I WAS HERE. THIS IS WHAT I MADE My friend Pamela Slim has a different way of looking at careers. It’s not about a career path or any particular job, but what she calls a “body of work.” This is something that you can spend a lifetime working on. You can add to it every single day. It’s your birthright to leave the world with a body of work and say “I was here. This is what I made” People will often write “so and so was here.” But they don’t leave us much to remember them by. Our opportunity to leave the world with something to remember us by is greater than at anytime in history. Even if the only people who remember us by what we left behind are a few good friends, our family members or our kids, it’s worth taking our shot. Tucker Max didn’t start out by selling 3 million copies of his book. He wrote funny essays and emailed them to his friends. Every publisher he contacted turned him down, and some even said he should stop writing. He took his shot. Maria Popova started Brain Pickings as a compilation of few interesting links that she sent to some friends. Today millions of people read her work. She took her shot. My friend Janelle Hanchett started writing because she had the “sneaking suspicion that everybody was full of shi#$3” when it came to parenting advice. It turns out that when you’re willing to risk saying what everybody else is thinking, people will start to read your work. First a few hundred, then a few thousand, then tens of thousands. Janelle took her shot. Maybe you won’t be Tucker, Maria or Janelle. In fact chances are high that you won’t. But you should still take your shot and leave us something to remember you by. Don’t waste this opportunity. If I get hit by a car tomorrow, at least you’ll have some souvenirs from my time here on the planet. This is the one I hope youll remember most. - A snippet from my next book, The Compass theinstigatorexperience
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:18:28 +0000
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