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Listen. Part Five.
Just keeps getting better!
My fifth question for you is here.
It's anonymous so you can be honest. And I would, honestly, love to hear your wisdom and perspective and thoughts!
Maybe we'll do something fun with all of it after we're done.
Listen. Part Four.
My fourth question for you is here.
It's anonymous so you can be honest. And I would, honestly, love to hear your wisdom and perspective and thoughts!
Maybe we'll do something fun with all of it after we're done.
Listen. Part Three.
Please keep sharing. Good, good stuff!
My third question for you is here.
It's anonymous so you can be honest. And I would, honestly, love to hear your wisdom and perspective and thoughts!
Maybe we'll do something fun with all of it after we're done.
Listen. Part Two.
Thanks for the answers! This is awesome!
My second question for you is here.
It's anonymous so you can be honest. And I would, honestly, love to hear your wisdom and perspective and thoughts!
Maybe we'll do something fun with all of it after we're done.
Listen. Part One.
I've been doing lots of talking. Thanks for listening!
But now, I'd like to listen. To you. To what you have to say.
My first question for you is here.
It's anonymous so you can be honest. And I would, honestly, love to hear your wisdom and perspective and thoughts!
Maybe we'll do something fun with all of it after we're done.
health care.
In your opinion, what does someone need to do to deserve health care? It's been interesting to watch Jimmy Kimmel and then the negative reaction to Jimmy Kimmel which can basically be summed up like this:
Jimmy: every child deserves health care.
Negative reaction: not if I have to pay for it. Some don't deserve it.
Ignoring that we all pay for everything that happens to people in this country, in one way or another, it brings up an interesting question.
Would you pay for health care for someone? What makes someone deserving of health care?
A family member?
A friend?
A sad story?
Never?
Always?
The innocent?
The smart?
The wise?
The answer to that question says a lot about how we see ourselves, especially compared to those around us.
on the dole.
There are two fundamentally different ways to view our fellow humans.
One is expressed this way by Senator Orin Hatch:
"The public wants every dime they can be given," he said. "Let's face it, once you get them on the dole, they'll take every dime they can."
Another is to believe that people want to belong, to be loved and to trust that will continue.
How do you want to be seen? Why are you different from every other human?
hidden permanence.
Tattoos. They can have lots of meaning but they are permanent and that's always a little scary.
What's funny though - and the great thing about tattoos - is that many things are permanent - they just aren't as obviously permanent. They are more subtle and hidden. Maybe the best thing about tattoos is that they remind us of all kinds of things that are permanent and we pretend aren't.
Marriage is permanent. Of course, we can get a divorce, but we can't erase the experience.
Kids are permanent. I hope we know that.
Surgeries are permanent.
Affairs are permanent.
Selling or throwing away something with meaning is permanent.
Words are permanent. They can't be brought back. They can be covered but not returned.
Actions are permanent. They initiate consequences that can be altered, but not retrieved.
If words and actions are permanent, well, what else is there?
It's all permanent in a sense.
I'm not sure we're afraid of permanence. I think we're afraid of the permanence everyone knows. We are afraid of the vulnerability of our permanence on display. So, we tend to hide the permanence, keep it secret, and I think we hurt ourselves when we do.
(And ironically, if it were as easy as $1000 to get rid of some of what we've done we'd pay it almost instantly.)
But, it's not. There is no removal. So, we hide it. Pretend it's not there for people to see.
But, maybe acknowledge the permanence. Live it. Hold it. Own it.
Trend it toward the good, permanently.
what would you say?
What if you had 30 seconds to tell the entire world something? 30 seconds of every human being listening to you?
What would you say?
Would it matter?
Would it affect change?
It may not be the entire world, but there are humans all around us, every day, listening.
inflict great love.
It's said that we only learn from great suffering or great love.
If true...
We don’t want to inflict pain on anyone but we can inflict great love, with the trust it will eventually do something… maybe if it’s only helping someone believe that it exists.
minimalism.
Just when you think you're getting close to being a minimalist, you stage your house for pictures.
You then realize the clutter was everywhere even after multiple attempts to get rid of it.
And the clutter still is.
In the house, in your brain, in your relationships, in your passions.
It's hard work, it's slow work, it's patient work but it's worth it.
who cares?
Think about the people in your life who you know are going to love you no matter what you do. They are going to support you, be on your side, walk through it with you. They care.
Now think of everyone else. They may be an enemy, they maybe a parent, they may be an enemy-parent, they may be a co-worker, a critic, the list is probably long. They care, in all the wrong ways, because they probably don't care. They always have a comment, a look, an email, or something else.
What if your decision making was limited to thinking about the first group of people and not the second? How would it change what you do?
And, who in your life would count you as a member of that first group?
the old way.
Seth Godin has a new marketing course. In the introduction video he says this: "People don't like marketers. They don't like us because a lot of people do marketing the old way, the wrong way, the selfish way."
He recounts telling someone he's an author and watching them get excited. He then tells them he's a marketer and they run.
Not much different than telling someone you're a pastor. And for the exact same reasons. Pastors have acted like marketers, been seen as marketers. Bad marketers, marketing the old, wrong, and selfish way through fear and dehumanization of others.
Godin also says this:
"Twenty years later, marketing is still taught backwards. It’s assumed that marketing is something we do TO our audience, for the sole purpose of meeting our own goals. But marketing is now something we do WITH our tribe, helping them reach their goals first."
We're all marketers. We're all pastors. The question is are we doing something TO people for ourselves or are we doing something WITH people for them?
Preach Godin. Preach.
kendrick.
You may have never heard of Kendrick Lamar.
You have may have never listened to him.
You may not care for his music.
You may think he's just another rapper.
Read this article.
You might learn some things, including why, in my opinion, the traditional church is dying and the spots people are finding a better, more creative, intelligent spirituality - with F-bombs and driving bass.
Preach Kendrick. Preach.
hustle.
I was talking to a friend, who works with a lot of millennials and he said they lack "hustle". The word has stuck with me because I think I would generally agree with him. (As with any time you put a word on a generation, you are blatantly stereotyping and labeling and understanding there are lots of exceptions.)
I don't agree with my friend as some "older generation" that has it figured out. I agree as some "older generation" that is excited for millennials to take over and change the world for the better - but, hopefully, with more hustle.
So, hustle...
1. More production, less consumption.
2. More practice, less passion.
3. More quality, less quantity.
4. More risking, less asking.
5. More taking, less waiting.
you'll never regret that.
I've never met one person who has told me that they regretted taking a trip somewhere. It doesn't mean they don't exist but I've never met one of these rare species. Even if they went in debt, even if they had to go without coffee for months to save, even if they didn't think they should have, I've never met someone who went to Europe and said, yeah I wish I had bought a new couch instead.
Speaking of a new couch.
I've met hundreds of people who have sold couches and cars and clothes and have said things like "How do I own so much crap?" and "Where did this come from?" and "What was I thinking?"
I understand we all need couches.
But, if you're considering buying a new couch or traveling somewhere, please, for the love of all that is good in the world, take the damn trip and get the couch later. Or get a cheaper couch. Or stick with the couch you own.
don't tell my mom.
I have a friend who had a piece of furniture that his grandfather had made him 30+ years ago. His grandfather has since passed away. He sold the chair for $1 and told me later, just don't tell my mom. If she found out, she might die.
Which proves how hard it is to get rid of some things. Things that have value only because of who made them and not because they have any other value, at all. The chair was sitting in his attic.
So, would his grandfather rather his grandson keep a chair in an attic to honor him or sell it to someone who will actually use it to honor him?
I think it's obvious he made the right choice - even if his mom might disagree.
the rules.
Bjarke Ingels is a Dane and a world class architect. In talking about Copenhagen, he referenced the Danes and their love of architectural rules. There is a certain way you do things. Yet, he said, the things that make the Copenhagen skyline the skyline it is, are the buildings where the rules were broken.
It's what stands out. It's what makes the city unique and what it is.
Yesterday I was driving downtown when I noticed headlights. There was a car coming directly toward me in my lane and I was in the far right lane. I swerved, honked, and eventually the driver realized what he was doing and pulled off into a yard.
He too was breaking the rules, but not the kind of rules that should be.
The trick is not driving in the wrong lane while still not designing the building everyone says you are supposed to. The trick is not mixing those up.