There’s no need for us to be goddamn robots. We have access to every book, seminar, and specialty in the globe. To not live doing something we enjoy is simply a lack of effort.

Often times the scariest part is overcoming the fear. The fear of ‘what ifs’, the fear of the unknown, the fear of what others will think of us, the fear of distancing ourselves, the fear of leaving what feels comfortable.

Every person has their own unique set of talents, skills, and characteristics. It bothers me so much that we all get stuck in pockets of society or jobs where these talents go underutilized. I explore ways for us to make the most of our time on this Earth and enjoy the time here. It’s not all that long afterall.

All Customized Life Resources

• Quotes/Shorts ~1 Minute or Less
• Videos/Shorts ~5 Minutes
• Videos/Articles ~15 Minutes
• Podcasts ~2 Hours
• Books ~8 Hours
• !!!Caveat!!! + 5 main resources
• Songs
• Mental Workouts

My Creations

• My Reflections
• Weekly Wanderings

• Seth
• Miles
• Ceilidh
• Me
• Tristan b4 Iceland
• Rex at USAFA

Concepts

1) Default Path
From the moment we’re born we’re walked down a path. We are involved in classes, clubs and courses without a whole lot of variety. We’re all funneled in to a concrete building and taught all the same things staring up at the same buttoned up teacher.

We’re taught to obey, follow directions, and you will excel. Deviations are seen as time wasters and ‘following your passion’ only leads to less time to ‘finish your homework’. We’re given the gold stars and then each one of us is funneled in to the workplace without a lick of an idea at what we’re supposed to be doing.

2) Explore

We need more time to explore and figure out what we actually ‘want to do with our lives’ before we subtly slide ourselves into a job that we despise. It’s a hell of a lot harder to dig ourselves out of a hole than it is to just step over the hole in the first place.

In my experience the most beneficial way to find a fulfilling life:
– Try as much shit as possible
– Continue to experiment and explore until you find something you can’t stop thinking about
– Pursue that path


3) Dive Deep

Once we find the things that we can’t stop thinking about… the things that we utterly cannot live without, then comes the courage. We come into this life alone and we’re going to leave alone.

There’s nobody that magically brings us happiness and there’s no foreign point in the future where we suddenly stumble upon happiness. Happiness is something that we make for ourselves. It’s up to us to find the stuff that brings us joy and meaning and find a way to do those things each and every day.


4) Courage to Be Different

This sounds easier than it is. On paper it’s not hard, but it requires serious independence and a bit of distance between family and friends. Family and friends often have a certain perspective of you and your capabilities. They don’t mean to do it, but anything outside this realm of competence feels weird for them.

It seems like far too often we forego the option to enjoy our lives to fit in with the expectations of the people around us. Luckily, we can learn from those that came before. The #1 regret of older people reported by Bronnie Ware:

I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

5) Courage to Fail

Oftentimes friends don’t want to see you move to another city. They don’t want you spending time with other hobbies and people because that means time away from them. They don’t want to see you fail.

By the nature of experimentation, failure will happen. It’s inevitable. If we

Each of us has paths or ideas or creative ventures that sort of noodle around in the back of our minds. We’ve always wanted to travel there or always wanted to start that side hustle. Unfortunately, we’re not given an outlet or the resources or a way to progress down that path. It’s so uncertain and unclear that we forego it in


6) Death

At the end of our life what will we care more about? Will we care about the things we did or the things we were too scared to start?

Understand Self

As a Myers-Briggs INTP, this tremendously helped me understand myself. I don’t think personality tests are the end-all be-all truth, but they offer a useful framework to understanding that people think differently. Understanding if we’re primarily Concrete or Abstract as well as Cooperative or Utilitarian was tremendously helpful. And, as with anything, it’s all a spectrum.

Myers-Briggs INTP

“The most important advice I give to young people is to patient, never compromise, give your destiny time to find you.

Bitterness always comes to those who look back on a life of choices imposed upon you from the outside.

You may not make all the right decisions, but if you own those decisions, they all become the right ones”

Wade Davis

Embracing Change

‘Life’s like a misty mountain. You can sit and speculate about all the next steps, but you can’t know until you start actually walking’

Unknown

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear”

George Addair

Quotes/Shorts ~1 Min

Begin with an end in mind

fear perspective

“On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero”

Chuck Palahniuk

Looking for good shit

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”

Winston Churchill

sitting in the uncertainty.

“Chase your passions don’t chase the money”

Russ, Since I Was Broke

“You’re bored because you haven’t exposed yourself to potential futures that demand an increase in skill. You’re anxious because you’ve projected too far in to the future and don’t have the skills demanded”

Dan Koe

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decide to do something.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Steve Jobs

5 Mins Article/Vids