A Bright Spot

When I started my first business back in 1980, I was laser focused on making the business a success. I worked crazy long hours and thought about work every waking moment. I thought all I had to do was work super hard by myself and I would be a huge success. After a while I realized my life sucked and the business wasn’t even close to becoming a success. Fortunately, after about a year, a light bulb went on, and I realized that trying to do everything by myself wasn’t the formula for success or happiness. I also realized at the same time that “one” really is the loneliest number.

That was an important lesson for me to learn at a young age, but it can be an easy one to forget. Fortunately, I’ve had multiple reminders over the years that two heads are better than one, and that sometimes multiple heads are better than two. In fact, I had three reminders this week.

1. I was called out on Monday as a lighting consultant for a project at the Dana Point Harbor. They put in a new sign, but the single LED spotlight installed created a glaring bright spot on the front of the sign. The solution was to use two fixtures instead of one and mount them at opposing angles.

2. I was also called out last week to help with illuminating the new marquee on the front of The Barclay Theatre at UCI. Five new LED fixtures were installed, but they created bright spots on the sign with dark shadows in between, which was not a good look. The answer was to add two more fixtures and space all seven of them closer together to even out the illumination.

3. Lastly, my name was drawn out of a hat last week to play in the Coto Charity Golf Classic. As the lucky winner, I was able to bring my wife along as a teammate. When we arrived, we discovered we were paired with a dapper 74-year-old gentleman, who previously starred in Broadway Musicals and who also sung the Star-Spangled Banner at Dodger Stadium for 32 years in a row. Our fourth team member was an 80-year-old who co-created the “Chicken Soup” books as well as his own publishing company. So you might think that three old dudes and a woman would have no chance at winning a Golf Tournament. Okay, so you’d be right. But there were a couple of bright spots. Our “singer” at one time had an 8 index and could still drive the ball long and straight. Our “author” might have had a handicapped flag on his cart, but his short game around the greens wasn’t handicapped at all. And my wife had the round of her life, driving the ball farther than any of us old guys on several holes and dropping a 35-foot putt for a birdie on the 4^th hole. My point is, if I had played by myself, I would have shot 14 over par. With the help of a few friends, we shot a very respectable 4 over par.  

And that got me thinking… If you’re looking for a bright spot in life, maybe all you have to do is shine on a light on those people closest to you!

So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.

~ Baha’ullah