I  was having one of my regular conversations with my 76-year-old, 85 pound, 4 ft 11 inch tall Japanese Master Tailor Iko (pronounced “eeko”) not long ago.  She lives alone by choice and at the ripe age of 75 she says that she lives a simple life full of predictable routine.  Her best friend is a small, Apple-Face Chihuahua named Plum who was the last gift given to her by her husband years ago before he passed away.

Part of Iko’s daily routine is getting up bright and early every morning, seven days a week and walking the neighborhood streets.  She loves and lives for the daily opportunity to walk her usual route with a bag of treats in hand so she can feed the 8 dogs and one cat on her route.

My two Blue-Queensland Healer dogs, Sophie and Cody, are part of her route too.  It makes me smile oftentimes as I watch from the window as my dogs sit patiently watching and waiting for Iko to appear.  Their ears perk up as they hear her footsteps from hundreds of feet away and just like clock-work, she shows up 8:05am.  They greet her every morning with excitement as if it’s their first time all over again.

Iko absolutely loves the reaction she gets from all the pets on her route and she looks forward to it daily.  I think that it’s safe to say that my friend Iko is definitely celebrated everywhere she goes and not merely tolerated.

As you think about how you’re going to make this next year different and better than this one, I invite you to consider the following.  Are you “Celebrated” everywhere you go or are you just “Tolerated”?  Hmmm… Give this one some serious thought and if you’re a manager or supervisor be especially sure that you understand that being a boss doesn’t mean you have to be an unyielding, unapproachable, tyrant with an attitude.

I’ve learned that people love to be around other people who’re positive, motivated, uplifting and encouraging.  The good news is we all can do our part to breath life into our respective environments by building people up and it all starts with the most important component of all, “YOU”.

Be encouraged in the days ahead and be sure to lift others up while you’re climbing.  Iko would definitely say choose to be “Celebrated” and not “Tolerated” and I couldn’t agree more.  It’s amazing that I’ve learned so many big things from such a little woman.   I’m extremely excited that she has allowed me to grace several pages of my book with her presence.

One step closer today than yesterday.  Let’s continue to Make it GREAT!

www.MakeItGreatNOW.com   (The Book)
www.MrBreadCrumb.com    (The Blog)