When creativity flows one of the worst things we can do is suppress it.
We can’t be certain that the idea or flow of consciousness will ever come again.
We must embrace it head-on.
Write it down.
Start building.
Give yourself a start.
It won’t be complete today but we’ve seeded an idea that was stuck inside and wanted to be released.
It’s now out of our heads.
It’s become real.
It’s time to act on it.
The difference between kids and adults is that kids almost exclusively do things that are either fun, challenging, or both. They don’t waste time on the things that they don’t enjoy. They don’t have the patience for it.
Adults are quite the opposite. Most days we spend doing things we don’t enjoy. We “suck it up” and put in a hard day’s work. We curse our jobs and want to find things that bring us more fun and excitement.
There’s a lesson in there.
Kids don’t negotiate with themselves. Adults almost always do.
Want to enjoy life more? Want to have more fun? Want to discover happiness at a higher rate?
Remove things that aren’t serving you.
Do what you say you’re going to do.
Hold yourself accountable.
When you stop negotiating with yourself a clearer direction follows.
Nothing happens until we start.
No experience.
No learning.
No failure.
No nothing.
If we keep it up in our heads or push it aside for one more day it only eats at us like a dead carcass rotting in the road.
Slowly and painfully until we hate ourselves for it.
Regret creeps in and it adds stress to our lives.
We have to do ourselves a favor and start.
It doesn’t have to be pretty or perfect.
It just has to be what we want to do.
As a parent, I’m constantly amazed. Yes, this is a proud dad post but it’s a lesson we all can take.
Cliffs Notes: I noticed my son loving musicals and encouraged him to watch/listen more. He recently started Musical Theatre classes and he knows every word to the show Hamilton so he wanted a hat and outfit to look like Lin-Manual Miranda’s character in the broadway show.
At school, they had a “play day” to bring in a toy to play with in the class. He wanted to bring his hat and he wrote this note as a reminder.
So what, right?
Read the last line of his note.
Why not?
I didn’t know a 10-year-old could have that much perspective.
Why not?
What’s the worst that would happen?
Why can’t we do the things that make us happy and show our best selves to the world?
I smiled reading that note. Who am I kidding, I shed a tear, as well.
What can we all take from this?
Why not…
Start that hobby.
Start that business.
Ask that person out.
Show up as you are.
Forge your own path.
Believe you are good enough.
It’s a powerful question we should be asking ourselves daily.
The old saying “be the change you want to see in the world” starts with one question.
Why not?
I’ve been bleeding the Just Get Started mission for several years.
The Podcast.
The Blogging.
The Children’s Books.
The Sales Consulting.
The Coaching calls and guidance.
The venturing out into the dark wilderness.
Almost weekly (or daily) I kick myself thinking I’m not good enough.
I shouldn’t be doing any of this.
Nobody is going to listen.
Nobody is going to care.
I’m not worthy.
And then I look in the mirror and ask myself the question I’ve asked hundreds of times.
“Why can’t it be you?”
Why can’t you be the one to help others who are struggling?
Why can’t you be the one to spread kindness to the world?
Why can’t you be the one to live a purposeful life?
Why can’t you be anything you desire to be?
The struggle is fucking real.
The fear.
The self-doubt.
The comparison bias.
The self-limiting beliefs.
The imposter syndrome.
We all have it. We all go through it. Nobody is immune to the demons lurking in our minds.
But, we press on, every day toward our “North Star” because it is bigger than any of us.
To shine goodness in the world and bring forth a new age of vulnerability and transparency that can help us bond and adapt together.
Whatever demons you’re trying to fend off just know you’re not alone.
We see you.
We hear you.
We are going through it, too.
Every time we get down on ourselves we must be willing to stand tall, face the mirror, and ask ourselves, “Why can’t it be you?”
And then look that person straight into the fucking eyes and answer with an emphatic, “It can be and it will be.”
I used to be the “I’ll get started on Monday” type.
I became the “just get started now” type.
That single mindset shift changed my life.
I promise it’ll change yours, too.
Once we try it we can’t untry it
Once we see it we can’t unsee it
Once we meet them we can’t unmeet them
Instead of regretting not taking the chance, we can appreciate our attempt.
We can never predict the outcome.
We can only connect the dots looking back and see if it worked out.
So, I urge you to try.
In the end, it might be painful but the lessons learned become incalculable.
We have to stop saying we don’t have the time.
We have time.
We don’t have it as a priority.
If we did, we’d accomplish it. It’d be the first thing we check off the list.
Often, the thing that is most important to us might also scare the hell out of us. So, we find reasons not to do it. We push it aside. We say we’ll get it done tomorrow.
Most of the other stuff on our list isn’t of high priority. It can wait.
We have to stop putting our dreams on hold for another day. For the time when we feel ready. We’ll never be fully ready. We’ll always have doubts. We’ll always question the path forward.
We have to start anyways.
Put all of the other shit aside for a moment.
Accept what is truly important and spend time on that, every day, even if it is just for a few moments. Advancing it forward, at a slow speed, adds up over a long time horizon.
But we never move off the starting line if we don’t actually start.
EPISODE 317: Author of “Move to the Edge, Declare It Center”
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Episode 317 features Everett Harper, the CEO, and co-founder of Truss, a human-centered software development company, named as an Inc 5000 fastest-growing private company for 2020 and 2021. He is the author of the new book, “Move to the Edge, Declare It Center”.
Find the book here – https://www.amazon.com/Move-Declare-Center-Everett-Harper/dp/1119849888
Find Everett Online:
Website: https://www.everettharper.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/everettharper/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everettharper/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/everettharper
About Everett:
Everett Harper is the CEO and co-founder of Truss, a human-centered software development company, named as an Inc 5000 fastest-growing private company for 2020 and 2021. He is a rare combination of a Black entrepreneur, Silicon Valley pedigree, National Champion, and a proven record for solving complex problems with social impact.
He had the foresight to build a company that’s been remote-first since 2011, and salary-transparent since 2017, anticipating the importance of hybrid work and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by a decade. Before Truss, Everett was at Linden Lab, maker of Second Life, a pioneering virtual world, and Bain and Company management consultants.
Though both his parents had pioneering careers as software programmers for IBM, Everett is the first in his family to attend college, as an A.B. Duke Scholar at Duke University. While majoring in biomedical and electrical engineering at Duke, he also won an NCAA National Championship in soccer. He was inducted into the North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame in 2019. Everett graduated with an MBA and an M.Ed in Learning, Design, and Technology from Stanford University.
In his career, he’s leveraged his education and experience to help millions of others, from helping fix healthcare.gov at Truss, fighting poverty worldwide as a Board Member of CARE, and helping low- and moderate-income homebuyers while at Self-Help, a community development finance institution.
Everett’s distinctive voice and unique history make him a sought-after speaker on leadership, remote work, DEI, and social entrepreneurship. He has been featured at conferences such as Dent, Tugboat, TechStars, and Velocity, podcasts like the Commonwealth Club and AfroTech, and writing for Forbes, Thrive Global, and TechCrunch. Move to the Edge, Declare it Center is his first book, to be published by Wiley in March 2022.
Everett grew up a small-town kid in New York’s Hudson Valley. He currently lives in Oakland, CA, making limoncello when life hands him lemons.
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If you enjoyed this interview you may also like my Just Get Started Podcast Interview with Seth Godin, Author, Founder and Speaker
I was nervous and excited to hit “launch” on Episode 1 of the Just Get Started Podcast 5 years ago in 2017.
Today, I cringe a bit listening back to that first episode.
So many things I’ve learned in those 5 years.
So many accomplishments.
So many mistakes.
So much growth.
If we don’t cringe at our past work it probably means we haven’t progressed that far ahead.
But after we cringe, be grateful we took the chance on ourselves when we might not have been fully convinced this was the right choice.
There we so many unknowns but we started anyways.
We should be proud that we have the opportunity to cringe.
It means we’ve become a better version of our past selves.
We’ve scaled another summit we never knew was ahead.
Bravo!
Now, keep going!
Age is just a number. It’s meaningless.
If we believe that then we can push ourselves to the limits every day.
We can expand our minds.
We can become who we’ve always wanted to be.
It takes hard work, determination, grit, and focus.
It’s not a number on the calendar that is stopping us.
It’s ourselves.
But we can push through, we can achieve, and we can thrive.
We just have to get started.
And show up each day.
Age doesn’t determine that.
We do.
As we are reading this, time is evaporating. Not nearly at the speed it appears it has been going as the present time always feels slower.
When we peek into the past it feels like time has moved at hyperspeed.
But, then again, the moment we are in now will become that blurred memory soon enough.
We can’t take for granted what we have right in front of us. All of the opportunities are at our fingertips.
Some are easy, low-hanging fruit while others possess a much larger barrier to scale.
Decisions take time but so do indecisions.
Just start leaning in and enjoy the unknown adventure ahead.
Remember, time flies.
If we haven’t defined what “happiness” means to us then how can we be sure we are making the right choices to lead us to a happier life?
Happiness is the result of consistent decisions that are aligned with our virtues, values, and vision for our life.
Seeking happiness is irrelevant if we don’t have a clearer direction on which way to go.
If we are looking for a place to start that might not be a bad first step.
I enjoyed writing for many years and would normally write in journals or random blog articles from time to time. The content structure and topics changed over time but similar messaging was at its core.
Positive Mindset. Consistency. Action. Progress.
A little over a year ago, leading into April 2021, I made a decision. I was a few years into my Just Get Started Podcast and loved doing the show and wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. But those are longer-form interviews. I wanted another medium to share my thoughts, my voice, and my perspective. Blogging, and really “micro-blogs”, were something I enjoyed. Something about dispelling a message into as few words as possible and making it relatable and enjoyable (and a little vulnerable) was intriguing to me.
So I made a commitment.
Launch a blog article every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. I knew it was going to add some more time to my plate but it was important for me with where I wanted to go and the message I wanted to share with the world.
The message above all else is to Just Get Started.
I’m proud to say that after 12 months and over 140 blog articles later we are back in the month of April, a full year after beginning this project. I am more excited than ever to keep writing and sharing these stories and observations and I hope they have been valuable to you.
We don’t know what will happen or how it might impact us but if we believe in something or find a purpose in pursuing a meaningful project then we have to take the steps to get started and keep moving forward. Consistent action over and over again works.
Too many times I’ve sat on the sidelines and wondered and wished and never just did.
It may not work out as we want it to or we might pivot to something else but we don’t know that at first. All we know is that we want to do it.
So go do it. The only thing holding us back is ourselves.
I’ve been in the position where I sat on the sidelines because I was scared to get in the game. I didn’t believe I could do it. We all feel that from time to time. It’s when we realize that it doesn’t actually matter if we believe we can do it or not and what matters is that we try and we build on it from there. We take a leap of faith. We become brave.
Confidence breeds confidence. You only get that from being in the game and being a part of the action.
So, go do it. Whatever it is that you want to do. Start small if you want. But just start.
Whether you succeed or fail never matters, it’s that you can look back at some distant point from the future and be proud of yourself that when your number was called you suited up and checked into the game.
You weren’t going to miss this opportunity.
James Dyson took over 5000 tries to “perfect” his Dyson vacuums before he saw traction. We can all be grateful he put that level of determination into his work or we’d still be emptying vacuum bags to this day.
We may be discouraged because of failures of the past but we also have to have a perspective that the future is unwritten. We don’t know what will happen. We have to be willing to give the door one more knock and see if it opens.
Give your project an attempt. Go ask them out. Sign-up for that race.
The hard part isn’t what happens on the other side of the door, it’s having the courage to turn the handle and live with the result that it may not open at all.
What we find out through failing is that we rarely remember the failure. We are proud that we tried.
Sadly, what we remember most often is not making the attempt at all.
That should be a much greater fear than failing; having to live with the feeling of not having enough courage to try in the first place.
It’s interesting to find comparisons in creative works that are so seemingly different from one another.
What could these possibly have in common?
What we know is that each creator worked consistently over an extended period of time to create it. They made a choice to start and didn’t quit until it was finished.
Some of the greatest “potential” work of our time was probably never finished. Maybe it was barely even started.
Ideas are important, passion is needed, and a positive mindset is useful.
But, we have to believe that our project is worthy of starting.
And then, we have to keep pushing forward, pass the resistance, through the great unknown, and find a way to finish.
If we believe in something, we should express it, share it, and put it out into the universe.
Nothing may come of it or it might turn out to be the most glorious breakthrough ever.
We won’t know until we try.
Sometimes just knowing one way or another might be good enough motivation to get us started.
Throughout life you’ll be knocked down, told you’re not good enough, picked on, called names, passed over, and laughed at. Nobody is immune to these sorts of things.
But life is what you make of it and you have the ability to be strong, be positive, and have the courage to forge your own path despite what others may say.
As long as you know you are okay with being different, pointing the compass in a different direction will be much easier to do.
The self-discovery that you can choose your own adventure opens up a whole new path in the woods and will help you navigate a clearer path toward future happiness.
Lean into it. Turn your walk into a slow jog and start picking up your pace.
I wasn’t able to attend our 20-year high school reunion this past weekend but as I sat and reflected on the last 20 years I was inclined to write some things down. Things I wish I wrote a long time ago.
Here are a few observations, and hopefully, we can use these ourselves, pass them down to our kids, or maybe the class of 2021/22 can gain insight into areas that were unknown to us at the time.
Reflecting back, 20 years appeared as it evaporated like that. Where did the time go, we are asking ourselves? It seemed like just yesterday we were walking through the halls, going to football games, and messing around, thinking we had it all in front of us. A lifetime ahead of us that we could do whatever we wanted with.
And in a flash, 20 years have passed.
There’s been tragedy and triumph, highs and lows, and many more lucky breaks than we can count.
But we’re here. Wherever we are. We are here.
Whatever has happened is in the past. Those are decisions we’ve made, good or bad. Those are opportunities we’ve pursued or missed. Those are tragedies averted or endured.
But we are still here.
So now we have a choice. We have a choice, today, to decide if we are happy or not. We have a choice to make changes in our lives to pursue happiness each and every day.
We have to believe we have a choice.
That’s the first step. There’s no more complaining. There are no more pointing fingers. There are no more excuses. Now is the time to act.
What if we knew that high school, although 20 years ago, was just the end of the first quarter. Well, then that means we are just at halftime.
It means we can change. If the playbook didn’t work, then throw it out. Start fresh and create something new and different than you ever thought possible. You can create the life you’ve always wanted, even if the first half didn’t go as planned.
Get in the locker room. Regroup. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, “Why can’t it be you?” Why can’t you become happier than you ever imagined?
The only way this time is different is if you put in the work. The grind. Make the tough choices. The knowledge that you’ve gained over the years is that it’s not going to be easier. In fact, it might be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done, to commit to the change.
But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it.
You’re worth it.
So let’s start the 2nd half off strong. When you get tired, feel defeated, or start to panic, go back and read #1 above. Progress is only created through action. Sometimes taking action is hard because it is against the grain of what others around you are doing.
But this isn’t about them.
It’s about you.
It’s about what makes you happy.
Are you ready to take the field and fight for every inch of your happiness?
The clock is starting on the 2nd half and the ball is now in your hands.
What’s the first play you are calling?
We either want to be in the driver’s seat or kick back and relax as a passenger.
We can make it that binary.
Are we taking action or stalling?
Are we carving out our path forward or following what others tell us to do?
Are we in control of our emotions or react to every situation?
Do we tell ourselves when it’s time to stop or are we influenced by the judgment of others?
If we happen to be in the passenger seat at this moment then there’s no better time to try and take the wheel. We may not be able to control the outcome of what happens but we can control our effort and action toward completing the objective we believe in.
We get to become the main character in our own story if we just take the wheel and have the courage to lead.
It won’t be easy, it never is, but it’ll be worth it once we get a little further ahead.
We have to have the courage to try.
We never know if it’ll be the right path until we connect the dots looking backward. So we have to just put our foot on the gas and trust it’ll work out.
As the great Bobby Frost famously wrote, “I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”
Many times we struggle through life believing this is how it has to be.
It doesn’t.
No one says that what we are doing or how we are feeling has to stay this way. That is entirely up to us.
It’s not an overnight change and certainly not easy but we should be happy it is that way. We should be grateful that the hard work we put in and the endurance we’ve managed to muster up to get to a new place, a better place, don’t just evaporate overnight as well.
Those newfound habits have shaped us in a different way where we can leverage that momentum and progress on future endeavors.
We’ve got ourselves into the position we are in today. We’re at the Basecamp site. We see the mountain in front of us.
We have a choice.
Are we happy with where we are at today? If not, then we have the ability to climb to new heights to discover happiness. it won’t come without some pain and difficult moments ahead but when we decide to put our hands on that rock and start climbing we’ve already made a big change. We’ve committed to the change instead of just talking about it.
We’ve taken action.
We’ve transformed our mind, in an instant, from someone who sits and blames the world or gets up and does something about it.
We are on our way. We are ready to tackle a new phase of our life.
Today is day one.
Similar to yesterday, the earth made a full rotation. We didn’t feel it but we know it happened. We are back to the same spot where we started.
But are we?
The sun may be hanging in the sky but it’s in a slightly different position. Incremental but different. The weather is too. And so is that tree you might be looking up at.
It’s all changed. But it’s so small we don’t even see it.
Warren Buffet once said, “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a seed a long time ago”.
That’s how growth looks. It’s small, almost microscopic, that we don’t realize it’s happening at the moment. But it’s happening to us and around us.
The book we’re reading might inspire us to start something new and magical which leads us to become happier.
The garden we wanted to start might soon become a banquet of nourishment for a local shelter.
The person we mentored might go on to create something important that impacts the world positively.
Our actions today can create a better world tomorrow for ourselves and the others around us.
We must be willing to plant the seed and keep watering it every day. We may not be able to see it grow quickly but we know the work we are doing is generous and necessary and will produce fruitful results, one way or another.
We don’t always know what those results will be but we’ll never have the chance to find out if we don’t start today.
EPISODE 180: Founder & Host, Entrepreneurs On Fire
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Episode 180 features John Lee Dumas (JLD), the founder & host of Entrepreneurs On Fire, an award-winning podcast where he interviews inspiring entrepreneurs to help YOU along your entrepreneurial journey!
Check out his book, The Common Path To Uncommon Success – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BYZ57TP/
Find JLD Online:
Website: https://www.eofire.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eofire/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnleedumas
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnleedumas
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXfzpliAfdjParawJljHo2g
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnleedumas1
About JLD:
John Lee Dumas is the founder & host of Entrepreneurs On Fire, an award-winning podcast where he interviews inspiring entrepreneurs to help YOU along your entrepreneurial journey!
He’s also the author of The Common Path to Uncommon Success, your 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!
If you’re tired of spending 90% of your day doing things you don’t enjoy and only 10% doing things you love, then you’re in the right place. His goal with Entrepreneurs On Fire is to deliver the inspiration and strategies you need to FIRE UP your entrepreneurial journey and create the life you’ve always dreamed of.
He’s interviewed over 3,000 incredible entrepreneurs, including Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, Tim Ferriss, and many more.
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If you enjoyed this interview you may also like my Just Get Started Podcast Interview with Seth Godin, Author, Founder and Speaker
We can often get discouraged if we compare ourselves to what others are doing. It’s easy with the access we have to social networks. We get a glimpse of how everyone else appears to be prospering while we are paddling like hell in a circle.
We read their books, see their bodies, and admire their art. We convince ourselves that in some way they are better than us and it causes us to question ourselves and our mission.
What we fail to recognize is they once started from a blank canvas, they had a shitty first draft, and they couldn’t do a pull-up. At some point, they were a beginner. They struggled. They had to tear down their castle many times in disappointment and rebuild it better and stronger than before. They have the calluses to prove it.
Progress isn’t perfect and there is no stopwatch on when you might be done.
Progress can be slow but slower movement in the direction we want to head is better than being stationary with no plans to get started at all.
It doesn’t have to be big or bold, it just has to be something you care about that can strike that first flame to start the fire.
So maybe down the line when someone is admiring our work we can pause and reflect and raise a small grin and remember the time we stared at a “blank canvas” and weren’t sure where to begin.
But we did.
We have the calluses to prove it.
We can often get discouraged if we compare ourselves to what others are doing. It’s easy with the access we have to social networks. We get a glimpse of how everyone else appears to be prospering while we are paddling like hell in a circle.
We read their books, see their bodies, admire their art. We convince ourselves that in some way they are better than us and it causes us to question ourselves and our mission.
What we fail to recognize is they once started from a blank canvas, they had a shitty first draft, they couldn’t do a pull-up. At some point, they were a beginner. They struggled. They had to tear down their castle many times in disappointment and rebuild it better and stronger than before. They have the calluses to prove it.
Progress isn’t perfect and there is no stopwatch on when you might be done.
Progress can be slow but slower movement in the direction we want to head is better than being stationary with no plans to get started at all.
It doesn’t have to be big or bold, it just has to be something you care about that can strike that first flame to start the fire.
So maybe down the line when someone is admiring our work we can pause and reflect and raise a small grin and remember the time we stared at a “blank canvas” and weren’t sure where to begin.
But we did.
We have the calluses to prove it.
The hardest time to start something is tomorrow. It appears easier to plan for it and then go full steam ahead but it doesn’t always work out that way. Something foils the well-laid plan and usually, it is ourselves.
Build momentum today in a very small dose and you’ll be better prepared for tomorrow. If you’ve already accomplished something small then doing something small again tomorrow will seem easy.
As an example, if you want to start working out there is no need to run a marathon. Do 10 pushups, walk around the block, go for a short jog, or pick your kid up and down a dozen times. You’ll feel a little energized and that will fuel the excitement for the next time.
The longer we wait to do something the harder it becomes. We build up more fear, anxiety, and worry in our heads. We sike ourselves out of it.
Start small today and you’ll thank yourself big tomorrow for getting the momentum moving, even if just an incremental amount.
If you want to accomplish anything you must set goals. We hear this all day every day and although this is sound advice it also comes with caution because goals can be a safe haven for procrastination.
They’re safe because they are in a far off distant land many moons away from us. We can put off the work today because we know that the goals will take time. We can “start” tomorrow and we won’t question it.
As much as we love setting goals we might be equally terrified in putting in the work today.
Actually getting down into the grind and doing can be hard.
That terrifies us because it means we have to be vulnerable to creation and expose ourselves to the follies that come with creating or doing anything. We will not be perfect and that is hard for us to handle.
The only way to overcome this is to create today. Start today. Whatever it is you want to start or desire to accomplish.
But…
We have to do it again tomorrow, too. We have to keep putting in the work. Through the good days and the bad. Through the low points and the highs.
Goals are really a culmination of consistency over an extended period of time. So the only way we actually get there is by taking action now and continuing that action on a regular basis.
Start today and your “tomorrow self” will be grateful for the momentum you’ve created.
One of the biggest challenges I had in getting over the hump of creating content (Podcasts, books, blogs, etc) is that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I felt I needed all of the answers upfront before I could put “pen to paper” and create something magical.
I was completely wrong.
Hashing our ideas out in real time helps us do a few things…
We learn – We start finding ways that we work best, with how we structure our time, and when it’s the right time for us to do our best work
We evolve – We find efficiencies in our work. We find areas we can tweak and remove and other areas that need some extra “TLC”.
We focus – All of the ideas floating around in our heads, when put into a tangible format, start to become much clearer. We can understand where the gold is and distinguish between what works and what doesn’t. It doesn’t mean it won’t be relevant in the future it means we can put a pin in it for now and focus on the most important stuff.
The first step is always the hardest. The idea part isn’t hard but bringing it into reality.
Beethoven’s 5th symphony started with one note. Starry Night began with one stroke of the brush. Edison’s invention of the light bulb started with one failed experiment.
Our idea can’t begin until it is put into reality.
We have to get it out of our heads and start sculpting it.
Then, we let it transform from there.
EPISODE 109: Co-Founder / Co-CEO, Next Gen HQ
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Episode 109 features the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Next Gen HQ, Dylan Gambardella. I was grateful to meet Dylan last year as I attended their Next Gen Summit in NYC and I love what him and the team at Next Gen HQ are doing to help create momentum for young entrepreneurs on their path to achieving their mission in life.
Find Dylan Online:
Website – dylangambardella.com
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylangambardella/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/DylGambardella
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/dylangambardella/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DylanGambardella
About Dylan:
Dylan Gambardella is a 24-year-old entrepreneur, speaker, and investor. Dylan is the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Next Gen HQ, a business hub empowering the world’s greatest entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to overcome obstacles and chase their dreams.
Dylan has helped leading brands including Target, Capital One, and Dell access, engage with, and influence the next generation. He has been featured in Forbes, Inc, Adweek, Entrepreneur, and USA Today for his work leading a venture-backed, scaling a startup. A graduate of Duke University (‘17), Dylan has spoken in front of tens of thousands on global stages including TEDx.
Check out Next Gen HQ:
Website – https://nextgenhq.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nextgenhq/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/NextGenHQ
Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextgenhq/
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If you enjoyed this interview you may also like my Just Get Started Podcast Interview with Dylan’s Co-Founder of Next Gen HQ, Justin Lafazan
It’s a new year, a new decade, and a clean slate to get it all right this year. “This is going to be my year”, It seems is the type of thing we say to ourselves each orbit around the sun. Why will this year be any different? What have you learned in the past 12 months that will make you believe you can change?
We all have aspirations at one time or another to break outside of our comfort zones and explore new ideas or endeavors. Then fear sets in and the excuses start to flow on why we “Can’t” do it. Just like a butterfly that landed on your shoulder, it’s there for a second before the idea fleets from your mind. All too often, that isn’t the last time we think about it. It continues to pop up at random with no regard for the timing of it all and the longer it goes without being acted upon the fear generally turns into regret. A disappointment of what could have been. Arguably, one of the worst individual feelings one could have.
I have a hunch that as you are reading this there is something festering inside that you want to accomplish but for whatever reason, you haven’t taken the leap of faith yet. Whether it is the smallest action or the biggest idea we all know that overcoming the fear of starting can be quite challenging. Let’s try to get started on it before the chance of regret from not trying can even weasel its way in.
I think I have the key that will unlock that door for you. It might be quite literally the simplest action you can do but could end up being the hardest. Because it involves self-observation and accountability for your actions.
Think of all of the reasons or excuses you can come up with as to why you can’t get started. You can write them down or just think of a couple in your head. They probably seem legitimate and you may even be able to convince yourself there is some truth to them.
Now I’d like you to try something.
Simply change the “can’t” in the sentence to “won’t” and see how that sounds.
Here is an example:
I can’t go to the gym because I don’t have time.
I won’t go to the gym because I don’t have time.
Which one stings a bit more and why?
“Won’t” does sound a whole heck of a lot worse because it’s a choice. Can’t is final. Can’t has some boundaries. Can’t is a line in the sand that we are not able to cross.
But won’t, that’s a different story. That’s personal. That’s a direct reflection on you as a person, what you prioritize, and how you want to live your life. You are making the conscious decision to not do whatever it is you want to do. You are standing in the way of it happening. You are your own worse accountability partner.
This simple exercise on reflection can fundamentally change your perspective on what you are trying to accomplish and get you in the right frame of mind to accomplish it. I’m not saying it’ll work out every time and you may find instances where you confirm that this isn’t the right path. It’s okay if that is the outcome. However, most of the time, it will allow you to take a deeper look in the mirror and help you gain perspective on why you are scared to do this in the first place and what you would really lose (if anything) from trying.
We all have fear and doubt. We all overcomplicate things. We all worry about stupid shit that is ridiculous and mostly meaningless.
It is the perspective shift that is needed in order to overcome these obstacles and start moving forward. Please keep it simple and believe that you can do it. Once you alter your perspective and start improving your mindset it can open up a lot of doors you never imagined possible.
Now get out there and crush 2020!
