“If I ever wanted to understand me, I’d have talk to someone else…cause every little bit helps” – Cee-Lo
So last night my promoting partners Feedy, Jazzzy, Dejuan and I hosted hour weekly Wednesday Happy Hour and Dance party “Gents 101” at Eden’s Lounge (PLUG!). I made it to the event later than normal due to some crosstown trip to the basketball gym. When I arrived, the energy was high for 10:30 pm and there were quite a few guests. This blog post isn’t about how poppin’ the event was, it’s about 2 conversations I had with 2 different guys that I know. These conversations helped me realize I can learn a lot about myself from other people and I that learn more about people from what they say than what they do sometimes.
The1st convo was with I guy I’ve known since middle school. I consider him a good associate. We ALWAYS chop it up for 15-20 minutes when we see each other. We talk about a full range of things when we chop game but he said a few things that really stood out to me and here they go:
1.) He offered to help me with Quell Collections in any way he could. That ALWAYS ALWAYS makes me feel good when people I know offer to help in a sincere way. He just came right out and offered without me saying anything thing about it. Nor did he probe about money or perks or a free ANYTHING. That was cool
2.) He said to me “you seem like you found your niche and your humbleness is going to take you far. You’ve got ‘IT’!” Now before he said all that he of course hit me with a preemptive “NO HOMO” on some Riley Freeman Boondocks tip. That was a great compliment and that let me know that even though I may not notice it all the time my being humble doesn’t go unnoticed. So I thanked him for that.
3.) The last thing that really struck me was when he spoke about ambition. He said to me “You got it man, just keep doing you. I don’t know about your ambition but I know about mine and if had that “it” I’d be pushing. I can’t do all that I want because of my life situation” (He’s married with kids and responsible for others) What that said to me was that any time I don’t “feel like it” or want to take a break someone else may be coming for my little spot or working harder. It also says that my making things happen makes him proud. Not that I owe him but he and others quite possibly live through me, my dreams, and accomplishments. Ultimately, wasted talent can be unbenefit and a disappointment not only for me but for others who believe in me.
Later on that night I was speaking with another guy whom I just recently met. I’d consider him just an associate. He asked me about my fitted cap and said he wants one. He asked if it were from my own line. Unfortunately it wasn’t so he whispered to me to “make your own ish” Note taken! So I ran into him later and he was a bit tipsy so he had little more rap. What he said to me was SUPER funny as he went into his Kanye “Runaway” mode. He goes “Man you a slick lil n!99a but…listen let me tell you man…YOU GOTTA BE AN A$$HOLE!” That was hilarious to me. I don’t knock him for his point of view at all but that’s not really my flow. I understood his point though, he was trying to say I deserve a little more recognition for whatever and maybe it needs to be voiced. Every once in a while I do feel that way but more often than not I take the Mike Jordan approach. Michael Jeffrey never had to tell anyone who was in the NBA how good he was at basketball. He just did it. He’d break a record and move on. He’d win a championship and get to focusing on the next one. Oh and by the way if you ever played against him he’d remind you, only on the court, that you have no chance at stopping him and not to take it personal because well he’s just good like that. MJ talked trash just not all the time. Not that I’m as great as MJ was in anything I do yet but it doesn’t hurt to take notes from the best. So I’d rather let my skills talk for me more than myself. Yea so that’s what I learned about myself and others during last night’s convos at happy hour.
