I would like to share an Inspired Personal Story this morning from my book Extreme Thought Makeover… 37 Days to Maximum Life! It is the story of how a multimillion dollar company was born from inspiration, and it comes from my friend Kody Bateman in Utah.

I’d like you to really focus on the idea that Kody held onto a whim or a prompting he had years ago and trusted it. He trusted it enough to never let go of it, no matter what stood in his way. Here is the story from Day 5, Appreciating Others, Send a Card Daily:

Hi Rick,

I learned early in life never to ignore a “prompting,” an inclination to do something important. Twenty years ago, I made a promise to my brother that I would never again ignore a prompting. In the late ’80s, I had just accepted a job in New York City and we were leaving home in Salt Lake City to move on to my new career. We said goodbye to our friends and family and got in the car to leave. “Like it was yesterday, I remember getting in our car and looking out at the field next to my parents’ house. My brother, Kris, was moving some vehicles around. At that moment I had a prompting that I needed to slow down and take the time to run over and give my big brother a hug and say goodbye. I ignored that prompting. We jumped in the car, honked, waved and drove away.”

Two months later, in a small apartment in New Jersey, I learned that my brother had been killed in a work accident. This event was a defining moment in my life and the driving force behind starting SendOutCards, a company that makes it easy for people to stay in touch with greeting cards and gifts.

“I made a promise to my brother that night that I would never ignore a prompting again. I also promised that I would help as many people as I could to act on their promptings to reach out to others. This moment changed my life forever. I immediately began my journey to not only learn the power of promptings, but to find ways to make it simple for people to act on them. I will never forget the powerful impact this experience had on my life. I received the message loud and clear that my mission in life was to act on my promptings and help others do the same.”

— Kody Bateman, founder and CEO, SendOutCards, and best-selling author of Promptings: Your Inner Guide to Making a Difference, Eagle One Publishing, 2009.