Life Lesson

Where there’s an absence of vulnerability, there is no courage.

If there’s no risk, there is no courage.

If there’s no emotional investment (read: emotional labor), there is no courage.

Yet, we all believe that we need to have courage in this life. We want to be courageous. We admire it and value it. We urge others to have it and they urge us.

And so we must make the trade-off that comes with being courageous, don’t we?

Stay Positive & A Little Discomfort, But A Big Reward

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If you feel fear, then you’re on to something.

If you feel like …

you’re asking too many questions

you’re caring too much

you’re getting too many involved

you’re leading without permission

you’ve taken too much responsibility

you’ve bitten off more than you can chew

then you’re on to something.

Stay Positive & Keep Going

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Instead of coming up with excuses to stop the work, I like to come up with ones that keep the emotional labor going. Excuses like:

I don’t have time to feel stressed.

People are counting on me to deliver.

I’d be mad if someone screwed me over by not showing up.

It’s the right things to do.

They’ll see the big picture in the end, I just need to get there.

They’re going to judge me if I stop.

Losing isn’t even an option.

Stay Positive & It’s All A Mind (And Heart) Game

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When you’re faced with an insane challenge, pause and consider talking to someone who might be able to help – or at least make you feel like you’re not at it alone.

When you’re stuck in a rut or in the tiny – nearly unmeaningful – details of a project, pause and consider talking to someone that can help pull you out.

When you wonder how the heck your going to accomplish your goal or ship that project, remember all the people waiting for you to do it.

Whether you’re lost or found, winning or losing, up or down, worried or determined, find a way to tie it back to the people.

The people are everything.

Stay Positive & If You Can’t Find That Person, Be It For Someone

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The story you thought of telling, but decided against is of no benefit to those for whom it may have resonated with.

We have a lot of stories, but when we filter them, we prevent people from connecting with us, learning from them, escaping in them and appreciating them.

Just because you don’t like the story, doesn’t mean someone won’t get something out of it.

So go ahead and share. Share all the stories. The highs. The lows. The stories that feel insignificant and the ones that make you proud.

Could you imagine if half of the stories we’ve heard and read and been part of throughout the years never happened because someone else thought it wasn’t good enough to share?

Stay Positive & No Shame, Share Away

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What you see is people enjoying themselves, taking vacations, buying shiny objects and new toys. You see them having babies, building homes and winning free tickets to baseball games from work.

You’re working your ass off and seeing people living their lives to the fullest.

They see you doing the same, though, when you stop in for a coffee or when you show up with buddies on a holiday weekend and they serve you a few beers, apps, a main meal and dessert. They see you enjoying the hell out of your life planning your next trip and getting to the front of a crowd at a concert. They’re working and they see you …not.

Both parties often forget about the work each put in to take vacation from work or the time spent swinging a hammer to build that bench swing. Yet, we don’t argue that work wasn’t done. We know it was.

Perhaps instead of jealousy, we might be able to appreciate the effort we know others put in to reward themselves. If anything, because we know that we would feel a lot happier when someone says “I’m proud of the work you’ve done. You deserve this!” than when they say “You lucky duck.”

Stay Positive & Golden Rule, I Suppose

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We can’t think differently and all the sudden our worldview changes, especially when we’ve been thinking about a certain way for as long as we can remember.

Action is what it takes to change your worldview.

If you want to believe that you get out what you put in, then you need to act in a way that’s selfless and give a little of yourself each day.

If you want to believe that most people are good, then you need to treat them as if they are.

Doing.

That’s all it takes to change your worldview, your outcome, your way of living.

Stay Positive & Fake It If You Need To Get Started

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