The Prompt:

That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. Where is the master who could have taught Shakespeare? Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? . . . Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare. Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Identify one of your biggest challenges at the moment (ie I don’t feel passionate about my work) and turn it into a question (ie How can I do work I’m passionate about?) Write it on a post-it and put it up on your bathroom mirror or the back of your front door. After 48-hours, journal what answers came up for you and be sure to evaluate them.

Bonus: tweet or blog a photo of your post-it.

(Author: Jenny Blake)

The Post:

How can I give writing the time it deserves?

Update (6/6/11):  It’s been a little more than 48 hours, but I’ve come up with a plan to give writing the time it deserves.  I currently live a rather free-flowing lifestyle.  Most days, I don’t have a schedule.  I keep a to-do list, but I have very few deadlines and I usually just get things done at my own pace.  This type of lifestyle can be nice, but it’s not the most efficient way to get things done.

Beginning this week, I’m going to begin living a more structured lifestyle.  I’m going to treat writing like a job, and I’m going to show up to my “job” every day.  I’m not only going to write when the mood strikes me.  Instead, I will be writing every day for 3-4 hours whether I feel like it or not.  If need be, I’ll start imposing some deadlines on myself.

It’s time to start taking my writing more seriously.

Note: This post is part of the “Trust 30″ writing challenge being run by the good folks at The Domino Project.  Trust 30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that is inspired by the 208th birthday of author and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.  For a description of the challenge, check out this post.

The Prompt:

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

(Author: Buster Benson)

The Post:

We were sitting in the living room talking about my daughter’s future.  My daughter, who is 16-years old, said she wanted to go to college to study engineering.   I asked her why she wanted to study engineering.  “Because engineers make good money,” she replied.

That answer did not set well with me.  Hired assassins make lots of money too, but I don’t think that’s good enough reason to become one.  I pushed my daughter for a better answer.

“Companies need engineers.  There are a lot of opportunities for jobs.  Plus, you have to have a job, and being an engineer seems like a good job,” she said.

That still wasn’t the justification I was looking for.  I continued to push.  In frustration she said, “I don’t know, Dad.  What do you want me to say?”

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The Prompt:

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tracks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.

(Author: Liz Danzico)

The Post:

Today is a new opportunity to do great things.

Note: This post is part of the “Trust 30″ writing challenge being run by the good folks at The Domino Project.  Trust 30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that is inspired by the 208th birthday of author and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.  For a description of the challenge, check out this post.

The Prompt:

We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.
2. Write the story that has to be written.

(Author: Gwen Bell)

The Post:

I have 15 minutes to live and I have to write “the story that has to be written.”  Am I supposed to write the story of my life?  Am I supposed to share a life lesson?  Should I share the first thing that comes to my mind?  There’s no one to ask, so I guess it is up to me to decide.

With only 15 minutes to live, I want to write a note to my kids.  I have a lot of loves in life, a lot of passions, but nothing is as important to me as my kids.

Here’s what I would write:

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Seth Godin and the team at The Domino Project are initiating a 30-day writing challenge they are calling Trust 30.  The challenge is inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson and his 208th birthday.  Last week the folks at The Domino Project offered a free Kindle version of Emerson’s seminal essay, “Self-Reliance.”  This week, they are kicking the “Trust 30″ challenge.

Rather than try to describe the challenge to you, let me steal it directly from their website:

#Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on your now, and to create direction for your future. 30 prompts from inspiring thought-leaders will guide you on your writing journey.

The Inspiration

To celebrate Emerson’s 208th birthday, The Domino Project is republishing a work of art that’s especially relevant today. Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson urges readers to trust their intuition rather than conforming to the will of the majority.

The Pledge Details

1. The #Trust30 challenge starts at 6am ET on May 31st and runs for 30 days.
2. Each day we’ll post a prompt from an original thinker and doer on RalphWaldoEmerson.me. You can also sign-up for daily emails.
3. Fill out the short form below to commit to participating in the #trust30 online initiative.
4. Blog, journal, or create something on each of the 30 days.

Tweet using the hashtag #trust30 to show your support and involvement.

Beginning today and running for the nerxt 30 days, I will be writing a blog post inspired by the daily prompt.  I’ll also be notifying everyone of the new post via Facebook, and if I feel especially ambitious, I’ll also tweet about the next blog post.

As always, thanks for following along and be sure to let me know what you think.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have not had a winning season since 1992.  That’s 18 consecutive seasons with a losing record.  At some point during the past 18 seasons, you would think someone would have said, “We need to do things differently.”

To be fair, Pirates management has “said” they are going to do things differently.  They’ve “said” they were going to rebuild.  They’ve “said” they were going to build their team from within and forgo signing free agents.  They’ve “said” these things, but they haven’t “done” these things.  Over the past 18 seasons, the Pirates have continued to sign free agents and they have traded away promising young players before they could take full advantage of their talent because those players were starting to get more expensive.

This last point is an important one.  The Pirates don’t have much money.*  That is, they don’t have much money when compared to other teams.  To give you an idea, the New York Yankees spend more than any other team in baseball on player salary.  In 2011, their team payroll is $202.6 million.  Player salary for the Pirates is $45 million.  The Pirates have the third lowest payroll in MLB and it is less than a quarter of what the Yankees spend.

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As you know if you’ve read this blog for any time at all, you know I don’t like to get political.  Spouting a political point of view is not what this blog is about.  And if you know me personally, you probably know that as I grow older, I hate politics more and more.

Because of this, I was hesitant to post the following article.  It was written by Porter Stansberry, an investment expert, principle at Stansberry & Associates, and publisher of the S&A Digest.  The reason I decided to publish this article is because, although it has political overtones, it does not takes sides.  Instead, it blasts the entire system that our federal government follows to regulate small business in the United States.

As a small business owner, I can tell you that I am in business with the federal government.  We are unequal partners, and if I had my druthers, I would kick my partner out of the business. 

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About 12 years ago, I found myself in a difficult situation.  I was too comfortable.  Sound weird?  Here’s what I mean.

At the time, I had a job I enjoyed (for the most part), I was making good money, we lived in a very nice home, and I was able to afford most of the things I wanted to do.  Sounds great, doesn’t it?  Even so, I knew that I wanted more freedom.  I wanted to spend my days doing what I wanted to do, not what the company was paying me to do.  And although my desire for more freedom was very strong, I was being paid a nice salary to forgo that desire.  In the end, my desire for freedom was too strong and I gave up the money and comfort that came as part of my job.

Since then, there have been many times I have cursed my decision.  Following your dream sounds great in theory, but when money is tight and bills are coming due, following your dream doesn’t shine quite so brightly.  Even so, through good times and bad, I have come to the conclusion that I made the right decision.  True, I don’t have the money or big house anymore, but I get to spend most of my days doing exactly what I want to do.  I don’t have to go to an office every day and I’m free to spend time with my wife and kids (when they want me around).

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This week, I’d like to revisit two posts I wrote several months ago that tell a cautionary tale.  In a nutshell, these two posts tell the story of how I had two separate business opportunities fall right into my lap, and how I allowed my fear to stand in the way of success and make sure that neither business ever got off the ground.

The reason I am re-posting these two articles is two-fold.  First, I think this story tells a very important tale about the costs associated with giving into your fears.  What seems like the “safe’ route often turns into the very expensive route in the long run.  Second, I don’t want to leave anyone with the impression that my path has been an easy one.  In my opinion, too many bloggers make lifestyle design sound easy without revealing their failures and missteps.  The concept of lifestyle design is simple, but the execution is not always easy.

Click here to read the first part of this two-part post.

Here’s part two (originally posted on 12/17/10):

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This week, I’d like to revisit two posts I wrote several months ago that tell a cautionary tale.  In a nutshell, these two posts tell the story of how I had two separate business opportunities fall right into my lap, and how I allowed my fear to stand in the way of success and make sure that neither one of them ever got off the ground.

The reason I am re-posting these two articles is two-fold.  First, I think this story tells a very important tale about the costs associated with giving into your fears.  What seems like the “safe’ route often turns into the very expensive route in the long run.  Second, I don’t want to leave anyone with the impression that my path has been an easy one.  In my opinion, too many bloggers make lifestyle design sound easy without revealing their failures and missteps.  The concept of lifestyle design is simple, but the execution is not always easy.

Here is the first part of the story (originally published on 9/29/10):

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