I’ve got this friend, Nolan, whose entire life sailed over a cliff in a burning bus one day last February.
He calls me up, he says ‘Perry I’ve gotta come see you right away’ and it’s one of those phone calls where you know, whatever he tells you is not going to be good.
He drops by and tells me about his wife: “Trinity has announced she has a boyfriend now, she’s been out with him every night until 2:30 am getting smashed, she wants out of our marriage and she says it’s OVER.”
Prior to that his life was sort of like a 70 miles-per-hour bus ride down a country road full of pot holes.
Now his bus is in flames, grinding through the guardrails and flying over the edge. You can almost see the rust bubbles and peeling flecks of blue paint fluttering in the wind just before it smashes on the limestone below.
Last week we’re sitting in his back yard, downing beers together between raindrops. He’s telling me about the financial problems and the two employees he had to fire at work today and how he wouldn’t wish the last six months of his life on ANYBODY.
He says, “It’s like I had a boxing match and won by the skin of my teeth… and then they sent in another guy to pick up where the previous guy left off… then when he was done they sent in six more, all at the same time…”
I do my best to stitch him back together and urge him to stay the course.
Hey pal, even if all you can do is mark days on the calendar and say “another one down,” if you continue to do the RIGHT thing, each day is still victory.
Yesterday I saw him. In the interim he’d made some vital adjustments and I asked him where things are at.
He says, “I think I’ve finally made it on the other side of the hurricane. The ship is still taking on water and badly in need of repairs but we’re bailing seawater faster than it’s coming in and we’re going to be OK.”
I say, “Nolan, you need to have yourself a 50 cent celebration.”
“What’s a 50 cent celebration?”
“You’ve gotta do SOMETHING to celebrate. Anything, I don’t care. Buy yourself a stick of gum. Stick a candle on a cupcake and give yourself three cheers. Run around in circles in the back yard and yell for awhile. Something to mark a victory.
“Or maybe you just go to an alley somewhere and smash beer bottles against a cement wall. Anything to recognize that victory, no matter how small.”
And hey, if it applies to Nolan, it applies to you. I’ve been noticing lately how easy it is for me to furiously strive to accomplish something, finally achieve it, then cross it off the list as though it were laundry. Then soldier on as though nothing significant happened.
Whenever you do that you quickly start to feel as though life is a never-ending series of dreary, unsatisfying demands.
How often it is that those demands are made by our own selves more than anyone else, and then we don’t even reward ourselves for logging the hours?
Maybe you’re like Nolan and your celebration budget is currently hovering at 50 cents.
Maybe your victory merits a 7-day, 7-night Mediterranean Cruise and you’ve got the cash to book it.
Either way, make sure those hard-working brain cells inside your head know that they receive rewards, accolades and celebrations when the team hits pay dirt.
One last thing:
I know Nolan, I know the kind of man he is, and I know he’s going to look back someday on a victorious life. He’s a mover and a shaker, a phenomenon waiting to happen.
This is not “obvious” to most people at all at this time… but it is if you peek under the hood.
Right now he’s inching his way from one 50 cent celebration to the next, and that may be as much as he can pull off for a season.
A time will come for the 50 dollar and 5000 dollar celebrations, mark my words.
When your brain cells are certain they at least get a 50 cent celebration every time there’s a victory, they’ll darn well make sure the $5,000 victories get done too.
Perry Marshall
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
41 Comments on “Nolan's 50 cent celebration”
Apologize for my bad english, I deliberate on its a nice hell of your writing. Well I be suffering with faced alot of difficulties in this term but your article discretion definately eschew me in future. Say thank you You
Good, fun, and helpful thoughts here. In a way, it’s a contemporary “stop and smell the roses.” Going through a few things right now myself, and this made me stop and realize that I’ve done pretty well even keeping it together THIS well. SO…my 50 cent celebration is actually a $1 celebration. I’ll find a dollar store and just walk through it.
I’ve always enjoyed the odd product lineup, some funny brand names, etc. And I ALWAYS find something to buy. Either it’s a great deal, and “how good does it have to be for a buck?” or it’s a wonderfully quirky item, name, or label….and it’s soon mine. Hey, I’ve bought “laundry balls”, a straw in the shape of eyeglasses, and a battery-operated plastic finger that rotates among certain sounds when you, uh, pull on the ends.
Walk though a dollar store, and you are guaranteed to smile at least once. And that, as as they say, “ain’t all bad.”
Hi Perry,
I know a couple just like this. It was almost like I was reading what I was told by my friend only last week!
Thing is now I’ll be able to steer him in the right direction because of this little helpful post :0)
Thanks alot Perry, you’ve just restored some faith in not just me but my friend too as were both making success every week but not realising it.
We have to learn to appreciate AND celebrate the small victories in life to fully appreciate the big ones.
Thanks Perry. As ever your posts are on the top step of the podium!
Well I finally sat down last night and finished off the 4 things that I was berating myself daily for not doing, and that were holding my project back.
After receiving a few positive responses this morning, I decided to have my own 50c celebration – actually, it was a $4.90 celebration – a chicken & mushroom pie from the bakery down the road… Yum.
Truer words were never spoken and this describes me to a ‘T’. I know I need to do this and have started taking a bit of ‘me’ time whenever I reach a goal. Not too long now mind you :-) I find if I don’t, the mountain starts looking higher and harder to climb.
Thanks for alerting my attention to this article. It makes a refreshing change from the usual rah rah rah messages like “this guy made $47k” in his first month” where the whole focus is to sell you something and take your money, whereas this article gives and asks for nothing but your thoughts.
Very encouraging
Russ “RussRave” Hall
@RuthSeebeck
The poem is If by Rudyard Kipling. Good stuff, first poem I ever memorized, I think I was 10.
Awesome email, Perry. And so true. Stuff happens … with alarming regularity in today’s world. Remember that old poem – if you can stand when others around you are falling, keep your head when others are losing theirs – something like that. Long stanzas, powerful message. I crossed several ‘victories’ off my ToDo list today without even thinking. Now I’m going to take time to be grateful for them.
I just love that.. very thought provoking! I just, this very day, had a conversation with my business partner about “enjoying the ride.” For her, it’s a bit easier. For me, I forge forward saying, It’s not enough to have built and launched a site while attracting in celebrity moms, press and some 3,000 member in six months. Am I an over-achiever? Maybe. While I still plan on moving at lightening speed, I now promise to hop off and celebrate the victories. I promise. Thank you for that.
Bradi Nathan
Well, Nolan’s story sound perfectly believable to me. In fact, I think it’s played out with some variation 100 times a day around the world. A lot of women are just poison, and take that from someone who has always found poison irresistible.
Nolan should have a 50 cent celebration on his wife dumping him. Probably the kindest thing she’ll ever do for him. It’s hard to see when you’re still in love, but in a few years he’ll look back and wonder…”what was I thinking when I shed tears for her??”
In my case, I think I need to set some mini-goals to celebrate. Otherwise, every little step up the ladder, while a good thing, just gives me a closer look at the 300 steps still above. Thanks for the tip, Perry.
Perry that is quite a story of terrible distress for someone to have to endure. Unfortunately this is common life it would seem in relationships. I myself went through common circumstances years ago as a younger man in a first marriage. Yea, thought my life was collapsing around me much like Nolan’s felt to him. Thanks to having friends like yourself to give good advice.Or just sit in the rain and know you were their, speaks a multitude of heart to any person going through hard circumstances.Whether unfaithfulness by your wife or husband or financial collapse caused in the cycle of todays economic downturn with layoffs,termination or a 27 year business such as mine struggling .
Hey Perry good advice,iron sharpens iron. Truly a friend is closer than a brother.
Good point and well made as always. It’s often easy to forget to acknowledge each small (or not so small) victory as you head towards the bigger goal. I think I deserve to reward myself!
Hi Perry,
Thank you so much. That was incredible writing, I wish I had your talent.Well Done!!
The message is so very true and involves many of us, as many of us are in Nolan’s shoes including myself.
Perry,
Thanks so much for provoking thoughts through your article. I remember being rewarded in small ways for doing well at school. That made me work even harder for the next and hopefully better reward. Applying the same concept to ourselves will definitely yield results. Besides life is for living and giving. If we don’t celebrate and enjoy our spoils, however minute, they may be than it doesn’t serve much purpose to me.
Thanks again Perry. Your point taken and keep writing. Its a pleasure to read.
Satendra Gupta.
Great post – thanks. I absolutely agree that we need to take time to celebrate our wins – it definitely helps us get thru those days when we can’t seem to recognize any.
But it’s also great that he has a friend like you. One of the nicest things that happened to him is that you listened. Now that’s something to celebrate.
To tell you the truth, my life is also spiriling out of control, just like Nolan’s. It was a refreshing breath of cool air to read your email and remind myself to celebrate the small victories.
Otherwise, we tend to forget the significance of small achievements while we march onward trying to win the eternal big battle.
Your wise words were soothing to a stressed mind.
Thank You,
Carl Willoughby
http://www.Business-Coaching-Blog.com
Thanks, Perry. Unbeknownst to you, that post couldn’t have come at a better time for me, your humble subscriber. As always, I keep on keepin’ on but maybe a little chocolate chip cookie is in order.
Best,
Dianna
Your email was last one left in the inbox today. Finally decided to see what you had to say. Boy, I shoulda opened it first.
Don’t care if Nolan and Trinity are real or not. I got the message and needed it.
Thanks,…..maybe tomorrow I’ll open yours first!
Good grief, am I the only one to believe that Nolan and his faithless wife Trinity (!) are fictitious characters constructed to make a point? Not that Perry doesn’t make it entertainingly, and it has obviously touched an emotional trigger for a number of people…
Come on, Perry, if they are not for real, and you are playing with people’s emotions, you ought to ‘fess up. :-)
Steve,
Nolan and Trinity are 100% totally for real. Coulda given you the whole sordid Jerry Springer story, if I wanted to. Names changed, just slightly.
Perry
OK, thanks! I always enjoy your writing even if I think it’s a bit over the top sometimes! (But then, I am a skeptical Brit!)
I love your unique approach to writing … I mean a 70 MPH bus ride down a country road filled with pot holes … I ridden on some of those roads fairly fast… but not on a bus.
Your essay reminds me of the old saying, “fall down seven time, get up eight.” And I do believe we need to celebrate each time we get up. But celebrate should be a little more than symbols. To truly celebrate one should acknowledge their accomplishments, be happy with what they have while they are working toward more.
I like what Oprah had to say, “If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.”
Algebra for tough entrepreneurs:
GetUp = FallDown + 1
Hi Perry
Thanks for giving us a meaningful story.
I find it fresh and invigorating to celebrate life as you go and not to be totally preoccupied with the ‘Big Goal’. Let me check out my piggy bank.
Thanks Again
Thanks Perry,
Reading your post gave me something to think about. I just had four loved pass away in the last 6 weeks, my mom, best friend for 35 years, godfather and brother in law. My wife was diagnosed for breast cancer 3 weeks ago and last night I had to rush her to the hospital for emergency surgery for busted appendictis. I really need that fifty cents celebration and live must go on.
Thanks for sending this one.
Jake
Hi Perry,
In these times I think your story is perfect because many people are feeling the effects of the economy and all the things that are happening so it’s so important to celebrate the little positive things that are happening in ones life because that will keep everyone going through the rough times.
Thanks for the story!
Robert Garcia
Tampa Bay, FL
I like this post Perry, and, it’s a big coincidence you make it now when current events in my life relate to this in an uncanny way.
It’s easy to just give up when you hit the bottom, but winners don’t. Like an runner who was great, then injured themselves. It may take them a long time to get back to their previous times and faster, but with small improvements, they will do it.
And the difference is, instead of having the attitude of “Hell, this is no good, I’m way behind from what I once was” and negatively talking themselves out of improving once more, they will keep it positive and tell themselves they were a bit faster than yesterday, and tomorrow, they will be a bit faster again.
We all experience the Bus on Fire sometime in our lives. We all have a choice how we make the next decision. When my bus was heading off the cliff on fire I made a choice to jump out and make the walk towards a life that is congruent with who I am. I am grateful that the bus sent me in that direction, because now I am living my life with purpose and passion. Love your story. You use great metaphors and they convey the message well.
Perry,
I’ve been on your mailing list for awhile. I have really appreciated your book and the content you give in many of your free webinars and emails. These things are the “mechanics” of success that are certainly important.
However, this was an excellent message to bring to everyone. I know for me personally, my success didn’t happen until I learned the kinds of things you brought home in this email. This is so important for everyone to realize. We can be our own worst enemy.
I went to an all day seminar in my early days in business and the speaker said to create your own “money dance” and do it everytime you make a sale. I know that sounds a little “out there”, but it’s an instant celebration and my son does it for me now. It’s become a fun habit that we both look forward to.
I loved your message today and wanted to let you know!
Linda Costopulos
Nolan, it may not seem like it right now, but your ex-wife or whatever she is did you a BIG favor.
Hang in there and stay the course, and good things will begin to happen soon enough.
Paul
Eat Well. Live Well.
PurpleGreenPops.com
I can fully understand and sympathize Nolan’s situation. It takes a special breed of hardy mariner to start a small business and keep it going in spite of all the financial and personal problems one faces from time to time. Most people who have not been there do not understand it.
Best wishes to Nolan and hope everything works out for him.
This is one of the saddest and tragic blog entries I ever read. People today place much emphasize on materiality (which isn’t a bad thing). Yet when the rug falls out from under them, you need things to pull you up. It could be embracing philosophy and/or theology. I could be talking with a professional psychologist, social worker, minister or priest. I could be calling a crisis help line. Seek help before taking drastic action.
Randy
Nolan must be my brother from another mother. The closest I get to any celebration is a tick next to the item on my list. Not really one given to celebrations but I see your point. Its a necessity to keep one stimulated and happy on the journey before we get to the ‘promised land’
I love your writing Perry!! You must really have fun with this. I hope I can write half as good as you one day. This story had me laughing and crying. Nice job!
Perry,
great post, we have to constantly remind ourselves that every step on our way to success is important, whether a 50 cent or 5000 dollars success. It’s important to keep our big goal in our minds always… that will make every step on the way significant.
Again, thanks for the story,
— Ken
Thanks Perry, for a timely and important message.
You’re right – and I do just what you said. I mark accomplishments off the list just as if I was going through the grocery store putting items in the basket.
And it DOES begin to feel like the list just keeps getting longer – and less satisfying.
From now on I’m going to remember to give myself a 50 cent celebration.
Thanks!
Marte Cliff
I think that is a great reminder to celebrate the wins. I have been finding myself just checking off my many tasks and going to the next regardless of how large or small it is. I am going to stop and celebrate even if only for a moment!
Perry,
Great point.
As far as the brain cells are concerned a celebration is a celebration. Whether it be a 50 cent or a 5 grand celebration the same endorphins are released in the brain.
We gotta take the time to say to our self: JOB WELL DONE!
I take the point, but I hope that it’s not a true story!
“maybe you just go to an alley somewhere and smash beer bottles against a cement wall” is as bad advice as the article is full of mixed metaphors!
Perry,
Can I borrow 50 cents?