Me? I’m A Porsche Guy Who Doesn’t Drive.
WORK: Be what makes you successful in your own eyes.
These days, the desire to become an entrepreneur is much like the desire to own a Ferrari. Sure, some people have it because they genuinely like the philosophy behind one of the world’s greatest car manufacturers. Most have it because they really want to be seen as a Ferrari owner. I sometimes feel like I missed the memo that instructed all of humanity to choose a character class between entrepreneur, builder, influencer, or video-tuber. Either you make that choice publicly, or risk being deemed unsuccessful. Also, when did “good worker” or “stay-at-home mom” become almost derogatory terms? Equal opportunity and women empowerment in the workplace are some of modern society’s best accomplishments (although we’re not quite there yet). But as with any narrative taken to the extreme, it’s usually bad. We’ve completely shifted the norms and created a polar opposite society, where being perceived (this is what’s driving you on the “Gram”) as striving for anything less then the new trend-setting ideal is labeled as failure. “So, um, you JUST want to be a stay at home mom?” Doing good work? “No, no no. That phrase is reserved for manual labor, you need to have a vision, we’re changing the world!” Well, big bubble burst. Not many of us can actually change the world. The best many of us can hope for is impacting our immediate environment in a positive way. But here’s the thing. This we can actually do, all it takes is one daily conscious decision. Want more good news? Your success is largely defined by you. So tell me, what would make you successful in your own eyes? Not your dad’s definition, not your friend’s, not the world’s. Yours. They say that hell = the person you are gets to meet the person you could have become. What nobody emphasizes is that there are only the two of you there. You’re the judge and the one being judged. PS It helps if that vision isn’t material. The problem with material is, if you define success as owning a Ferrari, where do you go when you finally buy one? Think more like — “I want to be a trustworthy person.” Such a goal takes a lifetime to achieve. You’re never done, you can always slip up. But you’re getting there, each and every day. For my mom, success meant keeping the family together. She’ll often say that she’s the most successful woman in the world — and I believe her.
LIFE: Technology narrowed our horizons.
The great promise of the Internet was freedom. Freedom to learn, freedom to expand our horizons beyond countries and locales we were born into, schools we went to, interests that we were steered towards by our culture. Enter 2020. Even with all that access, most people get their “news” on Facebooks, with mainstream media rarely offering a more quality take. We rarely check facts and use no more than a couple of news outlets for information. Our memory banks have been distorted by short-form, quickly scannable content. Knowledge turned into “able to find” or “can successfully search”. Much like language, it functions as a mechanism of conformity, preaching to the choir all that it already believes in. Coming from a marketer, believe me, if you believe in it, chances are that what you’re feeding into Internet-based services will make you an even bigger believer. Not only that, the chances of you stepping out of your comfort zone are minimal. The most simplistic formula to explain this is — tell a service what you like, it will keep feeding you more of what you like, so you like (and use) the service more. Especially with news aggregating services, this vastly limits your field of vision, fueling your stereotypes, keeping your interests and worldviews largely the same.
SPORTS: Idols are for kids.
It’s just that combination of wide-eyed youth, when everything looks larger than life, you not knowing a whole lot of history behind the game you’re becoming a fan of and growing up while watching a top level athlete perform in their heyday. At 34, I know I will never look at any athlete the same way I did Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or Peter Forsberg (other blog, and yes my favorite interview). At 34, you don’t dream of being someone else. You’re you, a semi-successful (based on the previous paragraph) guy with an OK career, a great group of friends, a steady job, who occasionally still plays basketball. You watch your favorite team, that now features a couple of kids you enjoy watching. It starts here, because you can’t really idolize kids. You admire some plays, your eyes widen on a dunk or two, your jaw drops, but you’re always stuck saying: “Boy, you should have seen Mike”. As a kid, you were dreaming of shooting that buzzer beater AS Mike. There will never be another Kobe, you grew up watching Kobe. You were small, and they were larger than life. But with growing up come different realizations, different idols. Like my dad. Retired, but no matter what he does, he makes sure every little detail of his project is solid. People say, good is the enemy of great. “If the pieces are good, the project will be too”, says my dad. I say, a lot of good makes great. As a kid, I wanted to be like Mike, but as a grown up, turns out that being like my dad was all I ever needed. A damn good worker.
MUSIC: Snap, crackle and Pop
I have nothing. Oh, wait. I truly believe that Pop Smoke would have been the next great hip hop artist. Much like Kobe, he left this plane way too soon. Shit, that was a sad day…
