John S. Gordon - Business and Personal Coach

"You have the greatness and the power.  I just help you turn on the switch."

Welcome to Issue 148.  If you did not receive a previous issue, you may use the archive link below to view it now.  The mission of "Marvelous Mondays" is to offer an inspirational thought, a practical exercise, some humor, or a simple tip to jump-start your week and to enhance your life, business, outlook or relationships. 

Please feel free to forward "Marvelous Mondays" to others who will enjoy it.

This is a very big year for Mark Twain and for Hal Holbrook. Mark Twain wrote his autobiography over 100 years ago and instructed the publishers not to release it until he had been gone for 100 years. So in 2011 his autobiography has been published and is a best seller. Hal Holbrook (Emmy and Tony award actor) has been doing his "Mark Twain Tonight" show for many years and just published his autobiography called "Harold". Hal was in Kansas City last week to discuss his autobiography to an enthusiastic crowd. We learned and we laughed as we heard Hal explain his journey and life as Mark Twain.

Hal overcame the trauma of being abandoned by his parents at a young age and was raised by other family members who provided love and an excellent education. Hal and his first wife Ruby toured the country doing Vaudeville skits. A very tiny portion of their skit was his impersonation of Mark Twain while Ruby filled other roles on the stage. The fact is he didn't consider himself well versed on Mark Twain.

After Ruby delivered their first child, she was no longer able to travel and to perform. Their marriage became less happy. He became depressed and didn't know how he was going to feed his family. His manager suggested that he write a one man play called "Mark Twain". So he went to the library. When he got to page 2 of Tom Sawyer, he was no longer depressed. In fact he was happy. This was a big event in his life. He then consumed not just the well known books authored by Mark Twain, but also the lesser known essays. Then he began writing his script. The next step was to decide whether or not he could do a one man act. The thought of being on stage by himself was terrifying.

Hal (needing to feed his family) took his one man show to high schools and colleges throughout the country, performing in gyms and other less than glamorous venues. Then he had an off Broadway performance and finally a Broadway performance. Right before the Broadway performance he learned that one of the toughest New York critics would be in the audience this further frightened Hal. When he went on stage, he felt nauseated and almost froze. After the performance he waited for the inevitable blasting by the critic. The next morning, the paper said, "Hal Holbrook performed Mark Twain Tonight. There should have been billboards announcing his coming." Hal was shocked to know that the play was such a huge success and his career catapulted from there.

When Hal was researching, writing, and performing Mark Twain, he became even more passionate about Mark Twain and the many lessons to be learned. He has performed "Mark Twain Tonight" more than 2000 times and has encouraged millions of people to reflect and rethink their positions on human rights, social, political, and religious issues. 

I invite each of you this week to do the following, and I really want to hear from you and I will listen to you:

1.  Ask yourself "what is my passion"?

2.  Ask yourself "what gets me excited"? Ask yourself "how am I expressing my passion".

3.  Ask yourself "am I making up excuses?" Hal overcame his real fear of being on the stage alone. What's holding you back?

4.  "Do I have a story to tell?" What story must I tell?

5.  Has Mark Twain affected you?  How?  Did you notice his humor such as, "the noblest creature of God? Man. Who found that out?  Man."

I want to help you to discover your passion and to start living your passion.  

Call me for some coaching.

     "Passion with courage always trumps fear."    

- John Gordon

                   **John is currently accepting a few new coaching clients.**

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