Zappo’s – Pam Grout

Make it fun. Make it yours

January 14, 2018 85 Comments

“I always wanted to be part of a small revolution.”—Quote from The Post

A Course in Miracles is like anything. You make it into whatever you want it to be. My guiding philosophy is that unless something is fun, it’s not sustainable.

So you can be bothered by the language. In lesson 14, for example, (God did not create a meaningless world), we delve into that controversial G-word.

Or you can make it fun. You can appreciate it for the rebellious and revolutionary program that it is. You can notice the part about ditching your own personal house of horrors, the line about moving towards perfect peace.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappo’s, is the poster boy for making perceived un-fun things fun. In fact, he walked away from the first company he built (he was 27 and it was worth $265 million) because it just wasn’t making him happy.

Zappo’s (which does make him happy) is built on weirdness, creativity, being adventurous and doing whatever it takes to give love. In corporate speak, love=customer service, but, take it from me, it’s love, pure and simple.

Like the Course, Tony eschews perfection (“jump in fast, make mistakes, it’s all okay”) and old paradigms. On a dare, he named his venture capital firm Venture Frogs (who does that?) and every day, he does something outside the business norm–like dye his hair red or wear a mohawk.

He lives in an Airstream, spends most of his non-working time outdoors (says he has the world’s largest front porch) and knows without a doubt, that if it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing.

So if a guy who doesn’t even like shoes (he says he owns three pairs) can turn a billion dollars online shoe company into a rockin’ good time (a tour of their Las Vegas headquarters is better than a self-help seminar), I’m thinking we can transform this wordy blue book into weird, boisterous, meaningful fun.

Who’s game?

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her new book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Taking the wrecking ball to worn out mental constructs

January 8, 2018 35 Comments

“There comes a point when you know, without doubt, without hesitation, that you cannot go back to your old life. You cannot be who you once were and also have a new life with new riches.”— Julie McIntyre

past
The past sometimes comes in handy. Like when I’m ordering a pair of sneakers on Zappo’s.

Eliminates a lot of back and forth shipping if I know I wear a size 9. Or when I come to an intersection. Knowing what that red octagonal signs mean prevents a lot of unnecessary collisions.

But other than a few useful details, the past is mostly a prison. It prevents me from seeing and experiencing life as it is now.

Instead, I see my labels, my prejudices, my judgements–all constructs that block the Truth. When I continue to regurgitate my past, the glorious field of infinite potentiality (the FP) can’t get in. Nothing can ever change.

Lesson 8 in the Course in Miracles is: My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

I know it might seem rather pointless to look at my thoughts and call them out as the posers they are.

But it doesn’t matter what I think of the exercises. It just matters that I do them. What’s really pointless are all the decisions and assumptions I made about what’s best for me in the past.

The Course is about letting go. It’s about giving up old mental constructs and surrendering to the all-loving, all-powerful energy force that’s bigger, bolder, brighter, and, yes, stranger than anything I’ve yet seen.

This Sacred Buzz is life itself. Life, which—no matter how many walls I erect, no matter how seriously I screw up—is always there waiting with arms open wide.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.