The Little Shelf Stacker That Could

Originally posted 2019-07-08 12:11:22.

…back when I used to stack shelves for a living, I used to hate Christmas time.

Not just for for the neverending playlist of songs that looped over and over again …for a full month before the big day.….but that the store stayed open later.

Going from the peace and quiet of having ten hours to myself, I now had to spent the first three, helping the lost and the seasonally insane – who had no sense of what was humanly possible to do in 24 hours – with their Christmas shopping.

It also meant that I bumped into more people that knew me.

‘Oh Barry, I didn’t know you were here stacking shelves.’

Now, call it a pride thing, but while stacking shelves kept the wolf from the door, and put a roof over my kids heads, I don’t think there’s any kid that’s ever said..

“When I grow up, I’m going to be the best shelf stacker you ever saw!”

So when people said that to me, it kinda rubbed me up the wrong way. Even if they meant nothing by it.

But to me, that’s all they saw me as…as shelf stacker.

Thankfully, when I got into creating children’s books and making money from that…that self limitation was stretched further. – I wasn’t just a shelf stacker, I was also a published author.

Then when I got into adult fiction, I wasn’t just the kids book guy, I was also a published romance writer.

And that’s the thing of putting limits on yourself.

Had I only saw myself as just shelf stacker, then that’s the level I would have stayed at.

Create kids books?…Write adult fiction?…Create video training courses?….They wouldn’t have even been on my radar if I’d stayed that way.

Thing is, once you get out of the self limits you put on yourself, your job’s not over. You’ve also got to put up with the limits others have put on you.

The husband that doesn’t support you, because he only sees you as the wife that minds the kids, not the bestselling fiction writer you could be.

The kids that don’t support your blogging, because well, you’re just their parent, you’re not someone that should have a huge following.

The sister that’s always looked down on you, and that sees your venture into kids books as something that’s just a phase, sometime you’ll drop like everything else you did in the past.

And so they’ll criticise, offer little support, or tell you to give up your hair brained scheme. Because that’s just not for you, that’s for other people.

When you’re stretching yourself, you’re gonna meet this resistance, sometimes from the people that are the closest to you.

Seeing you getting ahead, means that they’ve got to face up to their own lack of success. And also justify the excuses they’ve been telling themselves for not following their dreams.

And that’s not something people like to face.

It’s a lot easier pulling everyone back into the bucket of a mediocre life, than it is to give a helping push out of it.

Me, I’m big into pushing. I’d love to see you be even more successful than I am….and that’s why I’m giving you all I’ve created for a monthly fee.

PS – Because the more people I can get to where they want to go to, the more successful I’ll be.

…and yeah, I was a pretty decent shelf stacker in my day.

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