Wow. I've never won anything, in a lottery sense I mean. Everything I have achieved so far in life has come through effort, almost never luck. And now this, having my name drawn out from amongst thousands of people. That's pretty lucky huh!
Or is it?
I decided to pull up the "Welcome to Listserve!" email from my archives. I joined on Jun 16, 2016. How did I find Listserve? I remember, I was dabbling with an idea of starting my own mailing list. Something to do with sharing
"3 minute" life skills to everyone on a mailing list. People would read my email on their way to and from work. I didn't know if it would make me any money but I was (and still am) intrigued with the power of easy to learn skills (like the right way to chop an onion evenly, fold a shirt, organize a shoe closet, remember a name … ). Anyhow I digress.
So I was on my own mission when I read about listserve somewhere. And then I thought I'll give it a shot. See how it works, maybe I'll learn a few things myself. After a few posts I was hooked. The blend of anonymity and honesty is seductive in a raw sense. I looked forward to reading a new story everyday. Sometimes life would get busy and I would skip weeks worth of list serve emails. Then, I set up filters & reminders so I don't lose these emails. I would catch up during a long flight
And then I got the "You've won the Listserve" email. What an opportunity!
I would have missed it if I didn't have a filter set up to make sure it doesn't get buried beneath hundreds of Sales-y spam emails. I would have missed it if I hadn't been intrigued by this idea and not signed up for it on June 16, 2016 in the first place.. I would have missed it if I hadn't googled other interesting "Email Lists" ideas while researching my own "3 minute life skills" idea. I would have missed it if I didn't want to keep learning and keep sharing in my life.
So, no it isn't luck. Every action I took led to another, and then another eventually leading to this opportunity . I showed up everyday. And so have all of you!
That's what I wanted to say.
PS: I didn't go ahead with the mailing list idea. Instead quit my job and started a different business. I don't think I have ever done something so challenging in my life. But I'm learning a lot and I had to give myself this chance.
Peace.
Dhiraj
Chicago
[email protected]