331. What happens when you follow your heart?

We have a home showcase locally called the Vesta home show if you’re local you probably know it, it’s basically a parade of homes where designers and builder get together to showcase their product, A few years ago there was one where there was a designer who was an up and coming designer, whose work I had seen before and LOVED, so I was excited to go to this particular Vesta home show because I am a fan of his design.  He was just sort of coming into his own when he did this home show.  Anyway, I just knew he was going to blow every other house out of the water and win all of the awards because he really is that good.  So when it comes time to go through the homes, I was not disappointed it was spectacular in every way.  Every single room looked like it was carefully curated and no detail left to chance.  It blew me away, BUT it had not blown the judges away, He didn’t win best design, I don’t know if they won best anything and I had thought they would win best everything!   As I was walking through I was thinking man he got ripped this could be in any magazine in New York, LA, Europe,  I ran into the designer at the show and  I told him “you and I both know how good your design is, you are just ahead of Memphis by several years.”  And of course he was humble but he was really proud of his final product and he knew it was great and he knew it was forward thinking and of course it would have been nice to win but he wasn’t phased, fast forward 4 years and he is on tv as a design expert, he has been in Architectural digest, Milieu magazine, won award after award, been spotlighted by prestigious magazines all over the world.  His design at the Vesta was by far more forward thinking and fresh than any other design in my humble opinion but that’s not how the judges in Memphis saw it.  The house that won best design was underwhelming, but it was a very southern and safe style and not to take anything from their hard work, but he knew his design was ahead of it’s time and if he had tried to fit into what he thought everyone would like, he may have won a local award but he wouldn’t have been true to himself and he wouldn’t have gotten noticed by clients and magazines around the world.  Just like the pottery….just like anything in this world, if you try to fit into what someone else wants from you, you may win short term in their eyes, but you also may lose long term in yours.   People who listen to their gut and follow their own heart very often times have to buck the system which can lead to short term pain but what you gain long term is far better.    So how does this help us in day to day life?  There have been many times where one of my subcontractors for my contractor tell me they don’t think the design I have planned is going to look right, but guess what, my job is for the design, if I changed my mind every time someone doubted me I would never get anything done.  Now, If they say it’s not safe or technically impossible, well now we have to have a conversation, but If they are just doubting how it’s going to look and I’m 100% it’s going to look great, I’m going for it and the full responsibility will be on me if it doesn’t and that’s a risk I’ll take. Everyone is going to have an opinion and remember they are all going to be different.  So if you’re certain something is right for you, then you gotta have the balls to go for it otherwise you may end up with regret.  When people are on their deathbed, they don’t regret their mistakes the most, they regret the missed opportunities, the risks they wish they had of taken, that’s what they regret the most. And look it doesn’t even have to be that serious…..Our friends and family, coworkers, all have opinions on what we should or should not be doing.  I mean I have opinions about other people too, it’s human nature, no problem with that.  But do we lean into what they want more,  ignoring our own thoughts and wishes?   Listen for the entire episode! I love you guys!