Why do people choose to do some of the crazy things they do? It’s a good question, but for me, the even better question is, why don’t more people do crazy things?
I’m in the process of planning a 1,000 mile hike across Wisconsin on the Ice Age Trail. Why would anyone do that? I’m not sure. Likewise, I’m not sure why it is so important to me to kayak the length of the St. John’s River in Florida or drive non-stop (and at world-record pace) from Prudhoe Bay, AK to Key West. For some reason, these things just resonate with me. I want to do them so I can say I did them. I want to have the experience of doing them. There’s not much more to it than that.
Chris is an entrepreneur and author who I have talked about quite a bit here on this blog. At some point in Chris’ life, he decided he wanted to visit every country in the world before his 35th birthday. It’s an audacious goal and it’s one he’s getting close to completing. As of this writing, Chris has visited 159 of the 193 countries in the world. He needs to complete his goal by April 7, 2013, his 35th birthday.
Earlier this year, I set several goals for myself that I want to accomplish before the year is out. Previously, I would routinely set goals and then hope to accomplish them. Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t. But what I didn’t do is follow up periodically to see if I was making any progress. That changes this year.
Here is a list of the goals I have set for myself along with notes on the progress, if any, I made on the goal during July. The majority of the goals were detailed in my Making Plans for 2011 post from earlier this year. I’ve added a few goals to the list since then as well.
Attitude — You have two choices when something bad happens to you. You can either wallow in self-pity and let the bad experience drag you down or you can grieve for a short time and then move forward with a renewed sense of purpose. The choice is yours.
Awareness — We live in an absolutely remarkable world. Opportunities abound and are available to us on a daily basis. Yet, most of us are so consummed by our own private little dramas that we don’t recognize the wonders that are all around us. Stop and smell the roses. See the world through the eyes of a child; the child that you used to be and is still a part of you.
Authentic — Be who you truly are. Don’t put on airs to try to impress others or to be what you think others expect you to be. You are a unique individual. Be true to yourself. Play by your own rules.
My friend Randy drives me crazy. He’s very particular about what he eats. Actually, it’s more than that. He’s a vegan, but even by vegan standards he’s a picky eater. It’s not that he doesn’t like other food. He does, but he has made a conscious decision to only eat a very limited number of exceptionally healthy foods.
There’s a price to pay for eating the way Randy does. He can’t eat in most restaurants because they don’t offer the type of food he eats. Randy travels a lot for his job, so he has to bring a blender with him and then has to shop for his wheatgrass, avacado, cucumbers, etc. when he gets to where he is going. His co-workers often go out to dinner when they are on the road, but Randy is often excluded because the choices of where they can eat are so limited when he is around.
But this post isn’t intended to be an indictment of my friend, Randy. In fact, just the opposite. You see, while I recognize that Randy’s eating habits can cause problems, I also appreciate the fact that Randy is living by his own rules. While the vast majority of people around Randy eat a standard American diet (SAD), Randy has chosen to forge his own path and follow his own beliefs when it comes to eating.
It would be much easier for Randy to give in and eat just like everyone else. It would be easier to find restaurants where he can eat, he could stop traveling with his blender, and he could start hanging out with his co-workers when they go out to dinner. But it would also not be true to Randy’s values. I appreciate that despite the fact that it can make his life less convenient, Randy sticks to his guns and follows his own rules.
Does a simple life equal a happy life? In part 1 of this post, I talked about Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy on a simple life filled with spirituality, self-fulfillment, and happiness. I also contrasted the way I have lived most of my life with how my friend Adam Baker has designed his life. Today, I want to take a look at what really makes people happy.
Researchers Elizabeth Dunn (University of British Columbia), Daniel Gilbert (Harvard University), and Timothy Wilson (University of Virginia) collaborated on a study to find out what really makes people happy. The report, entitled If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right, reinforced the findings of previous research that money, in fact, does buy happiness, but not as much as most people think. In fact, according to the report, the correlation between spending money and happiness is rather modest. According to the report:
We live in a fast-paced world full of complicated, and often conflicting choices. Every day we make decision that may appear to be unimportant, but which can impact our lives long-term.
Believe it or not, this is nothing new. For instance, in 1845, author Henry David Thoreau became disenchanted with the life he felt society expected him to live. He didn’t see the sense in spending his time working a job in order to accumulate material possessions. Instead, he chose to forego the material possessions and spend his time communing with nature and living a simple life rather than spending his time working a job.
In order to live life the way he thought it should be lived, Thoreau moved into a small cabin on the edge of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. He did not necessarily want to isolate himself from the world. In fact, his cabin was just a couple of miles outside of Concord and he had frequent visits from friends and family. What he did want to accomplish was to live a more simple and self-sufficient life that was short on material possessions, and long on spirituality, happiness, and self-fulfillment.
Earlier this week I posted a video of the commencement address Steve Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005. In the address, Jobs spoke about having cancer and how it looked like he was going to die at a fairly young age. As it turned out, Jobs survived the cancer, but he used the realization that he would die someday as motivation when making big decisions in his life. What Jobs said in the commencement address was:
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
This quote really spoke to me and brought up a lot of thoughts and feelings I have that normally live just below the surface. Today, I’d like to bring them to the surface and talk a little bit about them.
“I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you think is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle.” — Steve Jobs
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“For the past 33 years I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today. And whenever the answer has been ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” — Steve Jobs
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Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition. They some how already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. — Steve Jobs
I was thinking about Jim Valvano today. In case you don’t know the name, Valvano was the basketball coach at North Carolina State University from 1980 – 1990. Valvano is known primarily for two things; two moments in time.
The first occured in the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament. That year, NC State was not a great basketball team. They were just okay. They ended the season with a 26-10 record and finished tied for third in the ACC. They were certainly no match for the two best teams in the conference that year; the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. Going into the post-season conference tournament, NC State was seeded fourth, and they weren’t expected to make it past the second round.
In the first round, they barely got by Wake Forest, winning by just one point, 71-70. The second round game pitted the Wolfpack against their main rival, UNC. UNC was favored to not only win the game, but the whole tournament. NC State played them tough and almost miraculously, the game was tied at the end of regulation. Even more miraculously, when the overtime period was over, NC State had beaten heavily favored UNC, 91-84. That victory put them into the championship game against the University of Virginia.
UVA had blown through their first and second round opponents. In round one, they crushed Duke 109-66. In the second round, they beat up on Georgia Tech 96-67. UVA was playing their best basketball of the year and they were expected to easily take care of NC State. However, NC State didn’t get the memo and they went on to defeat UVA 81-78 to win the ACC Tournament and earn a berth into the NCAA Tournament.
In 1983, the NCAA Basketball Tournament consisted of 52 teams. NC State was one of 12 teams in the West Region and they were seeded 6th. In the first round they beat an 11th seeded Pepperdine team in a close game, 69-67. They beat the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) in an even closer game in the second round 71-70. That put the Wolpack into the Sweet Sixteen where they beat a surprising University of Utah team. The victory against Utah sent them to the Elite Eight where they had to once again take on UVA.
UVA was heavily favored. They were the top seeded team in the West Region, and were led by one of the best players in UVA basketball history, Ralph Sampson. Even so, against all odds, NC State beat UVA 63-62 to move on to the Final Four.
At this point, NC State was playing over their heads. By all accounts, they shouldn’t have gone this far in the tournament. Of the Final Four teams, they were the lowest remaining seed. They were matched up against The University of Georgia, who had also made a surprising run to the Final Four. They had defeated higher seeds, including St Johns (considered one of the top teams in the nation) and NC State’s in-state rival UNC, to earn their way into the Final Four. Once again, NC State was the underdog, but they proved to be up to the task, beating Georgia 67-60. The upstart Wolfpack was moving on to the championship game.
NC State had had a fairytale run up until that point, but reality was waiting for them in the form of the University of Houston Cougars, the high flying number one seed from the Midwest Region. The team, known as Phi Slama Jama, featured two future NBA Hall of Famers in Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, and was known for their explosive, fast-paced style of basketball. They also were known as the number one team in the country (based on the AP rankings) and sported a record of 31-2, including a 26-game winning streak.
NC State played UH tough the entire game. The Wolfpack was able to slow the game down and take away some of the Cougars explosiveness. The score went back and forth throughout the game. In the second half, Houston took control, but NC State came roaring back. With just three seconds remaining, the game was tied and NC State had the ball. Wolfpack guard Derreck Whittenburg took an impossibly long shot that came up far short of the rim. Everybody on the court watched the shot fall short except NC State forward Lorenzo Charles. Charles caught the ball and dunked it as time expired. NC State had won the NCAA Championship.
And this is the first thing that Jim Valvano is known for. Not that his team won the championship, but for the run he made across the court at the end of the game. He came off the sideline and ran across the court like his hair was on fire. He was sprinting toward his team, looking for someone to hug. It has become an iconic moment and will forever be associated with the passion that the NCAA Tournament inspires.
The second thing Jim Valvano is known for is a speech he gave in 1993 on the night he was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the Espys, presented by ESPN. At the time, Valvano had bone cancer and he knew he did not have long to live. It is almost painful to watch him walk up the stairs to the stage. He was so weak, and yet in his speech, he was both humorous and inspirational.
Rather than telling you about it, take a look.
Both as a coach and later as someone fighting cancer, Jim Valvano had an indomitable spirit. He kept fighting, he never backed down, and he never gave up. Remember, it is not always the smartest or the richest, or the strongest, or the best looking who become the biggest successes in life. It is those that work hard, stay committed, and just keep going. They never give up. And if you keep plugging away and never give up, you can never fail.
Derek Sivers is a unique guy. He was/is a musician who just wanted to sell his music. He started a website and set it up so people could buy his CDs online. His musician friends liked what he was doing and asked if he could sell their CDs too. One thing led to another and Sivers found himself at the helm of CDBaby.com, the largest seller of independent music on the web.
In 2008, Sivers solds his business, but he did it in a very unique way. He first bequethed the business to a charitable trust set up to benefit musicians. Then the trust sold the business for $22 million dollars. Sivers is paid 5% per year from the trust (approx. $1.1 million), but the trust will live on after his death, continuing to do what he set out to do when he started CD Baby, namely help musicians
Sivers has written a book entitled Anything You Want. The book is being published by The Domino Project and Sivers has created some videos to help promote it. The video below is called “I Miss the Mob” and makes a great point about business. Take a look at the video and then I’d like to share some additional thoughts.
Why do people choose to do some of the crazy things they do? It’s a good question, but for me, the even better question is, why don’t more people do crazy things?
