Finding The Good

The flight was delayed and the airport was overcharging as usual. Bought a book, a cheap print of Coelho’s The Valkyries. The salesman at the well-stocked bookstore told me, “we are 20% more expensive than the market”. He seemed pretty OK with that.

Airports charge more because they can get away with it: they know the traveler has nowhere else to go. Thankfully, people in general do not exploit your weaknesses like that.

This triathlon adventure that brings me to Dubai is halfway through. From the start, I had an idea that this will be one tough ride. I can assure you, it is. And I still do not know if I can complete my first triathlon. We will know soon enough, God willing. But it has been a tough ride no doubt.

But I can’t complain. Just consider the last few weeks:

From a friend helping out with the passport, to another friend helping me paint and pack the cycle, to another who picked me up from the airport and now to another who is keeping me in his house here, I am living proof that there are good people in this world! And this is just this past few weeks. I have plenty to be thankful about. Alhumdulillah.

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But what about the “real world”, right? Where people are out to get you, scam you, cheat you, make you wait, charge you more just because you’re stuck, what about that world?

Yeah, what about it?

A Super Quick Method to Find The Good

• It’s a choice. This is by far the most powerful piece of information to bring about rapid change in yourself! I’ve said this before, “Life is beautiful. It is also a bitch. Choose.” And as long as you’re choosing, why would you choose to see the bad? There is good and you too can see it. Choose that.
• Understand Humility. Being humble means you see that whatever you’ve done, involved others resources. This means you can never ever take credit for the work done by those resources. That will make you humble. People say be humble and I always thought they meant, “be shy”. Shyness is sometimes considered a good thing. It is not actually. Being humble is a must though.
• Give. Treat others like you’d want to be treated. Help others as much as you can. Not because you’re the holiest thing that walked the Earth, but because you know you’ll feel great about it eventually. Helping others is a good thing! God is watching, and even if you don’t believe that “God is watching”, you know you’ll feel good anyways. This is “Understanding Humility” in action: even when you’re giving, you are dependent on others to receive.

Try the above three together for guaranteed results. Results are typical. Don’t keep away from children especially. 

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I am the first one to tell you that I can’t do anything alone. That idea of the lone worker has been knocked out of my head long time ago. We need friends.

And one of the reasons I try to push “help others” as a business model is because I won’t be where I am right now, by God’s Grace, had it not been for people who decided to make me feel comfortable, make me feel encouraged and make me feel welcome.

We tend to think that friends will make you feel welcome. I think it’s the other way round: people who make you feel welcome are your friends.

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I am in Dubai till the 10th of March. Let’s meet up if you are around town.

The race is in Abu Dhabi on the 2nd of March. I am posting more bite-sized updates on Facebook.

In friends I obviously include family.

I try to live a life of gratitude and I suggest you do the same – you can start by consciously deciding to lighten up about the bad bits, and bring the good to the forefront. Trust me, it helps! Throw me in a trash can and I’ll find the stuff that works kind’a deal.

And how can this be applied to your business? You can start by asking the question, “how can I make my customers feel more welcome, more appreciated?”

Comments are off on this post. But we can connect via Facebook. I am travelling without a laptop (another bad story that I just won’t tell – no sir I won’t) so my reply-back skills are being tested. Bare with me.