"The Secret Garden" of Business

Way back in 1987 there was this movie that came out called The Secret Garden. Of course there have been many variations of this movie over the years, but this is my favorite version. I felt like a kindred spirit watching the main character of this movie. Here is a synopsis:

"Young, orphaned Mary Lennox (Gennie James) leaves her residence in India to live with her uncle Archibald Craven (Derek Jacobi) at his lavish manor in Yorkshire, England. Ignored by her heartless uncle, Mary finds refugee in a hidden garden tended by a boy named Dickon Sowerby (Barret Oliver). One day, Mary is amazed to discover a miraculous power emanating from the garden, which begins to thaw long-withheld affections in the Craven household -- even healing Archibald's ailing son."

What resonated with me is the transformation of Mary throughout the movie. She was spoiled, and only thought about herself initially. But she was also, very lonely. She was basically left to fend for herself, which led her to find the secret garden, quite by accident.

What really struck me though was how she found Archibald's ailing son, by going into places that were "off limits". Then she befriended him, a boy who was also very spoiled. By doing so she took the focus off of herself and she made it all about helping him. She would not let him feel sorry for himself and helped him to get the will to walk again. -Deep stuff.

So, in much the same way, think of your business as a kind of secret garden. Do you find refuge in your business, or is someone else tending it? Is your business a place you invite others? 

"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, 
then they begin to hope it can be done, 
then they see it can be done -- 
then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago." 
-Frances Hodgson Burnett,