A quote from Derek Sivers
If you think your life’s purpose needs to hit you like a lightning bolt, you’ll overlook the little day-to-day things that fascinate you.
Tag: growth
Good morning
Now get to work.
Real work.
It’s a new day. Yesterday’s failures aren’t so important. Tomorrow is still sleeping.
WAKE UP.
Work that matters isn’t going to come to you.
They may never call.
Your project might not be accepted.
He isn’t going to change his mind.
Make a list of what you want to accomplish — the things that really, truly matter. Outline the steps you need to take to move closer to those dreams, no matter how small. Focus on what you can control.
It’s going to be a great day.
The art of community
Community doesn’t just happen. It takes time and effort and care.
Amidst routine and packed schedules, relationships deserve a sacred setting. You can’t deny the electricity that encompasses a group breaking bread. It’s an act that has held magic and mystery for centuries.
Whether the dining table, the running track, the book club, or the coffee group, find your place for sharing and storytelling. The more authentic you can be, the more comfortable your cohort will feel.
Build a bedrock for meaningful conversation and lasting relationships, a canvas for discussion and deliberation. Look to encourage that spark, that contagious flame that sets ideas ablaze. Serendipity sometimes needs a little push.
Turn connection into art.
Nepal
While fundraising for the Discover Outdoors Foundation, I learned Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. One quarter of its people live on less than $1 a day and barely half of them are literate. After some research and plenty of emails, I found a local agency that places volunteers in projects across the country. My bags are filled with crayons, games and animal balloons, and I’m teaching English to kids before trekking to Everest’s Base Camp.
You won’t see quite as many posts in the upcoming weeks. In fact, as you’re reading this, I’m on one of several flights leading me to the Himalayas.
I feel incredibly blessed to have the freedom to connect and converse and discover and explore with people around the world. And I’m filled with a deep sense of gratitude for the confidence that comes with the support, love, and backing of so many. This journey has been magnified by the monumental encouragement I have received from friends, colleagues, clients, and strangers. It’s an incredible gift to do work you love, from anywhere.
I’ve debated whether or not to post while I’m away. I’ve toyed with the paranoia of disconnecting for an extended period of time. “But the momentum…but the readers…but…but…” I’ve considered the risks that come with automated content, as I’ve witnessed scheduled generalities firsthand during Hurricane Sandy. I remember sitting in a trembling NYC apartment, listening to water slosh around in the toilet bowl, and reading tweets advertising “10 creative ways to green your kitchen.” There’s a sensitivity and presence that is oh-so-irreplaceable, and fresh and timely cannot be undervalued.
I’m not quite sure what my access will be while I’m away, but I know I want to be present to my experience and not worried about technical malfunctions, open rates, or traffic. Absence alone can be lighter fuel for ideas, dreams, creation.
That said, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be blogging the “ole’ fashioned way” while I’m traveling — via journal and pen. You’ll find a few posts in your inbox (if you’ve signed up to receive them), but with less regularity. And if the mood strikes, I’ll pop into an internet cafe and post a few thoughts.
Count on a treasure trove of goodies upon my return. Project Exponential has some incredible, very exciting changes in the works, and I can’t wait to share them with you.
Until then, go find adventure, plan a few dinner partiers, put yourself on a weekend sabbatical, and become an explorer in your own neighborhood. Your community needs it. You need it.
What connects us
Understanding that first and foremost, the life you want to create for yourself, the type of person you want to become, the parts of yourself you’re most excited to develop will attract individuals who will help you get there.
Realizing that true, authentic connection is expansive. The right relationship discovered at the right time can help you soar, find freedom, create, and see a limitless future.
Recognizing that relationships are catalysts for growth and independence — for supporting both reckless abandon and providing the foundation to carry the wisdom that comes from experience, failure, frustration, pain.
Acknowledging that your highest highs and lowest lows are probably different than mine; the value lies in sharing and discovering what these experiences were like for each of us.
Accepting that at your very worst, you are someone’s pride and joy. Knowing this helps reveal the very best parts of you.
That through the fog of confusion and longing, we can help each other find shared laughter and bouts of success, punctuated with gratitude and contentment along the way.
That our mutual appreciation for life — the ups and downs, the hard lessons and the easy ones — may or may not happen at the same time. Your up might be my down, but no matter, when we find ourselves on the same plane, we can share the lessons we learned and the tricks we used to get us through.
That the whole point is to create tribes, to build and create and be generous — to others and to ourselves.
Embracing that this is all really about compassion, about elevating each other and pushing one another to succeed by sharing our struggles and our wins.
We collaborate because our ideas become greater. Like a brilliant prism, the unique perspectives we each offer leads to undiscovered treasure.
It’s our gift to find it.
95% of the battle is showing up
Some days you won’t be great. You’ll feel less than your best, you’ll deliver a “B” performance, perhaps even a solid “C.” Your “C” may be someone else’s “A” — maybe not.
Maybe no one notices you’re not your best. Instead, they see you there, present, ready for the job, sitting in the chair, showing up for work.
Statistics begin to lean in your favor. The more ticks you make by simply showing up, the less one day’s performance can disrupt your overall grade. And that’s where the job begins: showing up, day in and day out; giving your all when your “all” can sometimes vary.
True value lies in your persistence, your reliability, your dogged determination to be there, regardless of circumstance.