Reflective Moments

by Skip Cohen

​It's Sunday, and if you're joining me today, you already know I'm about to jump the tracks and run amuck from anything related to marketing and business. I suspect aging and another birthday coming up this month are responsible for where my head is this morning. I keep finding myself in a recurring theme of being reflective. It always starts out the same way - trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up!

The reality is that I still don't know. Obviously, I love to write; I love this industry and put maximum value on friendships and the unique experiences I've had over the years. So I do a lot of "what-iffing," thinking about people I met, events I stumbled upon, and the list goes on and on. Here's one example I was thinking about the other day.

In 1987 I was the Photo Specialty Dealer manager for Polaroid. That meant all the camera stores were my responsibility. I got a cold call one day from a headhunter asking me if I knew anybody who wanted to be president of a small camera company. I immediately thought it was my brother-in-law pranking me and blew him off! As I started to hang up the phone, I heard him yelling, "This is legitimate - my name is..."

The job was President of Hasselblad USA, and I started on Monday, July 6, 1987. I knew Hasselblad's reputation, but one of the country's top retailers at the time advised me not to take the job. "They're arrogant, and you won't have as much fun as you're having at Polaroid!"

Fortunately, I didn't listen to him. That decision was life-changing. Many of my closest friends, like playing the degrees of separation game about Kevin Bacon, can all be traced back to Hasselblad.

Here's my point this gorgeous Sunday morning - we can't change whatever we did in the past, but we can appreciate its impact on our journey. Even better is the need to stay focused on the future and create more of those life-changing moments and memories for the present.

The past is behind, learn from it.
The future is ahead, prepare for it.
The present is here, live it.
Thomas S. Monson

Wishing everybody a day with time to be a little reflective, but with a focus on the present. It's okay to appreciate where you've been, but the real fun is NOW. Let those people you love the most know how important they are in your life. And let's get back to those eleven-second therapeutic hugs.
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​Happy Sunday...or Monday on the other side of the world.