365 Days of Living the Dale Carnegie Principles
Day 85. Saturday, June 18, 2011
I was listening to the radio on Friday and heard the forecast for Saturday was 104 degrees. Yikes. I decided the best thing to do was take cover from the heat. So I ended up at the office.
You might remember my blog earlier this week about a pillow.
The outcome of that pillow:
Seth, Stefano and many other individuals loved the pillow. I was truly touched.
At the very end of the day I received “acknowledgement” for the pillow I made by the one person I desperately wanted attention from. It hurt.
In my heart I knew the moral of the story was simply to live Dale Carnegie’s principle: “expect ingratitude.” I do my best for myself and no one else.
So today… my plan was to make another pillow—something entirely different. It’s a bit ironic because I fled this office on Friday to have lunch just to get away from the building. Now I was voluntarily going to spend my Saturday afternoon at this office to sew.
Well—I made a mess of the entire sewing studio. When I do a task I’m very…enthusiastic. I put my heart into it.
The outcome of my afternoon… this heart pillow I made for my dad for Father’s Day. (Granted being the marketer that I am—I will give it to him and take it back so I can use it for some marketing pieces. Dear old dad will get the pillow back eventually….)
The Dale Carnegie principles I used today are from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living:
Put enthusiasm into your work.
Do the very best you can.
I created a pillow today not for the purpose of gaining approval, recognition or appreciation from the one person that denied it to me last time. Instead I made it because I know I am capable and I loved making it.
My advice to you—pursue your interests whole-heartedly and don’t worry what other people think. When you take these measures, you are true to yourself and the results of your effort will shine.
Housekeeping / Notes:
Daffodils fade but fortunately for you my blog posts don’t! Be sure to check the archives / pictorial gallery for your favorite blog post or to catch up on what you missed. Click to view.