John P. Ciannello

I am the prodigal son

In Luke chapter 15, Jesus shares the parable of the prodigal son.

It’s the story of a young man who asks his father for his inheritance to be given to him early and goes out into the world to live a life full of debauchery and recklessness.

He eventually loses all that he has and after much strife & hardship, the son returns home in hopes of merely becoming one of his father’s workers. Upon his arrival, instead of scolding him or sending him into exile like he truly deserves, the father welcomes his son home with open arms.

I am the prodigal son.

Growing up, I knew the bible. I knew Jesus. I knew what was right, and I knew what was wrong.

Yet for most of my teenage years, I chose to chase after the pleasures that the world had to offer.

I abandoned the way, the truth, and the life for my way, my truth, and my life.

I fell for the trap. The allure of counterfeit comforts.

I sought after temporary thrills.

I made a mess of my life. I found myself enveloped in sin. Enslaved to thrill-chasing. Bound by hedonism.

I chose it. It was on me. I ran to the parties, the alcohol, the lust.

Yet, when I recognized the mess I had made, when I saw that all my sin took me further from God than I ever imagined I’d be, when I finally came to terms with the wretchedness of my ways, the Lord did not turn me away.

Though I deserved to be punished, He welcomed me into His embrace.

Jesus Christ paid the debt I owed. I don’t deserve that, yet He still did it. He did it so I could be reconciled into fellowship with Him. So that we could be reconciled into a relationship with Him.

I am the prodigal son. Undeserving of His grace. Undeserving of His mercy. Eternally grateful for his lovingkindness.

A blurb on entrepreneurship

Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. To be their own boss, set their own hours, and escape the rat race.

A lot of times, people get excited about entrepreneurship because they want to work less.

If that’s your goal, you probably shouldn’t become an entrepreneur.

Building your own brand takes extreme ownership. Everything is on you. Every decision is yours, and with each choice you make, the future of your company could be at stake. That’s a lot of pressure.

There is no clocking in and clocking out. No one’s going to hold you accountable. You won’t get fired for playing hooky. But if you don’t put in the time, your business will fail.

So, if you’re a self-starter who enjoys the process of building something, and you understand that in order to succeed, you have to create some kind of value, you probably have what it takes to build a brand.

If you want to work less, entrepreneurship probably isn’t for you.

A blurb on truth and security

Once we’ve come to the knowledge of the truth, there is no rebuttal that can change anything.

But, despite its objective nature, many will still rebut the truth. If one has not come to the knowledge of it, he will rebut it because he hasn’t yet recognized its indisputable nature.

Therefore, for those of us who have already come to the truth, we must rejoice in simply that. The truth. We must not find security in others also recognizing it.

While it is a wonderful thing when someone sees the truth, that cannot be a source of validation for those who already know the truth.

If we find validation and security in others coming to the truth, then we will ultimately collapse when others are unable to see.

So, we must find security in the truth itself, and be simply glad when others are able to see it as well.

The most important thing to know about me

I couldn’t figure out what to write today.

I wrote a bit about entrepreneurship, but it sounded angry and that’s not what I was going for, so I’ll circle back when I have more time.

I considered sharing a bit about my Praxis journey. I thought about sharing some of the things going through my head as I prepare for the arrival of my baby. All good things, and probably all worth writing about, but they didn’t seem right for tonight.

I couldn’t make a decision. So, I asked myself: What’s the most important thing for someone to know about me?

Solid question. I gave it some thought, and came up with this:

Jesus loves me.

That’s it.

The most important thing about me is that the God who created all things came down from His throne, took on human flesh, lived a perfect life, paid the debt for my sin on the cross, rose from the dead, and offered me the free gift of eternal life and reconciliation into relationship with Him. All because He loves me.

Funny enough, the most important thing about me, isn’t really about me. It’s about Him.

What’s even greater? I’m not the only one He did that for. He did it for you, too.

If you know Him, then you already know that. If you know Him but you’re feeling distant, this is your reminder of what He did for you.

If you don’t know Him, you can. Call out to him. He’s waiting for you to accept the offer.

I’ll leave you with this:

I was dead in my sins. Deceived by the counterfeit comforts that this world offers. Ensnared in the traps of a very real enemy.

Then Jesus set me free.

The most important thing for someone to know about me? Jesus loves me.

And He loves you too.

You might have to slow down to speed up

In a fast-paced and high-tech world, efficiency is king. Everyone wants what they want, and they want it fast. Regardless of whether or not that’s a good thing, it’s reality.

But while everyone and everything is getting faster and faster, the real winners are the ones who pause and build meaningful connections with their customers. Those guys get it.

People ≠ numbers

Business should be balanced. It should be both relational & transactional. Today though, things can be almost completely transactional. No connection. No care. Just numbers.

There’s a problem with that.

People are not numbers. They’re people. Real people with personalities, families, and most importantly, problems. Unique problems.

Why does this matter? Because business is all about solving problems.

But, to really understand a problem, you have to invest a bit into understanding the person it belongs to. And you can’t do that unless you slow down and build connections.

A real-life example

Check out this LinkedIn post from Elena Oprea, founder of SelfTalk.

As you can see, she was “pleasantly surprised” to find a handwritten and personalized note from Helix Wireless’ COO.

He took probably just a few minutes to write that note, but with that, he invested in a relationship–an investment that will likely create a lifelong customer.

Think of the domino effect that this will have:

Elena posts this on LinkedIn–her industry-relevant network interacts with it–they see that Helix cares about its customers–they become customers.

Amazing. All of that from a simple thank-you note. Props to Helix Wireless for the absolutely premium customer care.

Understanding the value of people

I want you to notice what Francis wrote at the end of the note–

“You are the best part of our business.”

That is profound. That mindset is priceless. It’s fuel.

If you can get up every day, and build something that, at its core, helps people, then you’ll always have a reason to love what you do, no matter what it is.

If you realize how valuable the people you serve actually are, you’ll always have an edge.

Business doesn’t have to be go-go-go all the time. In fact, it shouldn’t be. It should be balanced. It might be the go-go-go that brings a customer in, but it’s the slowdown that keeps them on board.

So work hard, be efficient, and build something great-those are all good things.

Just don’t forget to stop and write handwritten notes.

Day 6: a haiku

I have hit a block

I will not do this a lot

But it is late now

Don’t do anything “just because…”

Stop making decisions based on what you think others expect you to do.

Don’t go to college just because that’s what everyone else does after high school and “it’s your only option.”

Don’t go into finance just because that’s what your dad does and it “just makes the most sense.”

Don’t buy the fancy car that doesn’t fit in your budget just because your friends have nice rides and you “want to fit in.”

Don’t do anything “just because…’

Have real reasons for the things that you do.

Break free

Listen, if you actually want to do any of the things I mentioned above, absolutely go for it. I won’t stop you. You’ll find that I’m all for people making their own decisions.

I just want you to know you have options. You don’t have to live your life on autopilot. You can break free from the mold.

Why go to college?

Let’s focus on the whole college thing.

For basically your entire life, you’re taught that to be successful, you have to go to college.

Here’s the problem with that: it insists that success is encapsulated by this: graduate high school, go to college, get a job in your major, and serve your time there until you can retire.

Now, this is only my opinion, but there’s a lot that’s wrong here.

First of all, you can go get a “real” job and be great at it without a college degree. I don’t even need to pull a source to prove this. I’ve done it myself, and so have hundreds of others who went through Praxis. On top of that, there’s plenty of people who have carved their path almost entirely by their own doing. It’s clearly an achievable goal.

So already, we’ve eliminated the need for college if your goal is getting a job.

So, why go?

For the social life.

This usually refers to the party lifestyle that the college experience typically offers. That can be done without college. I personally believe it’s one of the worst ways for a person to spend their time, but nonetheless, it can be done without enrolling at a college.

You could move to a college town, you could go to house parties, you could go to bars/clubs…you get the point.

If you can get a job without a degree and you can get the social experience without college, why go?

To be honest, unless your desired vocation legally requires that you hold a degree to practice it, I can’t see any reason why someone would go to college. Yet, so many high school graduates still elect to pursue a degree.

Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the absurd amount of debt that you’ll likely collect. That’s not something to overlook.

Make the decision for yourself. Take a look at all of your options. Don’t let the pressures of guidance counselors and academic institutions push you into their groupthink machines without at least seeing what else is out there.

But look, If you’re definition of success is the one we outlined at the beginning of this section, then go for it. As long as that’s what you really want to do.

Changing the perspective on success

We haven’t even considered the fact that success might actually mean something completely different for you than what the “system” offers you.

What if you wanted to travel? What if you wanted to live by the sea and spend your days on the water? What if you wanted to do something different than the mob? Wouldn’t your definition of success be different from what we presented earlier?

If you got a job waiting tables at a little bistro in a shore town, made enough to have a place to stay, and all your necessities (food, water, bathroom, clothes, etc.), you could enjoy your life by the sea. If that life was your goal, you’d be a success.

But if you graduated high school, went to college, got a degree, and by chance landed a desk job, then by your standards you haven’t achieved success.

What a shame.

Because of the pressures of academia and culture, you give up your dreams for the sake of fitting in.

You seriously don’t have to do that.

There’s almost always a choice

The ball is in your court.

When it comes to how you spend your time, build your career, and how you define success, it’s all up to you. Embrace that.

Make the choices that best suit your goals.

Signing off

When it comes down to it, the choices you make probably have a very low chance of impacting me. So, I’m a pretty neutral party when it comes to your life and decisions.

I really just want you to know that you have choices. The manufactured path is not mandatory, but most people won’t tell you that. So, I’m telling you.

I will leave you with this:

You have options. Find out what they are and figure out which one is the best way for you to reach success. Don’t conform to what everyone else is doing.

It’s up to you.

Resist the fear of failure, and it will flee from You

“‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. -Wayne Gretzky’ -Michael Scott”

To achieve anything worthwhile, we must abandon the fear of failure.

Yet, it seems to be the voice that we listen to the most.

If you’re thinking of building your own business, applying for that job that’s a bit out of reach, or even challenging yourself to blog daily for 30 days, it’s likely that you’ll run into the fear of failure. It sounds like this:

You’re not capable. What if you fail? What will people think of you?

This is when you have to resist.

You will tempted to entertain the thoughts. To comb through them and to dissect them. Don’t. With everything in you, turn away.

Fear comes to stop you. To tear you down. To thwart your mission.

Don’t let it.

It’s that simple. But it’s not easy.

Instead of trying to make sense of a lie, you must recognize its ugly nature and turn to what’s true. Commit to the next step of building your business, go for the job that’s out of reach, write your blog posts one day at a time.

Behind the fear of failure is the fear of man. You are worried about what people will think.

What will my family think of me if I take this risk? What does rejection say about me? What will my friends think if I share this thought?

There is no reason to care what others will think of you for trying to do something great. If you never take the chance, then you’ll stay where you are right now. If you take the chance and fail, you’ll still be in the same spot, but you’ll have all the knowledge you’ve gained from the experience. You’ve got nothing to lose by trying.

Ignore the doubting voices.

Turn from the lies being planted in your mind. The ones that come to steal from you, kill you, and destroy you.

Resist the fear of failure, and it will flee from you.