M01.02 - The Passion of You

It was Nigel Newton’s 8 year old daughter that convinced him, after several months, to write a cheque for £2,500 as an advance to J. K. Rowling for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. In an interview with The Independent, where he admitted he didn’t actually read the book at first, but instead came home and gave it to his daughter to read: “She came down from her room an hour later glowing, saying, ‘Dad, this is so much better than anything else.’ She nagged and nagged me in the following months, wanting to see what came next.” Rowling, as we all know now, was a struggling single mum, writing and planning her book in a café. She is now one of the richest woman in the world. How did she get there? She didn’t give up. Almost every publisher of any repute was given the opportunity to publish the first Harry Potter book. They all rejected it. But Rowling never gave up. She just kept going. This is the power of passion, the power of purpose – having the clarity to know what you want, despite what happens in the pursuit of it. It’s what we all need to do. Despite amazing results and endorsements, in the wider world today, Alexander's Discoveries are not a force of nature, much as we want to believe it. We could easily give up, and the only way we keep our fire alive, is by remembering our passion, and getting clear every day why we are doing this ... Sitting Around The First, Asking the Question ... Sitting in a semi-circle around a crackling fire, under the gaze of Mount Fuji, all 8 of the full-time team of BodyChance talked last night about their own power, their own passion. Brett was there, as the possible leader of BodyChance’s move into America, and we all asked: what drives us to do this? As you know, it is the first step of my 12 Point Plan. But I let it live as a question, not an answer. And as usual, I cried. Why am I always doing that these days? I cry most when I think of my teachers, living or not, and I feel them nodding their heads and saying “yes, yes, yes – keep going on with that.” And I ask “What is that?!” If I give the impression of being a person who knows what he is doing, then I am sorry for that, because each day lives as a question for me. Let your day, your week, live as a question. Why are you doing this? What is driving you? The reason to know is that this unconsciously shapes the choices you make. In a challenging environment, clarity is your strongest resource. That’s what kept Rowling going, and it is what will power you if you let it. To know that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. Having that reassurance, that confidence, is a result of deeply, constantly keeping this question alive in your thinking. It isn’t philosophical, it’s practical. So this month, that’s the theme. I will start pulling out the answers I received from over 60 people on what are their success drivers? I will quote and comment and learn. TOMORROW: How It Works At BodyChance.