3 Tips To Become a Legend: The Saint Patrick way (part 1)
Top of the mornin’ to ya!
Sometimes the true story of a hero is crazier than the folk tales. This story that I am about to tell is one of those times. I believe this story can change your life.
In a few days, the world will be celebrating the most gangster of holidays, that’s right, Saint Patrick’s Day. While most of the world will grab a green beer (or ten) while watching a parade in the freezing cold… wait, let me pause for a second. Thanks to the coronavirus, nobody will be watching the parade because most of them have been canceled. Instead, I want to encourage you to gather your whole family together and march up and down your driveways on the 17th, waving to passing cars while screaming, “Top of the morning to ya!”
It saddens me to know that most of you who will be strolling up and down your driveway this year will never know the true story of one of the world’s best entrepreneurs. Of course, I am talking about Maewyn Succat, aka Saint Patrick.
So, grab your children, give them some whiskey, and sit back as I tell you a wee story: My name is Colby Sutter, and I am a storyteller who writes stories to keep dead people alive. Pleased to meet ya. I have learned a lot over my 256 years here on God’s clover fields of rainbow sunshine. I’ve learned from formulating my non- profit, becoming a best-selling author, founding a publishing company, and building my coffee roasting empire. However, everything I have learned does not add up to unicorn poop considering the things I have learned from Saint Patrick. Good old Paddy boy showed me how to create a lasting legacy. I will share what I have learned from studying the life of Saint Patrick. I will not bother citing facts. Just know I got most of them from the book he wrote before he died called The Confessio; pick it up.
Becoming a Legend: The Saint Patrick Way.
1: When life gives you an Irish kiss, kiss it back.
Irish kiss is slang for a punch in the face. For example, “Hey Billy, what happened to your eye?” “Oh, nothing, Seamus just gave me an Irish kiss.”
This life has a way of coming up behind us and kicking us in the back of the kneecap to knock us off balance as it sucker punches us on our way down. Then when we are down on the ground crying for our mommies, life has a way of curb-stomping all of our motivation out of us. That is just life. That’s science.
When life knocks you down, you have two choices: Choice one: stay down and hope people feel sorry for you. I call this “playing the victim.” I bet you can think of at least ten people right now off the top of your head who play the victim.
Choice two: we can get up and swing back. You can even shin kick life and follow it up with an uppercut; I call that “the Irish way.” With choice two, you end up using your obstacles as opportunities. That is how you overcome anything in business or your personal life. When you are creating a legacy for generations to come, there will be setbacks and obstacles. Success and failure lie in what you do when those obstacles come.
Life lesson from Patrick: Saint Patrick’s legacy started to take form in 385 A.D. when he was born in Britain (not Ireland). I know, crazy.
One sunny afternoon at the age of 16, he was playing with his little buddies, most likely he was playing red rover red rover send Billy over or some other popular 5th-century game. After he won Red Rover, he looked out to sea to reflect on his victory, but (oh no!) saw a fleet of pirate ships coming his way! (My guess is it was Redbeard, whose descendants would later create Redbeard Coffee Roasters, but that’s another story for another day).
As Patrick turned around to Bolt like Usain, he found himself face to face with a group of Irish Pirates who had already landed. After these pirates killed countless people, they decided it would be profitable to take a bunch of young people captive. Patty boy was among this group of kidnapped capital. To make a long story short, he was sold into slavery to a wealthy Druid chief who beat, tortured, and worked him for six years. Talk about life giving you an Irish Kiss.
However, young Patrick took this horrible backhand across the face and made the best of it. That is how you lay a foundation for your legacy. You take the bad and use it to your advantage.
Patrick’s father had been a church deacon, and at this time in his life he remembered the stories he had heard about the Gospel. He decided to dedicate his life to God as he was serving his master as a slave. He consciously chose to move positively even when things were dark and at their worst.
This choice and his lifestyle influenced his captors so much that they all called him “the holy boy.” He created a legacy for himself by dedicating his life to impacting and influencing others. The situation he was in did not deter his choice to inspire other people. Saint Patrick did not give excuses. He produced results.
2: Listen to your heart (not the Swedish pop duo Roxette’s song)
In business and life, you will often have an inner feeling or desire about different opportunities. I call it a step out in faith moment. In these moments, you have to trust something other than yourself. You may have a dream or a desire or a passion for doing something, and that something may be risky. Legacies that are remembered never come from a place of safety. To quote the Apostle DMX, “You need to stand for what you believe in, even if what you believe in could stop you from breathing.”
This is what we learn from Saint Patrick, “Go do it, don’t be a punk.” When your heart tells you to go, you go. Not making a move is for cowards, and if you are reading this post, you are not a coward. I am giving you permission right now to go do that thing in your heart. Today is the day. Legacies are made when you take risks, chances and pursue your desires.
If you need help discovering your passion pick up the book: Charge The Storm by Colby Sutter @ Home | 7 Miles (square.site)
Life lesson from Patrick: This is maybe my favorite part of the real-life story of Saint Patrick. One night Patrick was sleeping, and he heard a voice that he says was God (I would bet a million Irish pounds [that was their money up until 2002 before it became the Euro] that the voice sounded just like Morgan Freeman).
This voice told him, “Get up. Your boat is waiting to take you back to Britain.” So this dude, who is a straight G in my book, got up and snuck out to escape his place of enslavement to travel by foot over 200 miles through the woods in the dark, in the frost, to find a boat that would take him home to Britain. Talk about trusting in your dreams! A lasting legacy defies all logic and reason.
I am sure he was taking a chance of being caught and killed if found by his captor. After he reached the shoreline, he found a boat full of Irish Wolfhounds that was being shipped to Britain. What are the chances?
Young 22-year-old Patrick asked the captain if he could hitch a ride home. He explained to him how he was kidnapped six years ago by pirates and sold into slavery. He pulled at the big rough seafarer’s heartstrings, so the captain had no choice but to say, “No, get lost, kid.”
I bet you didn’t see that coming, my little gentle reader. This captain actually told him no. Talk about another Irish Kiss to the face. So Patrick started to head back, probably thinking, “if I can return, maybe my captor will have mercy on me and not kill me.” As he was just about to re-enter the woods, a hand grabbed his shoulder and said: “Come back, boy, the captain changed his mind.” Out of the luck of the Irish, this captain just changed his mind. Building a legacy that will last forever sometimes takes a little Irish luck or intervention from God Himself.
3: Be a natural-born hustler
In life, nothing is more effective than good old hustling. When you find out your interests and passions, your next step is to hustle and make it happen. Your drive and hustle determine your legacy. Success is 90% hustle and 10% Irish Luck. Facts back that statement up; my facts.
Life lesson from Patrick: When Patrick returned to Britain, he decided his dream was to serve God with his entire life. With every ounce of energy he had within him. That was his life goal; he had a passion for it. Legacies are extended through your passion and life goals.
So he hustled. He found out what he needed to do to achieve this dream, and he made it happen. He went into the monastery, which is a big word for a religious community, and studied for 12 years. He lost six years of his life to slavery, and now he gave up 12 years of his life to achieve his dreams and desires.
Building a legacy takes sacrifice and loss. Are you willing to sacrifice and give up pleasures in order to form a lasting legacy? How many years are you ready to give up on achieving your aspirations?
This makes Patrick one of the greatest hustlers of all time. As a matter of fact, I am now going to dub him the Captain of Hustlers. Another interesting fact is this: when he changed his actual name to Patrick, he was made a bishop and spent 20 years running his own church in Britain. Things were great, he had his career, and he was living out his dream. He was creating a good legacy for himself but not a legacy that would last the tyranny of time.
Life seemed to be all set for good old Patrick until one day, he had another dream and realized there was more to accomplish in his life. Sometimes we settle with good enough instead of aiming for greatness.
Saint Patrick taught us four more ways to create a legacy we will look at those in part 2 of this blog post. Until than may you be in heaven a half in hour before the devil knows you’re dead.
