So on Saturday evening I got an email from Seth Godin. This is odd because he sends his daily email blog out in the mornings. He seldom sends out two in one day so when he does, I figure it has to be important. It is immediately bestowed with top priority status in my inbox. Of course this is after I delete the Viagra and penis enlargement spam that have conned their way into my inbox.
[Note to spammers: If you are going to inconvenience me with unwanted spam at least spell penis correctly. A headline that reads, "You want large pensi?" sounds more like a super-sized item you would get at a Japanese McDonald's. PS..If that is true I will take 2 to go please.]
This particular email was a list of book recommendations. If you would like to check it out click here.
There were 11 books listed. Scanning the titles, it was clear some would be interesting reads.
The first one I saw was titled, “Einstein’s God.” I was angered with this title initially. It appeared on the surface that this was another example of the privileged getting special treatment. You know the whole, “Hey everyone look at me. I created the Theory of Relativity and now I got my own personal God to.” Fortunately, this is not what the book is about. Rather it revolves around conversations involving science and humanity.
There was another called “The Blue Sweater“. This seemed a bit racist to me. Why do we need to know the color of the sweater. Why couldn’t it just be called, “The Sweater?” Would we think any less of it if it were red or yellow? (PS…no one should ever own a yellow sweater unless you want to look like the sun with a head. Please see this as proof of what I mean.)
So as I stewed about the racial tension that other sweaters would surely feel, I noticed that the subtitle read “Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.” Clearly the title was a clever ruse to a brilliant idea.
And then I saw IT. The Anti-Resume Revolution. I had read this book. In fact, I have met the author, Angela Lussier, in person, had one phone conversation, exchanged numerous emails over the course of the past 2 months and wrote a guest post on her blog called, The Courage to Quit.
What was especially intriguing about her book being on this list was the fact that it is the only one that was self-published. So it says bundles that Godin put it on his list to begin with.
If you follow his blog at all, you will know he isn’t the type to promote a book (a person or an idea for that matter) he doesn’t stand behind. He has one of the most popular blogs in the world and he didn’t get to that exalted status by not being honest with his readers. He prides himself on his integrity as much as his insight.
As I thought all this through, I must admit I was pretty damn happy for Angela. Godin’s endorsement of her book carries the same weight as Oprah’s does with her loyal followers.
But aside from the feelgoodness (did I just make up a word?) of this story, there is a valuable lesson to be had from this as well.
Angela could never have landed on Seth’s list if she didn’t have a book to begin with. She could have found a million reasons why she couldn’t write one. Lord knows everyone else has. But she slaved for months on end to be able to produce a tangible product that she could share with people. And now all that hard work is beginning to reap some rewards…well deserved at that.
See too many of us want to get into the game with zero down. We want to change our lives. We want more out of it. We want to live it on our own terms, but we don’t want to do the labour to create something that will allow us to have that.
But success doesn’t work that way. No one gets in for free. No one gets in for zero down. If you want to create something amazing with your life then you are going to need to anti-up and have something you can throw into the pot first.
- If you want to be a screenwriter then write a screenplay so it can be submitted
- If you want to be a comedian then start writing jokes and hit the amateur nights
- If you want to be an author write a book or launch a blog to show people what you can do
- If you want to leave your current job then start by creating small projects on the side that will allow you to fail quietly while trying to figure out what you want to do
- If you want to be a filmmaker then go make a short film that people can see
- If you want to be a motivational speaker then film yourself doing a talk (you don’t even need to have anyone present to do this) so others can see your dynamic personality at work
You need to look no further than 2009 to see how effective showing up with zero down is. What did you produce last year? For most of us we can honestly say nothing. Oh we had lots of ideas of things we wanted to have happen, but in the end we had nothing tangible that we could show others.
So guess what. Quit trying to get in for free. Get off your arse and get to work creating something tangible that will showcase your abilities. In the end, the price of admission is so worth it.
To ideas worth quitting,
Dean
PS…Do you know some who is sitting on their arse trying to get in for free? If so, DON “T send them this post. It will only annoy them. But if you have someone who will love the built in feelgoodness I have added, then I say, forward away.
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