Sometimes Too Good to Be True is Actually True

Don’t be scared when things seem too good to be true. Sometimes things are really good and you do not want to allow fear to chase away good opportunities.  Stand up strong and tall then reach out and form a team to go forward to make your dreams come true.

Your past may be full of disappointment and sadness, but you must not let that ruin your present or endanger your future.

People often say that if “something sounds too good to be true then it isn’t true.” While that may be accurate, often things that sound too good to be true are actually true. It is not a good practice to use past failures and disappointments as a way of dismissing potentially good things in the future.  The following poem, shows the idea.

Madam and Her Might-Have Been by Langston Hughes

I had two husbands
I might have had three –
But my Might-Have Been
Was too good for me.

When you grow up the hard way
Sometimes you don’t know
What’s too good to be true,
Just might be so.

He worked all the time,
Spent his money on me-
First time in my life
I had anything free.

I said, Do you love me?
Or am I mistaken?
You’re always giving
And never taking.

He said, Madam, I swear
All I want is you.
Right then and there
I knowed we was through!

I told him, Jackson,
You better leave-
You got some’n else
Up your sleeve:

When you think you got bread
It’s always a stone
Nobody loves nobody
For yourself alone.

He said, In me
You’ve got no trust.
I said, I don’t want
My heart to bust.

Here is my reading of the poem:

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First let’s look at the poem on the surface and then examine lessons that can be used in other areas of life.  On the surface, there is a woman who had two husbands in the past and has found a new man who is a good candidate for husband number three. He is a man who loves her, treats her well and only wants good things for her. Unfortunately, Madam cannot be confident in the love of her Might-Have Been. She could sit, enjoy the love and be happy. Instead she operates from a place of fear and doubt. As a result, she ends what could be a good relationship.

This same type of thing happens in business relationships. Many entrepreneurs have had the experience of partnering with another entrepreneur on a project or two. Sometimes those ventures work out well and sometimes they work out horribly. A few years ago, I worked with entrepreneurs on a start-up project across the country from where I live. Initially, things were wonderful. The project was exciting, the customers were grateful profit potential was enormous. As time went on, reality set in and the partnership never lived up to its potential. One of the partners actively worked to destroy the business and indeed succeeded in doing so.

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The next venture that came along was a partnership with two friends to create a company that would provide services to other entrepreneurs. The new project was exciting! It called for me to use my strengths and to do things I enjoyed that would be beneficial to clients. It is an opportunity that seems to good to be true. But, what if it is, what if it really is that good. The potential with this new venture caused me to decide how I would handle the new venture. Would I go for the new and exciting venture, or would I let the hurt and disappointment from the prior partnership cloud my judgment and keep me away from a potentially wonderful experience. I chose to go for the new partnership and the excitement and potential it would bring my way.

Continued on page 2. Click 2 below to continue.