Matt Weinstein - Gently Down the Stream: 4 Unforgettable Keys to Success

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Table of Contents

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This book is dedicated to

Geneen, Barbara, Lee, and Joann
whole and beautiful women whose sustaining love
has helped us in countless ways to flow ever
so gently down the stream.

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complex.

CONFUCIUS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ONE IDEA THAT we support in this book is that none of us will be able to row our way to genuine success alone. The full recognition of our interdependence helps us to understand that perfection in one oarsman means nothing. Simply put, we need others. Space does not permit me to acknowledge all those who have supported my efforts through the years. I owe so much to so many people. I must at the very least, however, mention the following people who helped, in their own special ways, make this book a reality.

Many colleagues at Richland College, especially Steve Mittelstet, Janet James, Joyce McKnight-Williams, and Scott Shepard made important contributions. My friends, Marje and Dick Takei, Lynn and Arye Alexander, John Trickle, and Gary Verett all had a part in this work.

Our agent Brian DeFiore is the best. Brian is always deeply involved in many positive ways in the creation of our projects. Without his reliable perspective we would sink. Kate Garrick, Brians able assistant, is a gem. Without our editor, John Duff, this book would have never come about, as it was his idea. I love working with John and his creative staff.

Lee Paez continues to be my steady and constant source of love and support. She is always my first reader, and blends so beautifully the roles of cheerleader and unrestrained critic. My children, Alicia Paez, Kevin Paez, and Rachel Barber continue to inspire me on a daily basis. I relearned during the writing of this book just how much they mean to me. I cannot imagine having a better friend and writing partner than Matt Weinstein. We work together like hand and glove, foot and shoe, milk and cookies, Lucy and Desi. Im never sure who is which! Im sure our books would be much longer if we spent more time writing and less time laughing. Someday we will write us yet another book.LB

First of all, I would like to fondly remember Rex, the talking dog, who was the narrator of this book in its first draft. We thought it was a great idea to make a bridge between this book and our previous book Dogs Dont Bite When a Growl Will Do, and Rex performed that task admirably. When we showed the manuscript to our agent Brian DeFiore, his reaction was quite simple: Lose the dog! When we prevailed on him to show the manuscript to our editor John Duff, his response was equally clear. Lose the dog! They were right and we were wrong. Rest in Peace, Rex. May you have a second life in a future book that is yet undreamed.

John Duff heard our lecture on The Four Unforgettable Principles and immediately said, You should write your next book about the row, row, row your boat principles. What a great idea!

My friends and colleagues Rick Curwin, Carla Rieger, and Sarah Fisk generously allowed us to tell their wonderful stories in this book.

Hameed Ali and Jeanne Hay introduced me to the concept of basic trust. It is through their inspired and heartfelt teachings that I was able to discover my own sense of basic trust.

My wife Geneen Roth, who is a fabulous writer herself, was once again my full-time muse and part-time editor on this book. She is a constant inspiration to me on so many levels, and Im glad she liked what she read!

Finally, writing this book with my coauthor Luke Barber has once again been one of the great joys of my life. What fun we continue to have together! Life is truly a dream in his presence.MW

INTRODUCTION

The Four Keys to Success

THROUGH THE YEARS, the participants in our programs and seminars have been interested in some basic guidelines to orient them in their quest for success. They have shared with us their experience with the Eight Choices, the Seven Habits, or the Six Secrets that they have found in other books. These ideas have helped and even inspired them, but the students have observed that most of these simplifying ideas are much too complicatedthey are just too difficult to remember. A short time after they have read these books they are asking themselves, Now, what was that secret number five again?

So, one day the two of us were talking about how to create a set of simple guides to help people on their journey to success. Luke, being a philosopher by nature and profession, suggested that if we were to develop such guidelines we should heed the words of the twentieth-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: the aspects of things that are most important to us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.

Yes! agreed Matt enthusiastically. If we develop some guiding principles for success, they need to be easy to remember, but have an unexpected depth to them. As a teacher of improvisation and a great believer in the idea of seeing familiar things with fresh eyes, Matt offered another favored quote, this from the nineteenth-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: Thus the task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees.

Ah, muttered Luke appreciatively. So then, if we can find something that everyone already thinks they know all about, but help them to look at it in a new way...

In that moment, the four simple principles set forth in this book miraculously revealed themselves to us. As we tell people in our audiences, you wont have to write these down, you dont have to take any noteswe promise that these four principles are so simple, so fundamentally engaging (with an emphasis on the fun), and so recognizable, that two weeks from now you will have no difficulty remembering them. In fact, we guarantee that you will remember them for the rest of your life!

Here are the four remarkable and unforgettable keys to success:

1. Row, row, row your boat

2. Gently down the stream

3. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

4. Life is but a dream

The usual reaction when people first hear these four principles is always the same: appreciative, but tentative, laughter. However, when they look in more detail and see what these lines have to teach them about achieving success, the laughter transforms into thoughtful reflection. After a few minutes of discussion, these same people begin to appreciate that we are, in fact, quite serious about the value of these keys to success.

These four lines provide a simple yet powerful and profound guide to successful living. These straightforward ideas can help you to reduce stress, create joy, enhance motivation, foster teamwork, ensure satisfaction in your work, and much, much more. In short, they are uncomplicated guides for finding success and happiness in life.

By focusing on these four lines as essential keys to success and happiness, this book will help you apply them to all aspects of your life, whether at work, in personal relationships, or in any other component of daily living. The two of us are convinced that the same skills for living that lead to success in one context apply equally in others. The same skills that make you successful at work will assist you in being better parents, partners, friends, and community members.

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