I think I am suffering from new baby brain now so I am short cutting this train of thought

The same thing happens with me. Now it is not as dramatic as it is for little me but I recognize that change is coming. I get inside my own head which can be very disruptive to my family. ;-)

While I might be able to push it off and hold it back, eventually the Change Gone Come

So what does that mean? As I mention frequently in The Minute you have to plan/prepare for change. It is inevitable. You cannot hold it back for very long. There really is no stopping it. Like with our new baby it is going to arrive, causing a big splash changing the landscape.

The question is, will you be ready when the change comes?

This is an excerpt from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield that illustrates what I have been saying to friends and family alike. You have to get started. It will help.

I washed up in New York a couple of decades ago, making twenty bucks a night driving a cab and running away fulltime from doing my work. One night, alone in my $110-amonth sublet, I hit bottom in terms of having diverted myself into so many phony channels so many times that I couldn’t rationalize it for one more evening.

I dragged out my ancient Smith-Corona, dreading the experience as pointless, fruitless, meaningless, not to say the most painful exercise I could think of. For two hours I made myself sit there, torturing out some trash that I chucked immediately into the shitcan.

That was enough. I put the machine away. I went back to the kitchen. In the sink sat ten days of dishes. For some reason I had enough excess energy that I decided to wash them. The warm water felt pretty good. The soap and sponge were doing their thing. A pile of clean plates began rising in the drying rack. To my amazement I realized I was whistling.

It hit me that I had turned a corner.

I was okay.

I would be okay from here on.

Do you understand? I hadn’t written anything good. It might be years before I would, if I ever did at all. That didn’t matter.

What counted was that I had, after years of running from it, actually sat down and done my work.

Fight through the frustrations, disappointments, and obstacles. Get started on that goal. It might seem too big and too hard, do it anyway!

Go GO GO!!!

Image Credit: Black Coffy

A lot of the media we consume is noise. To get something to bubble up you only have a few levers you can pull. One of those levers is to raise the volume. This is down by ratcheting up the rehtoric. Make it as incindeiary as possible. This drive the clicks and then the comment section takes care of the rest. Many folks don't even read the articles/posts and will go straight to the comments. This is where the money is made whether it is actual cash money or just the personal aggrandizement that comes from viral posts.

My approach to social media is no different than others. I share information that is important to me. Things that I post matter to me. This blog is where I share my thoughts, recollections and ideas. Luckily for me I do not get much traffic. While I am pretty open on the socials. I rarely get into comment threads unless either the topic matters or the person who posted matters.

The top of the article has this,

It has to do with refusing to be fully adult and neglecting to take on, each day, the maturity, grace and self-discipline that are expected of adults and part of their job. That job is to pattern adulthood for those coming up, who are looking, always, for How To Do It—how to be a fully formed man, a fully grown woman.

I have been posting about looking inward. I think that this is a skill that is being lost. Maybe we never had it. I posted not too long ago that Self Awareness is my Superpower and I mean it. I know my own mind. I know what the triggers are that get at me.

This has come at a great personal cost to me. To understand myself is to take stock of who and what I allow around me. It has made me reevaluate how I engage with people. It has made me quieter and louder at the same time. Not contributing to the noise means that I can put more energy into the things that matter.

I think I will stop there and ask you to do the hard work of introspection. Look inward and consider why you do what you do. This will help you to do the amazing work that you want to do.

Go GO GO!

"Well at least you are paying your bills." - Well Meaning Coworker

Contracting is a weird business. Especially in my current industry. Everyone lives and dies based on funding. This is the land of hurry up and wait, where you can be told that your funding is gone and you need to stop work over night or you can sit for weeks waiting. These situations are also not mutually exclusive.

At the end of 2017 I learned that funding for my position was being eliminated. In fact it was actually never there so I would have a few weeks for my company to find me a new contract. No problem. I do a few interviews, get a few offers and I am back in the game with no break. So that was a fast action, now for a slow one.

I started on my new project but there are several things that need to happen before I can start working. Some things are within my control and others are not. I put in requests for things outside of my control and work on the stuff I CAN do. I finished my tasks in the first few days and so now I am playing the waiting game.

1. Week passes
2. Weeks pass
3. Weeks pass

Full disclosure I had to resubmit one request, which everyone on my team thinks is unusual, that is still pending as we roll into me being on this project for 1 month. For those keeping score that means that I have been unable to do meaningful work for 4 weeks.

Now I am pretty patient guy. I am not prone to losing my temper, even though I have one, however I am reaching my limit. I had to step outside yesterday when one of my co-workers said the aforementioned quote. While I do not disagree with him it was not what I needed to hear at that moment.

It is important to be grateful and to look for the positive in difficult situations, sometimes however, it is best to just say nothing. Sometimes a person might just need to vent. Sometimes venting is the best use of the persons time as it allows them to get their frustrations out so they can move forward.

However, since he wanted me to be grateful and I never want to leave a post on a negative point here are some things I am grateful for:

1. Black Panther is ALMOST HERE
2. The Baby is trying to crawl
3. We have had very little snow so far this winter (#endWintersTyranny)

Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining - it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems. - Zig Ziglar

Cover Image Credit: http://gretahillwellness.com

I was listening to an episode of the Insanity Check Podcast from the MTR Network. On the episode the host Kriss was joined by Rodimus Prime from The Black Guy Who Tips. They were discussing their time podcasting. Both of these guys started in podcasting back in the dark ages. They had to learn on the fly and have grown their platforms over time.

One of the reasons that I considered getting into podcasting is because of Rod and his wife @SayDatAgain. Out side of being consistent and finding your voice my take away from their discussion was finding your fanbase. There is a notion that you have to have massive followings to be "successful" in podcasting. I don't think that Kriss and Rod agreed with this assessment. They said it was more important to have true fans.

A true fan is someone who is sold out on your content. You do not need tons of these fans. In his article 1000 True Fans, Kevin Kelly goes in depth on why you need to focus on building a true fan base. The below quote is the conclusion from the article. You need to go read this if you are looking to grow your influcence as a creator.

1,000 true fans is an alternative path to success other than stardom. Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum bestseller hits, blockbusters, and celebrity status, you can aim for direct connection with a thousand true fans. On your way, no matter how many fans you actually succeed in gaining, you’ll be surrounded not by faddish infatuation, but by genuine and true appreciation. It’s a much saner destiny to hope for. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there. Kevin Kelly - 1000 True Fans

Just some thoughts for your morning.

Get out there and do something amazing!

Header Image Credit: 4Ever

Today there is this post and the release of our latest podcast episode over at Life in the Clouds.

Plans for 2018

Back in the early days in my ministry I implemented focus weeks. This was a 7 day period where I would fast, pray and focus. One year I had one focus week every month. For this year I am bringing the practice back. Focus weeks will be the 3rd week of ever month. So to set the stage here my plans for 2018.

Have Wild Thoughts

“And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken.” - 2 Samuel‬ ‭7:25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In chapter 7 God establishes covenant with David after. He returned to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant. As he settled into his kingly life in the palace he was overcome with a wild thought. Why do I love in this palace of cedar while the Lord lived in a tent? From this thought and David’s desire to build a house for God, a covenant is formed that leads to Israel establishing a home and a time of peace. From David’s thought came peace and prosperity for the people.

What wild thoughts are you having? Are they only for you and those closest to you? Do you consider anything larger than yourself? What thing would you like to see accomplished that is larger than your lifetime?

I must admit that my wild thoughts at the beginning of most years are for myself. I do not think this is a bad thing. Similarly to attaching my oxygen mask first before helping anyone else I consider my own needs up front. The goal is to address these things early so that the real work of helping/serving others can take begin. Staying in my own head/stuff too long is bad. Considering others leads to a lastin joy. People are whom God cares about most.

One wild thought - Do a 120 mile bike ride this year.

This or that, one or the other, it doesn't matter.

It's actually possible that it just doesn't matter. A choice, but not a decision.

We have to make choices like this every single day. What color, among three colors which are just fine. Which route, between two routes within a rounding error in time taken. Which flight, which table, which person...

Choices don't have to be decisions.

- Seth Godin "Choosing without Deciding"

How may choices do you make on a daily basis? The decision-making process is draining. You need to find a way to short-circuit it. In the below TED talk Barry Schwartz the author of The Paradox of Choice shares some thoughts why too many decisions is draining and what we can do about it.

My wife teases me about my 60 Second Decision concept but it flows from the same thing that Schwartz brings up. If there are too many choices we won't make a decision or we'll delay it. Godin crystallizes by saying that many of the choices we have to make are so insignificant that we should devote so much energy to them.

This is where the 60 second decision comes into play. If you have a choice to make, and the consequences are small to non-exisitent pick one and move on.

I have seen so many people lock in the analysis loop. I used to get stuck trying to make the right choice.

What-about-ism is real and it can kill success.

The year is winding down and now is the time to leave behind bad habits. Analysis paralysis is one to leave in 2017.

GO GO GO

Cover Image Credit: All Systems Grow

Bored at work today so you get to enjoy interesting things I find online. To start, we had an interesting conversation at the table about my favorite barbershop genius, LeVar Ball of the Big Baller Brand.

I call him a barbershop genius because every black barber shop I have ever been in has one. The guy who knows everything and is better than everybody.

It has been estimated that he has received 13.2 million dollars in free advertising as a result of his very public tiff. 13.2 million dollars because he knows the value of attention. Especially if you can get that attention on you. I wonder what that will mean for his brand?

As a sidenote, his crazy expensive shoes began to ship today.

For my business owner friends, a couple of questions.

1. How are you gaining attention to your brands?

2. What are you doing to get that attention? How do you keep it?

References
Valerie Edwards For Dailymail.com (23 Nov. 2017.). LaVar Ball's feud with Trump earns him $13 million in free publicity. Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/~/article-5112683/index.html

Gleeson, Scott (22 Nov. 2017.). LaVar Ball can thank President Trump for boosting Big Baller Brand in time for holidays. USA TODAY. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/lakers/2017/11/22/lavar-ball-president-trump-big-baller-brand-black-friday-holiday-shopping/890844001/