interviews

Marlene Blaszczyk - "The Heart of Motivating Moments"

Marlene Blaszczyk is the co-founder of "Motivating Moments," one of the most inspirational and respected sites on the internet. She's also a partner at "Majestic Systems."

Tammie: What inspired you to create, "Motivating Moments?"

Marlene: When we first opened our company: Majestic Systems, I brought my collection of books, tapes, posters -- everything I owned that dealt with motivation, inspiration, customer service and personal growth with me. My partners and I discussed starting a web page with motivational thoughts so we could keep ourselves pumped up, and also to share these words with our growing customer base. I have always walked my own path, defiant to conventional negative reinforcement, and have tried to live my life looking for the good in people and reinforcing the positive behaviors I wanted to see more of.

Tammie: Who would you consider to have been your most influential role models, and what struck you most about them?

Marlene: Two people come to mind right off the bat, my father, Stan and my childhood neighbor Larry McGovern. My dad was a complex, interesting man. An entrepreneur who was very outgoing, fearless, generous and loving to his friends and family, although controlling and judgmental.

My neighbor Larry was his opposite. He had similar qualities, but expressed them in a positive way, not needing to control, but open and loving to me whenever I needed someone to help me make sense of my dad's sometimes confusing behavior.

The best example I can think of was when I was 16, and just got my green paper license. My parents had gone to our cottages, I had our station wagon and decided to take one of my friends up to McDonalds about 6 blocks away. We got there safely, but upon leaving, I turned too quickly out of the drive on wet pavement and ended up smashing the car into a pole.

Luckily we weren't hurt, but I can't say that the car was unscathed. My parents didn't have a phone at the lake and wouldn't be home for hours. I was panicking, knowing my dad would kill me when he found out. I called Larry, he rushed over, made sure I was okay first, then proceeded to get the car towed to our house. He knew how my dad would react, so when they got back, he bravely went with me to explain what happened.

My dad reacted as I thought he would first demanding to know what happened to the car, not even asking if I was okay - he was ticked. But you know what, I wasn't sure I was going to drive again in the rain, but my dad looked me straight in the eye and said " we are going out together, and you will drive in the rain, because if you don't confront this fear now, you will regret it for the rest of your life. And so we did, that was his way of showing love and trust in me and I will always be grateful for his insistence.

Tammie: What makes you the most hopeful about the future?

Marlene: The goodness and optimism in the people I met and the people I converse with through email, especially the teens.

Tammie: If your life is your message, what do you think the message of your life might be?

Marlene: That I never tried to intentionally hurt anybody.

Tammie: What offers you the most inspiration?

Marlene: When someone emails me and shares a bit of their life with me, and how our website has helped them. It is probably the most inspiring and humbling experience I have at the same time.

Tammie: What would you consider your greatest lessons to have been?

Marlene: That you can only control yourself and not other people.

That change is hard even when you want it.

Nothing lasts forever.

Letting go is painful.

I can survive anything.

Expectations are hidden words and no one can read your mind.

Being effective is sometimes better than being right.

I can ask for help, I don't have t do it all by myself.

If you expect the best out of people you usually get it.

There are a lot of people on my side.

Laughter makes your life easier.

Don't take yourself too seriously.

Love yourself, love others, be willing to give 110%.

Be thankful for what you have.

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