Dan Tyminski plays guitar in Alison Krauss’ band, Union Station. Union Station, including Alison, is a world-class band. Dan has been a member since 1994. He tells a story about being asked by Ms. Krauss to join her band as a guitar player. There was only one problem. He wasn’t really a guitar player. Banjo? Yes. Mandolin? Sure, proficient. But guitar? Not so much.

He confesses he knew chords, but not much else. So he spent some months in a shed teaching himself. All the while facing whatever fears he may have had. Shutting up the voices in his head that may have said, “Dan, you idiot. You can’t do this. You can’t go on the road or in the studio with Alison Krauss as her guitar player. Give it up, dude.” No, Tyminski apparently didn’t listen to any of those fears. He just got busy learning to play the guitar. One man. One guitar. One shed.

Magic does happen when men face their fear by refusing to surrender to it. Now, Dan hears crowds applaud. But it could have turned out so much differently had he never hit that shed with the tenacity to be able to tell Alison, “Sure, I’d love to be your guitar player.”

Fear takes on many forms. It morphs like the cyborg assassin chasing John Connor.

And it can be just as tough. In every way.

People wake up in the morning afraid of something. They lay awake at night worrying. Shadows, clouds and stormy weather don’t much care if you’re wide awake or sleepy. Fear is like a roach. It can thrive in any environment. It only needs a brain. The brain need not be rational, bright or highly intelligent. Any old brain will do. As long as it’s alive.

Vision is blurred when the corridor of fear is closing in. It doesn’t matter that clear skies are at the end of the hall. We often struggle to see that proverbial light at the end. Those shadows are in high def though. We can see them in vivid detail. 3-D even.

They change shapes as we embrace their closeness. Sometimes they take form as the risk of failure. Other times they’re the possible outcome of success. From one extreme to the other we embrace our fears and use them as excuses preventing us from what we claim we really want.

Sit down with anybody willing to acknowledge their fear and you sense their pulse accelerating. Their fingertips grow cold. And even if don’t feel it, you can almost see the knots form in their gut. Don’t let anybody tell you that fear isn’t real. It’s very real. Your body’s response proves it.

Our rational minds can fail us. Deception. Delusion. Imagination. Those are the fuel sources for our fears.

Questions can bring clarity because they demand answers. Deny answering at your own risk. If you do, fear will overtake you, run you down like a crazed trucker, beat you with chains and leave your dead carcass as a reminder for the rest of us…that it means business! Of course, it’ll all be a figment of our imagination, but we’re certain we can smell dead flesh.

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Wanna hack off a life coach? How about two? Take issue with the typical sounds about pursuing passion found all over the web. Recently a couple of life coaches took issue with my notion of pursuing passion.

We just have a philosophical and practical difference of opinion. Vastly different. And I wasn’t the least bit angry, but I touched a nerve with these two guys. You’d have thought I called their mama, “Fat!”

That word “practical” was at the heart of it all. In my mind.

The fact is, my approach is far too real-world for some life coaches. I don’t market myself as a life coach, but any of us in the “helping businesses” should be concerned with serving the lives of others – not pushing popular opinion or riding the wave of the latest, greatest notion.

Pursue your passion. Does it really serve the person who is up his ears in credit card debt, contemplating bankruptcy and struggling with daily life because of those pressures? Does it really serve the husband and wife are trying to make ends meet so the financial burdens don’t rip their marriage apart? Does it really serve the father who cries at night because he’s losing his teen to drugs?

Some life coaches seem to think the panacea for all of life’s problems is pursue your passion by being your own god. Law of attraction. The Secret. All the rest of the drivel that deludes people into believing they have full command of the universe.

Yes, I strongly disagree with that belief. For starters, let me give you my so-called bias. I believe in God Jehovah. That is, I believe in the God you read about in the Bible. I also know I’m not Him. I don’t think you are either. That fundamental belief means I don’t think any of us have full command of the universe. In fact, I rather believe the control we have is limited to ourselves. We control our behavior, our beliefs, our actions, our reactions and our choices. I also believe that’s sufficient for us to do the right thing.

But I also believe in the practical realities of life. Passion is not always the answer. Sometimes cash flow is the answer. Sometimes a medical doctor is the answer. Sometimes a family counselor is the answer. Sometimes God is the answer. Come to think of it, when isn’t God the answer? I clearly have what some might call a “religious bias.” I admit it.

Click play and I’ll tell you more about the two life coaches who disagree with my take on pursuing passion.

UPDATE: I love words. Especially ones I don’t know how to spell. Ironically, I’m usually a good speller, but I posted this post using the term “torked” instead of “torqued.” Thankfully, it was called to my attention early on, but it’s taken me all day to get around to changing it. I like the look of “torked” better, but thanks for the correction. We aim to please.

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“People with dirty jobs are the happiest people I know,” said Mike Rowe of the Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs.

“Follow your passion is probably the worst advice I ever got,” says Mike.

Zig when everybody else is zagging.

Go in a different direction from the herd.

It’s possible to love what you do. That doesn’t mean you’re doing what you love. It may not mean that you’re following your passion. If you’re not following your passion then you’re destined to live a miserable life – wrong!

The masses preach that we must chase our passion. We must do it or success will elude us. We must do it or we’ll wind up empty, pathetic and broke. And we believe it. So more often than not we’re discontented. With everything that is our life.

Are we destined to live our entire life questioning, “If only…?”

A blogger recently wrote how she was so engaged in her work that she lost track of time. She found herself working more hours than ever because she loved her work. She was somewhat offended – or so it seemed – when somebody commented about her “work.” She doesn’t think of it as work. It was as though the very word repulsed her. Interesting.

Work is not a dirty word. There may be dirty work – but work isn’t dirty. And loving what you do is not necessarily the same as doing what you love. Productivity, efficiently, effectiveness, fulfillment, contentment – they can all be yours.

Maybe it starts with us making up our mind we’re going to do remarkable things and find joy in the daily actions that make up our lives. Maybe it starts with us making up our mind we’re not going to chase fairly tales, but instead we’re going to write our life story and grow where we’re planted. Maybe it starts with making up our mind we’re going to provide value and service by doing those things we’re able to do – not because we’re doing what we love, but because we love what we’re doing!

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The pursuit of passion may well begin with knowing ourselves better. Avoiding self-delusion, recognizing our natural tendencies, knowing our abilities and seeing ourselves in honest and true ways – those are among the elements required for improved self-awareness.

This is hard work. It’s demanding. It’s often stressful. Coming to terms with who we really are can be some of our most important work. We ought to give it more time and attention. We ought to strive hard to figure it out.

It’s made harder because we like to compare ourselves with others. We look to emulate others. We often judge our success or failure based on how others are doing, or have done. It’s a trap. And it will consume us. Because there’s always somebody who is stronger, faster, bigger, better, more popular, prettier, more handsome, richer, funnier…

Be who you are, but be the best person possible. Improve. Grow. Develop. Mature. Be unique. Be remarkable.

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Passion. Lots of us are still searching for ours. We hope we’re gazing in the right direction to find it.

It’s not the easiest thing to discover. You’d think it would jump out at us plain as day. After all, it’s our passion. It shouldn’t be so hard. You’d think we were looking for a Balinese starling, the rarest bird in the world. Passions, like rare birds, are often very tough to spot in real life. But, there’s no zoo where we go to look at our passion. We have to find it in the real world.

Books. Speeches. Blogs. Podcasts. Webcasts. Videos. Forums. There are about 33,700,000 results on Google for “find your passion.” Clearly, many people are still on the prowl to find their passion.

Why is it so hard? Do you need binoculars or a microscope? It all depends on how close or far away you are from finding it. But, how do you know if you’re even in the ballpark? What if we’re looking in the wrong area of the sky? What if it’s right under our nose?

Today’s show focuses on just one question that might serve to help. Be forewarned though, it might not help at all!

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Great leaders see the future first. This includes YOU, as the leader of your own life.

The question is, “What do you see? And what are doing about it?”

Some people view the future with wishful thinking. They dream of winning the lottery. They dream of having the cabin by the lake. They dream of living in that bigger neighborhood. People have lots of dreams. Visions of grandeur.

It’s been said that the difference between a dream and a goal is a deadline. No it’s not. There are significant difference beyond the scope of a deadline. If not, then the mere passage of time would elevate our dreams into goals. Just let time pass and as we approach our deadline – the dream is realized! Would that it were that easy, but it’s not. Not even close.

Deadlines without any action taken to meet those deadlines are meaningless.

Well over 10 years ago my son – then a teenager – had car envy. He wanted a Honda Civic Si. A blue one. It was a really great shade of blue. He could see himself in that car. He daydreamed about having it as his own. He had no trouble seeing a future with a Civic Si in the driveway of our house. I encouraged him to apply himself to make that dream a reality. That meant making some tough choices. It meant doing some things, sacrificing some things and taking the time necessary to put himself in a financial position where he could realize the future he saw with this car.

Note: When you listen to the show you’ll hear me talk about my Acura Type R – bright yellow with white Volks wheels. What I fail to tell you in the show is that I eventually sold my son that car. What he didn’t know is that when I bought the car I fully saw a future where I’d be able and willing to sell the car to him for a greatly reduced price. And I did, a few years after I bought it. For him it might have appeared as serendipity. For me, it was a future vision I had as his dad.

My son saw his future with this Honda Civic Si and he made it happen, with my help. But every day – check that, every moment – people make choices that create a future they don’t really want. So they say. They find themselves in circumstances that they hate. Jobs they despise. Stuck in places they’d rather not be.

They often refuse to believe that there is anything they can do to remedy their situation. They play the blame game and find many reasons to excuse where they’re at. One of their favorite phrases is, “If only…” If only they had their college degree. If only they had been given the lucky break they saw somebody else get. If only they could make $500 more a month.

If only “if only” would work, they’d be the world’s richest people. But, alas, “if only” doesn’t work. So these people are stuck in a defeated, discouraging life. It’s a life where you don’t look to the future because you’re too busy staring at your shoes. See the man on the right. That man may be YOU. I hope not.

Let’s begin our quest to consider the importance of thinking about our future with the intention of doing something to make it happen!

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Mental toughness has long been a popular area of study for me. It began years ago as I coached little kids. One player with fairly limited skills and abilities would battle through all adversity until he succeeded. Undeterred by difficulty, defeat and failure – this player seemed quick to recover and get on with his pursuit of success. Contrast that player with a much more skilled player who allowed the smallest challenge to defeat him. He’d quickly give up and want to quit. Success just didn’t seem as important to him.

I’d find myself devoting more and more time to the skilled player hoping to encourage him to battle through the tough times. Encouraging this player to not give up sometimes became job one. It had nothing to do with the player’s skill. It was all about this child’s apparent need to learn that adversity is just part of life – and that it must be managed. Sometimes it can be overcome. Sometimes it can avoided. But sometimes, it just must be endured. And it was equally important for me to demonstrate to these young players that we all face challenges. Our success isn’t determined by the size of our adversity, but rather by the size of our willingness and determination to overcome it.

I bought books on mental toughness. I talked with veteran coaches. I even visited with professional coaches. I developed relationships with coaches from all parts of the country. I even tracked down coaches from European countries. I was looking for techniques and strategies that might help young children learning to play a game. The bigger lessons were almost always in the art of tenacity. It was a noble quest – the quest to teach children how to conquer their fears, overcome adversity and keep moving forward.

I despise the “everybody gets a trophy” notion. It robs our children of resolve. It hinders their ability to properly deal with adversity. It gives them artificial expectations. It does not elevates a child’s self-esteem. I’ve looked into the eyes of too many kids to know the futility of sending every child home with a trophy.

No matter what our age there is a simple, profound answer for chasing down a dream – for making sure we endure until our dreams are realized. It’s simply this: make up your mind to outlast your adversity by just one moment!

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People who are still struggling to find success are often tempted to view those who are successful as being “lucky.” It makes them feel better about themselves. And their failures.

We know of many successful people. We know who they are. Some are online celebrities. But, we didn’t see them struggle. We didn’t know them when they were struggling, and poor. Sometimes we incorrectly assume they found success easily. And quickly. Worse yet, we may assume they were always successful.

I get a phone call asking me, “Do all successful people pre-think every action?” Words like “all” scare me. I’ve not found too many instances where broad brushes can properly paint an entire group of people. But I engage the conversation no matter.

I know people who have achieved wild success by shooting from the hip. They’ve not given much thought to anything because they were too busy moving. Sometimes they moved forward. Sometimes they moved backwards. Fast. Some are like those proverbial blind pigs and they did find it – success. Sometimes they hit it BIG.

I know other people who never make a move without giving it serious thought. They pre-think all the variables. They consider the possible outcomes. Nothing happens until they’ve properly considered every available piece of information. And success never comes. Failures happen slowly, but methodically.

There is no one-size-fits-all. However…

I think it’s a mistake to not pre-think our business and career actions. My advice is usually very specific because I rarely find people who share an identical circumstance, knowledge, experience, skill set, ability or opportunity. For the person who takes action – and lots of it – without ever considering the consequences – I encourage them to more carefully consider the possible actions they might take. For the person who thinks – but never acts – I encourage them to abandon another hour of data collection and take some meaningful action based on their current “best” information.

Generally speaking, I always encourage people to pre-think their decisions and actions. Have a strategy. Have a designed purpose. Answer your “why.” Nobody can guarantee success, but we can improve our chances. We can put ourselves in the best possible position. We can attract serendipity with meaningful actions.

You may become successful – we’ll use becoming a millionaire as a metaphor for success – without ever thinking about it. You may also be struck by lightning. Or win the Powerball. But the odds are not favorable. Develop a plan. Be strategic. Map out a route. Then follow that route as you course correct along the way. It will – in my opinion- greatly enhance your chances of success.

Will it happen tomorrow? I don’t know. You don’t know either. Nobody does. What I do know is you’d better prepare for success. You don’t know when you’re going to break through. Map out a strategy. Think about what you do.

Ask yourself questions and take some thoughtful time to answer them. Here’s just a few to help get you started:

- Will this action move me closer to my desired goal? How?

- Will this action be congruent with who I am, and what I’m trying to accomplish? Will it help me become who I hope to be?

Remain focused on what you hope to become. Work hard without being fearful of failing in public. Nobody is taking notes. Nobody is keeping score. That’s what makes today’s world so great. We can dive in without any worry of being embarrassed. Failure isn’t anything to be ashamed of unless you embrace it and allow it to define who you are. It’s merely a temporary state through which all successful people must pass. So, get on with it.

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What do you say when you talk with yourself?

Don’t deny it. You do it.

Out loud? Maybe not, although some of us do.

But we all engage with dialogue with ourselves every day. It’s possible to make those conversations more meaningful.

Self-loathing is not really meaningful dialogue. Beat yourself up all you want and it’s not likely to lead to positive action. If anything, it’s likely destructive – especially if it goes on too long.

“Know thyself” is an ancient Greek inscription. But it’s much more. It’s a lifelong quest that I suspect few of us achieve. All the more reason for us to engage in meaningful conversation with ourselves.

There are a variety of tools and resources you can use to help propel this conversation forward – that talk you have with yourself. I discuss just one such tool. The tool isn’t the important thing. The more important thing is to have the conversation and to make efforts to have a true reading on who we are.

Soar with your strengths. Be congruent. Be genuine. Work hard. Knowing yourself is heavy lifting. Profitable, but heavy.

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Would it be more beneficial to learn from the ground up, as you begin your enterprise? Or, would you be better served by outsourcing those things you don’t know how to do?

Apprenticeships once served to help teach and train artisans. Passing on knowledge to another served everybody. The knowledge and skills of the experienced weren’t lost. The student learned something he hadn’t known before. Society benefited from increased knowledge as the craft became more fully developed.

Today, we’re mostly interested in saving time. There’s no time to learn all the stuff we need to know. Knowledge is hitting us at such a fast pace that we simply can’t keep up anyway.

Skills we lack are also readily available today. From php programmers to simple WordPress installation – we can find people who know what we don’t. Why should we bother?

Maybe, just maybe, we’re not always best served by forfeiting our own learning. It’s possible our longer term success might benefit from learning a few things from the ground up – even if it’s simple, fundamental and basic.

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Send birthday presents to my mailing address located at the footer of this website, http://connectwithrandy.com.

Yes, it’s my birthday. And I’ll cry if I want to. Because I’m quite old. Ancient in Internet years!

My birthday doesn’t really have much to do with today’s show. Well, maybe it does. You decide.

Spend some time in self-examination answering the riddle, “At my best I’m THIS, not THAT…”

I’ve decided to do that myself. Today. On my birthday. Permit me to grant YOU a birthday wish…

Find out what you are best at. Pursue it for all you’re worth. Chase it down. Make it your own. Be remarkable!

Listen to today’s birthday show and you’ll find out who I have a man-crush on. A serious crush. His most recent book speaks to the subject of today’s show!

(This just in – voicemail of Max, grandson #1, singing “Happy Birthday” to me today. Enjoy! I did.)

All the best,

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I’m watching the NHL playoffs and the color commentator says this, “The more comfortable they (the players) are, the better they perform.”

When a team is down by a few goals you’ll regularly hear the announcers say something like this: “They (the losing team) just need to get one goal here so they can start to feel good about themselves, and get back into this game.”

Confidence. Momentum. Comfort. Feeling good about yourself.

These are important ingredients to being remarkable. Without them it’s impossible to become remarkable. It’s an art. One you must practice. One you must engage in daily.

Give today’s show a listen and find a way to incorporate these things into your life. Equally important, find ways to incorporate these into the lives of others. Serving others is a great way to build your own comfort and confidence. Try it.

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Almost daily I hear somebody say, or I read somebody’s writing – and the sentiment of that headline is expressed. The logic seems appropriate.

“Find a way to earn $1000 in your business, then just replicate it and you can earn $10,000.”

This week we’ve got thunderstorms in the forecast. It’s spring time here in Tornado Alley. Go outside during a storm, holding a ten foot metal pole and you can be hit by lightning. Maybe. Maybe not.

You might be able to walk outside without a pole and be struck by lightning. Or you might be better off with a 12 foot pole. I really don’t know because I’d rather not experience a lightning strike. The fact is, lightning strikes are quite random. Sometimes success – financial success – is equally random. Sometimes.

Life is full of happy and unhappy coincidences. Yes, I believe we can do things to improve our chances. Yes, I think we can make choices that will help propel us toward winning – or losing.

In your quest for a pattern, something you can follow – some step-by-step process you can execute – I wish you well. Sadly, you won’t find it here. Even more sadly, you won’t find it anywhere because it doesn’t exist. Life is simply full of too many variables!

But don’t let me leave you with the wrong idea. There are things you can do to succeed. Success isn’t necessarily random, any more than failure may be. Give yourself improved odds. Listen and I’ll tell you how. Be warned though, you’ll have to listen to the bitter end. You’ll be glad you did though. I promise.

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I’ve been part of many communities or organizations. Back in high school lots of guys wanted to be in different clubs because if you were accepted into certain clubs you could get good looking dates. Some clubs had strict criteria for admission. The National Honor Society required good grades, and solid recommendations from teachers. The sports teams required some athleticism (unless your high school teams weren’t very good).

All of the clubs and organizations had various requirements for admission. The more difficult they were to get in, the more exclusive they were – and typically, the more people wanted inside. The brainiac club (whatever name it was) was the likely exception.

It’s been said that people can only maintain about 150 meaningful connections. That is, we may find it difficult to manage personal connections with more than 150 people. I know some people who find it hard to connect with 1 person. And I know others who can’t seem to stop connecting. So, I’m unsure about that number, but I do tend to think most people wisely limit how many people they truly trust, rely on and consider “close friends.”

But then, there’s the “casual friend” or acquaintance. People we know. People who know us, or know of us. But it’s all virtual, or distant or quite casual. These are not people we’d call up to bail us out of jail if we ever got in trouble. Okay, bad example. These aren’t people we’d call up to borrow their pick up and ask if they’d help us move. That’s pretty personal. Or rude.

Enough beating around the bush. Community. Groups. Clubs. Call them whatever you’d like, but the other day I started thinking of all the groups that are part of my life. Some of them are paid groups. Some are free. At least in dollars. And I have a confession to make. You’re likely to think badly of me when I tell you my confession, but I can’t help it. I won’t lie to you about it.

Most of the groups to which I belong are utterly worthless. Hate me if you want, but it’s true – at least as I see it. Let me explain, if you’ve not shut me out by now.

Do you know how many forums you’re a member of? How many forums have you registered for? How many of them did you abandon over time? Me, too.

How much value do you get from all the groups to which you belong? Have you ever tried to quantify the value?

Well, I have. And I found that almost all the groups to which I belonged were…well, worthless. Now don’t get me wrong. Some of them were terrific time wasters. A few might even have offered some occasional entertainment value. But the time/money to reward ratio was ridiculously low in almost ALL of them.

No, I won’t list them, but I will tell you that I have unsubscribed to quite a few lately. I’ve canceled some subscriptions. I’ve exited the worthless groups to which I was joined. And it wasn’t just “low value” that caused me to do this. It was listening to the lemmings that started my self-examination. I realized that the mass group-think had begun to erode my creativity and productivity. I kept seeing the group collectively applaud the group’s rockstar. I suddenly realized that I was in a group, which necessarily made me just like the others in the group – I had become a GROUPIE.

Can you believe it, me a groupie? It’s true. And I hated myself for it. Come on. I know you can’t be remarkable and be a groupie. You can’t follow the herd and be unique. But in too many instances I found I was spending too much time (and money) doing just that. So, I decided to step out. Yep, I literally and virtually stepped out.

I quit. And it felt very, very good.

I unsubscribed from forums. I unsubscribed from RSS feeds. I canceled some paid forums. I canceled paid memberships. I decided I was going to be more selective with my time, attention and money! And it felt terrific.

You know what it felt like?

It felt the same way you feel if you make up your mind to not check email for a day or two. You just think it’ll kill you, but it doesn’t. In fact, once you embrace it – it feels quite good, doesn’t it? All that stuff you’re afraid you’re missing…you don’t miss at all. Life goes on. Sometimes a better life goes on.

I know your fear. Silence. Not knowing what’s going on. Being out of the loop. I also know why you won’t likely become remarkable. You won’t step out. You won’t say “good-bye” to the crowd. You love the crowd. You love knowing what everybody is saying on Twitter. You crave reading everybody’s Facebook update. You’re terrified that somebody somewhere will say something and you won’t hear it. And you’re petrified that your life will be meaningless without it.

You want to hear what everybody else is saying. Sometimes you want to chime in and tell them how wonderful they are for saying it. And how you agree. You always want to voice your approval of the rockstars in your life. You’re a lemming and you want to run full speed off the cliff. It’s fun. Everybody’s doing it.

YOU ARE WRONG.

So was I.

Most conversations aren’t worth hearing. Most aren’t worth participating in. Most information isn’t profitable in making you better, or in helping you become remarkable. Not every link on Twitter is worth following. Not every Tweet is worth re-Tweeting. Not every book is worth reading. Not every podcast is worth hearing (except for mine, of course). Honestly, sometimes mine aren’t worth hearing. Not every video is worth watching. Not every blog post is worth scanning. It’s a fact and you know I’m right – MOST communication and MOST groups are just not worth your time. Remarkable is scarce!

But, what if somebody says something and I don’t hear it? That’s your fear, isn’t it? Sure it is.

Well, here’s the sad truth. Even if all the conversations were worthwhile (and they aren’t), you couldn’t possibly hear them all anyway. Turn off the TV for a week. Don’t read any blogs for a week. Don’t read anything for a week. I love to read, but I’m telling you – go cold turkey for a week. Disconnect. Step out. Step away. Climb inside your head, with your own thoughts and your own ability to THINK. Write. Craft. Be creative. You won’t miss a thing. Your world won’t stop turning either.

But wait, Randy, what if I had done this when the Apple iPad came out? I wouldn’t have heard all the buzz about it.

So?

Keep following all the social media stars. Keep following all the gurus. Keep buying every offer from your favorite Internet Marketing SuperStar. Keep joining every community where people are gathering. Keep reading all the Twitter feeds. Keep chasing more followers. Keep looking for the secrets, formulas and blueprints. Keep failing. Please, do it…

Because when you refuse to step out from the crowd it makes it easier for the rest of us to become remarkable.

Update Monday, April 26th: You might enjoy this blog/podcast from Remarkable Retail if you’re rather fond of the idea of stepping out. Thanks!

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he,” according to Scripture. Not religious? It doesn’t matter. It’s still true. We behave, perform and become what we think about. Heady stuff, literally.

Have you ever been in a great mood, but you allowed somebody – anybody (even somebody who means nothing to you) – to send you in a tailspin with the slightest comment? Sure. We’ve all done that. Why?

Because we’re often more fragile than we’d like to admit. Feeling good about ourselves is not nearly as easy as we’d like it to be. It takes work. Sadly, too many people don’t give it the effort it deserves.

So, we plod along each day. We lumber through our day just trying to get by – hoping for the end to come soon. The end of our work day. The end of our chores. The end of the daily tyranny, whatever form it takes.

And if somebody or something isn’t imposing tyranny on us, we’re busy imposing it on ourselves. We often defeat terrific ideas because we never get them out of our head. They’re defeated quickly by our fears, or other feelings that destroy us, choke our initiative and make us feel lousy.

Yogi Berra was onto something when he said, “Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.” So is success!

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I love this book. It’s ancient now. I think it was published back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, in 2007.

Marci Alboher is the author. Visit her website here.

We all have slashes behind our name. The more ambitious we are, and the longer we live – the more slashes we seem to collect. I have a few of my own.

Tiger Woods. Enough said.

Jerry Jones made the news this week. After the hoopla hit, Jerry made a statement.

This morning a message hit my inbox containing a variety of headlines relating to the furniture retailing industry. One headline mentioned a CEO who got behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated. He hit and killed a man. A husband. A father of two. Dead. Because a man skillful enough to become a CEO (that’s one slash behind his name) failed to be remarkable in another area of his life.

I’d challenge you, and encourage you, to work toward making yourself remarkable in every area of your life.

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“I just can’t seem to get started,” she says.

I say, “Why?”

She says, “I’m not sure. I’ve got plenty of good ideas. At least I think they’re good.”

“What makes them good ideas?” I ask.

“I think they’ve got great potential,” she answers.

“Define potential.”

She stumbles, but replies, “Well, I think they’d be valid in the marketplace. I think they’ve got income potential.”

“How much income have you earned from any single one of the ideas?”

“Well, noting yet, but…” she replies. “Exactly,” says me, Mr. Smarmy. No action. No starting. No income. No remarkability.

Starting is a challenge for lots of people. But so is stopping. Some folks can’t ever get going and others, workaholics – can’t seem to stop. Balancing our quest for income with the meaningful people in our life – it’s a never ending challenge. Being remarkable in one area of life – does it require that we completely sacrifice other areas of our life? Is it possible for us to be a complete person who is remarkable in all areas of our life?

Mentioned in today’s show is this video of ESPN’s Sports Science (I incorrectly identified it as a Sports Illustrated production). Watch the video on Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportscience/index

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Think. The admonition is given by parents to their teenage children. Students are exhorted by teachers. Employees hear it from the boss. Think.

It’s not that easy. If it were, everybody would be doing it. Clearly, not everybody is.

While there are plenty of idiots roaming the planet, there are other well-intended, well-educated and reasonably smart people who fail miserably – to think! None of us are immune from the dangers of delusion. And that’s really what it is, delusion.

We’re often deluded to think that if only we had what the other guy has, then our life would be better. If only my boss weren’t such a jerk, then I could enjoy my job. If only people would buy my stuff, then I could quit this job I hate and venture out full-time pursuing my passion.

The Ignorance Is Bliss Syndrome can affect people in one of two ways. One, people can see an opportunity – or what they perceive is an opportunity – and believe it’s easier than it really is. Two, people can an opportunity – or what they perceive is an opportunity – and believe it’s more difficult than it really is. I’ve often encountered both groups.

Lately, I confess I’ve encountered a lot more of the first group though. I suspect it’s because they’ve fallen prey to the Internet marketer who is selling the dream of easy living. Create the life you want. Design it how you’d love it to be. Now, buy my product and PRESTO! You, too, shall have the life you always dreamed about.

But the reality hits – hard – and that dream often becomes the nightmare. Higher credit card debt. Crushed dreams. The reality that it wasn’t as easy as they said – or implied – it might be. The Internet is littered with websites of people who thought, “If I just build it, they will come.” They built it, and nobody even noticed though.

How can we remedy this? What can we do to protect ourselves? Today’s show is merely today’s attempt to spur you to THINK. Thanks in advance for listening.

I wish you all the best…but we both know you’re going to suffer some defeat. That’s okay. Join the rest of humanity as we all struggle to find our way. THINK and enjoy the journey because we’re all just mortals here. Nothing more.

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This is art. Of course I would think so because Jerry Van Amerongen has given me more value than I can calculate. His creativity affects me. Daily.

How?

For starters, I’m a faithful daily fan of Ballard Street, his cartoon.

Additionally, I’m a paying customer. Hanging in my studio are four of his Limited Edition Giclee Prints. I look at them every single day. Jerry impacts my world. In a good way.

His passion serves me. It alters my feelings. It can positively change my emotions.

I’m also a paying customer because I’ve purchased all of Jerry’s books. My personal Facebook page consists almost entirely (and solely) of me posting his daily Ballard Street cartoon – so I’m not just a non-paying fan, and a loyal paying fan, but I’m an evangelist for him, too.

Seth Godin’s most recent book, Linchpin, speaks to the issue of art better than I ever could.

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I love books. I love to read. I am almost always surrounded by books.

A recent post in a private forum by a social media star provoked today’s podcast. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it encourages you to become a reader, if you aren’t already. Among the biggest benefit of books – they can make you THINK.

What we think is important. Our thoughts engineer our behavior. Our behavior determines our outcome. Reading, learning and thinking are important. Taking action is urgent. Do both and you’ll drastically improve your success!

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Are you a member of a community where you feel really comfortable? A place where you’re instantly connected?

Sometimes it can be tough to find a place where our sense of belonging kicks in right away. Today, we can be members of more communities than ever before. No longer are our connections limited to those who live and work near us. Proximity isn’t defined geographically any more. It’s more properly defined by interests.

Commonality is the key to community. What do we share? How are we alike? Those common denominators tend to be how we establish community. How can we find where we fit best? How we attract others who fit with us, and our community?

Two communities that I’ll specifically name in today’s show are Teaching Sells and Third Tribe. I’m rather fond of both and I’ll tell you why I’m a member of both of those communities. And neither of them are free!

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All this talk about pursuing passion presupposes that if you aren’t chasing your passions, then you are miserable!

I don’t find that’s often the case though.

People are going about their lives, doing what they must do to support themselves and their families, and while they’re not jumping for joy every moment of every day – they’re not miserable. Yet, all the passion talk would have them feel that if they’re not really living the life of their dreams, then their success will always be limited and their lives will always consist of quiet (or sometimes loud) despair.

That’s a crock! And I’ll tell you why.

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Lots of people will buy easy answers. A click here. A mouse move there. Really, it’s easy. You just sit back and watch your bank account swell.

Passive income. It’s all the rage. We sit back. Do nothing. And makes lots and lots of money. It’s great!

It’s also killing us. It’s destroying families, in one way or another.

It’s killing careers.

It’s killing companies.

It may even be killing our country. But I’m apolitical so I’ll steer clear of that. I will, however, throw down a 4-letter word on you. Brace yourself.

By the way, I call this episode 1 even though I’ve recorded prior shows. Gotta start somewhere – so here it is. Fitting that it begins with this word, too.

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You may not want to. You may really want to earn more than you’re worth, especially if you’re worthless.

I have a personal story to tell. As a consumer. A customer’s perspective. The fellow I hired ended up earning exactly what he was worth.

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