Go - Build Your Life

It seems this is a theme.

I was struggling to think about my post this past week (thus my lateness...sorry guys!) and kept coming back to this one thing - doing.

Lately I've been reading/watching a lot of motivational/self-dev articles and videos that keep coming back to something I mentioned in an earlier blog post. Nobody cares about "who you are" so much as "what you've done."

The choices we make on a daily basis are indicators of the kind of person we are. I can say I'm a creative person until I'm blue in the face but it doesn't mean a thing unless I can provide examples for the world to see.

So, yes. I am a creative person...and everyone knows this because I studied art for 2 years (even got a scholarship) and have painted who knows how many paintings and done how many drawings. I've written countless poems and completed 5 novels (the fifth one is hopefully going to be published this week). I even designed the cover art for those books. I also co-wrote lyrics and music for 2 musical albums.  These are things I've done. They are absolute proof of my creativity.

When I introduce myself, I don't say "I'm creative," I say "I write" or "I paint" or whatever it is I'm focusing on because it's relevant to the conversation. And these things that I do on a regular basis have directed me to a particular path. It's not pushing me into a box where I'm skating through life. I'm actually actively participating in creating my life.

The more I read, the more I see, the more I'm convinced this is what we as people are meant to do. This doesn't mean we have to go out and be some kind of celebrity or wunderkind. What it does mean is we have to go out and do things. We need hobbies. We need goals. We need to be shooting for something, even if it's "small" by society's standards. It could be learning how to knit or speak a foreign language, or how to dance the rumba. Or we could have different plans - getting a promotion at work, getting a different job, starting a company of our own etc. There are plenty of things we can do. We just have to choose something.

Who do we want to be? Because we become what we do. Our actions show the kind of people we are and they build us up in very specific ways, forcing personal growth...building our lives.

Now we just have to decide.

How have you built your life? What are the things you've done to become who you are today? Leave a comment below!

Build Interesting Conversation: Do Something - Anything!

You have a high school reunion coming up.

No, it's a big party and you want to impress the boss!

...Or you're going some place where you know you'll run into your ex.

What do you talk about? What have you done with your life? That's the question. There are little things you can do in your daily life to be awesome, but you need to do some big things too. So here's the meat and potatoes post.

Let me give you a short list of some of the things I've done:

1. Recorded 2 music albums (in 4 years)
2. Lived in 4 different countries (including the US)
3. Written and published 3 books (in 2 years)
4. Worked my way to management (in less than 1 year)
5. Been married twice (once in the Himalayas, and once in Santa Barbara - same guy!)

That's the short list, but it's by no means exhaustive. Each one of those points has a whole slew of associated stories. Most people won't do all those things, and frankly, it's kind of ridiculous. No, actually it's absolutely insane. If you did half those things you'd have more than enough stories to impress anyone you wanted to. If you did any one of those things, it would be enough to impress people.

And that's my point.

You need to go out and live in order to be impressive. You have to try things in order to be awesome. Figure out something you love, and jump into it with both feet. Being an expert in something is a way to impressing people. If you decided to learn about drinking songs from seventeenth century England and that was your thing, let me tell you, that would be a party. I would want to know all about it and I guarantee drinking with you would be a good time.

That's the long game. The short game is to take small risks in your free time. For example, go to a festival. Find out the interesting places in your town or area and visit them. Sit in on an open mic night at a pub or coffeehouse (there are always good stories even if you're not performing!). Take a class! The first time you do something like this it will be uncomfortable. Like most things, the more you go on these mini adventures, the easier it will become. Plus, every time you do, you'll build up your interesting quotient.

The more things you do, the easier it will be to talk to your boss, your ex, or that annoying over achiever from high school. With a body of adventures and knowledge, it's a lot easier to be impressively awesome.