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Tag: challenge

The people in your life will make or break you.

It doesn’t matter if you’re running a business or trying to finish your degree. The people you surround yourself with have the power to dramatically influence your life. Their habits, what they think about themselves, whether or not they view the world as a place of abundance or scarcity — all of these things will impact you.

When I first began as a social worker in the South Bronx, I noticed not much was different from the people I worked with on probation in Colorado. Except one major thing: community resources and social support.

If you’re trying to do something great, you need great people around you. You want people who push you to do and be your best, who encourage you to take leaps when those who should most definitely NOT be in your inner circle are telling you otherwise.

Whether you’re raising a family, designing a product, fundraising, solving a company-wide problem or quitting, your closest relationships should support you in being 110% authentically you.

Everyone deserves a dream team. Yes, there are certain factors beyond your control when it comes to success and achieving goals; however, the people you spend the majority of your time with aren’t one of them. Take special care as you find your company.

A call could change your life

I can guarantee it WILL change the life of others.

For the next 48 hours, I’m offering a special incentive. Those who donate a minimum of $100 to the Light Campaign will receive a free one hour phone session with yours truly.

Things we can talk about:

You can stalk my LinkedIn profile to see other skills and endorsements I’ve received from clients I’ve worked with.

At the risk of sounding like a marketer, I will tell you this IS a special offer, worth far more in value. You have the opportunity to help yourself, help a community, and feel good about it.

You have until Friday, March 7 at 2pm EST to take advantage. I can’t guarantee I’ll do this again, but I thought it would be a fun way to get the solar project the help it needs. To get started, pledge a minimum of $100 on the indiegogo page, and you’ll be contacted for scheduling. Your free call is good through April 8, 2014, so let’s get moving.

I hope to speak with many of you.

Inconvenience yourself.

New Yorkers and scheduling is borderline ridiculous. I spend more time than I care to admit orchestrating calendars, slotting calls, finding common days for in-person meetings. While there are plenty of automated tools to streamline this process, I’ve found that each person’s needs and requests are very different, and the act of scheduling itself can reveal underlying issues. Each day I’m forced to reassess my priorities and make decisions accordingly.

Yet with all of this scheduling and compartmentalizing, is there space for magic?

We spend so much time making sure things go according to plan. If something falls through the cracks, it’s a fault in the system — our system. The slightest tip of the scale can throw off an entire day, delaying planned meetings and cramping scheduled “me” time. Minor inconveniences (a late train, a forgotten document) suddenly become huge problems.

Ever pause to evaluate whether your intense regimen is adding to your anxiety rather than helping? Consider your definition of inconvenience and flirt with alternatives.

What would happen if you intentionally take the later train, let someone step in front of you, choose the slowest checkout line?

 

I stopped trying.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around this, as it is completely counterintuitive to me.

The moment I stopped trying and quit everything is when things became clear.

I’m not saying I don’t have challenges and that life is always easy, but my day-to-day isn’t filled with as much strife. There’s less struggle as I move about the world.

I think of how difficult momentum seemed in the past. Once I landed back into the grooves of authenticity, people began to take notice. It’s then that I raised money for a few scholarships, attracted over 30k views on Medium, and found myself speaking on HuffPost (look at 13:30).

I’m not doing anything drastically different. I’m simply living my life by letting passion lead the way.

I’m wondering if this principle has worked for you, too.

What if WORKING HARD didn’t equal SUCCESS? What if you stepped out of the car, allowed your excitement to take the wheel, and put frustration, anxiety, and white-knuckle-decision-making in the backseat? What if by relaxing, you allowed your “best self” to emerge?

If you’re having to work really hard to make something right, I’m wondering if it’s right in the first place.

Tweet me. I want to hear what you think.

United by insecurity

No matter where your office is located, the ceiling can fall down. You don’t know when, but one day it will. There is even a possibility a car drives through your living room tonight while you’re sleeping.
We’ve done a great job fooling ourselves into believing we have it all figured out. We’ve worked hard to create predictable outcomes, studying to become masters of our environment. Data is plugged into spreadsheets, and dollars are spent on analyzing trends. Months are mapped out in advance. Calendars are scheduled to the minute. The year becomes a series of data points and action plans.
A soft mirage of familiarity has blanketed our world, producing a certain emotional numbness. We pick and choose what we want to feel. We pad ourselves from life with cars, TV shows, deadlines, large houses filled with things. The moment loneliness or vulnerability hits, we reach for our cell phones.
The irony is in all of this control and safety-making, we crave surprise and excitement. The tales of unpredictability are the ones we tell our friends. We sign up for marathons and Tough Mudders to feel something, to show the scrapes on our knees bearing witness of our participation. “Look at me, I’m living life!”
The moment you witness these tendencies is the moment you come alive. When you no longer cling to guarantees and you live in the challenge of each moment with nothing to hide.
This isn’t recklessness, it’s awareness. Some call it “mindful living,” the ability to observe what is happening as it happens. It’s not a need to know all of the answers but rather being in tune with the textures of your experience. It’s seeing the present for what it is, not what you wish for or as a result of what happened yesterday.
I often hear this question: “What’s next?”
I believe my flexibility in providing this answer has made my life what it is.
How wonderful it is to not know the answer.

What if the goal was to fail?

What if your goal was to experience rejection, to quit?

What if you set out trying to find twenty new ways of getting shot down, of hearing “No, thanks” at least fifteen times in one day?

What if your aim wasn’t to wildly succeed or sell the most product or to get everyone to like you?

What if you turned the graph upside down and thought of creative ways to beat everyone to the bottom?

What if you truly said fuck it and stopped watching numbers and started listening to your heart, your excitement, your passion instead?