Karma Sometimes Manifests as Mini-Karma

There’s a life lesson here somewhere, but I’m not clear yet on exactly what it is.

Jun 08, 2024

Funny How Things Come Back

My wife bought a cup for me earlier this week, one she knew would make me laugh—but in some ways, not so much, since it hews a little too close to the truth.

I contemplated the cup for a few minutes, then looked to see her beaming with triumph at me. I recently retired from my day job after a 40-year career teaching communication skills to college students, and she has enjoyed poking gentle fun at my increasing age for at least a couple of years.

“You know you got me one almost exactly like this a few months ago, right?” I said.

Her face fell. “No, I didn’t.”

“I’m afraid you did.”

“No.”

“Hold on a minute.”

I went into our kitchen, walked straight to a white cup on the shelf above the stove, and carried it back to place it in her hands.

She looked bewildered, read it again with disbelief in her eyes, and then returned my smile as our eyes met.

“[Expletive].” said she. “You mean… I forgot?”

“Welcome to my world, sweetheart.”

It would be ill-mannered and churlish of me to take pleasure in this, a level of schadenfreude unbecoming to someone of refined taste.

OK, I admit it. I’m churlish. I flat out cackled, in fact.

At least now, I have an almost matching pair we can share.

Now, what was I saying?

Reading Reflections

Enjoy a Perennial Good Read and Message

I have a few dozen books I go back to and read over and over. This week I have been digging into one of those.

I talked with a new friend this week and suggested several books I have found to be helpful. The Go-Giver was one of those, and talking about it led me back to it again.

Here’s a description of the book from Bob Burg, one of the co-authors:

The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. And so one day, desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman.
Over the next week, Pindar introduces Joe to a series of “go-givers:” a restaurateur, a CEO, a financial adviser, a real estate broker, and the “Connector,” who brought them all together. Pindar’s friends share with Joe the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success and teach him how to open himself up to the power of giving.
Joe learns that changing his focus from getting to giving—putting others’ interests first and continually adding value to their lives—ultimately leads to unexpected returns.

I’ve talked about this book a lot in podcasts and articles, so you may have heard about it from me earlier. It bears repeating.

It holds the #10 spot on Inc.’s “Most Motivational Books Ever Written” list, and also features on HubSpot’s “20 Most Highly Rated Sales Books of All Time”—but it goes beyond sales training into life training.

This is the initial book in a series. I will likely mention more of the books from the series in the coming months. But I honestly believe it/they can change your life for the better.

Passages and Pathways

The Perils of Plumbing

I think I mentioned this last week. The soggy saga continues. We have had to reschedule twice, since I continue to slog away at getting the site ready for the plumbers to work, and these days I take an hour to do 15 minutes’ worth of work. I keep having to stop and rest. I’m hurting in places I didn’t even know I had. But the end is in sight. If this gets published as planned, the plumbing work will have been done yesterday, and the electrical work that also must get done will happen next Thursday.

Thus, I haven’t gotten a lot of my own writing done. On the other hand, I’m enjoy helping some other writers move from traditional publishing to independent (indie) publishing. I’m not holding myself out as a publisher, and I don’t want doing this kind of work to replace my writing, but I get some satisfaction from working with these other writers in various ways.

Put it this way: indie authors must wear at least five hats: writer, editor, publisher, marketer, and businessperson. Once upon a time, an author could focus on the first hat and leave the other four to a publisher like Simon & Schuster or Random House or many other lesser known publishers. These days, for better or worse, even authors who publish with one of the Big Five must wear all the hats except that of publisher, which just involves getting the book into publication—book design, cover design, typesetting, printing, binding, etc. Because of that, more and more writers think, “If I have to do my own marketing and business, write the book, hire my own editor, I might as well publish it myself.” But the publishing part can be a pain, and that’s what I’ve been able to help with.

Still, as satisfying as that is, within the next week (by the next newsletter, in fact) I will report to you about how things are proceeding with Real Speak, the third book in The Sparklight Chronicles. I’m eager to develop the new villain character who has recently emerged.

Donn King is The Confidence Cultivator. He is the author of The Sparklight Chronicles series of business parables (DonnKing.com/Books) and a professor of communication studies (which means “a professor of standing up in front of people and saying stuff”). He’s also a pastor, a speaker, and a communication coach. Reach out to donn@donnking.com to see how he could help you increase your impact, gain influence, and build your career.

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