Transcript

Repeating #1222 · From Chad

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Anyone can climb once. There's a story behind that.
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This is your daily message from Chad #12122 to upgrade your
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mental game today by telling yourself a better story.
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Because the most important story you hear is the story you tell
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yourself. This message is dedicated to
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Kevin Swain. Here's the upgrade.
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Starting over feels like going backward, but upgraded thinking
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knows the second climb is the one that shows who you are.
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Here's the story. Today, the name Louis Vuitton is
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stamped on handbags that cost more than a used car.
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The logos are famous. The margins are high.
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It's a luxury empire. That's not the man.
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Louis Vuitton was born in 1821 in a small village in eastern
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France. His mother died when he was 10.
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His father remarried, and home stopped to being a home.
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At 13, he left. He walked to Paris.
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It was close to 300 miles. It took him about two years.
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He slept in the woods, worked odd jobs for Craftsman along the
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way, and showed up in the city with nothing.
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A trunk maker named Monsieur Marshall took him on as an
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apprentice. Louis learned wood, canvas and
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how to pack a rich traveler's life.
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So nothing broke. He got so good the Empress of
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France wanted him to pack her trunks.
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He opened his own shop. He built a flat topped canvas
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trunk. It was light, water resistant
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and most importantly, stackable. This was the birth of modern
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luggage. In 1870, war came.
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Paris was under siege. Louis and his family crowded
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into the city with thousands of refugees, and food ran so short
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they nearly starved. When the war ended, he went back
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to his workshop. His tools were stolen, his
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materials were gone. The workshop was wrecked.
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Louis Vuitton was nearly 50 years old, homeless at 13, and
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now, everything gone again. Many people would have just
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given up, but Vuitton knew that he did it once and could do it
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again. He took what was left of his
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savings and while other people were selling, he bought.
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Prices had fallen because of the war.
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He picked up a shop in one of the best districts in Paris.
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Within months, orders are coming in from around the world.
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A set back is always a set up for a comeback, but most stay
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stuck in the set back. The first climb runs on talent
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and hunger. You don't know what it costs, so
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you just go. The second climb runs on
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character because this time you know exactly what it costs.
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You know how long it takes, you know how much it hurts, and you
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start anyway. Anyone can climb once.
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The question is who will climb again?
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The better story to tell yourself is, I've climbed before
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I can climb again. I've written the phrase in
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Sharpie on my treadmill. You've done this so many times
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before, I always feel like stopping, but I override that
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feeling with a reminder that I've completed this workout
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before and I can do it again. Maybe you're standing in a
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wrecked workshop today like Vuitton.
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Maybe a plan you spent years on hit a set back.
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You've built before. You know the bill, Pay it again.
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You've paid it before, you can pay it again.
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Tell me a story of starting over to from chadsmith@gmail.com.
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Send someone a text and ask them what's something you had to
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build twice. You can get a free copy of my
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book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to from
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chad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message
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and hundreds of others are always available at
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www.fromchad.com.