Thank You For Your Patronage

My first book, "Never Buy a Hat If Your Feet Are Cold - Taking Charge of Your Career and Your Life" was easy to write.  I was doing lectures on the subject and wanted to get a gig at UCLA.  The first thing the person responsible for booking lectures asked me was: "are you published."  I realized then that being a published author gave a person credibility.

In a few months I was able to transform my forty pages of notes into a one hundred and eighty page book.  I loved writing it and was very lucky to get it published.  The book didn't make me rich, but it felt great for many reasons. 

Having a sense of accomplishment is extremely rewarding.  It made me feel good enough.  At that time of my life ( going through a difficult divorce), I needed that.  I strongly suggest that everyone accomplish (finish) something as often as possible.

Having over twenty thousand people reading my book made me happy.  Some of them sent me comments of appreciation.  That made me believe I could write another book.  It got me lecture gigs.  Lecturing made me happy.  It helped me realize I could be a excellent mentor to people who were going through life not happy with their career and/or their life.

My second book, "The Year of My Death" took over a year to write and longer to publish.  This was a story inside me that had to come out.  Knowing what I wanted to say and putting it in writing are two different things.  Writing the story made me very happy, however the editing was tedious.  By the hundredth time I reedited the manuscript I was sick of reading the story. 

In the end, the book was finished and I was very proud of what I had written.  The people who I knew loved the story.  Some even realized that it was as much of a love story as it was a thriller.  That was my goal and getting that feedback made me feel I had a knack for writing.  Again, when I was done and it sold, I got all the accomplishment and goodness feelings I received from my first book.

My third book, A True Leader Has Presence - The Eight Building Blocks To Presence" took even longer to write and publish.  It was a culmination of all the things I learned about leadership in my thirty years of business.  I wrote it for anyone who wanted to become a leader.  I did not write it for me. 

My first book was written to help me.  The more positive energy I could put on the page, the more positive energy I got back.  I was going through a interesting life.  Some of it good and some of it bad.  helping people get through their downs was also helping me get through my downs.

My second book was a labor of love.  I loved that story.  It was inside me for many years.  I didn't care if anybody read it because it was a great story.  The fact that they did, was icing on the cake.

My third book was information I had and decided to give to anybody who would read it.  It was not a labor of love nor was it a positive energy reminder to me.  It's a great book on leadership and I'm proud I wrote it, but I won't do that again.  As a matter of fact, it taught me that writing has to be fun and fulfilling.  It takes a great deal of effort (especially through the editing process) and that energy has to have a positive return.  I will not write another book unless it will make me feel good.

Six months ago I wrote a treatment on a story that was burning inside me.  I showed it to a few friends and they loved it.  They wanted me to write it.  After thinking about the effort I would have to give to put this interesting story on the page, I decided to put it on the back burner.

Once I made that decision, I thought about blogging.  The thing I care about most is happiness.  I truly believe that happiness is the forgotten ingredient of life.  I wanted to tell as many people as possible what it means to put happiness into their life.  I wanted to help people get more positive energy into their life.  Blogging was going to be my vehicle.

The things I love most about blogging is I can accomplish something in a few hours not months or years.  I'm in control of the publishing process.  A blog needs to be edited a few times not a hundred.  I'm reaching a large audience.  I get feedback right away.  I'm encouraged to keep blogging because you keep reading my writings.  If I can help just one person to have a happier life, I'm the happiest guy on the planet.

I will write my other story.  It's too good to leave in my head.  However, for now, I'm very happy blogging because of you.  That's right, I'm blogging for you because I want the world to focus on happiness not anger and frustration.

Thank you all for giving me positive energy.