The word gratitude comes from the root gratus, which means pleasing.
According to “Life 101″ (by Peter McWilliams), the obvious interpretation is that when you are pleased with something, you are grateful. He offers a second interpretation, which is “when you are grateful, then you are pleased, not by the thing, but by the gratitude.”
So, other words, be pleased (and I’ll add my own interpretation) - with others.
G.B Stern once said:
Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.
With that quote in mind, this week’s focus is on the growing army of people who have gone out of their way to help me spread the word about my inspirational messages and stories to the rest of the world. This lends credence to the saying that we can’t achieve our dreams alone.
You’ll understand why I’m more than grateful this week - how could anyone not be? Read on….
Jennifer Abbot Starts a “Stephen Hopson FanClub” at Facebook!
Her name might sound familiar to those of you who frequent the Adversity University community for she is a very active participant in the comment section. She maintains not one but TWO blogs, both of which are awesome. One is called Principles for Peace while the other is Empowered Reader. Like me, she positively inhales books - if she ever runs for President, she’ll probably have to issue a statement to the press, “I didn’t inhale.”
One day she wrote me an email with the news that she had just created a new user group over at Facebook called “Stephen Hopson FanClub.” WOW. No one ever did that for me before! Thank you Jennifer! Words alone almost never do justice but this will have to do - for now…………
If you are a member of Facebook, all you have to do is a FB search for “Stephen Hopson FanClub” and join the group! I look forward to seeing you there (please mention that you saw this gratitude post at Adversity University so that we know where you came from- thanks).
Michael Werner Wrote an Open Letter to “Success Magazine”
Another fan, Michael Werner of Dream Jobs Dialog, also took it upon himself to act as a person who “sneezes.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with this social media terminology, it means a someone who is so inspired by another individual that he/she finds innovative and unsolicited ways to get out the word about that person - sometimes without his/her prior knowledge until after it happens.
He wrote an open letter to Success Magazine, asking the editor to consider doing a story on me. Amazing - that man. He’s literally become my PR guy. I’m honored and humbled by your extraordinary kindness Michael - thank you!
Update: While the editor-in-chief has acknowledged Michael’s open letter, I have not heard anything from Success Magazine as of yet. But you know what? Who cares? It doesn’t matter because it’s the thought and action behind it that carries so much weight. Right?
BIGG Success Interviews Me and Releases An Audio/Text Version to the Public
When I was at SOBCon08 (Chicago) a several weeks ago, I was approached by George Krueger and Mary-Lynn Foster of BIGG Success to do an interview towards the end of the conference. Apparently they were inspired by some of the things I had said while I was there and wanted to know if I’d do an interview about how I became a pilot.
I thought to myself, “Sure, why not?”
After looking around the conference center, we found a relatively secluded spot where we wouldn’t be interrupted and proceeded to have a very fun question and answer session.
For those of you with the gift of hearing, you can listen to their interview at Overcoming Adversity: How Stephen Hopson Opened the Runway for Deaf Pilots. Fortunately, George and Mary-Lynn post a great summary right beneath the audio button benefiting those who rely not on audio but text for their information.
I’m excited to tell you that on the day this was aired, BIGG Success experienced a huge spike in traffic. It went right through the roof - congrats George and Mary-Lynn. I’m glad for you. Your interview was a hoot - I had a ball with you guys. Thanks!
Patrick Combs Conducts a One Hour Teleconference Interview with Me and His Unlimited Mentoring Students
Remember I announced to everyone in last week’s gratitude post about how I’m now able to speak on the telephone through the use of a relatively new software program (where I can see a live operator on the screen, acting as a silent interpreter during phone calls)?
Well, I also mentioned that Patrick Combs had invited me for an hour-long interview with his “Unlimited Mentoring Students.”
After it was all over, here’s what he had to say in a follow up email almost immediately afterwards:
Stephen,
You blew doors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You brought the guy running our webinar to tears.
Truly inspirational and well told my friend!
We will get you a recording of the call and you may use
it as you please.
love, P
It would be a major understatement to say this experience was absolutely incredible. Not only was I positively giddy about having a “near-normal” telephone conversation (for the first time in my life) but the whole hour went by so fast that I was left agape. They wanted more! Me too!
Notice how he ended his email quote with “….and you may use it as you please.”
At first I thought I would turn this into my first-ever product and offer it for sale (I’ve got to find ways to develop other streams of income!), but then the more I thought about it, the more I realized this conversation had a better chance of being heard by even more people if I made it available to you for free, Seth Godin-style. All of his books were (and are still) available as free e-book downloads before they all went on to become hardcover best-sellers. The guy is on to something!
So here it is - available to you FREE - my suggestion is that you listen to this when you know you’ll have an hour of uninterrupted time - perhaps during lunch hour or just before you retire for the night:
Inspirational Interview with Patrick Combs: Stories of How I Overcame Adversity to Achieve the Impossible
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to share with your community Patrick. I am forever grateful for it.
Special Notice to my hearing impaired friends: Like you, I cannot hear a word of this interview so don’t worry - we’re in the same boat. I don’t even remember what I said! Maybe someone from the Adversity University community will come forward and transcribe this for us. If and when that happens, I’ll be sure to either post it or send you a private email (use the contact form above if you want a copy of the transcript).
Other Things I’m Grateful For
Are you a nice guy or girl with authority? I think I fall into that category so I was grateful to stumble across The Nice Guy’s Guide to Authority by Sonia Simone of remarkable communication. Don’t worry, she’s a girl so she was not being sexist with that title. In this brilliant article, she lists 4 ways “nice people” can be authorities in their chosen fields. An excellent read - in fact, it was so good that I printed out a copy for myself and I think you will want one too!
- In last year’s post, Confessions of a Motivational Speaker, I shared how joining Toastmasters helped me get my feet wet as a public speaker. Even though I now speak professionally, I’ve had this itch lately to rejoin for the fun of it and keep my speaking skills sharp. I am grateful to a new friend from the local area, Joel Putnam, for bringing me in as a guest to his club the other day. Thank you Joel for opening that door for me - I can’t wait to officially become a new member and start testing out new material!
You’ll get a kick out of the last one. Before I moved to Wordpress, Adversity University was hosted at Blogger.com That’s when I had Google Adsense set up there, just to see how much money I could make. Well, good gracious, it took almost two years to make my first $100!
Problogger - NOT! LOL.
By the way, the old blog is still there but I’ve informed visitors that we’ve moved over here.
Anyway, the unexpected windfall was discovered one morning when I was reconciling my checking accounts online. There was a credit entry for exactly $101.63. Whoohoo! I’m a gazabillionaire now!
Food for thought: What does gratitude mean to you? Can you name one thing from this past week that you’re grateful for? Go and Tell.
This post (see link below) was written and copyrighted by Stephen J. Hopson at: Adversity University Blog
End of the Week Gratitude Theme #31
Share This
http://joeneid.audioacrobat.com/download/d5728568-2d20-b0f3-2f78-4148e976e80b.mp3