How do you know when you're successful?

How do you know when you're successful?

To me a Louis Vuitton Red Epi leather wallet is success. As soon as I could afford to buy one (without sending myself into debt) I would be able to look at the world and say "I've made it! I'm successful!"- holding my 'success wallet'.

My success wallet.

Six years ago my success arrived. But not how I thought.
  

I was on a snowboarding holiday in Japan, and like you do when you need a rest from snowboarding, I was shopping. Walking into each of the different little shops, not really knowing exactly what to expect. It was in one of these shops that I looked through the glass counter. I was shocked to see, here somewhere outside Tokyo my 'success wallet' was there looking back at me! 

I was on holidays. I was almost at the end of my trip. I had some money left over but would it be enough for my 'success wallet'?
Half arguing with a friend about why I couldn't buy it - I didn't believe I was "successful" so I tried to convince my friend of the lie that this was why I shouldn't buy it even though I could afford it.
The wallet is now mine - I bought it!

I had finally been able to buy one, a Louis Vuitton Red Epi leather wallet - my success wallet! I was ecstatic! Until a thought popped into my head. 

If I own my success wallet now (at 24) then does that mean I'm successful, already? 

It was the wallet I had dreamed about, the wallet that would tell the world I was successful. So. Yes! I was successful! I AM successful! 

Now the question is: as the first book I have published has broken-even, am I successful? 

You better believe it! 

Was I successful before this book broke-even? Yes. 

Was I successful before the book was even printed? Yes.

To me, success is a belief in yourself. It's a confidence that cannot be bought by things, not even by Louis Vuitton products. 

Success comes before you can buy the fancy car, house, suit or purse. It comes when you step out and start to become a better person - when you start to become the best you, you can be.

Are you working on becoming the best person you can be?

The Forbidden History of Unpopular People: Free Speach

When Topher started to tell me about this project I misheard and built it to extraordinary proportions! Turns out that this post was a little wrong - he hasn't created a feature film... whoops. Instead it's a short punchy video.

And now, the first in his trilogy 'The Forbidden History of Unpopular People' has it's launched! Check it out below or check it out on Topher's specific 'The Forbidden History' website here.

Topher's next two video's are titled 'The Forbidden History of Terrible Taxes; Counting the Cost of Government' and 'The Forbidden History of Gargantuan Government; the Bodycount of Bureaucracy'. 

Sponsor his next video/s and be part of the debate or sponsor him and see your name in the credits but either way - sponsor him. 

Join the celebrations!

Tomorrow is the first ever children's book launch from my publishing house, Ashworth Publishing. We're having the launch at The Little Bookroom in 759 Nicholson St, Carlton North, Melbourne at 2:30pm. There will be cupcakes, colouring-in and story telling - come join us!

What's the children's book your launching?
It's called Mitchell the Pixel and is aimed at children 3-7 years old.

Mitchell the pixel is a digital square.
He lives in your computer and doesn’t have hair.
Join him as he explores what it is to have friendship,
face up to bullies and find forgiveness.
While all along, staying true to his unique self.
Who authored and illustrated Mitchell the Pixel?
It was written by Leon James Wisewould and illustrated by Paul Nash.
Leon has been writing since he was a child himself. Paul has been doodling, drawing and painting since he was a child too.

Why did you start a publishing house?  
A couple years ago I wrote a children's story called Johnny Big Toes - available in November, 2012. The main character was inspired by my dear friend, AshLee, and there is an elephant, a ferrari, a giant snail, and the world's largest underground car park.

AshLee encouraged me to look at having my story published. That was when I realised that by starting my own publishing house I could be less focused on generating massive profits, and more focused on inspiring children to be children.

It wasn't long before Leon and Paul Nash, the Mitchell the Pixel illustrator would be excited to publishing the first Ashworth Publishing children's book with me.

UPDATE: See pictures from the day here

People are just that, people.

On my phone

Relationships are hard; any kind of relationship is difficult.

There are ups and downs. 

Good times and not so good times. And navigating the terrain of relationships - whether professional or personal - can be emotionally draining at times.

Doesn't matter what the status or title people are just people; they can hurt, anger and sadden us without even knowing! 

Recently this happened to me both personally and professionally. Things were said and actions (or lack of them) made me feel like an outsider, like the relationship we shared wasn't of value. I was made to feel like I held no position of influence and my contribution was of no worth.  

Being hurt, angered and/or saddened is not pleasant, in turn it can begin to create new feelings of resentment and bitterness or worse. It's easy to see how if you store up all these feelings it would start to create a rift among friends. To pull people apart.  

This is where things where starting to head for me and I didn't like it. 

I don't like being anger with friends or feeling like they don't care about me (when I knew in my head that they did). But saying something is hard (yep, this is the hard part in relationships). Having the courage to put up your hand and say 'you may not realise this but your actions/words have hurt me'.  

Perhaps you've heard about letting go of old hurts but forgiving friends before they have apologised can seem like an impossibility. Yet God wants to know all our stresses, He wants us to give them all to Him. My friends had hurt me and I was really stressed, so I did just that. 

I prayed. I told God how they made me feel, told Him I was choosing to forgive them and to help heal my heart. And like always - He listened, He answered.

Without anger or bitterness I then put up my hand and told my friends - I'd been hurt. How they had made me feel and that I was speaking to them so that we could all make a conscious effort to avoid the same thing happening in the future. 

I was proud of myself for saying something. I'm not very good at talking about my feelings; I'm not the most eloquent person which makes me nervous and tongue-tied but I wrote down what I wanted to say on a bit of paper and I spoke out. 

If you feel hurt, say something. Your friend might be feeling hurt too. 

Seek God's timing about when to say something, be gentle and speak without accusation but do say something. It will help to strengthen your relationship.