234 Who Do You Think You Are?
and no beak-to-hand relationship, and on the other side you have this woman
who knew what to do, went through the process for the better part of an
hour. I stayed at the park about a week, and I saw her at least two or three
days, and these pigeons would just flock to her! They wouldn’t flock to
anyone else; they’d flock to her because they trusted her.
I wondered how in my own life I could do this same thing. I
needed to go through the dance. I didn’t go through that dance with the
business that failed. I was like that young kid, without patience. I just
ran at the business, not knowing a thing about it, and then lost a ton of
money – most of it not mine – and created this five-year hole in my life.
I never claimed bankruptcy, but it took me a long time to pay it back.
After many failed attempts at starting a business, I eventually got on my
feet in 1994, which was five years later.
That specific incident inspired me to become who I am today. I
define myself as the result I get in communicating with others, in teaching
and training them how to learn about their unique abilities, and how to
teach and train others to do the same. I’m a trainer’s trainer, and I utilize
the teleseminar method to teach thousands of people every year. Currently
I have eleven thousand students, and that probably will double in a couple
of years. And I always remember the Pigeon Lady at Macarthur Park in
the summer of 1989.If you could give advice to those who are still searching for their
life’s purpose, what would it be?It would be to observe the lessons, like I did. I was told what to do, but I
didn’t do it. I was told to research and to dance with my business partners,
and I didn’t do that, I just jumped right in. I was told to be vigilant with
my research and to make sure it was a good deal, and I didn’t do that. I
learned through observation.
Many people are told what to do, but unless you demonstrate to
them through case studies, like how they teach at Harvard, they don’t get
it. You must demonstrate – not just articulate what to do and how to do
it, and why it’s so important. Like Jim Rohn says, “The bigger the why,
the easier the how.” The how is not enough, you have to have a big
enough why.
I would advise others to observe the things around them, like I did
with the Pigeon Lady. Give meaning to those things as metaphors for life.
Depending on what they stand for, they will attract incidents like that to