The Rush

Your Puzzle

Nate — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:25:38 +0000

A book isn’t meant to provide a plan for your life. It’s meant to turn on parts of yourself that have been dormant. Not one book will have ‘the fix’ for you. It may contain a piece of a puzzle. But the whole picture? Only you know what it look like, and so only you can put the puzzle together. It will be different than anything or anyone you have come across so far. If it wasn’t what would be the point?

Criticism and Embracing Your Nuttiness

Nate — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:46:00 +0000

Lent has begun. For lent I have decided to give up speaking on Sundays. It seems like a interesting thing to do, and I hope I will gain new insights from it.

The challenging part is telling other people about it. Right in the middle of lent there is a Bowl-a-thon on a Sunday to support a local chairty. I told the people I am going with that I will not be speaking, but I’ll still come. “You’re a nut,” was the response. “Yup,” was mine.

I can try to fight criticism and convince them of my sanity, but it’s not worth it. Yea we are all a bit crazy. The critics are afraid of their craziness. I feel they are trying to bring me back to normal so they can feel better about their mediocrity. I don’t want normal. I’m ok being crazy. I want to experience life in different ways. It hurts a little, because the critics are my friends. It make you wonder which is more desirable: Being crazy alone or me mediocre with company?

Losing

Nate — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:36:46 +0000

Sometimes I lose. I lost late last week when I was impaired with a cold. I did not feel like doing anything. I did not consult my to do list. I did not try to direct the elephant. I lost. I watched youtube clips of Judge Judy and Family Fued(Steve Harvey as the host) all day.

Needless to say it was not a productive end of my week. When I started feeling better, I didn’t ‘get back up’ I ignored my to do list, and just did what I felt like doing. These were tasks I needed to do, but probably not the most important tasks.

Finally when the weekend arrived, I trashed my to do list. I started over. I took all the items off, and rethought about why they were there and what needed to be done.

Sometimes I lose. This time I can blame it on the cold, but it’s not always the case. Losing is apart of the process. Adjust and move on.

Fantasy Basketball And The Illusion of Progress

Nate — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:47:17 +0000

I play fantasy basketball. Every morning I wake up, go to my computer and see how ‘my’ team did. I enjoy it but at the same time, I find it disturbing. As someone who values development and progress, this is quite a distraction. I can’t find the energy to wake up and exercise, write, read, develop my side business, or some other productive endevor, but I can spend 15-20 minutes checking out how ‘I’ did.

As a self aware person, I’ve learned to step back and ask why. Why do I like fantasy basketball? What is so addicting and intruiging about it?

First, I’m good. Anyone who has played fantasy sports knows if you suck, you don’t pay attention. I’m almost always in the top 3 in fantasy basketball.

Second, I can see progress daily. I think the most compelling/addicting point of any fantasy sport, you get instant feedback. The players play a game, you get the rewards/punishment. It’s instant. You don’t have to wait, it’s not subliminal, it’s out there and you can see it.

Third, I get rewarded for other men’s hard work.

Life isn’t like fantasy sports. I’m good at life, but I don’t see daily progress and I have to do the work. I put work in and then I have faith that what I’m doing will bear fruit *sometime* in the future. Life is built off faith. Fantasy Basketball is built off instant gratification.

App Idea: An app or website that gives you points for daily activities(self recorded). But instead of giving you points ont he same day, you get points tomorrow, one month, 6 months, and 1 year from when you complete it.

An add on to that would be to have a team of people who share the app and you get points for having them in your group.

I wish my addiction to fantasy basketball was an addiction to improving my life. For now, I will enjoy the season and hope I win. I will try to think of some method to translate that into my own, real, life.

Baubles

Nate — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:09:02 +0000

I’m scatterbrained. I have been following a fairly steady path for a while now, but I get distracted SOO easily. I’m a computer guy. My path follows those lines. But other things seem so interesting. Playing music, speaking foreign languages, reading 4 books a day, travelling, volunteering. quitting my job, starting an impact project. The list goes on, and it will change. If I document all the ‘cool’ ideas I’ve had over the past year, it’s a lot. And it’s distracting. Because they seem so cool, I get excited, and I want to go after them.

Sometimes I forget the path I’m on is pretty awesome. It’s easy to get side tracked. It’s worthwhile to stay focus. I can be a crappy piano player or I can be a really great computer guy. Focus.

The Awesomeness of Ideas

Nate — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:00:31 +0000

Ideas are awesome aren’t they? It is fun to think of what could be.

If you’ve ever brought your idea to someone, you know that is where ideas stop being fun. Why? Because they expect YOU to follow through on that idea.

Want to have real fun? Take your idea, present it to someone with decision making power, and accept the full responsibility of seeing that idea from beginning to end.

Ideas in action. Less fun. More fulfillment.

Stop searching in the wrong direction.

Nate — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:04 +0000

You search to answer the reasons why you doubt yourself. Why can’t you stay focused? Why aren’t you committed?

Don’t.

Instead search for the reasons that inspire you. Then twist that into something beautiful, new, and something that will resonate with the world you want so desperately to change.

You are unique, but you are not original.

It’s impossible to be original. From the moment you were taken out of your mother’s womb you began looking at others. You crafted your story, your view of the world, from each person you passed and every path you crossed. You were made from a thousand experiences, without which you would be a different person.

Ask yourself: Some people touch(ed) you deeper than others. Why? Some experiences are more vivid, and make life seem more alive. Why? Some songs, even from the same album, get played 10x as often. Why.

Stop searching for why you aren’t good enough. Search for what moves you, and let it work it’s magic.

Live Life To the Fullest

Nate — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:41:30 +0000

Every one knows I’m all about living life to the fullest quotes. I’ve created a new site and I’d like you all to check it out. It’s beautiful and clean. Enjoy.

I Need Your Help

Nate — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0000

What you are really saying is, ‘I need you, please figure all this out for me.’

No? Complete this sentence: “I need you, please do ___, ___, and ___”. If you can’t fill in the blanks, then you don’t ‘need’ someone to help you, you need someone to do it for you.

Motivation

Nate — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:00:38 +0000

If you doubt yourself read this.

Stand and fight. The world needs you now. It needs strong brave warriors who won’t give in at the first sign of trouble. It needs your courage, it needs your intellect, it needs your spirit, and most importantly you it needs you to fight! Don’t not surrender. Do not give up. A pure mission will guide you through the darkest of times, let it. Follow your mission like a flower follows the sun. You are amazing, unique, one of a kind. The world can not replace you,and we can not find another you. That makes you very important. We need you to keep going, to succeed. No matter how small the next action may be, take it. Don’t look back, keep moving forward. The battle is never over, and we must prevail.