A thousand awesome things
18 May, 2010 By: Daniel G. Jacobs LM Direct!Maybe Neil Pasricha was having a bad day.
As the story goes, he got tired of opening the daily paper reading about war, crime and natural disaster — in other words, bad news. So he started a little blog (1000awesomethings.com) to remind himself — and the rest of us — about the little things in life that make us so happy.
“1,000 Awesome Things” won a number of blog awards, and soon became so popular that Pasricha was approached by literary agents. Last month, he turned his blog into “The Book of Awesome,” published by Penguin.
Pasricha started his list in June 2008, and counts backward from 1,000 every weekday. He’s about halfway through the list.
Some of Pasricha’s awesome things are pretty obvious:
#995. Finding money you didn’t even know you lost.
#828. Remembering what movie that guy is from.
#575. When the guy with a full cart of groceries lets you go ahead because you’re only buying one thing.
Others are… let’s say a matter of personal preference:
#975. Airplane toilet flushes.
#929. Your colon.
But it doesn’t really matter if you agree with his idea of awesome. The point is to appreciate the little things that, while easy to overlook, enrich our lives beyond measure. Some of them are under our control (#858. The other side of the pillow.) and some we luck into (#913. Having a whole row by yourself on the plane.). Either way, if we can stop for a moment and appreciate that brief moment of joy, then it helps us accept the thousand horrible little things that it is human nature to dwell on.
In fact, when I’m really in the right frame of mind, I can even come to appreciate those events that might otherwise really tick me off — getting stuck at an intersection the slow driver in front of me just squeaks through before the light turns red. Who knows, maybe if I’d made that light I would have been struck by a car coming the other direction. Maybe it was just bad luck, but the more I’m able to dwell on the positive, the less I’m stressed by the negative.
I’ve started my own list of awesome things: a baby’s laughter, watching my daughter play softball, the building excitement as my son finishes high school and prepares for college.
Let’s face it. Work is stressful. We’ve written many articles talking about the work-life balance — the idea that you can’t spend all your time focused on the business excluding your personal life. While that’s true, we all know that during the busy season, there are times when the family or even your own needs take a back seat to the company. All our preaching isn’t going to change that. And if I’m being honest, there are times when I’m at the office more than I’m home.
It’s during those times when it’s most important to take a moment, however brief, to appreciate the awesome little things that happen when you least expect them, like #699. A long hug when you really need it.
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