Hey folks. This post is long overdue. I had the pleasure of seeing Seth Godin and Steven Pressfield speak at Borders Monday night with Natasha from New Age of Marketing & PR. We both felt the talk was inspiring. And personally, I think both of us have already started applying Godin's ideas in our lives. Natasha has a great writeup of the event here. In addition to what Natasha wrote, I'd add some other interesting ideas that Seth and Steven brought up.
Guiding principal of life; whatever you feel the most resistance to, that's what you're soul feels it's the most needed to do.
That in the end, the satisfaction from working and conquering your "resistance" is much more gratifying than the immediate happiness from avoiding work.
When you're trying to achieve a long term goal, let go of negative thoughts. Let it pass. It's resistance and it's horse shit.
Think about making a positive impact in the world.
Keep doing what you're doing over and over again. This goes in line with what Malcolm Gladwell talks about in Outliers (10,000 hours) and what Anne Lamott discusses in Bird By Bird. The more bad ideas you have, the more good ideas you'll create. It (life, success, entrepreneurship, art, creating) is a marathon and not a sprint!
I can happily say that my public high school (Teaneck High School) and the great teachers it contained, prepared me for this kind of thinking. For the most part, I've envied my friends who took a more traditional path to life and work - grad school, job with specific rules, timely promotions, etc. But now I realize that my zigzag, crazy path full of temp jobs, entrepreneurship, retail, sales, etc. will be just as beneficial in the long run.
2 comments:
'Just do it' seems to sum it up, no?
I've been leading one of those very untraditional post-undergrad lives. Sure my friends who took the path most traveled are doing well but I've learned (once I figured out how to get past my pride) that the path we travel and the adventures we have on it are the story that becomes our life. It wasn't until about a year and a half ago that I realized I prefer the stories from my non-linear life to those of my peers and that my personal accomplishments count just as much as their professional accomplishments in the long-run.
It's weird yet endearing that we have so many comings of age. But I agree with Daryl, it becomes "Just do it" because we see where our fears have stopped us and where that lead. Now it's time for us to conquer and make our dreams realities.
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