Money can’t buy everything!
Recently I was thinking of situations that have made my life rewarding. I do believe I have a fantastic life. Would not change it for anything, came to realize that money can’t buy some of the most rewarding situations that I have been involved in the past.
Since I like stories, I must use one of my stories to illustrate this point. I usually tear off when I think of it. I hope you like it!
Dr. Ricardo
I am going to entitle my story “Dr Ricardo” , about ten years ago I was asked to donate some of our work/time to an organization called “Children’s Surgery International”. We did and provided a website to promote their cause. It was nice to receive a certificate of appreciation at a fancy dinner. A few years later I was asked to participate in one of their missions to help children who had been born with cleft palads in different parts of the world. I accepted and took the position as logistics manager and translator to a mission to Chihuahua Mexico. The group had four surgeons, six nurses and seven people who would help to play with the kids and aid as needed.
My job was to help the group to go through Mexican immigration and translate for the mothers and families from the time they provided their children to us at the time of surgery to the instructions needed for after care for their children. It was exciting and the comradery that I experienced with the group was fantastic. Surgeons who donated their time free of charge, nurses as well. We took many medicines and equipment from the US to Mexico. We had some issues in immigration, but we were able to resolve them easily once the nature of the mission was explained.
I was part of the team selecting the children to be operated. There were about 75 families wanting to have the operation, we had enough resources and time for 35 surgeries, but 37 were selected. We all agreed to work extra time and do whatever it was needed.
I had to wear scrubs which made me look like one of the surgeons and early on, families would refer to me as Dr. Ricardo. The first couple times I corrected them indicating I was just a translator. Since it happened so often, I let them call me Dr. Ricardo ?
I thought my job was going to be very easy, however on the first translation I almost fainted. There was a mother with an 8 month child. As she handed her child to the surgeon she started to cry and ask with broken words to take care of her precious child. As I started to empathize with her, my throat closed up and I had to translate to the surgeon. Quickly recovered and translated what she was saying. The surgeon was awesome and smiled, saying with his smile and embracing the child that all will be ok. I then took the woman out and spoke briefly to her. Told her about our American surgeons experience and their abilities. There were several situations similar to this one and then came one of the most rewarding experiences on the trip. A handsome boy we will call Pedro for this story came. He was 14 years of age, he came alone
to the surgery room and he was nervous. I asked him, Pedro how are you doing? – He answered “Bla ta eh no” I couldn’t understand what he said to me. He had a hole on the roof of his mouth and his enunciation was very hard to understand. I asked again and he answered “Te lo ka da “ this time I acted as if I understood and took him to the surgery room. I was able to hold his hand until he felt asleep for surgery and explained the process to him. He was one of the last patients we operated on the last day. The next day was a Sunday and the task at hand was to go through the hospital, check on the kids. By now we had three days of surgeries from 7 am to 9 pm, we were tired and of course I was Dr. Ricardo to everyone. I was the person providing the instructions in Spanish for after care, given to me by the real doctors in English of course. The surgeons instructed me to check on some of the kids for bleeding and make sure the kids were comfortable with minimal pain.
As I walked through the floor which had 37 beds in this large floor, Pedro’s mother held my arm and said: Dr. Ricardo, I have to share a story with you. Please share it with the rest of your team. Pedro came out of surgery at about 9:00 pm and I was by his side, he slept deeply and woke up at about midnight and yield at me and said “Mom do I speak ok now?” She answered yes honey you do. Pedro then said: “Great, I thought it was just a dream”. He was approaching puberty, he wanted to be heard and to be similar to all of the other kids. HIs mother then told me, Pedro woke up again at 3:00 am and 7:00 am and the same thing happened. He kept thinking it was a dream, but he now speaks like everyone else ? Her last words were thanks for changing my son’s life for the better…. As she said this, a warm feeling came into me, my heart rejoiced. I knew at that moment, she was right, we had changed Pedro’s life. It was very rewarding to me. A few minutes later I shared the story with my team. My team said, Ricardo, thanks for the story. It was a very exhausting experience but well worth it! We changed children’s lives …
Resources :::::
Children’s Surgery International website.
Questions:::::
Do you believe we all have the ability to change people’s lives?
Do you have a situation in which you knew there was not enough money to replicate it?
What life experience have you had which gave you incredible personal reward?
One Act of Kindness
In the Spring of 2007, I was very happy. I had just sold a large project and put a few hundred dollars in my pocket. I went for lunch and behind me there were three roof workers, all of which were dirty and hungry. I had decided I was going to pay for their lunch; however, I didn’t do it. In my mind, I played the scene and thought they would be suspicious of me by giving them something for free. I took my sandwich sat down and began eating. As soon as I took the first bite, the idea of “One Act of Kindness” was transferred to me. It was a great idea and I began writing all I could and this was the birth of www.oneactofkindness.org
The idea was to create cards that anyone could print and give to people in the process of executing “Acts of Kindness”. See example of the cards below.
The cards give a sense of permission to help others without expecting anything in return. Something that I realized was lacking when I wanted to pay for the lunch of those workers.
In the past ten years I have received great emails from people around the world. Canada, England, Australia, Ireland just to name a few. These were from people who received cards from people doing Acts of Kindness and enjoyed whatever was given to them.
It is VERY gratifying to receive these type of messages and to know that a bit more kindness is being sprinkled around the world. You can see some of these messages from recipients.
Resources ::::: One Act of Kindness — www.oneactofkindness.org
Questions:::::
Have you received a message from a stranger?
Are you willing to give an act of kindness?
What is your Personal Legend?
Recently conversing with a young friend of mine, she recommended a very nice small book called “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. The book is a story of a young shepherd in search of what the author calls his personal legend. The book is an easy read and surprisingly I had the time to read it in a couple days.
The book makes the case for everyone having a personal legend a destiny if you desire to see this way. The story makes the case for looking at life as a learning experience. Whether the situation is what you would consider bad, it has an ultimate purpose and can provide a teaching lesson. In the story, the boy had all of his money stolen by a thief in the middle of a trip, and this event caused the young boy to seek employment with the owner of a glass shop. While he was working at the glass shop, he learned much from the people he interacted with, as well as learning to speak another language.
While reading the book it made me reflect on my own personal life and those events that I thought were “bad” that actually made me into the person I am today.
My own personal legend had its own turns and it is only when I reflect on it that I see the positive effect. Some events that I thought were bad that were actually very good for me:
I grew up in Mexico City with a very nice family. My father was an entrepreneur and my mother was a housewife. I was the oldest of three and the only male. I always thought that not having a brother was a bad situation. This led me to appreciate the incredible male friendships that I have yet today after 45 years. They are my friends and call themselves my brothers. I then came to the USA and stayed with a family who had a two year old boy, he became my brother and he doesn’t remember a day without me. He is an uncle to my daughters and I am uncle to his.
While studying at the University of Minnesota, my father who was responsible for all of my financial affairs gave me two options: comeback to Mexico and go to the best Private University or find a job to pay for your expenses and stay in Minnesota. I had very good grades and INS (immigration and naturalization service) gave me authorization to work, rare for everyone. I believe it was a sign that I was meant to stay in MN. I became a janitor at the time, and I disliked it very much, but as I think back it was one of the best things that happened to me. I learned about hard work, sweat a bit, and the overall experience humbled me a bit. I learned the value of a dollar and finished my degree on my own with scholarships.
In 1985 I fell in love with a Minnesota girl. She introduced me to her parents and family and we were together for over two years. I knew it would not work for us long-term, but I really liked my relationship with her father and step-mother. I talked to her father and step-mother and told them I didn’t want to lose my relationship with them. They agreed and our friendship continued for over thirty years. Her father was my best man when I got married to my current wife. Without knowing her I would not have met her parents, my friends ?
Resources :::::
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho — Amazon
Questions:::::
Do you believe we all have a personal legend or destiny?
Do you think you know what your personal legend is?
What life experience you thought it was bad, has made you a better person?
Are you following your personal legend?
What Is Your Brand Legacy?
Wanted to speak to you about “Personal Brand Legacy” — Let me explain what I mean.
Brand
Particular characteristic that serves to identify a particular product or service. In this case a person’s legacy.
Legacy
“The gift you will leave behind”
Personal Brand Legacy ——> How do you want to be remembered?
“I have come to reflect upon my life and realized that life today is different from what I thought it was or what it would look like. A few years ago, I realized something important and I want to share it with you. I hope it helps you in your own lives, or at least make you think and reflect upon your life. These lessons helped me to create what I want my brand legacy to be.
A few years ago, I was volunteering at our church and helped set-up a room. I did my job and helped, but there was this particular guy by the name of Tom Sweeney. He did the job plus much more and always did the extra effort and it was very noticeable. After a few days of working together I asked Tom, “Hey Tom, why are you so eager to help and work so hard?” He asked me if I had a few minutes to hear an interesting story. I agreed and told me a great story!
He Was Just a Mailman
He said, “Ricardo I have a very good education, a very good job, and I’ve earned a lot of money in the past and I thought I was happy. I had a brother who was just a mailman. I looked down on him because I felt I was more educated and earned more money and had more stuff. Certainly, I loved my brother, but I thought he was just a mailman. Then I attended his funeral in Ohio where we grew up. There were hundreds of people outside the church trying to get in to visit my brother. The church was packed to the max, many people came to pay their respects to my brother. You see … he had taken the time to meet the families in his delivery route. He cared for them, he had helped many people, and people loved my brother. Many of them told me stories after the mass of how kind and nice my brother was.
When I came back to MN I reflected upon my life and decided to help older people. I was inspired by my brother, who was just a mailman. He tried his best and I asked myself how many people would come to my funeral?”
“We ALL have the power to change people lives”
Let me introduce you to Nick. I watch this video when I need some inspiration. Born in Australia, he has inspired millions of people around the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciYk-UwqFKA
Hope you enjoyed this, he is an amazing person. Now married and has a child a very inspiring person!
Your deeds are your monuments!
J. Palacio’s Quote
“…We should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honour heroes after they’ve died. They’re like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honour the Pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of you. That’s why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone.”
Resources ::::: No Arms, No Legs, No Problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciYk-UwqFKA
Butterfly Circus Movie (20 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p98KAEif3bI&t=1210s
One Act of Kindness: www.oneactofkindness.org
Questions:::::
- What do you think is your brand legacy ?
- What would you like it to be?
- What are steps you can take to enhance your personal brand legacy?
You should at least think how you would like to be remembered!
Do you want a few people at the end or a lot of people?
What Is Your Brand?
What Is Your Brand?
We all have a brand, whether you are aware of it or not. I will define this as the thoughts that come to you about a person and the character you perceive them to be. To give you a better idea of what I mean please do this exercise.
Get a pen and paper and write three thoughts after reading the name of the person below.
Adolf Hitler
What came to mind for you? Tirant, antichrist, killer?
For the Nazi regime he was an idol, a leader. He is also given a lot of credit for pulling Germany out of an economic depression and improving their economy during his regime. Depending on who you are, a different perspective can be taken about the same person. How you are affected by the person directly or indirectly can influence your opinion.
Let’s do it again, with this person:
Pope Francis
What came to mind for you as you read it? Humble, caring, Catholic?
For Catholics around the world he is a very caring person, a humble individual, and a transformational leader. Something unique about him is that many people who are not affiliated with the Catholic Church also like him. Others in the same position have approached this role differently. For me, Pope Francis is a very nice man and inclusive of everyone.
I like to play a game with friends to exemplify my point about the personal brand.
Let me give it to you. It is actually fun and a good point of discussion at social events for me. Imagine you are in a restaurant in a booth and behind you there are three of your closest friends. They don’t know you are there and they start talking about you.
What would you like them to say about you? We can try to be what we want them to perceive us to be, but ultimately we cannot control what people say. For me I would like them to say something like this:
* He is a very caring good friend, always there when I am in need.
* He knows how to enjoy life and loves his family.
* He wears nice shoes all the time ? In my mind this is part of my mojo.
Resources ::::: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/03/20/14-personal-branding-tips-to-help-you-grow-your-influence/#340139627ab7
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/306068
Questions:::::
- What is your brand today?
- What would you like it to be?
- What are steps you can take immediately to enhance your brand?
- What are you willing to do to enhance your brand?
You should define your brand, before others do it for you!