When I first started working for my last insurance company my goal was to get promoted.  

I knew I was overqualified for the position I had and I even had most of the qualifications for the promotion I wanted.  So for me, it was all just a matter of time.  Once I had the required time in my position I was going to move on to bigger and better things. 

For months I was working with people and committees to be poised to get promoted on my first try.  It was gonna be like taking candy from a baby!  

Turns out, it was my candy that got taken that time around.  I didn’t get the job.  

No biggie.  

A much better candidate than me got the job.  I’ll try again.

I didn’t get the job that time either.  But this time the person who did was much less qualified than me.  So I thought anyway…  I couldn’t help but feel a little more pissy this second time around.  

Like if you eat at a new restaurant and get food poisoning. Maybe the food was good so you call it a fluke and try it again.  And if you get food poisoning a second time…  It could be coincidence, or maybe the joint just has WAY too intimate of a relationship with bacteria.

Luckily my frustration and not getting promoted led me to leaving.  Which of course was a great thing.

But in the meantime back then, I didn’t feel very worthy.  “This is what I want, and no one is giving it me.”  Maybe I should…

Get an insurance designation.

Network more.

Work even harder.

There’s ALWAYS things we can desperately do to bridge the gap between what we want and where we are.  But sometimes, that’s not necessary.  Sometimes, it’s just about timing.  

When Kevin Hart interviewed Judd Apatow, Hart talked about his first audition for an Apatow movie.  Hart didn’t get the role and he said he took not getting it as a person rejection.  He said he thought Apatow didn’t like him.  

He later found out that was total garbage.  When Hart saw the movie he realized the part needed to be played by an older person.  Hart was like 25 at the time.

Looking back he learned it wasn’t about rejection, he learned it was about the best person for the role.  He said he didn’t have the “logic to digest that” back then. 

I know the cliche, timing is everything gets old to hear, but it can still be very true. 

Think about it this way.  For some occasions we buy cakes at Nothing Bundt Cakes.  Why shouldn’t we? They’re delicious.  But could you imagine what the cakes would taste like if they left them in the oven for only 10 minutes?

Same batter.  Same cake.  But same texture and same taste?  Not so much.

And don’t even get me started on bacteria again…

If you’re looking for better opportunities, clients or relationships It’s probably because they’re not done cooking yet.  

Or YOU’RE not done cooking yet.  

They’re not ready for you or you’re not ready for them.  Don’t take it as a personal rejection.  And don’t use it to fuel your head-trash.  It’s almost never rejection! 

Well, except that one time…

I did see a video where a guy cut off and flipped off another man on the freeway.  The driver was incensed (crazy is a better word) so he shot at him with a gun.  

Ok, that’s a rejection to take personally. 

There is good news though.  You have the logic to digest and understand which is which.  And to KNOW that what you want is coming.  

Adam

I’m a recovering control freak.

Originally I didn’t think or know I was.  It’s kinda like me being an overachiever.  I never thought of myself as one of ‘those kind of people’ either.  When I was a kid I thought, overachievers are…

Annoying.

Obnoxious.

Narcissistic.  

Did I mention annoying?  

Even with my generally laid-back demeanor I realized I WAS one of those kind of people.  I got to see how my overly positive, know-it-all nature could annoy the crap out of folks.  

And as an adult, an artist, and business owner, my control freak nature had me playing small.  I could only grow as far as I could see and do.  I didn’t trust in what I couldn’t control or the unfamiliar.  

Iyanla Vanzant said, “I know how to be broke and poor and struggle and suffer and be angry.  I know how to do that.  But when it comes to being open and vulnerable—because the core ingredient of trust is vulnerability—that’s unfamiliar.”

Why trust?  

Why be vulnerable?  

What’s so special about the unknown?

Jonas Salk said, “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.”

Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity was inspired by a dream he had, not research and analysis.  

The big shifts come from the unknown.  Think about it.  If you applied for a loan and received $40,000 would you call that a miracle? 

Maybe, but probably not.

Why?  Because you applied for the loan.  You filled out the application.  You provided documents, You managed your credit, etc.  That’s all stuff that’s known!  But if a relative you didn’t know you had died and left you $40,000, which is more satisfying?

If you’re like me I’m guessing the $40k you don’t have to pay back.  

And don’t think this kind of stuff never happens to you.  I bet it happens all the time, you’re just not looking for it or you call it a coincidence.  

For example, last year I had my biggest client sell ever. Was that person already a client?  No.  Did they come by way of my amazing marketing?  No.  They came from the unknown. 

Did my marketing and those things help.  Yes, I’m sure it all helped with the booking itself but those things did not bring the client to my doorstep in the first place.  

So how do you put trust and faith into the unknown and go thru control freak rehab like I did?  

Glad you asked.  

Dr. Joe Dispenza answers that in his blog post, The Unknown Will Never Let You Down:  Part II.

“If you truly and repeatedly conditioned your body to feel thankful, appreciative, empowered, free, and in love with life every day, then in time it makes sense that you would trust your future completely. And chances are likely that stepping into and trusting the unknown will create a whole bunch of new opportunities that you would have never seen coming.”

Adam 

I have a little Sciatica right now.

If you don’t know what that is, you can google it.  If you’d like to hear my non-medical definition here it is.  It’s when a shit load of pain shoots down your leg.  

Always?  No, just when you sit or move.

It’s not pretty.

This is my second bout with it, I usually get rid of it with stretching.  I do different stretches at different angles, to work the pain away.  

It’s a slow process.

It reminds me of something Professor Severus Snape said when he started teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in Harry Potter.

“The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal.  Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before…”

Sounds like Sciatica to me!  Kinda sounds like business too.  I always looked at business like a three-leg stool.  Lose a leg and the stool will fall down.  

Here’s the three legs you need…  

You need skills at your craft.  You gotta learn how to paint better.  You gotta learn how to write better.  You gotta  learn how to coach better.  Whatever you do, be excellent at it.

You need to know how to sell what you do.  You gotta know your story.  You gotta know the kind of people that will pay you for what you do.  You gotta know where those people hang out.

You need to be spiritually grounded.  You gotta know thinking positive gives different results than thinking negative.  You gotta know that you are worthy of everything you want.  You gotta know that because you are part of all that is, all that is is possible for you. 

You gotta know this stuff!  

But the problem is, too many people focus on one of the three.

And in our defense, that’s natural.  I drew because I loved drawing.  I didn’t think in the 8th grade that maybe I should take a business course so I can have a thriving art business when I grow up.  

I just drew.

I just sang.

I just, wrote.

But in the business world, like Snape said, it can be like a many-headed monster so YOU need to be just as clever.  

Do you need to be exceptional?  No, just flexible.  

You want to do YOUR WORK.  Your craft, the work that excites you.  AND you want to have a powerful positive expectation.  You need to KNOW who you are and where you want to go.  And you need to be able to share what that is with other people.

Is it easy?  Not always, but to solve your problems you usually only need to focus on one leg of the stool at a time.

Life is doable.  Business is doable.  

So stop freaking out.

Adam

When people talk about growing up and role models, it usually starts in the home.  

My mom was my first and primary role model.  Papa was a bit of a Rolling-Stone but my step-father was a role model too. 

My first external role models were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jordan.  I know what you’re thinking.  Michael Jordan was pretty bad ass, that’s why he’s my guy.  There was NO ONE at that time that was as fun to watch play basketball as Michael Jordan was.  

But that’s not why I wanted to be like Mike.

As a teen I watched his video Come Fly With Me and he talked about being in “the zone”.  My young self had heard about the the zone but I didn’t think it was real.  It’s like Big Foot.  You can’t prove he exists but you wouldn’t be surprised if he was really out there either.

Well, Jordan talked about being in the zone and he said when he is on his game the rim doubles in size like big bucket and he can’t miss.  When he’s in this ‘zone’ he’s unstoppable.  

If I didn’t see Jordan virtually unstoppable in so many different instances I may not have taken him so seriously.  But maybe he’s on to something? 

Then came Schwarzenegger.  

As a teen—younger than I was at the time, Schwarzenegger said he was going to be like Reg Park and use bodybuilding as his path to become an actor.  He set goals to be Mr. Universe, move to America, become a movie star, and marry a Kennedy.  

He did all those things by the way…

Since Michael Jordan is 6’6”, height well suited to excel in NBA basketball.  And Schwarzenegger was born with a frame able to pack on massive amounts of muscle to be Mr. Universe (and later Mr. Olympia).  Their success must be due to gifts.  

I’m not that lucky. 

God only gives talent to the few.

Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline.  

I don’t know.  Or do I?

In Wayne Dyer’s audio for There Is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem he talked about the book Power Vs. Force and genius.  He said genius isn’t something you’re born with, it’s something you tap into.

The author of Power Vs. Force is David Hawkins.  Hawkins wrote:  

“Recognized geniuses may be rare, but Genius resides within all of us…  Consciousness is a universal quality, like the quality of physicality.  Because genius is a characteristic of consciousness, genius is also universal.  That which is universal is, therefore, theoretically available to every man.”

Everyone is born with different gifts.  You could take voice lessons from now till the day you die and could never sing as good Mariah Carey.  You could play chess for 10 hours a day for a decade and never get as good as Bobby Fischer was.  

But you can tap into genius and be amazing at what you do!  You can ride that wave of passion and creativity much more often than you think.  Honestly I think we’d all be connected to genius much more often if we would just stop blocking it.

This is why solutions come in the shower.

Or while driving.

Or while walking.

When you relax your mind or aren’t focused on problems, the right solutions can come in.  

My wife has rescued animals all of her life.  And in recent years she’s worked with animal rescues.  So often I see them waste their time whining and complaining about people and animal cruelty.  

Animal abuse sucks but the best solutions to problems can’t reach you when you’re whiney, bitchy, and complainy.  You’re like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but you’re the Seven Dwarfs that no one wants to be around.  

But here’s the rub.  

Genius doesn’t want to be around you either.

Adam

I went thru a group coaching program. 

It didn’t do a lot for me.  Well, aside from being really good at draining my wallet…

Going thru the process didn’t meet my expectations but don’t cry for me yet Argentina!  I took a lot of great things from it.  One of those great things was taking the Wealth Dynamics test.  It’s a profiling system for entrepreneurs.  

My primary profile is Creator.  Well, duh.  I’m an artist.  I create stuff.  I’m creatIVE.  That is a no brainer.  That’d be like if Jack Hanna took a profiling test and it said he’d be good with animals.

No fireworks there…

But my secondary profile was a lot more interesting.  It told me I was a Star.  All of a sudden, holes started filling in.  

I always looked at purpose and following your passion like the Eastern philosophy called Dharma.  If you’re not familiar with it Mallika Chopra summarized it well.  “Dharma is your unique purpose in life. It is the process by which you use your unique skills and passions to serve your community and the world.”

I always associated my dharma with my art.  Recently I heard Oprah say something though, that gave me even more clarity.  

Back around the time she did the movie The Color Purple, Oprah hired an acting coach.  The coach asked her why she wanted to act.  I don’t remember what Oprah said but I sure as hell remember the coaches response.

She said, “You don’t want to be an actor, you want to be a star.”

I realized that’s why I wanted do everything from having my music played on the radio to being featured on CNN.  I have always wanted to create and do my art (no matter what shape it took) but I also wanted to do it big.  

I wanted to be a star at it!  

I realized even some issues I had in my marriage had to do with my Star-ness.  After all I’m  metaphorically selling tickets to perform at Carnegie Hall, why is my wife not buying tickets?  Or worse, why is she going to Madison Square Garden that night?

Knowing that I’m a “star” also made me see why it was easy to bounce around jobs.  Why as an entrepreneur I kept looking at one opportunity after another.  

I thought I was unfocused.  

Indecisive.

Lazy even.  

Well, maybe a little sometimes.  But I think it came down to I knew I would be creative no matter what, but I also wanted a place my inner star could shine brightest.  

That’s why drawing cartoons at events was such a perfect match for me.  

At events am I a star like Taylor Swift?  Do most people in the world know my name? No, not at all.  But to the 100 people attending the wedding I’m drawing at?  

I may as well be  Harry Styles…

Ok, maybe not Harry Styles but I’m an amazing Adam Street.

Adam