In his book Tribes, Seth Godin talks about Chris Sharma, an American rock climber who forever changed the way climbers looked at scaling a cliff.
Instead of the normal left-right, left-right approach of hand over hand, Sharma jumps (known as a dyno).
It?s a leap of faith at its purest, since a fall while rock-climbing can be a long way down.
[Read more…] about How Change and Persistent Vision Can Help You Find What Matters to You
We?re born with our eyes closed, and we leave the same way.?In-between though, for however long we?re on this planet, our eyes are open.
And yet, sometimes, it feels like they?ve stayed closed since our first breath in the open air.
December 31st. A day that marks the end of the old year and the preamble to the new one just beyond the midnight bells.
A time when, traditionally, we make vows and resolutions to be “new” us in the next 12 months. You know the drill:
All good goals. All good things to try and do, regardless of the time of year.
But to say “this will be the new me” says the old, or existing, you is no longer relevant and out-of-date.
And that’s bullshit.
We get suckered into believing we need to be “a new us” in order to be the us we’re meant to be.
Like having a smaller waist, or a bigger bicep, will suddenly make the things that are “wrong” with us go away.
And it’s still bullshit.
Because, in truth, why should they go away in the first place?
Our flaws. Our faults. Our broken promises. Our failures.
Every one of them is who we are. Every one of them is what we use to do better.
To be better.
To live better.
If we don?t have our flaws, we don?t have measuring sticks on how far we?ve come.
And, unless we want to stagnate breathing the same air forever, we need to know where we?ve been to see how far we still need to go.
So, forget the ?new me? mantra. Go with something that?s real.
Something that?s you.
By all means, improve you. Grow you. Revisit you. Remould you.
But don?t lose the quintessential you by chasing something that?s neither shiny or new when the light of the new sun breaks in 2016.
It?s a sales push by marketers and retailers and corporations who tell you, ?The old you sucks, and you suck for accepting it.?
But they don?t know the first thing about you. Fuck ?em, and all their lies.
You?re just fine the way you are. You just need to work on realizing that.
Here?s to you and your wonderful, imperfect self in 2016.
Slainte.
A version of this post originally appeared here.
Today is a day that continues to impact Americans everywhere. The world at large also changed on this day in 2001.
Nothing has been the same since, for good or bad.
One thing that we must also recognize and face, though, is something my friend John Haydon shared.
“I will never forget the fear, ignorance, and hatred towards Muslims in the United States after 9/11.”
Sadly, this isn’t just the States.
I left the UK in 2006, and the vitriol and hatred rising towards anyone that “wasn’t British”, following the London bombings in 2005, was painful to see, and a key reason for leaving Britain.
As we saw on this day 14 years ago, tragedy can bring out the best in us. But it can also give rise to the worst in us.
Don’t?let the worst of us define the best in us.
As much as there are bad people in every race and religion, there are also good people countering the bad.
If we judge the many based on the actions of the few, the few will eventually become the many.
And we’ll only have ourselves to blame.
There?s a lot of fear at the minute. Fear of knowing is joining fear of the unknown as a staple in our lives.
Knowing the economy sucks leading to a future unknown.
Knowing we can?t stand around but not knowing what first steps to take.
Knowing you want to try something new but so many unknown things to learn.
But you know, fear is a good thing. Fear is what spurns us to experiment. Fear is what leads us to overcoming hurdles and reaching far higher plateaus on the other side. In short, fear is our friend.
It?s right to be afraid. That?s common sense. We know that we?re not in the greatest of times ? anyone who says otherwise isn?t accepting the facts.
But when we accept that truth and face the fear it brings, we can work on it.
We can use the fear.
You may have been laid off. You might be in a job where there are planned redundancies. You might run your own business where clients are shrinking. You might have more time on your hands now than you did three months ago, six months ago. Use it.
Connect that time with your fear. Make yourself a deal that you?ll become master of your own destiny. Use the time to learn new skill sets, to meet new people, to widen your community of knowledge and prospects.
Brush up on your core strengths and add to them. Use the tools around you to see what people are looking for, what businesses are looking for. We have never had so much free information at our fingertips ? use it.
The best resource tool on the planet is one mouse-click away. It doesn?t matter if it?s Google, Twitter, a Facebook group, a LinkedIn forum, online community, online encyclopedia or whatever.
The tool you need for the fear you have is right there in front of you. All you need to do is find it.
Fear is a stumbling block. But we only stumble if we?re in the dark.
Isn?t it time we switched the lights on?
