Just Do It

There are idea people and then there are doers.  I fall into the first category. I have a billion ideas floating through my head at any given moment.  My husband is a doer.  We compliment each other and it's a good thing he's a high energy person because I'm always coming up with new projects for him to do.  Then there are people who have a nice balance of both.  Phil Knight, one of the co founders of Nike, is one of those people.  Oprah interviewed Phil (who seldom does interviews) about how he got the idea for Nike.  He was on the track team at the University of Oregon and really admired his coach, Bill Bowerman.  He wanted to work with Bill in some capacity. They both felt existing track shoes were slowing runners down and in 1972 they began manufacturing their own shoes.  Bill came up with the idea to use the imprint of his wife's waffle iron to create greater traction on their shoes.  From that point on, they never stopped trying to create better performing athletic shoes.  Bill passed away in 1999, but Phil continues to run the company.  You never know how a household appliance can be used for other purposes.  It reminds me of a column in Real Simple magazine called New Uses For Old Things.  I also get flashbacks of the television show MacGyver where he would use a paper clip to keep a bomb from detonating.

It was interesting to learn about the origin of Nike, but the thing I found the most intriguing was the story behind the LIVESTRONG yellow wristband.  The idea for the wristband was from someone at Nike who thought it would be a good way to recognize Lance Armstrong's efforts during his 6th Tour de France.  Both Phil and Lance said they looked at each other and thought it was one of the dumbest ideas they'd ever heard.  If you think about it, why would people wear a yellow piece of rubber around their arm?  I have seen people dressed to the nines and wearing them.  They have sold 80 million wristbands and are still going strong.  The lesson I got from this is, not to discount your ideas just because other people might not think their good.  It's not the LIVESTRONG band itself that makes it so great, it's the intention behind it and what it represents.  Some of the simplest ideas can turn out to be fruitful.  I follow several blogs and learned about a blog site http://www.1000awesomethings.com/
Neil Pasricha writes about the simple pleasures of everyday living- things like the smell of a bakery and finding money you didn't ever know you lost.  He has published two books of awesome things and was on the International Bestsellers List.  I personally think that's awesome.

"When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt."  -  Honore de Balzac