did not believe in obeying child labor laws at this fine establishment and they decided to pay me 3.25 an hour and I could have all of the Dr. Pepper and crushed ice I wanted!!!!! that my friends is like giving Charlie Sheen free cocaine in teenager years!

Hours and hours of mindless work, driving the Golf Ball Picker Upper, being the cashier, serving cancer causing snacks and diabetic infusing soft drinks (In Oklahoma, we call it coke (Doesnt matter if it is 7-up or not, its still coke) and just being a kid I managed to save up enough money to buy the Jordans. Heck I even got to work until 1am on weekends and the owner of the business would take up to this greasy spoon called, crap I forgot the name, but if you are from Oklahoma City I am quite sure you have been there to nurse a Pre Hangover. It was this truck stop right off of I-240 and 104th. I think they have tore it down now to make space for a Church or a Casino now but it was a real jewel of a place. Anyway, I saved the money and I did NOT buy the Jordan's.

Because I had learned the value of hardwork and saving my money I decided to forego the over priced basketball shoes and buy a bunch of small, random crap that had zero value or worth. To be honest, I may have ended up going to Crystals Pizza and blowing all of my money on ski ball. Did you think I really had an inspiring message of success in this blog? Not here folks. Well, not immediately anyway. You see I wasted years and years of not saving or spending money wisely advice for the birds because I always believed and still do believe that I can create money out of thin air and that I am willing to outwork anyone on the planet. That works until it doesn't.

Eventually we age. Eventually work ethic is still an amazing thing but life will always catch and you cannot outwork bad habits when you get older without a plan. My mother is beyond wise with her money and I frequently have ignored her advice to the point of making HER sick. My Step Father, a wonderful and wise man is also gifted with money and making money work for him. This is something I never understood until now. My Step Father is also an entrepreneur, amazing sales guy and one of the most gifted trainers I have ever seen. He prepares like he is going to war, except without the violence or casualties. He has preached to me for years about personal development, training your brain, learn to budget and so on.

Here I am now at 37 and finally learning to listen. With my family being very religious and even that taking me a long time to grasp, training my brain doesn't end with reading my Bible. It is so much more. Now, its reading positive things each day, teaching myself new things (like how to build websites and blog), watching and listening to inspirational messages and most importantly meditation. It sounds like a lot of work, however an hour a day is all it takes for me to do this. If you are an entrepreneur or in business, it is the best hour you can ever take for yourself. Because I take that hour, I am able to accomplish more in a day than most people can in a week. My "flow" of work time is longer, more focused and productive than life without my personal development time. I highly recommend MindValley.com as a place to start or just YouTube "Guided Meditation" and "Inspirational Videos".

I thank God often for not buying me those Jordan's. Now, not only do I have the work ethic, I also have created the habit of being mindful, having focused energy and maximizing my output by simply taking the time to be still. If you are an entrepreneur and you do not take time for yourself each day to do this, preferably in the morning when you wake up, I believe that you are not properly preparing yourself for the roller coaster of life and the path we choose professionally. God bless you and thank you for reading.