What do Amazon, American Express, and Play-Doh all have in common?

All of these companies are doing something completely different than what they started out doing.

By taking a quick look into the histories of these companies, we can uncover a powerful lesson for our lives.

Before Amazon became the one-stop (online) shop for all our needs, it started out as a simple website that sold books.

It was small, lean, and efficient -that is, until they opened their website to allow other products, outside of books, to be sold.

If Jeff Bezos did not take that first step with his online bookstore, then who knows if something like Amazon would have ever existed.

American Express started in 1850 and originally provided express mailing services, along with the transportation of valuable goods for their clients.

Almost 100 years later, American Express started offering charge cards that allowed consumers and businesses a certain amount of credit.

That decision changed the course for American Express and made them into the company we know today.

They went from a high end mail service to one of the largest financial companies across the globe.

The last example, and my personal favorite, is Play-Doh.

Play-Doh started out in the 1930s as cleaning product that was used to remove coal residue from wallpaper.

As gas stoves started to become the norm in the mid 1950s, Play-Doh was left with very little demand for their cleaning product.

That is, until Play-Doh heard about teachers using their product in their arts and crafts classes.

They started adding bright colors into their Doh. They pivoted from a cleaning product to the kids toy that we know and love today.

The moral of these stories:

No one knows where they will end up.

Yet we spend so much time and energy trying to guess the final destination.

The only thing you can control is starting right now - and that is where your time and energy should be focused.

Movement is more important than direction.

Direction will work itself out, but movement won’t.

Focus on the movement.

Go out and make a difference.