I’ve written a lot about my dad, Chubby. He was a huge influence in my life, and the lessons he taught me have served me well. I call them Chubby Rules. I’m sharing three of my favorite Chubby Rules for Life with you today.
1. Swallow the Frog
We all have frogs: difficult or unpleasant things we must do. We tend to put them off. The problem? They rarely go away. In fact, they often grow into green monsters — harder to do, tougher to face.
Facing a frog today? Take Chubby’s advice.
Swallow the frog. Do it early.
“If you know you have to swallow a frog, swallow it first thing in the morning.
If there are two frogs, swallow the big one first.”
—Mark Twain
2. Regret Is the Past Crippling the Future
Chubby warned me that if I lived my life right it would be filled with mistakes.
“When you live a ‘go for it life,’ you’re going to mess up, time after time,” he explained. “People make mistakes and lose money, things, jobs, and then let that ruin their life. The fear of failing again holds them back.”
Chubby warned that one of the hardest things many people never learn is not to look back. He reminded me that a minute-old mistake is history. Yesterday’s mistake is ancient history.
“Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.”
—Unknown
3. MMFI
It was a Saturday morning, Chubby and I were at our favorite booth at Perkins Pancakes in Montgomery, Ohio. The waitress wrote down our order and stopped at the next table. Nodding toward her Chubby asked, “Did you notice the sign around her neck?”
“What sign?” I asked.
“The one with the big black letters,” he said.
I looked over at the waitress. No matter how hard I stared, I didn’t see a sign.
Chubby pointed to the couple at the next table. “Look, he said, “She has one. So does he.”
Now I was really befuddled. What the heck? I didn’t see anyone wearing a sign.
Then, Chubby said something that opened my eyes. Suddenly I saw the signs. He was actually right and I was wrong. What did the signs say? MMFI.
He explained that whether we can see them or not, everyone wears a sign. Every single day. The MMFI stands for Make Me Feel Important. It’s the key to making people like you, want to be friends with you and want to do business with you. It’s one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
—Maya Angelou
