I was surprised last week when a business owner I know told me privately that Real Joe has had an impact on him recently. And another guy in town said he really liked what I wrote about my imagining I was about to die and what I’d say to my family. He even referred someone else to it.
I love hearing this, of course. It confirms that there’s a genuine need for what I’m doing, that Real Joe can matter to guys. And it also creates an incentive to keep working on this, not for my own sake, but for theirs. And oddly, for Real Joe’s sake.
I read Stephen King’s book On Writing last month. He talked about getting into a mindset where the book writes itself, or maybe more accurately, where he has to discover what the story is that wants to be written. It’s like a sculptor who sees their job as removing the material so that the piece can become what it wants to be.
I’ve not read of anyone thinking about their business this way, though I’m sure it’s been done. But until now, I’ve not thought of Real Joe in this way. It’s more consistent with “discovering my mission” to think that this concept of Real Joe has “come to me” and it’s my job to discover what it wants to be and help it become that.
I just had this daydream of someone interviewing me about Real Joe a few years out. I told them that my ego’s view of it was that I thought of it, I created the company, I’m the leader, I’m the visionary, etc. Another way to look at it is that the idea was planted in me, that I’m following what seems to be my calling, that I’m trying to discover what Real Joe wants to be, that I’m trying to be a damned instrument of peace. And it’s a constant battle between these two views. My ego wants credit, and I know that unless I stay in shape mentally and spiritually, it’s likely to undermine common sense, wise choices, good intentions, and the energy and wisdom of others. And things will likely go to hell in a handbasket pretty darned quick.
Back to the present. Pay attention today. Listen. And then there’s no need to worry.