Randy Cantrell is the founder of Bula Network, LLC - an executive leadership advisory company helping leaders leverage the power of others through peer advantage, online peer advisory groups. Interested in joining us? Visit ThePeerAdvantage.com
The proverb is true. The journey of 1000 miles does begin with a single step.
The first step is often tough though. You consider everything that can go wrong. You question yourself about every little detail of the journey.
“What if I screw up?”
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“What if I blow it?”
I have another question, “What if you never start – even small?” You’ll never get any further along than where you are right now. Look around. Get comfortable…because you’re not going anywhere if you’re not willing to go small. Warning: getting too comfortable just looking at the current view will kill any chance you’ve got to get to that mountain peak in the distance!
Go! Move. Take some meaningful action right now!
I don’t know if you’ll ever get where you’re headed, but I know for a certainty that you’ll never get there by sitting still.
Go now. Go small. Figure it out as you go. Keep your eyes open and enjoy the scenery along the way, too.
As Spock would say, “Live long and prosper!”
P.S. My wallpaper photo isn’t the one used in this post, but I really like this one. Visit Indraneel’s Flickr page.
The Reality Distortion Field Might Look Like This. Or Not.
Steve Jobs was accomplished in the art of practicing the reality distortion field. I’m guessing it was an art. It’s not a science. Come to think of it, it’s not even real, or is it?
Today’s show is about something that one listener suggested, but quite a few others had encouraged in the past. For some reason I kept stalling to tackle the subject because frankly – I thought there was quite a bit of talk about it out here on the interwebs.
MINDSET
The importance of the topic didn’t escape me. But neither did the volume of discussions about it, including podcasts, videos, books and blog posts. I figured there surely must be enough content about this to satisfy the interest of most people. Perhaps I was wrong though. Maybe my own cognitive bias was hampering my own content creation.
This is exactly what happens when you ask your audience what they want though. They sometimes tell you. Among the most suggested topics, this was among the top ones listed. Mindset, self-talk, paradigm…these were among the ways listeners defined the topic.
Today’s show is about 45 minutes long. I hope it provokes some thought and creativity. Hey, it might even rile you up a bit, but I doubt it.
I welcome your feedback. Send me a Tweet, or leave me some voicemail.
In the last episode I told you about the re-booting of Bula Network. Here we are in the first show since the re-boot. I feel like I’m running down this long dock ready to launch myself off the end into the biggest cannonball I can muster! Launching is fun.
But today’s show is about my consumption of new media. It’s part of the story about the new direction here. It likely represents the long dock of my life here inside The Yellow Studio.
About 6 years ago I fell in love with podcasts. I don’t remember the first shows I listened to, but I remember in the early days of online audio (before I even knew what RSS meant, or what it could do) being excited at the medium. I’m an audio guy though. A lifelong love affair with music landed me into audiophileland when I was still a teenager. My love of audio persists today in music and online broadcasting.
Now that the About page has been rewritten – and I’m not saying I’m finished with it – it’s time to release this episode. It’s been coming for quite a long time. In fact, for over 2 weeks I’ve sat down to record this episode more times than I can count. Each time I simply decided against it. I don’t think it was fear as much as it was trying to figure out how to tell the story.
This past Saturday I went into The Yellow Studio, muted the sound of the college football game playing on the flat screen, and launched forth. One take (I almost never do multiple takes and I never, ever edit). No script. No notes. I just started to tell the story as briefly as I could – because I know you don’t really care about all the details. Shoot, I don’t even care about them much!
I do care about you. I care that you’ve given me your time and attention. I care about you, and I care about your business and your life. Not in some hokey sort of way, but in a way that’s right. At least it’s right for me. Part of my challenge with the Internet is all the talk of scope and scale. As a business person I fully understand those things, but as a person — I could care less!
For the better part of 6 months I’ve been doing some heavy thinking, which isn’t that easy for somebody whose brain is as small as mine. That explains the headaches.
I reached a conclusion some months ago as I reviewed how many things in my professional life had changed. I surveyed the variety of opportunities coming my way. I examined the people who have entered my life in the last few years. Mostly, I closely examined my contributions, or lack of them. Situations and circumstances where I felt I was doing good work. Others where I definitely was not.
Things change. Thanks to time, circumstances, opportunities and a host of other variables that life slings our way. Weeks, if not months ago, I knew it was time.
For something completely different.
It’s time to move on. It’s time to get going.
BulaNetwork.com ‘s first iteration dies and now is born a new identity, a new purpose –
BulaNetwork.com becomes a new media company.
Today’s show goes behind the scenes to tell you exactly what’s been happening and why. I’d love to hear what you think about it.
As with all effective re-boots, this one means the “finder” gets a fresh start. Whatever happened in the past is now over. Whatever work was in process is now permanently interrupted and gone. The future will now be determined by what happens starting today. This re-boot won’t involve me wiping out all the past though. The previous posts and podcasts episodes will remain. They’re here for archive purposes only though. The future shall not resemble the past!
