The Amazing Power of a Can do Attitude

The amazing power of a “can do” attitude

The news reports we hear every single day is full of murders, robberies, drug deals, abuses, and everything that is wrong in society.

You can’t blame the press because it is obvious that everyone wants to sell newspapers or magazines, radio or television ads and if the news focused on the positive, not many people would buy it.

For reasons beyond the scope of this article, human beings are attracted to tragedies, celebrities, disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear plants in danger of exploding and all kinds of incidents that happen every single day.

I do cover those types of events in my articles as many of you know but I only do it if there is a lesson involved, if there is something that might teach us anything that will add to what we already know about life, in business and or at home.

I am pleased to give you a few examples in today’s article that should motivate you to start a project or to get out of your comfort zone. When we see other people doing stuff that is good and that we think we could also be doing, it is definitely a source of inspiration.

I have mentioned before that when I was writing my book” How to Survive Among Piranhas”, I had the manuscript in my car and after a speech I gave in the facilities of the Rotary Club of Rio Piedras, outside the club, where I made the mistake of parking, the car window was smashed and my planner with the manuscript was stolen.

I pasted Rio Piedras with posters offering a reward for anyone that would return my planner and some announcements in a couple of radio stations but to no avail. The planner was never returned and I had no copies of the manuscript. I would write during long flights and didn’t think on making a copy of what I was writing. Bad mistake.

It is interesting that I had written a note in the first page of the planner saying that if anyone found it I would give a very good reward if it was returned. Another mistake: The note was written in English and obviously the thief didn’t speak English.

Well, I stopped writing until I met Hirotada Ototake a nice Japanese youngster who at 19 had already graduated from College and had published his first book. He inspired me to start writing again and finally “How to Survive among Piranhas” saw the light of day.

Well, lots of people want to write books and most don’t. It is simply a wish that will never become reality. Some of my readers, and you know who you are, have written me, called me and even met with me to ask me to give them some tips or ideas on how to publish their book and guess what? Most have not published anything yet.

So, when a dear friend calls me to tell me about a young girl that is working at a supermarket in Ponce as a cashier and right there on the cash register she has her book and sells it for $10.00, my heart rejoices.

This young lady, in her early twenties, Arleen I. Munoz Velez who works at the Comercio Cash and Carry in Ponce didn’t allow lack of time or resources or a hundred obstacles that she may have faced to stop her from her dream of writing a book. “Un Lápiz a mi Corazón” not yet translated into English, but who knows, one day it might, is being sold by her and also by a bookstore in Ponce named Librería Palique in the Centro del Sur Mall. In fact, on April 29^th, she will do a book signing at the Palique bookstore, and get this, part of the profits she will donate to the Cancer Society. What an example this young lady is for our youth!

It is a book about poems about people that fall into routines, wasting their time with impossible relationships, unattainable goals, anger and frustration with everyday life, instead of concentrating on the positive. She is finishing her next book which is a novel which she describes as “very positive”.

When Arleen is asked “what inspired you to write this book”? She says that daily nature is a good teacher that proves to us that things take care of themselves and that everything works out for the best. She writes when she is alone and concentrates on herself, other people, her faith and what she feels at the moment.

On my last trip to Los Angeles to give a speech, I met a young boy who was selling his book. Not only did he sell his book, he also gave a short speech on why people should buy his book. His name is Tyler Duswalt and he wrote “The short book on How to Become a Blogging Expert. The sub title reads “A 10 year old top 25 easy tips to help you start an effective blog”.

Can you imagine a 10 year old kid who is already selling books that he wrote?

That has never happened before in history. We have tools now that allow all of us to publish a book and you know what, I think that everyone should write a book. Every person has all kinds of experiences that can be told in a book. Everyone has ideas, concepts, experiences, poems or novels that should be published and now you don’t need a major publisher to do so.

I can write about this today because my daughter’s birthday present for my son in law is a beautiful children’s book that he wrote when he was in high school years ago. My daughter, hearing me speak about this subject decided that she was going to take her husband’s manuscript and turn it into a book. It is ready, it will be presented to him in a couple of days, and it will knock his socks off. I certainly hope he doesn’t have a heart attack when he sees it.

When I told the story my agent in New York she got interested and she wants me to send it to her to see if there are children’s book publishers who might be interested in the book.

All kinds of possibilities open up to people who become leaders, who are innovators and they do what they need to do.

Writing a book and publishing it, is not an easy task, but never in history has there been more possibilities than now to do it. All you need is a “can do attitude”. Don’t waste time!!! Write your first paragraph tonight