Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Careful what you set your heart upon, for it surely shall be yours.” It’s true. If you have a dream, write it down. The moment you set your dream to paper all sorts of unforeseen support, people and material assistance will quietly conspire to make your dream come true.
That’s how Compendium got its start. In the mid-1980’s I watched as the McDonald’s hamburger chain updated its signs to read, “50 Billion Served.” I remember standing on a sidewalk in Seattle, looking up at that sign and thinking, “Hey, if someone can serve up 50 billion burgers, someone else ought to be able to find a way to serve the world something a little more inspiring.”
Later that week I wrote this sentence on my white board: One Billion Messages of Hope and Inspiration Served. Well...be careful what you set your heart upon, for it surely shall be yours.
Within a few months, we had designed the first Compendium “Window Card.” The concept was simple: Hide a brief message of hope and inspiration behind a die-cut window in a little pop-open card—and then encourage people to give them away to inspire others.
Practice Kindness window cards
People of all ages and walks of life quickly discovered our Window Cards. The first year we circulated nearly 10 million cards, and the numbers just kept growing. At 650 million cards we lost count, but we’ve never lost sight of our dream—to send millions and millions of inspiring messages, cards, books and gifts into the world.
It is fulfilling work. Over the years Compendium Window Cards have been carried into outer space with American astronauts…to the top of Mt Everest with International climbing teams...and to the bottom of the ocean with U.S. Submarine crews.
Thousands of parents and teachers have used Window Cards to inspire millions of young people. Window Cards were handed out at Ground Zero to raise the spirits of the courageous 911 response teams, and in countless hospitals and cancer treatment centers throughout the nation.
In the business world, custom Window Cards have been used to communicate the spirit and values of great companies such as Microsoft, Nordstrom, Starbucks, LensCrafters, Sun Microsystems, Marriott Hotels and many others. And we think the best is yet to be.
The world needs your ideas, energy and enthusiasm. If you have a dream—no matter how farfetched it may seem—everyone here at Compendium urges you to write it down. Be careful, though, for whatever you set your heart upon surely shall be yours.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Jess 02.10.2010 | 4:27 PM
2 Heather Harvell 02.10.2010 | 4:59 PM
3 donna mc 02.11.2010 | 4:19 AM
4 Gaby W. 02.12.2010 | 3:35 PM
5 Mary 02.18.2010 | 7:37 PM
Btw, do you supply books to other countries. Is there any bookstore in Singapore that has your products?
6 Sara McClure 03.12.2010 | 5:23 AM
7 Tiffany 03.31.2010 | 3:48 PM
8 Stephanie 04.30.2010 | 12:05 PM
I'll be sending you an e-mail... :)
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