It’s November, the season of gratitude–one of my favorite seasons. In the spirit of gratefulness, thanks, and learning, I’ll be giving away prizes with almost every single post all throughout November. Some of the things I have to give away include a copy of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s new book, “The Impact Equation,” copies of “I’m Fine, Thanks,“ (the documentary by Crank Tank Studios), a digital copy of Do Something, and a copy of the upcoming book by Shane Mac, Stop With The BS. If you haven’t yet, make sure you sign-up to be notified of new posts by email so you can win all of these goodies: there are a lot of giveaways this month!
Today’s thoughts come from a powerful presentation by Julien Smith at last months’ Powder Keg conference in Indianapolis, Indiana–and a chance to win a copy of his latest book, The Impact Equation.
Reminders.
“If we don’t cannibalize ourselves, someone else will.”
(Steve Jobs)
Why did Apple make the iPhone? They already had the iPod and if they made a new product that incorporated music into a phone they would be actively competing against their own product. What’s the benefit of this?
As Jobs said, often you have to cannibalize against yourself–through perpetual creative destruction, adaptation, and reinvention–in order to push the envelope.
Reinvention isn’t easy. Leaning against the edges of your comfort zone is HARD. It’s terrifying. In addition to all of the thankfulness and gratefulness I have, I’m also–frankly–terrified. When there are big changes happening and it’s not comfortable or easy, and each time I have to push hard to make change happen, working through my own psychological hang-ups and my desire for comfort and security.
But it’s worth it. You can’t sit back. You have to do something.
It reminds me of a presentation that Julien Smith gave last month at the Powder Keg conference in Indianapolis. These are my notes from his presentation, and I call them, simply, “reminders.” He’s brilliant–he pushes you–and he also writes one of my favorite blogs. This will not be easy. Thanks to Julien for inspiring this post.
Remember.
- Adapt or die.
- Adapt or suck.
- Create your own categories.
- Seek out conditions that test and challenge you to MAKE YOURSELF BETTER.
- “Why can’t you fucking go do something interesting.”
- Everybody is being conditioned by something.
- Design your own path. No one is designing it for you. [For more, watch this: Dare to Disagree]
- If something is inevitable, start doing it.
- Find an opening that allows you to move faster than anyone else.
- Vulnerability is the new cool. [See: Brene Brown].
- Most people do not have the courage to go forward because we are TOO AFRAID OF THE PAIN. Get over it.
- DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
- Discover your own ignorance.
- Figure out what you don’t know.
- Get dirty.
- The mantra of every entrepreneur, innovator, and doer: “I don’t know, but I’m willing to find out.”
- Don’t wait. Do it now.
- Disrupt yourself.
- Disrupt your company.
- Always.
- Pressure is good for you.
- Talk without action is shit.
It’s important to make sure you take action and Do Something about your life, even in the face of fear, even when it’s overwhelming and terrifying. Disrupt. Do the hard stuff. As Brene Brown writes in her recent book, “Daring Greatly,” on vulnerability, the question isn’t “What would you do if you knew you could not fail,” but,
“What’s worth doing even if I fail?”
Gratitude / Today’s Giveway:
Today’s giveaway is a hardcopy of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s newest book, The Impact Equation. If you haven’t heard of it yet–the book is about how to build a platform and do more than just make noise:
“Anyone can write a blog post, but not everyone can get it liked thirty-five thousand times, and not everyone can get seventy-five thousand subscribers. But the reason we’ve done these things isn’t because we’re special. It’s because we tried and failed, the same way you learn to ride a bike. We tried again and again, and now we have an idea how to get from point A to point B faster because of it. In The Impact Equation, Brogan and Smith show that to make people truly care about what you have to say, you need more than just a good idea, trust among your audience, or a certain number of followers. You need a potent mix of all of the above and more.”
To win the book, leave a comment before Friday, November 9th at 1 PM Pacific answering one of the following questions. (I’ll pick a winner by random number generator this weekend). Good luck!
- How will your life have impact?
- Are you making things happen?
- What are you waiting for that you could take action?
- What’s the biggest thing that’s terrifying you right now?
- What did you do this week that scares you?