With an hour to spare between a visit to the New York Public Library and ZigZag Quartet’s after-work jazz concert in Bryant Park, I decided to stroll up Fifth Avenue. It wasn’t long before a fondness for shoes drew me into Sak’s.
After browsing the shopper-crowded racks of sale shoes, I found exactly what I’d been searching for recently. A black satin, open-toed, Kate Spade heel that would serve perfect double duty for two shoeless dresses hanging in my closet. But it was size 11, and I wear a 6.5.
I approached the nearest sales associate and asked if another store might have the pair in my size. “Who was helping you?” he inquired in a tone more befitting Oscar the Grouch than a helpful salesman. “You,” I answered with a smile. “Well, I doubt we’ll have your size,” he said with certainty. “The sale’s been on for a week, and smaller sizes go fast.” To that I replied, “Well, if you wouldn’t mind checking…I’m sure there’s a pair for me out there somewhere.” Without a word, he took the perfect size 11 and headed for the computer. I was right behind him.
After punching the keyboard a few times, he told me there was one store with two pairs in my size. “Yes!” I exclaimed. “I knew it!” But Oscar wasn’t so sure. “Just because the computer shows they’re there, doesn’t mean they are,” he warned. “Our computer inventory isn’t always up to date, and it’s the end of the day.”
But I really wanted those shoes! I told him I was going to think only positively that there was still one pair left for me, and that it would ship out tomorrow. Then he paused, and his whole demeanor change. “Yes, you’re right,” he said brightly, as if something had just dawned on him. “I need to be more positive. Thank you for bringing me back to where I want to be.”
And there it was. What my friend Jay Filter had termed the Boomerang Principle when, over a recent breakfast in Milwaukee, I had described my Qinomics work assisting people stuck in a professional rut direct their energy to get back to where they wanted to be.
As for me, I have no doubt that positive energy in the form of thought – desire, expectation, knowing – works in our personal lives, too. My new shoes are indeed on their way.
Tags: human energy, managing yourself, personal effectiveness, positive energy, success
