Being Fortunate.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about being grateful for what you have and being willing to give it to others.

First and foremost today, I would like to clarify the difference between getting fortune from what you do in your work, and being fortunate to have work to do. The dictionary suggests that being fortunate comes from receiving good luck or starting out with an advantage of legacy or privilege. However, I must disagree with such a limiting definition. I believe being fortunate comes from being grateful for the cards you've been dealt, having the grace to stay in the game, and the fortitude to play your hand as best you can.

In previous cookies, I've told stories of the days when I worked three minimum wage jobs to make ends meet, and being fortunate means I was grateful to have the work. I've told the story of when I landed a night job at UPS and one condition of keeping my job meant I had to show up for work on our wedding night. Being there, loading UPS trucks from midnight until dawn, even on the most important night of my life, is what I believed being fortunate looks like. For some, I suppose these jobs were beneath them. I viewed them as opportunities, and I was grateful for every dollar I could earn.

The heart of the volunteer is also what I regard as fortunate. Not for the recognition they may eventually receive, but because of what they are willing to give. Today's fortune came from Cecil Dorman, one of the most generous, giving, and caring people I've ever met. Whether Cecil is seated at the bedside of a dying patient or at the boardroom table of a professional organization, he gives of himself openly and freely. He makes a memorable impact on whatever or whomever he touches, and for this, he is grateful and truly fortunate.

Like most anything in life, whether it be your work, your community, or your relationships, you really will get out more than you put in. If you are generous with whatever cards you're holding, your investments will eventually come back in spades. I know because the good bets I've made for my career, my life, and my family, have hit a bigger jackpot than I could have ever imagined. So, I encourage you to offer something when you have an opportunity to give, to build something when you have an opportunity to work, and to be grateful when you have an opportunity to be fortunate. I promise, if you are grateful in life, it truly will be as today's fortune says, "You will be fortunate in everything you put your hands to."