br-lazy"
Me jumping off a bridge in Ecuador #nobigdeal

This past June, my wife and I spent 15 days exploring Ecuador.

Unlike the other countries we visited this past year, our Ecuador adventure involved a lot of bus travel.

On the plus side, Ecuadorian bus travel is cheap. We traveled by bus from the Pacific Ocean to the Amazon jungle, with a couple stops in between for good measure, all for less than $100 USD.

On the not-quite-plus-side, the bus system is entirely unpredictable and you never know how many buses you’ll need to change to get to a particular destination.

On one such night, after about 6 hours of travel (with a few more hours to go), we found ourselves stopped at a standard Ecuadorian bus stop:

As we waited for our next bus, we came in contact with two other gringos; a couple taking a 2 week vacation in Ecuador. They had spent the past few days in the Galapagos and were now headed to the Amazon jungle.

“Perfect,” I thought, as we were also on our way to the Amazon (and if there’s one thing my Human Geography studies have taught, it’s that foreign travel is safer in packs).

So we got to talking the usual traveler’s talk:

  1. Where have you been?
  2. Where are you going?
  3. What place have you liked the best?
  4. What’s after this town / country / continent?

And of course, once these questions come to an end:

Our new acquaintances were grade school teachers. They spent the past year saving up for this trip and in about a week they were headed back to the States to teach and start saving again for another trip.

When it was my turn to answer, I told them I do a little teaching myself – on topics like pricing, product launches, and marketing / growth hacking – and that I basically collaborate on various projects and publish books for a living (my own and others).

“What school do you teach at?” she asked.

I don’t – I teach from a platform I created. It’s entirely online.

“So who do you work for?”

No one. I created the platform myself. I’m my own boss.

“Well, what books have you written?”

I mentioned one of my books, The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing, and told her it’s all about an unconventional pricing technique that helps people increase their reach, impact, and sales.

“What makes you the expert?”

I paused.

What makes you the expert?

I thought about the answer she probably expected to hear:

As I thought about these socially acceptable answers, I realized something: none applied to me.

I teach what I know, and I share what I learn. Some people find that valuable. Because of that, I have the opportunity to make a good living with the flexibility to travel around the world.

So I answered here:

"The better question is: why aren’t you?"

I went on to explain what I meant.

Fundamentally, it comes down to:

What is stopping you from being the expert?

What's keeping you from being the go-to, subject matter expert in your field?

What's holding you back from shipping that book or blog or business?

Because the answer certainly isn't "I don't have a degree" or "I haven't won an award" or "I am still paying my dues..."

More than likely, it has to do with your actions;  the action you take when you start, even if you're not ready, or feel under-qualified, or would rather concoct some other excuse instead of doing the work...

Once you decide to take action, the only question after that is: when?

I hope the answer is today.

---

Started, finished, and shipped in Denver, Colorado.

Total writing time: 3:41 hours

---

Finally, it was over.

For the past four years, John fought the inner creative war…

Four years of writing, editing, cutting, scrapping and starting from scratch…

Four years of uncertainty, doubt and fear…

Four years of painful creative struggle – the kind only a fiction author can truly appreciate…

But in February, the war was over – John had finished his manuscript.  He had won.  He could relax and breathe a sigh of relief. 

All that remained was sending it to a publisher.

That’s the easy part, though, right?

The Struggle

John packed up the manuscript and sent it to a publisher – Simon and Shuster.

The manuscript eventually made its way to a senior editor - Robert Gottlieb.  This was a big deal.  Robert was responsible for discovering and editing then-unknown Joseph Heller’s Catch 22.  He obviously recognized talent and knew how to edit a book.

If John’s manuscript had even a hint of value, Robert would find it.

John’s manuscript didn’t make the cut.

At least not the first iteration.

Robert asked John to try again.

John tried again.

Again, his manuscript was returned.

Robert admitted John had talent – he was certainly a capable author…but his book didn’t have a pointAnd you can’t publish a book that doesn’t have a point.  Robert asked John to submit another rewrite.

Over the next two years, John struggled to rewrite a book he had poured his heart and soul into.

Yet no matter what he did, the book never made the cut.

The Fall

John threw the manuscript aside and tried working on a new novel, but his heart wasn’t in it.

At the encouragement of his mother, John attempted to submit his manuscript to a new publisher.  It had now been close to three years since he had finished the original manuscript.  With renewed optimism, John tried again.

His manuscript was rejected.

John had put everything into this novel.  The characters were pieces of himself.  When publishers rejected his manuscript, they were, in effect, rejecting John.

The personal rejection was devastating.

This final rejection set into motion a downward spiral of depression – a hopeless and miserable depression that lasted for two years before John couldn’t take it anymore.

In March 1969, John Kennedy Toole took his own life.

Dunces in Confederacy…

As some of you may know, this is the heartbreaking true story of author John Kennedy Toole and the ill-fated tail of his posthumously awarded, Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Confederacy of Dunces.

During his lifetime, John’s manuscript wasn’t given the time of day.  Publishers didn’t like it.  It was a book that was seemingly about nothing.

A book like that can’t be published, can it?

It wasn’t until years later, after John’s mom went on a personal crusade to get the manuscript published, that it caught the attention of Walker Percy and, in 1980 - 15 year (!) after John had finished the original manuscript - the book was published.

Think about that.

15 YEARS.

It took 15 years before a big publisher recognized the value in this book.  15 years before John’s incredible story was brought to the masses.  15 years before the rest of us got to experience the brilliance that was Ignatius Reilly’s misadventures in New Orleans…

15 years…

11 too late to save John’s life.

Who Should Choose You?

This story isn’t meant to point out the failure of traditional publishers – we already know the model is broken.

No one can see value in what a creator "creates" quite like the creator himself (or his happy readers).  This is a given.

Nor is this story meant to vilify traditional publishing – we already know their job is to make money.

If a book doesn’t have a point, how do you market it?  If it can’t be marketed, how do you sell it?  If you can’t sell it, and that's your job, you move onto a book you can sell.

This story is meant simply to consider one question: if an author like John Kennedy Toole was living today, what would stop him from choosing himself?

Time and time again John was rejected…

A thousand times a day, creators – artists, inventors, and authors just like John 50 years ago - are being rejected by gatekeepers: publishers, producers, angel investors, whatever.

This made sense 50 years ago…but today?

Today, every single one of us has the means to be the publisher, the producer, and even the manufacturer.

We are the gatekeepers now.  Not the film studio, not the publishing house, not the hedge fund – YOU.  The only one stopping you from saying ‘go’ is yourself.

So tell me – what’s stopping you? 

What’s keeping your manuscript from seeing the light of day?  What’s keeping your movie from being created and distributed?  What’s stopping your product from going into production?

Your Opportunity to Commit Today

I wish John was alive today – not only for his family and friend's sake but for the world’s sake.

He created great art.  He wrote stories that mattered.  I have no doubt he had more to give…

Today, there are thousands of talented creators just like John all around the world.  People with talent, with value to add to others, with a story, product, or idea that deserves to see the light of day.  They’ve probably been rejected a thousand times.  And they may be rejected a thousand more.

My plea to those authors, designers, writers, entrepreneurs, warriors, and leaders:

1. Don’t give up.  No matter how hard it gets, there’s a reason you’re here.  There’s light at the end of every tunnel – if you can’t see it, it means you haven’t walked far enough.  KEEP GOING!

2. Pick yourself.  It feels good to get chosen by others.  Getting picked is like a drug - and like a drug, it’s superficial, addictive, and fleeting.  The "high" is destructive and anything but real.  Be your own catalyst: pick yourself instead.

And if you need help with either of the above, leave a comment below.

You are NOT alone, no matter how dark things get.

Final Thoughts

I know it sounds clichéd or rehashed at this point, but please: don't give up and pick yourself...

You've probably heard it a dozen times and read the same points a thousand times in a thousand different varieties...

(But when life hangs in the balance - and, many times, it quite literally does - I’m not sure the point can ever be emphasized enough)

So here’s to John Kennedy Toole – a remarkable artist who was overlooked and who left us too soon.

And here’s to the unknown artist, in the trenches, day in and day out, creating work that matters – we look forward to seeing what you create when you choose yourself.

Sooner, rather than later.

Today I want to talk about why the articles you read, the people you hang out with, and the media you consume directly shapes your life, for better or worse (and how you organize your environment to create your best life possible).

In 5th Grade, I knew exactly what I wanted.

It was Fall of 1997, and my oldest brother was finishing up applications to a couple colleges.

I didn’t know much about them, except that they were military schools.  I knew even less what that meant, but I was curious like a cat. So when my brother was invited to spend a couple days at West Point, NY, I tagged along.

So my dad, my oldest brother and I took a plane (my first plane ride ever!) to New York.

I spent a couple days walking around the most bizarre place I’d ever been to in my life: everyone dressed up like they were in a perpetual state of groundhogs day from 1850; students were always in a hurry, running from barracks room to classroom to everywhere in between (and they’d get yelled at if they weren’t doing it fast enough); and after classes, they’d have to walk in formations with their rifles for hours, or play some kind of sport (intramural or core/club squad sports were mandatory for all cadets).

It looked demanding. It looked uncompromising. It looked hard as hell.

I was hooked. I wanted in.

And so it happened that a rotund 11 year old set his sights on gaining acceptance into the United States Military Academy at West Point.

7 years later, I got accepted.

In my freshmen year at West Point, I took boxing boxing class.

All freshmen had to – it was mandatory.

While most people looked at it like a haze (and it certainly was that), I loved it.

There was something about the adrenaline I got from entering the ring, the surge of excitement I got from standing toe to toe with a competitor with nothing but my fists to protect me, and the raw intensity of dishing out (or the threat of receiving receiving) a beating…I couldn’t shake it.  I had to get better; I had to keep fighting; I had to make the team.

So a scrawny 18 year old set his sights on competing for a spot on a nationally ranked boxing team.

A year later, I made the team.

When I deployed to Iraq, I didn’t know what to expect.

As a logistics guy, I figured I’d do some “Fobbit” job (forward operating base + hobbit…get it?).

Maybe I’d coordinate some transportation movements.  I’d probably do a lot of paperwork.  I’m sure there would be some danger, but mostly I’d be safe.

At the end of the day, I figured it would be a really long, hot, boring experience.

When I got on ground, our Battalion was responsible for not only the logistics of the Brigade, but making sure those supplies got where they needed to go safely.  This meant securing the convoys that went out every night.

I immediately volunteered to stand up and lead the convoy security platoon.

Over a hundred missions later, and after getting called a “cowboy” more than once, my gun truck platoon of cooks, drivers and warehouse workers returned home without a single combat related casualty (for the record, I think this had more to do with luck / Divine Providence / the Soldiers I worked with than my own skills).

The Reality behind the Stories…

I share these stories to point out that it's easy to make any story into a story of "success."

But the reality is, these events weren't successes. They were just moments in time where I took responsibility, and then I did the work.

I spent thousands of hours hustling academics, sports and extracurricular leadership activities to get into the Academy (not to mention another 4 years hustling to survive and graduate the Academy on time).  I got battered and bruised competing for a spot on the boxing team (and took my fare share of blows trying to keep my position on the team). In Iraq, I rode outside the wire almost every night of the week. My brain was in a perpetual state of alert, practicing in my mind what would happen if one (or many) of my vehicles got hit by IEDs, and how I and the rest of my crew would respond.  It was exhausting.

This is the reality of victory.  It’s also the reality of failure.  And it’s most certainly the reality of life.

Life is hard.

We all experience our fair share of bruises, setbacks and failures.

The question isn’t: how do we avoid these trials and tribulations – how do we avoid the pain?  That’s foolish and naïve (not to mention impossible).

The question is: how do you overcome the struggles you will inevitably face?  How do you push through fear, pain and uncertainty?  How do you conquer your wolf?

But most importantly, how do we do all of these things in order to create and live the life we want to live.

2 Techniques for Goal Setting and Achieving

There are 2 techniques I personally used (and continue to use) that helped me get through the darkest, most painful parts of my life.

They may or may not apply to you, but for what it’s worth, here they are:

1) Unreasonable commitment.

When I set a goal, I etch it into my brain (a lot like Edmond Dantes etched words of encouragement into his cell wall).  There is no other option than achieving what I set out to achieve (or die trying).

No, this is not always pleasant.  Yes, sometimes I commit to the wrong things and regret the decision.

Inevitably, however, I make it to the end (bruised and battered, maybe, but still standing).

It’s not a technique for everyone, but if you must achieve something, I highly recommend it…

2) Immersion into the goal.

This is essentially an extension of the first technique, but it’s so important it deserves individual attention.

The person who sets a goal but doesn’t change his behavior is done before he starts.

Setting a goal, by its nature, REQUIRES change.  And it requires the right sort of change if we hope to find success.  But to create the right kind of change, we need to immerse ourselves into the subject/topic/activity we hope to achieve success in.

Just like the fastest way to learn a new language is through immersion into the environment and culture of the language you want to learn, the fastest way to achieve a goal is through immersing yourself into the goal itself.

I immersed myself in the application process for West Point by reading books, strategically creating my resume, and learning from cadets who had recently been accepted.  I immersed myself in the boxing world by jump-roping every morning, hitting the heavy-bag every night, and by watching “Gladiator” way too many times.  When I became the Battalion’s Convoy Security Platoon Leader, I immersed myself in small unit tactics, mobilized and dismounted infantry strategies, and enemy techniques.

At the end of the day, immersion, more than anything else, helped me achieve my goals by forcing me to live and act as the person I hoped to become.

Immersing Yourself in Success

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” - James Allen

If you’re hoping to find success in any endeavor, the right mindset will be your greatest ally.

Conversely, the wrong mindset will be your greatest enemy.

Changing your mindset takes unreasonable commitment and immersion into the philosophy you want to live.

Which is why it’s essential you:

  1. Surround yourself with people that inspire you and make you better
  2. Constantly feed your brain the knowledge you want to become

For the former: this isn’t something I can help you with directly.  You decide the people you let into (and keep out of) your life.  If you’re not sure who to keep in your life and who to avoid, my best advice: examine their character.

As for the latter, well, that’s the point of this blog, my books and my podcast: to immerse you in a mindset that could change your life for the better.

A Tool to Help Immerse You

A few weeks ago someone expressed interest in having other ways to consume the material I create, in particular, by recording audio versions of my articles.  I

figured I’d give it a shot, so here it is.

Life Improving Audio for Your BrainBelow (or by clicking the image to the left) you’ll find my first ever Resistance Broadcast Audio Session’s CD.  I took 8 of my favorite articles and recorded them into high quality MP3’s you can listen to on your phone, MP3 player, computer, or burn to disk and listen to them in your car or on your boombox at the beach.

Grab Your Copy of The Resistance Broadcast Audio Session CD 1 Today By Clicking Here

What's the point of it all?

Simple: to provide you an additional resource to immerse yourself into the right mindset to fight and win your inner creative battles and create your life's work.

Will this single CD change your life?

I doubt it - doing something once rarely changes everything...

But could listening to this CD (and others like it) more than once, reading this blog (and others like it) consistently, and earnestly putting into practice the philosophy you learn in this material change your life?

Without a doubt.

So I hope you enjoy today's article and I sincerely hope The Resistance Broadcast Audio Session CD 1 inspires you to keep going, even when things get difficult.

And things will get difficult...

Good luck and keep fighting.

p.s. the CD is free, so you can't lose 🙂

Change Your Input, Change Your Life

3 reasons you need to go on more adventures

When’s the last time you made yourself uncomfortable?

This question isn't rhetorical and it's definitely worth answering (at least to yourself).

Why?

Because your answer is indicative of the life you’re currently living – for better or worse.

So many of us instinctively stick to what we know.

We grow up playing certain sports and we stick with them through high school, college and (if we have just the right amount of luck) into our adult years.

The same goes for musical instruments, languages, hobbies and just about everything else in life.

It’s almost as if after we graduate school and get a job, new experiences vanish.

We become adults and we stick to what we know – to what’s comfortable.

It’s a shame, because sticking to what’s comfortable limits the adventures we’ll have in life.

And adventure is what we need now more than ever in a world where sedentary connectivity is the norm.

The following are 3 life-improving reasons you should go on more adventures.

1. Adventure makes you smarter…

In an experiment conducted by German researches, 40 mice were put in a large, enriched environment (5 levels of glass chutes, toys, scaffolds, nesting places and more) and monitored over the course of 3 months.

It turns out that the mice who explored more built more new neurons than those who explored less:

“Researchers found that the brains of the most explorative mice were building more new neurons -- a process known as neurogenesis -- in the hippocampus, the center for learning and memory, than the animals that were more passive.” [Article]

Neurons are fundamental for the functioning of the brain and body as a whole. 

The more neurons we build, the greater our capacity for motor and sensory development.  If we actively build and engage more neurons we can become better at things like reading comprehension, scientific reasoning and mathematics.

Of course, we’re not rats in a cage, so how can we implement this advice?

Simple:

Don’t have the time or means to travel?

The list could go on for days, literally only limited by your creativity (and if you consider yourself lacking creativity, check out my pay-what-you-want guide: Putting On Your Brain Goggles – it will help you invent, design and develop creative ideas)

In any way you can, expose yourself to new experiences.

The more you explore, the smarter you’ll become.
- 3 Life-Transforming Reasons You Should Go on More Adventures

2.  Adventure gives you photographic memory…

The brain naturally lumps together consistent, similar memories.

This is effective from a storage and functioning standpoint – our brains don’t need superfluous details to function – but it also has drawbacks.

Think about your last year of work or school.  What stands out?

How about from middle school or high school?  What do you remember?

Chances are the majority of your memories are blurred and dull.  The day to day grind fades away over time.  What’s left is a general impression of what life was like at the time…an impression that will continue to shift, distort and change over time as you grow older.

So what happened to the details?

The truth is they’re nowhere to be found because most of our days are monotonous, familiar and ordinary. 

Under conditions like that, details fade.

Which means if you want to improve your memory – if you want to actually remember the details - you need to change things up.

According to psychology writer Claudia Hammod, you are most likely to remember an event if it is “distinctive, vivid, personally involved and is a tale you have recounted many times since.” [Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception]

To create long lasting, detailed memories, focus on these 4 elements of creating a memorable event:

1)      Distinctive – how does it differentiate from your day to day grind?  Changing up coffee shops is a good start.  Taking a day trip to the Bahamas is better.  There’s probably a happy medium in there somewhere.  Experiment and explore and figure out what’s right for you (but different than you’re used to).

2)      Vivid – how many senses are you stimulating?  The more senses we can stimulate at one time – and the better we can focus on this stimulation – the more vivid our memories will be.  Plus, there’s an added benefit to stimulating things like your sense of smell because it’s directly linked to your memory.  And you can make an event vivid without artificial sense stimulants (beer, cigarettes, etc.) – all it takes is awareness and focus.  When in doubt, do things that are intense (and pay attention to the details).

3)      Personal Involvement– you need to be the protagonist of your story.  Watching a rugby game?  Cool.  Playing fly-half and leading your team to a state championship victory?  The latter memory will stay with you longer – much longer.  So as much (and as often) as you can – be the person doing stuff:  Run from the bulls.  Take the wheel.  Make the introduction.  Get out of the bleachers and get into the arena.

4)      Recountable – memories relived are memories remembered (redundant, sure – but still true) .  If you had a remarkable time doing something, make sure to actually remark to someone about it.  Or at least to yourself.  Preferably several times a year.  Memories will stay clear and detailed the more you recollect and recount.

Want to create distinctive, vivid, personally involved, recountable events?

You guessed it – go on more adventures.

Exploring, traveling, learning, creating…all these things automatically hit all 4 elements, and what you’re left with is something you can actually remember in detail.

Photographic memory?

Okay, that’s hyperbole, but it’s pretty darn close.

3.  Adventure lengthens your life…NBlotP - 3 Life-Transforming Reasons You Should Go on More Adventures

Or at least the perception of it.

Extraordinary things stick in our minds longer and more clearly than merely ordinary things (see above).

The memory of mundane, comfortable, ordinary routine lumps together and fades away in time.

Novelty, on the other hand, is a jolt to the brain system – we not only remember new experiences more vividly, they also seem longer to us when we reflect on them.  This is called the “Holiday Paradox” by Hammod:  “the contradictory feeling that a good holiday whizzes by, yet feels long when you look back.”

It follows then that the more often we experience change (and the more dramatic the change), the longer our lives will seem.

As a personal anecdote, I remember moving a lot as I grew up.  It seemed like every few years my family would move to a new location.  Sure, I never had the chance to establish roots anywhere, but I think I got the better end of the bargain: a brain constantly exposed to new people, locations and things.

And because it happened every few years, I remember each location uniquely and vividly.

This is in stark contrast to many people I’ve met who’ve spent their whole lives in the same neighborhood or working the same job.  Ask them about the last 5, 10, or 20 years and it’s a blur of sameness.

The question isn’t one of right or wrong, or living a good life or a bad one, or anything like that – the question here is: would you rather have vivid, positive memories throughout your life (and continue to create new, remarkable memories, or would you rather be the person who brings up his high school football highlight reel 20 years later?

So if you want to lengthen your life (or at least the perception of your life), go on more adventures.

If you want to take it one step further and not just lengthen the perception of life, but actually add years to your life, then go on physically strenuous adventures (consistently).

Not only will your life seem longer, you’ll have more years to create new, meaningful memories.

In the End

Will going on adventures make you smarter, improve your memory, and increase your lifespan?

The research suggests it will.

But it comes at a price.

There’s something I didn’t mention earlier but would be remiss not to mention at all: going on adventures, traveling, exploring, creating, learning - these things are fun, exhilarating and enlightening in their own right, but they do come at a price.

Discomfort.

Everything new is uncomfortable.  It has to be by its nature.

And that’s the rub – if you want to live a life of adventure, you need to get used to discomfort.

Sounds easy enough to deal with, but how many people do you know who’ve avoided taking action, avoided trying something new, avoided starting something that might not work because the prospect of doing any of those things is, well, uncomfortable?

Probably more than you or I’d care to admit…

The silver lining: it’s never too late to start. 

It’s never too late to try something new. 

It’s never too late to change.

In the end, the choice – and the responsibility – is entirely yours.

Whatever you decide, I hope you make the right choice for you.

Be bold and keep creating.

(p.s. and go on more adventures)


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On the Pain of Creative Work

Photo credit: click from morguefile.com

Creative work is hard as hell.

If you’re a writer, entrepreneur, or anyone else challenging and pushing boundaries (read: instigator), you know what I’m talking about.

In fact, creative work is probably the hardest work there is – something only those bold enough to create can appreciate.

But what makes creative work so hard?

1.  Creative work is uncertain

Doing creative work means we can fail at any point.

All the hard work we do this week, this month or this year could end up being for nothing.  No reward.  No payout.  No bonus.

In the beginning, most bootstrappers work 80 hour weeks and make sweat shop wages.  To make matters worse, the majority of startups fail.  And for the aspiring writer?  The landscape is even bleaker...

2.  Creative work is exhausting

Creative work requires us to be on point every hour of every day.

If we’re not doing our best work, if we’re not going as hard as we can, if we’re not constantly pushing the boundaries, then we’re at risk of being overshadowed by someone who’s willing to hustle harder.  The fear is this: any moment we fail to capitalize on is a moment that could have been our tipping point – the thing that allows us to break out of obscurity.

Worse yet, the only thing more exhausting than putting our mind, body and soul into a project, day after day, is the anxiety we experience from the thought of wasting time or losing ground...

3.  Creative work is lonely

For most of us, creating something from scratch requires long periods of time devoted to working in solitude.

This requires a great deal of self-imposed isolation – something that inevitably becomes lonely over a period of time.  This isolation is made even more painful when the few times we do interact with other people they don’t “get” what we’re doing.

The only thing lonelier than working in isolation is working beside people who don’t get what you’re doing.

Finding the Strength to Continue

Face it, if you do creative work, at some point the uncertainty, exhaustion and loneliness will make you want to quit.

I can’t tell you how many times a week (a day?) I want to throw in the towel and walk away.

This is the inner creative war we each have to fight if we want to do great work.

It’s at times like this, when things get darkest, you need to remember what's important.

Remember...

 

 

 

 

 

 

But most of all, remember this:

The rest of the world probably won’t get why you do what you do.

But you didn't do it for them, did you?

Do the work.  Do YOUR work.  And do it for the happy few who want what you create.

Serve those people.

Ignore everyone else.

They're not worth a second of your time anyway.

A Caveat

Creative work is hard...

But here's the thing: life is hard.

Any course of action you choose in life will be hard - hard because you chose to enter the trenches, fight the creative fight, and do work that matters, or hard because you chose to avoid the trenches, insolate yourself from challenging, impactful work, and accept what life throws at you.

I'm sorry, but there's no happy medium, no painless compromise.

These are the only two options.

So what will you choose?

Call me a ruffian, but I'll choose the former.

I hope you do the same.


New to the blog?  Join the Resistance and join me and an army of creative ruffians (artists, entrepreneurs and all around instigators) doing important work.  Never fight along - join the Resistance.

What Do You Really Need?

StfUuq - The Brutal Reality of Excuses and How to Conquer ThemDo you really need more money in your bank account before you can create something worthwhile?

Do you really need to develop a routine before you can start making something great?

Do you really need more time in the day before you can dare boldly?

Or is it possible that you can create something worthwhile regardless of the number of zeros in your checking account; or that by making something great you create the routine you need; or that just maybe ‘no time’ is precisely the right time to dare boldly…

Breaking Through Excuses

Writing a book, building a business, creating something without permission – these things are hard to do and they’re plagued with setbacks and failure.

Of course, the enemy knows this and uses it against us.  Excuses are just another tactic used by the enemy to stop us from creating our life’s work.

But like anything the enemy throws at us, we can overcome it.

We can prepare ourselves by recognizing these universal truths of creation:

1)  Excuses are ever-present.

I promise you this – there are a million reasons you shouldn’t start today, why tomorrow works/feels/seems better – but none of these reasons matter.  They don’t keep you from doing the work: you do.

With a simple choice, right now, you delay building your worthwhile project.

Or, with the same simple choice, right now, you begin building your empire. 

The choice is yours every day.

2)  Nothing is built in a vacuum.

There will never be a perfect time, place, or set of companions for you to begin your journey.

There will always be mountains to climb, swamps to traverse and dragons to slay.

This isn’t a reason not to start, it’s the reason you MUST start - otherwise there is no journey, no hero, and no story worth telling.

3)  You have one life but many chances.

The crazy reality of life is this: it isn’t training.  This isn’t a sparring competition getting you ready for the actual fight.

This is it. 

This is the real thing.  This is the main event.  You were born into it.  You have one life to live - no do overs, no second chances.

So you have a choice: fight like hell or throw the match.

Either way, you’re going to take a hit (many hits, actually).

While it might seem like throwing the match, which requires less of your energy and strength up front, is the easier choice, the fact is this: you’re going to take way more hits throwing the match than if you stand your ground, keep your gloves up, and hit back.

And I’m sorry to say but opting out to spectate or referee isn’t an option.  You might not like it, but that’s the reality.

So how will you fight?

The Best Way to Overcome Excuses

Is by starting.

Start right now.  Not tomorrow, not next week - right now.

Now is the best time for you to start; now is the best place for you to begin your journey; now is the best way for you to climb the mountain and slay your dragon.

It’s not easy, but let’s be honest: would you have it any other way?

Good luck and keep fighting.

Experiencing Drag

It’s tough, time-consuming work to finish a project.

While there is always an optimistic energy when we begin a project, finishing takes time, energy (physical and emotional), and comes with no guarantee of success.

When we’re doing something that requires our daily, personal energy to accomplish, a lengthy project can wear us down and make us question our efforts.

This is drag.

And unless you do something about it, this energy-depleting self-doubt (aka: drag) will bury you.

2 Techniques for Overcoming Drag

If you find yourself experiencing drag, there are two techniques you can use to reenergize your effort and avoid burnout:

#1. Take a Knee

Before you scrap your project or give up on your goal, take a knee.

Sometimes the constant effort we put into a project wears us down.  When you’re going full speed every day, it’s hard to recognize the success we’ve had thus far.  Without recognizing our accomplishments, it’s hard to continue fighting - the emotional drain can sometimes be more detrimental than the physical drain.

Taking even just the shortest moment to collect yourself, relax, and take a breath can do wonders for your project and almost certainly ensure you go back into the arena with more passion, strength and commitment than ever.

#2.  Keep Pressing

The worst time to question strategy is in a tactical fight.

In other words, it does us no good to question why we’re doing something when we’re in the thick of the fight.

Why?  Because it’s difficult, if not impossible to judge your progress. 

Have you taken or lost ground?  Are you closer to reaching your objective?  Is your strategy still based on known conditions or have circumstances changed?

These are questions that are impossible to answer when you’re on the ground taking daily action to develop your project.

So don’t ask yourself these things – now’s not the time.

Right now is the time for you to put one foot in front of the other; to put effort and energy into the task right in front of you; to keep pressing forward.

If that means writing one more sentence, write one more sentence.

If that means making one more sales call, make the call.

If that means starting over at day 1 to create (or break) a habit, start at day 1.

Guarantees

The truth is, there are none.

Neither of these two techniques will guarantee your success.

Your project might never come together the way you want it to, your final product might not live up to expectations, or people might dismiss what you create.

These things might not work out and this is a tough thing to accept.

But if they might not work out, it also means they could.

And if they could work, it’s your job as an instigator to do everything in your power to see if they can work.

So if you’re committed to the fight, if you’re certain this is your path, and if you’re determined to see it through to the end (win or lose), then don’t let drag beat you down: take a knee and keep pressing.

Creating Your CharacterI have an acquaintance I speak with on occasion.

I’ve known this guy for a long time.  Since I’ve known him, he’s always complained to me about his job: he hates it.

His hate for his job isn’t for lack of pay or perks – they are way above average.  The dislike is for the structure of the organization that employs him and the tedious, unchallenging and often pointless work he feels he is doing.

He’s remarked on more than one occasion that a high-school freshman could do his job (90% of his day job is creating PowerPoint slides).

This is beside the point though.

You see, for as long as I’ve known him, he has intended to quit his job and move onto something better (something exciting and challenging).

At least this is what he said he wanted.

You see, the time came when he was finally allowed to leave (when he had finished his initial contract period with his employer), but he didn’t leave.  Instead, he signed another contract with his employer for an indefinite period of time (one that will most certainly last for another 2+ years).

Slightly confused, I asked him why.

Him: “Because there’s nothing else that I really want to do.  I figure I’ll just ride it out and see where it takes me.”

Me: “But I thought you hated your job?”

Him: “Yeah, it’s bad, but it’s not that bad.   I don’t really do anything.  I show up at 9, leave at 3 or 4, and I take a 2 hour lunch.  You can’t beat it.  If it gets really bad, I’ll quit and become a teacher.”

The conversation continued on for a bit, but not into any meaningful territory.  At the end of the conversation, we parted ways, and, for one reason or another, I remembered a quote by Aristotle:

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”

What Aristotle is saying is this: we pick and choose and build our character – it is not naturally ingrained in us at birth.

The brave man is made so through brave actions; the just woman is made so through just actions.  Neither one was born this way – they consciously built themselves this way.

This is a powerful truth, one that should give hope to all who strive valiantly, who dare boldly, and who struggle to be better, day in and day out: as long as you never quit, you will most certainly become that which you practice consistently.

But this is also a wake-up call: if we can become virtuous from acts of virtue, then the opposite is true.

We become cowards through acts of cowardice; lazy through acts of laziness; weak through lack of action.

You’ve probably heard the idiom: actions speak louder than words.

They’re also a testament to our character.

What do your actions say about you?

 

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. [Mark Twain]

The thing about writing, building, inventing, designing, or creating (essentially anything that requires leadership) is this: it’s not safe.

Not only do you expose yourself to the dangers of a foreign environment (leadership by its nature takes the unknown path), but you expose yourself to the most dangerous element of all: the tribe.

The tribe is a great thing when you’re in the majority – when you fit in, comply and keep quiet.

For the nonconforming leader – for the outlier in the minority – the tribe is a detriment to success, freedom and happiness.

When you fit in, comply, and keep quiet, the boss rewards you.

Your peers, likewise, accept you as an equal.  And rightly so because you ARE an equal; quiet, compliant and agreeable like everyone else.

The Individual

On the other hand, when you don’t play by the conventional rules, when you challenge the way things work, and when you speak up when there’s something immoral, unethical or just plain illogical, there is no reward from the tribe – in fact, there is only punishment or exile.

If you do any of those things – when you expose the weakness of the status quo - you undermine the authority figure.  When you undermine any authority figure, you necessarily insult their tribe of followers.

Not only will your boss punish you, your peer group will reject and scorn you (they are, after all, the quiet compliers that, for their own safety, didn't speak up to begin with – why would they speak up to support you now?).

In an environment like this – essentially every bureaucracy that has ever existed – it doesn't pay to think creatively; it doesn't pay to be brave enough to speak up when things don’t seem right; It doesn't pay to challenge and lead and move outside the tribal boundaries.

If you do, you will be ostracized.

Because the system perpetuates itself this way, what you’re left with is an org chart of followers, safety seekers, and non-disrupters.  They make very good robots for the robot factory.

The Choice

You can stick with the tribe.

You can find strength in numbers.

You can reassure yourself that quiet, compliant and agreeable is a worthy existence.

Or you can step outside the tribal boundaries.

You can choose another direction.

You can decide your own path, determine your own pace and packing list, and design your own life’s journey.

The tribe won’t like it.

But we don’t need more tribes – we need more individuals.

The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap. [Ayn Rand]

What will you choose?


p.s. what are your thoughts on the tribe and the individual?  Leave your comments below.

 

Be Bold

The Problem With Hope

"I hope they like it."  

"I hope it works out."  

"I hope they will buy it."

The problem with hope isn't hope itself, but rather when we use the word hope as a replacement for "I wish someone else would take care of this problem for me."

When we "'hope" for things that way, we might as well throw in the towel and get out of the ring.

What You Own

Here's the thing; you don't have ownership over the reaction, response, or results. 

BUT...

You do have 100% responsibility over your actions.

Set a goal.  Commit.  Follow through.

That is what you have control over.  This is what you own.

Don't hope you will do your best - DO YOUR BEST.

What happens as a result is a result and will happen how it does.

Remember, the only thing you control, the only thing you OWN, are your own actions.

Don't hope they will be great, make them great.

Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. [Goethe

Be bold.


 

Join the Resistance

 

 

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