I send a daily motivational quote to members of my career mentoring site. Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” quote is one of my favorites. You can check it out here. Today though, I’d like to focus on another of his quotes, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Recently, I made the acquaintance of a guy named Jon Morrow. He epitomizes doing what you can with what you have, where you are. Check out his story…
I promised to tell you a story to keep you going when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Turns out, I can do both things at the same time. Because the story is about me.
You see, I’m in a wheelchair. Not because I’m old and feeble, mind you. I have a type of muscular dystrophy. What does that mean, exactly? Well, every day when I wake up, I’m a bit weaker than I was the day before. After over 30 years with the disease, I’ve pretty much lost the ability to move anything at all. I can’t move my legs. I can’t move my arms. I can’t even move my head. Really, the only things I can do are speak and move my eyes. That’s about it.
But you know what? None of that stopped me from becoming a successful writer. Right now, I’m using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to type. Basically, I talk to the computer, and the words appear on the screen.
And let me brag for a minute… I’m good. Really freaking good. Over the years, my work has been read by – wait for it – over 200 million people. It’s also made over $50 million. How on earth is something like that possible?
Well, first, I was a freelance writer. I wrote for all kinds of big magazines and blogs, eventually averaging $7000 per article – more than any writer is paid at the New York Times. None of them knew I was disabled. I wrote the articles, sent them in, and got published. Simple as that.
Later, I became an editor for the top online marketing site in the world. I helped grow it to over 3 million monthly page views and millions of dollars a year in revenue. After that, I started building my own sites.
Nowadays, I own online magazines with millions of readers, and I have employees all over the world. I manage them all from home. Sitting in my wheelchair. Talking to the computer.
And even with all those responsibilities, I still find time to write. Pretty much every day. Why? Simple: it’s because I’m a writer. It doesn’t matter that I can’t move. It doesn’t matter that I have to speak into a microphone. It doesn’t matter that I’m so rich now I could stop and never write another word.
God put me here to write. So, I write. End of story.
Besides writing, Jon helps people start successful blogs. I tell members of my career mentoring site that they need to blog if they want to establish themselves as an expert in their field. I’ve been blogging for over 10 years. Blogging has earned me a reputation as a career success expert and thought leader. You might want to check out what Jon has to offer if you’re serious about building your career by blogging.
Back to Jon’s story. He’s a writer who can’t write with a pen and paper or keyboard. But he’s a writer. He writes by speaking to his computer. He hasn’t let his physical problems stop him from what he’s meant to do – writing.
If Jon can do what he does, just imagine what you can do – if you really want to. Jon says that God put him here to write. What did She put you here to do? Once you figure out this you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve. Knowing what you’re meant to do will give you the strength and determination you need to do it.
Your career mentor,
Bud
PS: I write this blog to help people create the life and career success they want and deserve. Now I’m going one step further. I’ve created a membership site in which I’ve pulled together my best thoughts on success. And, as a reader of this blog, you can become a member for free. Just go to www.BudBilanich.com/join to claim your free membership. You’ll be joining a vibrant and growing community of success minded professionals. I hope to see you there.
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