What it is:
Giving your gift
Doing your best work
Creating substance
Helping define an experience for others to enjoy
Opening opportunities for those who deserve it
Sharing and collaborating
Breaking the mold
Doing the impossible
Defying the odds
Testing the limits
Enjoying, Being
Finding who you are
Improving the game
Getting out what is within
What it isn’t:
Ego
Approval from others
Validating your worth
Being Safe
Guaranteed
Yours
Self-made
I watched the movie Comedian released in 2002 featuring Jerry Seinfeld, last night. WOW, what a movie! It’s a real raw look at giving your gift and doing the work. No matter what you’ve achieved in your career EVEN if you’ve “made it” – it’s one of the best articulations I’ve ever seen.
Two things I want to share that really stuck with me while I watched the movie last night:
My favorite scene is where this aspiring comedian (Orny Adams) who hasn’t yet “broken through” is asking Jerry how he felt when he was struggling in his twenties while all his friends were “doing well” in their lives – some of them are getting jobs on Wall Street, getting married, having kids — (Jerry’s reply mid sentence, “YUCK”) – The vibe from Jerry the whole time Orny was talking is comical, because Jerry knows this guy just doesn’t “get it.” (I like to think, he was feeling and thinking the same thing(s) I feel and think when I hear someone say, “this business just isn’t working for me”)
Orny Adams says, “I don’t know how much longer I can do this… I’m getting older (29)” and Jerry replies with, “What are you running out of time? You have something else you’d rather be doing?”
And then Jerry follows it up with a perfect story to illustrate the point. If I were to summarize the point of the story it would read like this: Real artists do the work to give their gift. Real artists look at other people living “normal” or “good” lives and think, “wow, who would want to live like that?” A Real Artist doesn’t care what others think of them or their work – they do the work because they must.
And last is an exact quote from Jerry about what changed things for him in his career.
You know when I was starting out I used to sit down and write a couple times a week and then one day I was watching these construction workers go back to work. I was watching them kind of trudging down the street, and it was kind of a revelation to me. I realized that these guys don’t want to go back to work after lunch but they’re going cause that’s their job. If they can exhibit that level of dedication for THAT job then I should be able to do the same… Just trudge your ass in.
Ever since the age of 18, I’ve been surrounded by entrepreneurs most of which had kids older than me. One thing that has always surprised me and has never seemed to make sense to me is how many people use the same verbiage when referring to their lack of results in business. It usually sounds something like this:
I’ve been in business now with X company for 3/6/9 months and I still haven’t gotten the results I’m looking for, the business is not working for me. (or any other variation of this same statement)
Business doesn’t work FOR you. Ever. There is something out there that WILL work for you however. A job will work for you. A job provides a consistent income, medical insurance, vacation days, and some over paid manager who doesn’t know what he’s doing (because you could do a better job of course).
When a statement like that is made, what that person is really saying is: I refuse to take responsibility for my results, some person/place/thing must be responsible instead (BLAME)! (Once you enter this space, you are officially operating like an employee, and you’ll NEVER create remarkable results from this weak position.)
The good news is you can start to take responsibility TODAY.
Here’s a few things you can do if you want to kick the nasty habit of not taking responsibility:
1. Own everything. There is no one to blame ever. It wasn’t their fault… it’s your fault. Live out a full day with MASSIVE ownership and trust me when I say – you will walk, talk and act differently when you do.
2. When you fall into BLAME mode, step back for a second and ask yourself this question: “What could I have done differently to have produced a different result here?” (turns out, you COULD have prevented the situation… LEARN something from this and take pride in the fact that you are improving a VERY important skill set that ALL amateurs overlook)
3. Monitor your words. You shift responsibility when you say: “This business isn’t working” instead say, “I’m not very good at working my business yet.” – At least you wouldn’t be lying to yourself and you might even feel some immediate shame in that statement… GOOD. Let your pride serve you. Now you can start to improve when you recognize the simple fact that your success in ANY endeavor is up to YOU. No person, place, or thing controls what you can create in your life.
I consider myself just another [Read More...]
