Invite 45 people to get 15 people show up
This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending some time in Inverness with my Brother in Law and his friends. It was his surprise 30th Birthday party which my sister had arranged for him. The weekend was unbelievable as she had prepared something for each day and each night. This meant there was always something awesome to do.
This episode is not about how much fun I had, its about the fact that there was space for 18 people to stay at this place, it was huge. This had started being planned in Septemeber and everyone was told its these dates and this is whats happening. Approximately 6 months. The first night there were 6 people there and one of them was me, I was a sub as people had pulled out.
Each hour or so there was another person who was unable to make it for the full extent or couldn't come all together. This was heartbreaking to see as my sister had put hundreds of hours into the activities and planning for this trip and some people couldn't commit to it.
Here lys the underlying lesson. If you want to have 15 people show up at something, invite 45.
This is a sad truth of our lives. The people you love the most don't show that they love you back. They may love you greatly, but if given something 6 months out there should be no excuse for not showing up.
A lesson I learned throughout my life so far anyway is that if someone is nice enough to invite me to a party, I will go.
I remember being back in uni on the basketball team and a friend called Joe invited me to his 21st Birthday at his house. I thought it must be a big party if I am getting an invite. I felt like I didnt really know him that well, we talked at training and games but we never spoke outwith basketball. But anyway I was asked would I like to go. So I applied the method of if you invite me then I’ll go. When I showed up there were 5 people there. And that number stretched to 8 people by the end of the night. I was one of 7 people invited to this party. I was taken back that I was invited honestly. Joe went onto be one of my favorite people I met at uni. But if I did’nt show up, I likely would’nt have been as close with him.
There comes something else I learned from this past weekend, if you have 4 really close friends who are ride and die with you and what I mean by this is if you were doing something and everyone else disclosed they were not coming. Those 4 people will be there come hell or high water. They are there for the good times, bad times and ugly times. Those 4 friends are more valuable than 20.
So I don't know if the best thing to do is, invite 45 people or only have a 6 person event. The idea is that those 4 people who show love back who are there when you need them, you should respect them and show them appreciation as the others who you think are like them are not.
Enjoy the ones you love with the ones you love.
