Category: Life

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I just had my first piece of press written about the Roller Coaster Tour thanks to the Muskegon Chronicle! Muskegon is where I’m beginning the tour so I naturally contacted them first.

I got some interesting comments in regards to that article. On the whole the e-mails I received from new readers was positive. But one person said, “This is an incredible waste of resources. You should be doing X instead of this.”

Instead of responding and kicking him off his high horse I trashed the message. Those of us who are doing what we want with our lives will always run into naysayers, doubters, and people who think they know better. It’s the crabs in a bucket phenomenon.

Yesterday I read an article on All of Us Revolution (Kristin and Shannon are launching an organic, fair trade, sustainable clothing line!) where they were talking about the “noes” they receive. When they get a “no” they turn to each other and say “yes.” That’s a great attitude. When you’re going after something big lots of people will tell you “no.” Sometimes you’re the only one telling yourself “yes” and that’s OK. Know that you’re in good company.

Yesterday I also talked to my friend Kenny about someone telling him “no, that’s not gonna happen” in regards to him playing Michael Jordan 1 on 1. Later he got a phone call that was a massive “YES!” in the right direction. Maybe the biggest “yes” he has received since beginning his journey.

Nobody is immune to “no.” Preparing for the Roller Coaster Tour has been, in general, a fight against “no,” but I’ll save that for another day.

With that all said, here are 17 reasons you should follow your dreams:

1. If you don’t follow your dreams you crush your dreams. Eventually you’ll stop dreaming altogether.
2. There are very few things worse than regret. What will you regret tomorrow that you didn’t do today?
3. Dreamers who took action have created everything around you.
4. Following your dreams doesn’t always turn out as planned, but that makes them even more memorable.
5. Personal growth happens when you stretch yourself. If you don’t follow your dreams you’re not stretching.
6. You want to be remembered. Everybody does. We remember those who follow their dreams.
7. Doing what you want attracts haters. This gives you a change to ignore them. They hate that more than anything. Keep doing what you do. (In case that wasn’t clear: Don’t ever engage haters. It’s not worth your time. Let them be losers.)
8. Your dreams and your actions define you. If you do what others tell you to do then you’re letting them define you.
9. Following your dreams gives you the opportunity to Ignore Everybody.
10. When people who look up to you see you following your dreams it will inspire some of them to follow their dreams.
11. When people who don’t even know you see you following your dreams it will inspire some of them to follow their dreams as well. (<– This is one of the reasons I write publicly on this website.)
12. Following your dreams makes you interesting.
13. You learn a lot from failure. Since you will fail on your path you’ll learn a lot too.
14. Someone who’s motivated to accomplish something great is instantly sexier.
15. There are no rules in life so why limit yourself to what everybody else is doing?
16. You might live forever, but you might also die tomorrow. Take a chance.
17. It’s better than watching TV.

I’m gonna continue following my crazy dreams. How about you?

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Last Monday night I flew back to the US from the UK after 3 weeks away from commitments.

A lot of people requested feedback about how it went. “I’ve heard doing that is good, let me know how it goes.”

I’ll spoil the surprise: it didn’t go anything like I thought it might and instead of leaving me refreshed and recharged I came back more burnt out than I’ve felt in a long time. To the point where I didn’t even post an article last Thursday, which I believe is the first time that has happened since I started this site.

Part of the burn out may be due to the illness I contracted that still hasn’t fully gone away. (The cold that just won’t quit.)

But a lot of it was due to sensory overload. I seem to have forgotten that tour is not a particularly relaxing experience. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s go, go, go. Privacy (of the creative variety) and quiet time (again, of the creative variety) are virtually non-existent, so expecting any sort of creative recharge was short-sighted on my part.

What Happened and What I Learned

1) I didn’t want to check e-mail often while on tour. After a couple days I checked (as I said I would, in case there were emergencies back home) and I had hundreds of messages in my inbox. I immediately archived everything, but the thought of coming home to thousands of messages a few weeks later didn’t leave me with a sense of joy. So I checked e-mail more than once/day just so I could archive it. I responded to a handful of e-mails in 3 weeks and I used Boomerang to send a few messages back to me 3 weeks later, but for the most part I archived everything without reading.

2) I didn’t want to check facebook at all while on tour. I got a message from a friend in London that I needed to respond to, so I logged in for that. Then I logged in randomly otherwise. On one hand I think facebook is useless, but now I’m moving towards the thinking that it can be useful, and definitely more useful than twitter. I also think I’m going to begin actually accepting facebook requests from people I meet, even if we only met once. For years I’ve used facebook as a private “friends/family only” type of thing. But as a traveler there is a lot of benefit in having even superficial relationships with people all over the world. It goes like this: meet someone once for a brief period of time. Add them on facebook. Keep in touch superficially. Maybe visit them at some point in the near or distant future. While going solo is fun, it’s also a lot of fun exploring places with friends. From now on I’ll try to keep this in mind and maybe even seek people out on facebook who I’ve met in person.

3) I didn’t want to use twitter while on tour. I did log in, especially towards the end of tour, but I didn’t actually “use” twitter.

All in all, I feel like these were mostly failures. I didn’t step away as much as I could have.

4) Traffic, engagement, and new e-mail subscribers to this site were below average and RSS subscribers were flat while I was away. I’m actually surprised by this since I still had articles being posted. Lack of engagement makes sense since I didn’t have comments turned on for my articles, but I was expecting much more engagement with the guest posts. I also had the articles tweeted out and posted to facebook, so I’m surprised that there wasn’t more traffic/engagement from those two sources. I don’t know what to make of it except maybe what I wrote didn’t resonate with you.

Revelations

I didn’t expect to have any huge revelations, but I did have a few moments of clarity about Ridiculously Extraordinary and life in general. Here they are:

1) I’m not a blogger.

I’m an entrepreneur who simply uses a blog as an outlet. While my income comes as a result of things that happen or people I meet through this blog, a lot of it comes from endeavors that would make money without the blog. What I mean is, when you have a product for sale most of your sales don’t come from your own audience. If you’re blogging just to make sales you’re blogging for the wrong reason. Hour for dollar it’s more profitable to create products and find joint venture partners (people who will review and write about your product) than to simply blog to get traffic. You don’t need a blog to build an online lifestyle business. Read that again, get it ingrained into your skull. That shit’s the truth.

2) I’m unsure of the direction of RE.

But I’ve always been unsure. This is nothing new. The reason I love writing here so much is because I can write about whatever the hell I want. And I know that absolutely kills me as far as any kind of branding is concerned. I’m OK with that.

3) Doing what I want is not only desirable, it’s necessary.

I can’t run this site if I’m sitting in one place twiddling my thumbs and not coming up with fun events, such as the roller coaster tour. In that regard, this site is branded. The point is, you wouldn’t read these same words if they were coming from somebody who was living a normal life. I probably wouldn’t even have much to write about if I was living a normal life.

4) Schedules Are Necessary, But Not

My Monday/Thursday and sometimes Saturday posting schedule isn’t necessary, but I need to do it anyway. If for no other reason than I enjoy it. That said, I realize that the world doesn’t end if I skip a day, or a week, or whatever arbitrary time frame. This revelation makes me feel great, because I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to post even if it was incredibly inconvenient. While I will still put a lot of pressure on myself, I’ll be at peace if I have to skip a posting here and there. If I decide to do another X-week break from commitments (highly likely) I will probably not schedule anything new to be posted.

5) Chasing Money Is Not Of Any Interest To Me, But …

I’ve always wanted to start and sell a company for a significant sum of money. I’m in no great hurry to do this and I know something like what I’m doing here could never be sold. (Not that I’d want to sell anyway.) I’ve considered documenting the process from idea to execution, but this isn’t a top priority. When or if it becomes a top priority is when I’ll begin focusing on this goal. And rest assured, once I focus on it, it will happen. But my current priorities are doing exactly what I’m doing.

Questions/comments/want to play Slappy Fruit Hands? You know what to do …

Last month you may recall I had a guest post not-contest. As a consolation prize for everybody who submitted a guest post but didn’t get one of the 3 available guest post slots, I offered an opportunity to be involved in this group post. Everybody below submitted their answers to “What would you do to change the world?” before I left on tour (sorry to anybody who didn’t submit their answers in time). I’m just getting back to the US today and am probably still in the air as of this post going live. I scheduled this post 3+ weeks ago, just as I did all the other posts over the past 3 weeks.

To recap the previous 3 guest posts (please don’t submit guest posts as I don’t accept them; this was a one-time “let’s see what happens if Karol leaves the country for 3 weeks and doesn’t look at his blog” thing):

• Jen Gresham wrote How To Be Extraordinarily Happy – In Work and Life
• Tanja Hoagland wrote Keep Ramming Your Head Against The Wall and the Wall Will Crumble
• Matt Gartland wrote Discover Why Intermittent Fasting Is The Secret To Superior Health

Thanks to everybody who submitted guest posts. And thanks to everybody who submitted their answers below! Some really great stuff here …

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We are all changing the world every day–it is my goal to make sure that I am doing everything I can in the NOW to leave the world better than before I arrived.  I try to bring relentless optimism to every task I do and every person I meet so they are energized, encouraged, and uplifted through our interaction.  By living a conscious, purposeful life and helping others do the same, I am making the world a happier and more fulfilled place one person at a time.

Jaime Willis writes about success, achievement, and personal growth at http://velocitygoals.blogspot.com.

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We are currently changing the world by contributing to other people in meaningful ways. We organize local charity events (e.g., feeding the hungry at a local soup kitchen, building homes for people who need them via Habitat for Humanity, and we donate our time to various other charities and organizations). We also help people live more meaningful lives with the essays we write at The Minimalists.

Joshua Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus write essays about minimalism and living a more meaningful life at http://theminimalists.com.

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I listen to other points of view, especially ones that contradict my own, and I hope others do the same so we can focus on understanding each other and break down barriers.

Jonathan Vaudreuil writes about persuasion and marketing for start-ups at http://www.jonathanvaudreuil.com.

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I would change how people with physical and intellectual disabilities are treated and perceived. I work toward a world in which they are celebrated instead of marginalized. My hope is that people with disabilities will be welcomed to share the unique gifts they have to offer. My dream is that people with disabilities become a vital part of the conversation on what it means to live fully.

Caroline McGraw writes about “how to see disability as opportunity” at http://www.awishcomeclear.com.

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I would convince the world that, if you’re willing to work for it, any of your dreams are possible.

Tom Meitner writes about smashing through your everyday barriers at http://www.thepracticalnerd.com.

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I’m on a mission to show people that there is no set path in life. We are in charge of creating our Dream Life. A world filled with people pursuing their passions will lead to higher levels of creativity, happiness and kick ass awesomeness. There is no end to the way this will change the world – new inventions, cures, paradigms – but it will certainly be epic.

Mallory Kimble writes about following your passions and living your Dream Life at http://untietheribbons.com.

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I have a small post-it note next to my monitor. It says: “Make an Impact!” The ultimate goal for me. I know that there’s no way of measuring the actual results, but I don’t care. It’s my personal thing and I can make it whatever I want, right? I see it every day.

Making an impact on the whole world at once is not an easy thing to do, that’s why I aim at something more realistic – making an impact (a positive one, of course) on one person at a time. Sometimes by doing a small favor, sometimes a bigger one. It doesn’t matter, as long as I don’t ask for anything in return.

I advise you to do the same. Now the interesting part: At the end of the day you’ve improved one life. At the end of the week you’re up to 5, maybe 7. After a year you’re at 300+ … guess what … you’re changing the world right there. In a sentence, my advice (and my approach at the same time) is: focus on the little things and actions, they add up quickly.

Karol K. writes about marketing, blogging and online business design at http://newinternetorder.com.

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The first time I read your question, I was thinking in terms of wishes. If I could have any wish that is outside of my power, it would be to amplify the entire human race’s sense of empathy, so that everyone would be more considerate of other humans, other animals, and the entire planet.

On the other hand, if you’re asking about what I would do – that I can do – to change the world, my answer is that I want to nurture a sense of wonder in everyone I can reach. It’s so easy for worries, irritation, and simple habit to drown out the sense of wonder and deaden our appreciation of life. I want to work to counteract that.

My vocation is writing fantastic fiction, and while my stories reflect aspects of the real world instead of taking place there, I like to think that they can inspire people to look at their own lives with a little more wonder, joy and appreciation.

Anthea Strezze writes about writing and posts short stories and snippets of fiction at http://AntheaStrezze.com/blog.

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My purpose is to inspire and empower people to put themselves first. As a coach, I am here to help women find the freedom to live their lives the way they’ve always dreamed of. When people decide to get radiantly healthy, find peace within themselves and live their purposes, it inspire others to do the same and creates a different world. That’s the world I want to live in.

Jackie Vecchio writes about cultivating true health and unlimited joy at Unseen Life.

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Change in the world begins with me. So to change the world, I would:-

• Eat less, exercise more
• Sleep less, write more
• Accumulate less stuff, share much more
• Stop seeking perfection, settle for excellence
• Surf the internet less, meet more real people
• Think less, speak more and share my wisdom
• Stop wasting time, create more special moments

Arvind Devalia writes about how to make it happen for a better you and a
better world at http://www.ArvindDevalia.com/blog.

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If I could change the world, I’d make it mandatory to teach kids three things: 1) outside approval is not necessary to run your life, 2) that little voice in your head keeping you safe is your biggest roadblock to success, and 3) advice (unsolicited or requested) from those who’ve never reached your dreams is toxic.

There are so many of us who’ve wasted YEARS of our lives, because we were held back by one of these three reasons. Imagine how much happier we’d all be if we truly understood our real potential for greatness. I’d change the world by making sure everyone who bought into the American dream understood that that meant the death of their own dreams. I’d also make sure everyone knew that it’s never too late to live life based on your own dreams, on your own terms.

Anilia writes about personal development and goal-setting for entrepreneurs at http://www.motivatedsista.com.

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I’d change the world by changing the education system to encourage kids to experience as much as they can at a young age and find things that they love to do and continue that philosophy throughout their educational years. Instead of churning out good little robots that pass standardized tests, we would encourage free thinking, individualism and the joy of purpose, rather than looking for what has the highest pay.

Sarah St John writes about her journey to find freedom at http://www.thefreedomdream.com.

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Your turn:

What would you do to change the world?

This is a guest post from Jennifer Gresham at Everyday Bright. Jennifer was the winner (if you want to call it that) in my guest post not-contest. This article immediately resonated with me and I hope it resonates with you as well. Thanks Jennifer!

My friend Jim works a job he hates, but he doesn’t see a way out. Here’s a guy who is incredibly smart and talented, but for whatever reason, he’s been unable to negotiate a new career. And he’s miserable.

He recently asked me, “What if I’m just not a happy person? What if I try to change my job to something better and I’m still unhappy?”

This isn’t a dumb question. But if you follow the science of happiness as I do, the answer isn’t exactly clear either.

The science of happiness

Back in the 1970’s, research showed both lottery winners and recent paraplegics reverted to previous happiness levels within a short period of time. This led scientists to believe there was a happiness set point, essentially a happiness cap determined by our genes. Accordingly, your decisions and circumstances in life didn’t have long-lasting impacts on your happiness level.

Then positive psychology came along and said, yes, there is a happiness set point, but it only accounts for about 50% of our happiness. So of the portion that’s within our control, what makes us happy? Sadly for Jim, the positive psychologists say relationships account for 40% of what we control, and only 10% arises from our circumstances, including our jobs.

In a review of the positive psychology literature Penelope Trunk said

The thing that increases our happiness is our relationships. A job cannot make those better. However a job can make you so unhappy that you can’t relish the relationships in your life.

I agree. I had what anyone would call a great job. I was the Assistant Chief Scientist for a lab that examined ways to improve human performance. I guided the work of hundreds of super smart scientists and engineers alongside my boss, who is one of the best leaders and mentors I’ve ever met.

And yet … I got euphoric every time I took a day off. Although I enjoyed the higher purpose that came with leading in a large, government laboratory, the bureaucracy was slowly driving me insane. Before long, I was getting snippy with the very family I loved.

But that’s not the whole story.

Does our work really matter?

Science says we are pretty lousy at predicting what makes us happy. Part of the problem is that most of us don’t spend any time at all figuring out what brings us fulfillment. We don’t take a class on it in college and our parents likely didn’t provide very good role models.

What we do know is that Nature abhors a vacuum. If you don’t have a definition for success, society is more than happy to supply one for you. By and large, that definition calls out money, power, and prestige as the ultimate indicators of a good life.

Let me be clear: there’s nothing wrong with making money. I’m all for it. But I think we’ve got it all backwards. We chase after jobs that pay a lot and hope we like them. I think we should chase after jobs we love and hope they pay a lot.

Because at some point you realize a person who “lives” for the weekend has reduced their enjoyable life span by over 70%.

This is where I have a problem with the “relationship only” model of happiness. If our work didn’t matter, you’d think that ultra rich people would be the happiest people on the planet, since they’d have a lot of time to focus on nurturing great relationships. There should be a big correlation between having so much money you don’t need to work and off-the-charts happiness. But there isn’t.

In fact, the research shows the connection between money and happiness evolves from a sense of status. It’s not the absolute value of your salary that matters, but how much higher it is than those around you (sounds like some pretty healthy relationships).

I’ve been told on more than one occasion that most people don’t “live to work” but “work to live” and I should stop spouting this “follow your passion” BS.

But I can tell you that once I figured out what I really wanted to do with my career (and more importantly, found the courage to go do it), my happiness soared. Something really profound has happened: I love my work so much that Monday is now my favorite day of the week.

When I admitted this fact to my husband, he was worried (needlessly, I might add). In my experience, there are two different well springs of happiness: relationships and a sense of personal achievement. The question is how to design a life that maximizes both.

Overcoming average

Psychological research is tricky. It relies on surveys where not everyone agrees on the definitions. It has a hard time accounting for variation, on both an individual and day-to-day level. And like most science, it searches for a universal truth that may not exist.

We know that when it comes to emotions and stock markets, the “average” response may be of little value. What makes someone else happy may not make you happy, yet we continue to act like there’s only one definition of success (and only one path to happiness).

I told Jim I could be sure of one thing: while he might not naturally be the happiest guy, a job he enjoyed would make him happier than one that didn’t.

The secret ingredient to getting that sense of personal achievement is to find work that encourages flow, which is derived from four qualities:

1. stretches a person without defeating him
2. provides clear goals
3. unambiguous feedback
4. a sense of control

The idea of flow came from researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, but it’s quite similar to the ideas presented by Daniel Pink in his book Drive, who calls for more autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In either case, it is possible to transform work from something of a burden or a chore into something rather exhilarating.

This is what people refer to when they tell you to “follow your passion.” The problem is that most have no idea how to discover their passion and so assume is it mythical at best or a scam at worst.

Don’t take my word for it. Do your own experiments–pull a Gretchen Rubin and tweak your life until the foundations of your happiness become clear. Research may say we’re lousy at predicting our own happiness, but I’ll say there’s also no one better.

In other words, if you want an extraordinary life, why design yours according to the responses of average people?

Jennifer Gresham is a Ph.D. biochemist who left her job to become a writer. She blogs about finding the clarity and courage to design a fulfilling career at Everyday Bright.

It’s about that time. Maybe you guessed this was coming based on Thursday’s article. Or maybe not. Either way I’m looking to hire good people and would like to give you the opportunity to become part of the Ridiculously Extraordinary Team.

There’s lots of interesting work going on around here and I’m looking for a talented virtual assistant (or two or three). This is not a full time position right now and I can’t guarantee any minimum or maximum amount of work.

I’m looking for people who are excellent with the Internet, have incredible attention to detail, have a good command of the English language, and are relentless workers.

In order to find good people I’m using this simple hiring exam which I’ve adapted from the venerable Clay Collins. It should take about an hour to do. Please follow all the instructions.

– After you’re done with this exam, please email me (KarolGajda at Gmail) with your cell phone number and include a link to a WordPress.com account that you have created.

– On that account, please select a blog name and please change the theme’s design to something other than the stock theme.

– Please answer or complete the items below. You may arrange your site as beautifully as you can (like anybody, I like a good design). Only the last question must be at the top of the page:

1. What would you do if a co-worker (who’s also a friend of yours) was stealing?
2. Upload three screenshots of what you think are the three best designed websites on the internet.
3. Post the contact information to the man or woman in the most watched video on Youtube that is not a music video. How would I best get in touch with him or her?
4. If I handed you $25 USD and asked you to find a way to use the money to thank a 31 year old musician in Belfast, Ireland for his excellent album, what would you do?
5. Write a thank you email to a client named Beth that I just had lunch with. We ate at a Vegan restaurant called “Vegalicious.” The food was good, but when I presented my proposal to Beth, she was not interested.
6. I’m in my car on the way to Anaheim, CA. I don’t know the city at all. I need to know a vegan-friendly restaurant that has something other than veggie burgers and fried food. Call (352) 577-0173 and leave a voicemail with your recommendation, including hours and address so I can pop it in my GPS and satiate my hunger. End the voicemail with your name or e-mail address so I know it’s yours. (You can call the number 24/7. If I answer the phone you’ll have to tell me live!)
7. Post one Creative Commons Licensed (for commercial use) photo that would fit with Thursday’s article about not using photos.
8. Post a favorite inspirational quote.
9. Summarize in one paragraph one article I’ve posted recently. Include a call to action and a link to the article.
10. Please indicate how long it took you to complete this entire site.
11. If I was to hire you in the future, how much would it cost for 3 hours? (The answer to this must be at the top of the website).

Thanks so much for completing this exam. I’m hiring at least one person within 2 weeks and you’ll receive an e-mail back from me whether you are hired or not.

There’s an old parable about crabs in a bucket.

If you put a crab in a bucket and it can climb out of that bucket, it will climb out. But if you put 2 crabs in the bucket, when one of the crabs tries to climb out, the other will pull it back in. Neither will ever escape. It doesn’t matter that it’s possible to escape, the crabs will hold each other back from doing so.

We’re no different than crabs. It’s a sad part of the society we’re living in. When one independent freedom seeker tries to “climb out of the bucket” the rest of the herd will try to pull him/her back in.

• Teachers are guilty of this. (Which is why traditional schooling is a waste.)
• The media is guilty of this. (Which is why limiting or eliminating your exposure to the news and other media is essential.)
• Your Parents and friends may very well be guilty as well. (They don’t do it on purpose, they’ve been conditioned by teachers and the media.)

I’m not without guilt. I’ve noticed myself doing this on occasion and it’s upsetting to think about. For example, somebody brings an idea to me and I immediately shoot it down. “Ehh, I don’t think that will work.” And you know what? It might not. But who am I to shoot someone down?

I’m supposed to be supportive of my friends, family, and business partners.

So from now on, if a friend comes to me with an idea, instead of shooting it down if I think maybe it’s not doable I’ll say “Hmm, I’m not sure I can help, but don’t listen to me. What steps can you take right now to make it happen? And how do you think I can help?”

Just think of the possibilities if we all supported those close to us in this way.

While it’s obvious that the majority of the population will never cross over from the dark side, I know because of the snowball effect that the more we support each other the more we’ll support each other.

What do you say?

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Odds & Ends

You have until next week, Thursday March 3 to be exact, to submit your guest post. Looking forward to it!

A few days ago a friend sent me an interview with a struggling actor.

This actor got a few commercial gigs, but for the most part worked every night as a waiter. Even then he couldn’t afford to pay his bills.

Fortunately, because of the few commercial gigs, this actor had a smart manager. One day the actor asked his manager why he wasn’t getting any work.

His manager said something simple and incredibly profound: “Don’t wait for the work. Create it.”

That night the actor sat down and wrote a scene. And then another scene. And then another. Until he had enough for a TV show pilot.

There was just one tiny little problem: how do you pitch a pilot when you’re a nobody?

The answer is you don’t.

Which stops most people.

But Rob McElhenney borrowed a camcorder, bought some videotapes from Rite Aid, got a few of his actor friends together, and filmed the pilot himself; forgoing the normal pitch process.

A few weeks later, based on the strength of his home produced pilot, he sold It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia to FX Networks, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Interesting note from the interview: “Studios don’t want you to know this, but they need you. They can’t create.”

Poverty, Teaching English, Selling 350 Million Books

There’s a well-known author who writes 2,000 words/day. Under no circumstances does he stop working until he hits this quota. This doesn’t mean he writes 2,000 publishable words every day, but that’s neither here nor there. The literary skills of this author have been debated to no end, but he is one of the most successful (and prolific, for that matter) authors of our time, with dozens of books and sales in the hundreds of millions.

You don’t become incredibly successful by accident.

This author had every excuse in the book. Poverty, a wife, 2 young children, a dead end job, and the list goes on. Maybe you’re in that same situation. (Or, more likely, maybe you’re not.)

That author was/is Stephen King. Even when he was living hand to mouth as an English teacher he came home and did what needed to be done. Even when he couldn’t afford to pay the electric bill he lit a candle and did what needed to be done.

He accomplished everything because he didn’t let himself or anything else get in the way of doing things.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m in the unique and privileged position of getting a behind-the-scenes view of a lot of people, beginners and veterans alike, who launch products and websites.

I’m also in the unfortunate position of getting a behind-the-scenes view of a lot of people who never launch anything. I get e-mails very regularly that amount to “Well, I really want to do X, but first I have to learn Y.”

For example, maybe you’ve had a friend who has “always wanted to write a book.” I know I’ve had many as it’s a common goal for a lot of people. Yet, most of them never do it. “I need to finish my degree.” “I need to establish myself in my field first.” “I’m just not good enough.”

That’s all true, but only because that’s what they believe.

If you believe something to be true, it is true.

Follow the trail Rob McElhenney and Stephen King have blazed and you can choose to believe something “impossible” if you’d like.

Recapping Accomplishing No/Every-thing

– Accomplish nothing: Do things that get in the way of doing things.

– Accomplish everything: Don’t do things that get in the way of doing things.

– Poverty is no excuse.

– Dead end jobs are no excuse.

– If you want work, create it.

– Smart people just do shit.

I don’t think about birthdays much. In fact, I have a tradition of hanging out mostly solo on my birthday. I’ve stuck to that for about 5 years straight now. It’s a time of reflection more than a time to party. When I was a child, of course, birthdays were different. Presents! Cake! Pop! (That’s soda-pop if you’re not in the know. Now you know.) If you’re into celebrating days of birth with a big “me, me, me” day that’s cool. It’s just not me.

Last year on my birthday I launched the business side of RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com with my first product (while in India), then doubled the gross sales and sent it all to entrepreneurs through Kiva.org. (Maybe that’s not a very profitable business model?) I won’t be doing that this year. Been there, done that, it was fun, but I need new stimuli. You know?

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about life’s most important question. And then I thought “hmm, if I answer this, it would be a cool thing to do for my birthday.”

The Meaning of Life

Life’s most important question is: “If I could do anything, what would it be?”

If we’re not striving for doing our anythings, what’s the point? I don’t know about you, but creating memories is my idea of “the meaning of life.” For example, while everybody else is pissed off or freaking out and waiting in hour long grocery store lines because The Great Snowpacalypse (spelled like that in honor of 2Pac, of course) has come, I’d rather go play in the snow, create some memories, and figure out what I’ll eat tomorrow tomorrow.

Maybe there won’t be any lines at the grocery store tomorrow and I’ll be the smartest guy on the block. Or maybe the grocery stores won’t even be open and I’ll eat strictly beans & quinoa for 2 days since that’s all I have stocked. Or maybe my stove won’t work, all the stores & restaurants will be closed, and I won’t eat anything. It’ll be OK. I promise.

I ask again, if you could do anything, what would it be?

But The Real Question Is …

Generally speaking I’m living my anything, but I’ve been thinking about taking it to a very specific level. To figure out that very specific anything you have to ask yourself a more intense question such as “If you knew you would die soon, but you had just enough time to do your anything, what would that anything be?”

It could be … well … anything.

Spend time with family/friends?

Sleep?

Eat an extravagant meal at a top rated restaurant?

Or maybe it’s a “once in a lifetime” type of event like climb Mt Everest?

I’ve been thinking along the “once in a lifetime” track for myself, but I haven’t come up with my anything. Most of the things I want to do are not specific one time events that can be boxed into a short time frame. Besides, obviously, a space flight. At $250k per flight I’ll wait for a different birthday for that one. Or maybe Richard Branson will give me a 95% off birthday discount. ;)

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but lately I’ve been writing articles without specific answers. I’ve also cut down on “hooks.” Not many headlines and subheadlines and bullet points unless they come naturally. Not a lot of highlighting. No attempts to catch “readers” who really only scan.

Maybe it will change tomorrow, but I’ve been making an attempt at writing in a way that causes you to reflect and figure the answers out yourself. It’s better for you that way. And it’s better for me as well. I’ve been getting some interesting e-mails with ideas, explanations, information, and points-of-view that I would have never seen myself if I didn’t leave certain articles more open-ended.

The Answer & Your Mission

If you write a blog or pen & paper journal this article does end with a specific answer, but it comes from you. Give yourself the answer to life’s most important question right now. Start with “If I could do anything, what would it be?” and let it flow.

This is so important that you’re not allowed to write it here in a spur of the moment comment. Take the time to reflect on your blog or in your pen & paper journal. Or hell, even a piece of scrap paper …

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It’s not my birthday today. Or even this month.