I have a friend by the name of Robert Depew. Bobby used to be a schoolteacher in Lindsay, California, the olive capital. After several years as a teacher Bobby was looking forward to making a break and starting a new career. One day, without telling anyone, he quit teaching and jumped into sales. When his family found out about it he became the butt of lots of criticism. But the worst reaction came from his brother, who seemed to be getting great pleasure from harassing him.
“You’re going to go right down the drain,” mocked his brother. “You had a good teaching job. Now you’re gonna lose everything you’ve got. You must be outta your mind.”
Bobby’s brother kept taunting him every chance he had. As Bobby relates, “The way my brother acted made me so angry that I decided to get rich.”
Today, Bobby Depew is one of my millionaire friends.
This story, as well as my own “cookie” story, demonstrate that even anger and embarrassment, when properly channeled, can act as powerful nitty-gritty motivators to achieve.
[#rohn1996sevenstrategies]: Jim Rohn (1996): Seven strategies for wealth and happiness: power ideas from America’s foremost business philosopher, Three Rivers Press.