Discover One Thing Everyone Needs for a Rich Life

Jump start a rich life with this simple step from the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness.

Will Smith plays Chris Gardner who went from homeless to multimillionaire.

He discovered one resource that makes a big difference for happiness.

Homeless man converts resource into riches

Happiness floods your soul when you push this button.

Your passion.

But, how do you find it?  And then, how do you push the button?

Chris Gardner figured it out.

And Hollywood made a movie about it.

He catapulted from homelessness to multimillionaire.

He woke up to the unique ability God planted in his soul.

But he did it while everything looked dismal and fruitless.

Even though Chris Gardner grew up . . .

• emotionally abused by a raging step father
• living in and out of foster care
• hitting the bottom with homelessness

. . . he connected with his passion.

“I had to accept, my mother had to help me accept, you can’t be Miles Davis!  He’s already got that job.  You got to be Chris Gardner.”  Chris Gardner

In his book, Start Where You Are, Chris said the difference-maker for “happyness” is reimagination.

It’s a process of self-evaluation about who you really are and what you really like.

Reimagine life as a new story

Chris loved people!  He also liked numbers.

But, he was stuck in a sales job with limited upside and stuck in a life marred by misery.

• His stepfather was a raging alcoholic
• His boyhood was traumatic in and out of foster care
• His favorite uncle drowned in the Mississippi River

All he could hear was his mother’s voice over and over . . .

“You can only depend on yourself, the cavalry ain’t coming.” Bettye Jean Gardner

Reimagination is tough because it takes . . .

• time
• thought
• commitment

And then you must have faith to see a new future.

“One never knows, when he enters an elevator or tears open an envelope or picks up the telephone, what new trick of fortune may be about to be played.  Every day is a new series of adventures; around the next corner may lie the event that will change a whole career.”  Bruce Barton, 1928

Instead of staying with the practical, the day job, he broke through to the ideal.

Chris Gardner’s re-imagination timeline

• Early 80s:  he made $8000 annually
• Four years later:  he made $16,000 annually
• At a routine sales call:  he sees a red Ferrari pull up to park
• Chris asks the man:  “Nice car!  May I ask what you do?”
• The man, Bob Bridges, said:  “I’m a stockbroker”
• Bob sets up Chris with interviews at brokerage firms
• Chris amasses parking tickets while interviewing
• And then he lands in jail unable to pay parking tickets
• But Chris gains internship at Dean Witter Reynolds. . . with no salary
• Working early and staying late, Chris is the top trainee
• He lives in motels, flophouses and public stations with his son
• Ultimately Gardner gets a job offer from Bear Stearns!
• In 1987, he starts his own firm for $10,000, Gardner Rich & Co.
• In 2006, he sells his company for millions

6 vital steps to reimagine a better story

• Pause to reflect on who you really are
• Reimagine yourself living your passion
• Explore every chance encounter with curiosity
• Dive deeper with a new choice
• Repack the future with a committed decision
• Act with courage

That’s why I hope you watch the movie, because it might remind you, as it did me, that reimagining your life is fantastically fulfilling!

Do we have to be borderline fanatical to achieve a happier life?