I dare you to do this with me.
Today, I turned 36.
And looking back over the last year of my life, there is a one lesson that stands out from all the things I learned.
Get Out. Get Moving. Start.
Action always beats intention.
A dream you don’t have to fight for isn’t a dream—it’s a nap. One changes your afternoon. The other changes your world. Keep fighting.
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The worst thing about worst-case scenarios.
Sometimes, I like to pretend I am confident, but that’s not entirely true.
How do I know?
Well, for the last 12 years, if someone closed a door at work in an office or a conference room, I thought I was getting fired.
My assumption was that they shut the door so that they could talk about firing me. Even if I didn’t know the team members having a meeting, my first thought was that I should go ahead and pack up my stuff.
I don’t think that makes me a “glass is half empty” kind of guy. I think that makes me a “glass is half empty and the half that is there is scorpions” kind of guy.
My philosophy with life was this:
5 reasons to hit pause on your blog this Christmas.
Last Christmas, I saw blogger Tony Morgan do something on his blog that was brilliant. I swore in that moment that I would copy it next year and do the same exact thing.
Which brings us to today.
Last year, Tony hit pause on his blog for the last ten days of December. Instead of creating new content, he reposted the top ten most popular posts from the year.
Why am I doing that and why should you too? I can think of 5 great reasons:
What I say every time my dream hits a bump in the road.
Cloudless skies make for boring sunsets.
Easy adventures make for boring stories.
Right now, if your dream job is taking too long, if your business is not skyrocketing, if your plans are not coming together perfectly, don’t quit.
Why?
The lost art of being an apprentice.
Sometimes, people get in my ear. Not literally, but metaphorically. And under the guise of advice, they’ll say some interesting things.
Here is something I’ve heard a few times:
“Wow, I’m surprised you joined Dave Ramsey’s team. You could be doing all of this blog and book stuff on your own by now. Why didn’t you just start your own thing?”
FREE book from the Seth Godin Domino Project today!
How awesome are the words in that headline?
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Today you can get the new book
Julien Smith has delivered a surprise, a confrontation, a book that will push you, scare you and possibly stick with you for years to come. The idea is simple: your flinch mechanism can save your life. It shortcircuits the conscious mind and allows you to pull back and avoid danger faster than you can even imagine it’s there. But what if danger is exactly what you need? What if facing the flinch is the one best way to get what you want? Here’s a chance to read the book everyone will be talking about, before they do. What are you afraid of? Here’s how to find out.
I haven’t read The Flinch
Click here
Dream Backward To Move Forward
Most of us dream in the wrong direction.
When confronted with a job we don’t love or a life that feels purposeless, we look forward to the future and ask big discovery questions:
What do I want to be when I grow up? What do I want to do with my life? What is my calling?
In that moment, the answer we get is often a little terrifying because every option in the world is on the table.
The road to dream job rarely leads through jerkville.
I used to be a serial Quitter. I had 8 jobs in 8 years and the same thing would happen at each one. I’d have a six month honeymoon period at a new job and things would be great. Then I would get bored and bitter and eventually become a jerk. I’d say things like, “They don’t get me here! They’re not using my talents the right way. I could be doing so much more with my life!” Then I would demonize my boss and the company until eventually I’d quit.
Then I’d start the cycle all over again at a new job.
Turns out, I’m not the only one who reacts that way. Curtis Honeycutt did too when he was an administrative assistant. He found himself headed to jerkville at his job. What happened next? I’ll let Curtis tell his story (and maybe yours too if this resonates with you.)
I’m an administrative assistant, but I want to be a graphic designer.
The great thing was I was working in a dream organization. I didn’t want to work anywhere else. The problem was, I had been an administrative assistant for three years going on what felt like thirty, and I began to feel like my dream was slowly slipping through my fingers.
The simple truth about ignoring your dream.
In the third grade, my teacher Mrs. Harris laminated a collection of poems I wrote and bound it with a ribbon.
I felt like I had written my first book.
I felt like I would one day write another book.
It took me 25 years to do that.
Why?
Well, a lot of reasons.
How to be humble.
Someone once told me that the secret to being humble is remembering that it’s not all about you.
“It’s” meaning the world, the day, the conversation at a coffee shop, the traffic jam you’re stuck in, etc.
My friend said that in order to really believe it’s not all about you, you have to believe that everyone is more interesting than you. The person who cleans your room at a hotel, the guy next to you in traffic, the businessman who sits next to you on a plane. Everyone.
I thought this was an impossible feat. And honestly, kind of dumb advice.