Come Back When Your Cup Is Empty

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a marketing mastermind at the home of Aaron and Sophia Rashkin.  My son and I and 18 other kickass marketers gathered around a large conference table and shared what we were doing that was working.  (We shared a lot more than that, but that’s another conversation.)

At one point over the weekend, Aaron Rashkin – our host – stopped to read a passage from a dog-eared, heavily highlighted and underlined book:  It was obviously a favorite.

The book is The Greatest Networker in the World by John Milton Fogg.

Below is the passage that Aaron read:

“In Japan, many years ago, it was the tradition among Buddhist monks to travel from monastery to monastery, seeking the teaching of the masters. As was the custom, the master would serve his guest tea and they would talk.

“One young monk was a particularly outstanding student. In fact, he was so exceptional, he had made a bit of a career out of showing up lesser masters with his skill and tremendous intelligence.

“One day, he called at a very famous monastery attached to one of the most sacred temples in all Japan. The master there was old and most wise. The young man begged an audience with the master, in hopes of being accepted as his pupil, to live and study with the great man.

“The young man – whose reputation had preceded him – was ushered into the master’s chambers immediately. This was most unusual, and the young monk was greatly flattered.

“The master entered and they bowed to each other. They sat across a low table on the tatami mat floor and talked.

“The young man told the master of his journeys, of the teaching he had heard, of the monks he had ‘bested’ in his search for Truth. It was a most impressive tale. The master listened intently and acknowledged the young monk many times for his wit and intelligence.

“A teapot and cups were brought in, and the master began pouring tea for them both. The young man addressed the Master: ‘I wish to remain here and study with you, for I sense that here, unlike with the others, there is much you have to offer me . . .’

“And all of a sudden, the young monk cried out in pain and alarm, jumping up from his place on the floor, shaking his robes and dancing about. The scalding hot tea had spilled all over his lap!

“The master sat calmly and continued pouring tea – which was overflowing the student’s small cup and spilling out over the table onto the straw-matted floor where the young man had been sitting.

“’‘What are you doing!?!’ the young monk demanded. ‘I have been burned! Stop pouring! The cup is overflowing!’

“’‘Go away from me, young man,’ the master said. ‘I have nothing to teach you. Your cup is too full . . . overflowing with all that you know and all that you think you don’t know. Come back to me when your cup is empty and you are ready to receive what I have to give.’’”

There are a lot of people who don’t immediately understand “come back to me when your cup is empty.”  We mistakenly believe that an empty cup is a bad thing – that it means you are bereft, impoverished.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

An empty cup is ready to be filled!  An empty cup is full of promise!

If you’re here on this page, I’m choosing to believe it’s because your cup is empty and you are ready to receive what I have to share with you.  I don’t believe it’s a coincidence.  I DO believe that you are ready to receive this message.

Ready?  Now, here’s something to think about.

And what you think about, you bring about!

Let’s talk soon!

Your “Cup Is Empty” Marketing Mentor