guy pours out a glass of water,
then goes outside for a walk with his suitcase,
looking for something to eat,
yet he is only met by a doubtful wind
that doesn't quite believe the guy knows what he's doing,
but the guy keeps looking,
placing little collectibles in his suitcase as he goes along,
until his suitcase is full and begins to hurt his shoulder,
so the guy has to--he must--let go
and head back home
“Please don’t ask me that–“
“What? I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just asking.”
“I know, but I’d rather not answer that question.”
“Too personal?”
“I guess.”
“Alright, well, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just figured, well, while we wait.”
“That’s your problem, man. You need to learn how to live in silence. You need to start getting comfortable with no conversation.”
“What’s the point in that? You’re here. I’m here. I thought we’d have a conversation. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?”
“Sure, yeah, but that doesn’t mean we have to talk about it. It only becomes an issue once you bring it up. And I don’t know about you, but I was perfectly fine without any of this being brought up.”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Like I said, I didn’t mean anything. Can’t we move on from this? Seems like we’re liable to start going in circles.”
“You’re right. I’d rather not start on some dumb loop.”
“Good. So, what do you want to talk about?”
“What did I just fucking say?!”
Let’s take that frown, and turn it upside down, alright? Or at least kick it in the nuts, why don’t we? Fa-fa-fa-fall-full-fool-flat. You see? When you keep on winning as much as I do in life, then certain negative words like ‘failure’ aren’t even in your vocabulary.
So what I’m going to need from you is to, you guessed it, throw all those negative words and feelings right out the window. Just forget ’em. I don’t ever want to hear you say a single one of them ever again. You got that?
Good! Because if I hear a single gosh-darn negative thing uttered from your lips, then I’ll come over there. I’m not one to threaten violence on another one of God’s good creatures, but if you keep up with such a bad attitude then I’m of the opinion that you had it coming.
But look, we don’t need to focus on that. In fact, I insist that we don’t! You’re here–we’re here to discuss how you start winning all day every day. That’s all I want to hear from you. You’re winning because of….
That’s right! Because you’re a winner. That’s all you really need. That’s all that every winner really does. They just declare themselves the winner. They won’t need another person or institution or corporate stooge to tell them their own self-worth. A winner is worth just as much as they need to be, and not a penny less. Though when you’re winning, you won’t even being counting those pennies since they’re so darn inconsequential.
So go on, get out there and start winning. I gave you all the tools you’ll need to become the sort of winner that’s successful ever-ree sing-gall time! I know it’s doesn’t seem like I said all that much, but then again, it doesn’t really take much to succeed in this life. Just so long as you’re willing to take it!
Fred Aiken Writing 