You must meet Len. He's priceless. An expert on everything.
Once when I was on holiday he came up to me at the pool and asked if I was a football referee. It turned out someone else had told him I was.
He proceeded to tell me how important he is in football; how he knows everyone, but of course, whoever he said he knew that I happened to know, he suddenly "hadn't spoken to for ages".
He told me how he likes to keep fit. How he would be 'in the gym later'. How he was a great player. How he would have been a great ref if he had chosen to be.
One look at Len told me he perhaps wasn’t seeing what everyone else could see.
Then he talked to me about business. I knew Len would be an expert in everything business too. He just had that look.
He asked what I did. I decided to have some fun. So, I told him which business I’m in and asked him what he knew about it. I am a tease!
Unsurprisingly Len was an expert on this too. He told me "it doesn't work". I said "Len, what facts do you base that view on?". He garbled some nonsense based on his own personal experience in the 1980s.
So I said "Len, do you base your decision on whether an entire profession works based on something that happened 35 years ago?"
Len replied "it doesn't work, trust me".
Choosing not to trust him as requested I asked "how many holidays have you had this year?" - Len replied "well here and last August in Kos". You couldn't script it.
I didn’t want Len to know that I have about ten holidays a year. Sometimes it’s so easy that it’s not fair.
Anyway, he’d no doubt have said that I must be one of the ‘lucky ones’!
I wished him a good holiday.
You’re going to meet Len a lot. He’ll come in different shapes and sizes; different ages; sometimes male, sometimes female. But in all occasions, you need to ensure your belief isn’t shaken, and your dream isn’t stolen.
Later that day, i went to the gym and was surprised to see Len. That said, he did say he would 'be in the gym later'.
Was he lifting weights?
Was he on the treadmill?
Was he doing some light stretching?
No.
Len was draping over the side of treadmill (not actually on it) in the same clothes he was wearing when I spoke to him this morning, WATCHING his companion exercise on the treadmill. I took a pic to prove it (see attached).
In life, there are doers and talkers. Len is a talker. We, that includes you if you’ve read this far, are doers. Keep on doing. Keep on living The Slight Edge (small and seemingly inconsequential steps done over and over again), and you'll get where you want to be.
And when you meet talkers like Len, we all know a few and will meet more, don't invest too much time on changing them. GUPTRs (Generally Unsuccessful People Talking Rubbish) will always be there reminding us why we don't want to be like them (and sorry to say, some may even be your closest friends or family)!
PS when he saw me he looked a bit embarrassed...I just said "good workout?” to him! So much fun. My abs got better workout from suppressing the giggling than from the next forty minutes in gym!
PPS Have you ever met Len too?!!!
