Ed Katz—really is a happy person (even without drugs and alcohol)
I don’t know if I’m successful or not. However, I do know I’m very happy. I attribute my “happiness high” to a business model I stumbled upon 30 years ago. It has worked so well for me that I that I’d like to share it with you in this article. Simply put: I have learned not to believe in entitlement. In other words, I don’t think life owes me anything—not good health, not wealth, not peace of mind, not happiness, not adversity avoidance. I live by the cliché, “When I get out of bed in the morning, if the earth is below me instead of above me, I’m happy.” Those who know me know it takes a heck of a lot to make me disappointed or angry. I’m not cynical; just expect the unexpected. Nothing surprises me.
By adopting this modus operandi, I’m happy, have a positive attitude, and have self-confidence. I’ve had plenty of failures in my life (including being married 45 years to five different women), but I focus on my successes and am, therefore, grateful for everything that’s happened in my life.
In one of my LinkedIn blogs, I talked about the very first time I tested my invention, the Spider Crane, in front of all my employees, and how it failed miserably. After overcoming the trauma of being humiliated and embarrassed in front of all my employees, I said to myself, “Well, I have learned a couple of good lessons here. Never test an invention in front of an audience, and I just had learned that this didn’t work.” Instead of locking myself in a closet and saying things like, “Woe is me and life isn’t fair,” I refused to become a victim and chose instead to always be a survivor. Two days later, I figured out a way to correct the problem and successfully tested it in front of no one.
I’m guessing that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, must read my blogs because I understand that he follows “my” business model by writing a thank-you note everyday no matter how his day has gone. I’ve looked back over my entire life and have journaled what I call “divine interventions” where God has stepped in and made things right for me (or saved me from myself). I keep it up to date to remind me about all the things I need to be grateful for.
I’ve also journaled my hardships in life. I don’t ever want to forget the 24 years when I owned my own moving company and many times I didn’t know that I didn’t know. (In other words, I often didn’t know what the hell I was doing until I became a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks. If you’ve read my LinkedIn blogs, I was like the Bible’s most unlucky character—Job). Remembering all my trials and tribulations, especially through the blogs I’ve been writing, has made me realize how far I’ve come and appreciate what I have now even more. By remembering my failures and learning how to overcome my mistakes, I’ve also learned humility.
Another great lesson for me was to receive encouragement from positive people around me. If you have read my blog about the importance of treating vendors like customers, where I highlighted Dara Nicholson at Cousins Properties, you’ll know that much of my business success came from people like her.
To really be successful, I believe that it’s important to give credit where credit is due—and that means not to myself. A perfect example of this is how my IOMI® Certified Office Mover® online seminar came about. It had nothing to do with me but instead, Bob Papuga, SVP of Suddath Workplace Solutions! For years I taught my in-person office moving seminar to the key employees (only) of moving company clients all over the UK and North America. And for years, Bob Papuga kept telling me, “Ed, your office moving seminar is great. However, it rarely filters down to the people who need it the most—the movers. They’re the ones who render the service, but, because they’re not the “key” employees, they rarely attend the training. Somehow, Ed, you need to figure out a way to train them, too.”
It was because of Bob’s constant encouragement and support that I ultimately developed my successful IOMI® online training seminar. I am so grateful to him and realize how fortunate I am that he was so insightful. To this day, Suddath mandates that every employee at every branch take my IOMI® online training every year and get recertified.
The takeaway from all this is that I believe for you to be even more successful than you are, you must see the good in everything, you must be positive, you must not whine or complain, and you must be grateful for all your achievements. Be a survivor—not a victim.
Be sure to join our Group at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12060567
For more information on our online office moving training, please visit
https://www.officemoves.com/training/index.html or call Ed Katz at 404.358.2172.
