| Living as a Daymaker: The Edge Life Expo Preview interview with David Wagner by Doug Crandall "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead David Wagner, CEO of Juut Salonspas, introduced the world to the idea of living life as a "Daymaker." "It is like taking an expressway to spiritual enlightenment," he says. "There's no need to meditate for years, climb a mountain, or spend money on fancy, expensive retreats to find your true bliss. Just notice the people you encounter each day and provide a small gesture to make their day. Give them the quality of attention that makes them feel important, smart, beautiful, or unique. It's nearly impossible to focus on your own problems when you're living life as a Daymaker." Wagner will speak on living as a Daymaker, on how to change the world by simply making someone's day, from 10:30 a.m. to Noon Saturday, Nov. 15, at Edge Life Expo 2003 in the Minneapolis Convention Center. He spoke with The EDGE by phone from Maui, Hawaii, about his upcoming talk. You are speaking at The Edge Life Expo on the topic Life as a Daymaker. What is it you want everyone to know about this topic? David Wagner: Well, I think everyone wants to be a part of the change in the world that they want, and I think people complicate how easy it can be. I tell people that, really, my world is quite small: It's my wife and my children, my neighbors, and people that I work with, so changing my world doesn't seem so daunting when I really take a look at the impact I can have on the people around me by simply being kind and generous in my day -- and the ripple effect that this creates in society as a whole is really powerful. So what I would urge people to get out of it is how being a daymaker, taking on the mindset of a daymaker, not only can change the world but make you happy as an individual. How has being a daymaker changed your life? Wagner: I feel a purpose. I feel like I contribute on a daily basis to the world at large. It makes me happy. How do you feel it would help someone else change theirs? Wagner: I think that when you make someone else's happiness part of what makes you happy, you become whole, and you actually get energy from providing that. A lot of people give what I call "palm up," where they give but there's a condition attached. They want to get paid for it or they want the recognition or whatever it might be, and that's depleting. It actually takes energy to give that way. That's why a lot of people when they give, they get tired or depleted of energy. Daymakers go around what I would call "palm down," giving with no strings attached. When you give that way, you actually harvest energy. You reap it by giving it away. Kind of like the biblical expression that it is "better to give than receive," because when you give it to someone else you are in reality giving it to yourself, so that is why you are energized? Wagner: Exactly. I start my day by breathing and I bring light in. I envision filling myself up with light, and then my day is going palm down and spreading that light. What I've found is that the more that I do it palm down, I come home at the end of the day with more light than when I left. You mentioned that being a daymaker has helped you feel your purpose in your life. What defining moment or moments caused you to devote your life to your purpose? Wagner: I'm a stylist by trade, and in 1986 I coined the term daymaker and I put that on my business card. I switched my card from stylist to daymaker, and I started handing that card out to clients. It was a cute card! And people would ask, "What is a daymaker?" I tell them, "Come on in, let me make your day." About six months later, still in 1986, a regular client of mine came in just to have her hair styled for the night, so I figured she had a social event or something that evening. She said no, she just wanted to look good and feel good. So I spent a half hour, I gave her a great scalp massage and shampoo, and we just had a blast for a half hour while I styled her hair. She gave me a big hug when she left, and it was two days later she sent me a letter from the hospital. She told me, "Thank you for being there without knowing that you were." The reason she had come it to have her hair done is because she wanted to look good, and the reason she wanted to look good is because she had been planning on committing suicide that night. In our half hour that we spent together, she changed her mind and decided that life could be better for her. So she went home and told her sister what she was going through and her sister took her to the hospital. That really woke me up to the interaction that you have with someone on a daily basis. What's important about that is that she didn't seem the type. I probably did 10 clients that day. I would have never guessed that she would be the one. So I really started accepting the responsibility that comes along with being a daymaker. You never know what that might involve. It could be letting someone merge in traffic, or a co-worker at work who is fighting a fight like that, and you know, just a kind word or letting someone go ahead of you in line might be all it takes. I started treating everybody as if they were like her, because it made me happy. That was the moment that really defined daymaker not as a cute title, but as a way of life for me. What daily practice do you follow that has the most meaning for you? Wagner: I start my day with breathing and just meditating on my day and drawing energy. I have two daughters, 4 and 6 years old, and my wife, and it starts with them. Waking up and being a daymaker dad is important to me. Being a daymaker husband is important to me. And then I've got 400 employees that I'm responsible to for being a daymaker boss. It's easy. Like I've told people about my book, Life as A Daymaker is not a theoretical book. I tell people I used to have two theories on raising children. Now I have two children, and I don't have theories anymore. The book is really about my life as a daymaker dad. The stories I tell are ones that I've experienced, and other people are resonating with them. When you find yourself in a negative state of mind, how do you return to that balance? Wagner: When I'm a daymaker, my life is filled with perfect moments. When I'm a day breaker, it's really less than excellent. I do pause a lot, where I might react, or my initial reaction might be negative to something that somebody says or does, or a situation. But I've learned to pause, and really think rather than be negative. I try to catch myself. Coming out with the book and trying to be it more often has actually helped me. It's like self-coaching. When you see the results of acting positive versus negative, it reminds you how to have the best outcome for all. Is there anyone that you look up to as a role model or source of inspiration, and why? Wagner: I see them every day -- whether it's the Dalai Lama or my favorite massage therapist, people who always have a positive energy. I think the thing is, when you're a daymaker, you notice grace every day. It can be the person bagging my groceries with a great smile on their face. Or it could be somebody that I'm watching, like a musician or an artist, seeing them awake and aware and alive with their craft. So I see role models every day in people walking down the street. You can fill yourself up that way. There are a lot of role models. Take my 4-year-old daughter. Every day when she wakes up, she's full of joy. She'd be my number one role model for being a daymaker. She doesn't even consider having a bad day when she wakes up. How would you describe your purpose or reason for being here now? Wagner: I think just reminding people that they have, that we all have, a responsibility to each other to show the best side of humanity, which is care and compassion. We get caught up in the business of life and see things through such a tunnel sometimes, that taking a moment just to pause and look at, are you brightening the room up when you walk in or when you walk out? It's really quite simple. Of all the things you've done up to this point, which are you most thankful for having had the chance to do? Wagner: I see that people are wanting more out of their lives than going to retreats and seminars and reading books and all this, and I do, too, but what people are so surprised in is how simple it is. The simplest things are the most profound in life. Secondly, you can be a powerful person in the world. The ripple effect of care and compassion is growing, and everybody wants to be part of it. The daymaker movement is just so simple, because it's like the movie Pay It Forward. The premise there was do three big things and you're done. Being a daymaker, you can do a hundred things in one day, creating this ripple. The pendulum has been swung over so far, with chaos and terrorism, and I think there are people who have just given up and don't know how they can help swing it the other way. I just think that it's going to be thousands of people doing small things with really great love, and a thousand turning into a hundred thousand, and then millions, of people just being generous in their day with other people. The likelihood of something really good, really big, happening, is a small. But every day, by making your neighbor's day lighter, or your children's, that's where it starts. That's where it's going to change the world. That's powerful. You mentioned the movie Pay It Forward. What books or movies have you seen or read lately that have meant something to you or have been inspirational? Wagner: Good Question. I read Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It was interesting. I read a lot of Deepak Chopra. I'm a fan of Wayne Dyer. I read an awful lot, and lots of different things inspire me. I don't see a lot of movies. Not that I avoid them, but I don't see any that I want to see. I enjoyed Frida, and Amelie was good. She was a French Daymaker. That was a great movie. Of all the places you've been, which one would you choose to return to daily if you could, and why? Wagner: Well, I'm in Maui now for a reason. There's a whole community of daymakers here. I enjoy enjoying Hawaii. The spirit of Aloha and the spirit of the people is nice. And Minnesota is the same way. Minnesota nice is for a reason. Between Minneapolis and Maui, they are really my favorite places on earth. Is there anything else you would like to add? Wagner: You can go to our website for much more information at www.Daymaker.net. It's interesting how the book started out self-published, and I sold thousand of copies throughout the beauty salon industry, where owners bought them to read and bought them for their employees and sold them to their customers. That's what started the ripple, and all of a sudden I went on this 22-city tour in a 34-foot Winnebago that we converted to a salon and spa. We went into homeless shelters and children's hospitals. It was great. We ended up on Good Morning America doing stressed-out New Yorkers on Times Square, and everything just kind of tipped from there. It ended up on the L.A. Times Bestseller list. It is simple: I get business cards every week from all types of businesses that have changed their cards to daymaker. So it's really cool to see that nobody's argued against it yet. Tickets to David Wagner's appearance at Edge Life Expo 2003 are available through October 15 at the Early Bird cost of $15. Advanced tickets through Nov. 13 are $17, and at the door they cost $19. For advanced tickets, go to www.uptowntix.com or call (612) 604-4466. For more details on Edge Life Expo 2003, visit www.edgenews.com/expo or call (612) 590-1609. Copyright © 2003 Doug Crandall |
||
|
|
|
