Deliverable

From Seth Godin:

I don’t feel like it

What’s it?

Why do you need to feel like something in order to do the work? They call it work because it’s difficult, not because it’s something you need to feel like.

Very few people wake up in the morning and feel like taking big risks or feel like digging deep for something that has eluded them. People don’t usually feel like pushing themselves harder than they’ve pushed before or having conversations that might be uncomfortable.

Of course, your feelings are irrelevant to whether or not the market expects great work. Do the work. Ignore the feelings part and the work will follow.

Bucket:  A place to store something.  As in “A place for everything and everything in it’s place”.  A bucket is that place.

That pile of paper and random “stuff” that always seems to collect on your desk (or filing cabinet, or whereever) is a pile of things that you don’t have the proper buckets for.

Eliminating that pile and keeping it gone requires identifying and labeling the “stuff” and creating the proper buckets for it.

What are the things that are in your pile of “stuff”?

“Before you can make something great, you have to make something.” — me

Will this work is the wrong question to ask yourself when beginning a new endeavor. It’s the wrong question to ask, because it’s a question of questionable value.

It’s a question of questionable value because it’s a question that can only be answered by actually doing the thing you’re thinking of doing.

You can ask the question “Will my idea work?” until the cows come home. Chances are your brain will come up with a lot of reasons why it won’t work and maybe even a lot of reasons why it could work. The thing is that all of these reasons are all hypothetical until you go ahead and do the thing you’re considering.

I’m not suggesting that it’s wise to just leap into something unawares. I’m not suggesting you don’t prepare, or try to consider options and think things through.

I guess what I’m suggesting is that a better question to ask when beginning a new endeavor is “What’s the downside?” In other words, if the thing you’re trying fails, can you live with that? If the answer is yes and you feel you’ll learn something by trying then just go ahead and do the thing. Also, don’t worry about not having every little detail figured out. Chances are you’ll have to make changes along the way anyway.

Don’t bother wondering “Will this work?”. Just make the leap, do your best and see what happens.

1. Get out of bed.
2. Put one foot in front of the other.
3. Repeat step two.

Create and you make a space around you for the type of friends you desire. You become the light that attracts the other creative moths.

Create what? Music and performances and books and songs and anything else you can imagine.

Create because you are lonely and want to be around like minded souls.

Creative moths are attracted to the fire of creativity.

Everything in your life is either a benefit or an opportunity for growth.

From an interesting article by Scott Young.

Ultimately it seems that it comes down to this:

Are my daily actions in line with my short, medium and long term goals?

Daily actions = how you choose to spend your day

If these are aligned then I’m on the right track. If they’re not, then adjustments need to be made. Do I know what my short, medium and long term goals are? If asked, could I articulate them? Are they SMART? How will I spend my time today?

“I’m afraid of this…
I don’t want to do it…
But I’m just going to do it anyway.”

“I don’t know why I feel this way…
I acknowledge that I feel this way…
But I’m just going to do it anyway.”

(thanks, M.)