Day 1 of 30 — “30 Things About Me Experiment”
Embracing discomfort and authenticity by sharing more about me that you might not know! (New project inspired by Mark Whitehand.)
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Venture 15 was the beginning of a lot of positive changes in my life and it has helped me to create a Manifesto that I now live by.
Venture 15 was the beginning of a lot of positive changes in my life and it has helped me to create a Manifesto that I now live by.
One of my biggest changes began in 2015 when I embarked on a quest that I titled, “Venture 15.”
It sounds silly when I explain it that way, but it’s pretty accurate for how it’s felt for me.
There’s been a fundamental shift between who I am now and who I was before I started 2-3 years ago.
I spent years playing “what if” until a close friend challenged my perspective about this idea of “creating the life you want to live.”
That you don’t have to go with the flow, doing what others expected.
At the time I didn’t think I was really capable of much.
But this shift in perspective started to open doors in unexpected ways.
Venture 15 began with an investment in myself that I wasn’t comfortable making.
But that was a tipping point for so many great things in my life.
It’s been up and down ever since.
On one hand, I’ve accomplished more in 2 years than I’ve probably done most of my life.
I’ve hit some of the highest accomplishments and pushed through some of my biggest fears.
I’ve found new hobbies and made new friends.
But,
I’ve also had some of the most crippling lows that I’ve ever had.
It’s hard for me to get out of the ditches I dig for myself.
Life is very “stop and go.”
Despite the wildly drastic extremes, it’s been worth it.
Things haven’t been the same – for the better.
Because when I made that decision to make a change, and ACTUALLY followed through…
It was JUST enough of a “tease” of a new life to realize I would never be satisfied if I went back to the way things were before I started.
Through all of the discoveries, the triumphs, the ditches, the new perspectives…
There was one thing I’ve realized:
There’s no way in hell I’m going to get anything that I aim for.
Unless I actually continue to put one foot in front of the other in order to stay on the edge of my comfort zone.
So what changed for me? Over the past two years, Venture 15 caused me to create an ethos to “Live a story worth telling.”
What’s worth telling is subjective of course.
I’m not looking for validation.
Some people might like it,
others won’t,
and most won’t really give a damn.
All of which are fine.
I spent a long time trying to get validation from others.
It’s still a work in progress to realize it has to come within.
But this idea of “living a story worth telling” has been my ethos for life.
Doing things that piqued my curiosity
Doing weird things that made no sense
Meeting people I had no business talking to
Doing things I literally thought were impossible
or terrified me in some way.
Venture 15 gave me this new impetus to “do.”
And while I may not be as accomplished as most people, I know that progress is relative. We all grow up in different environments, have different drives and passions. etc.
And in relation to who I am now vs. years ago: progress has been made.
Scattered progress, but it’s progress nevertheless.
I began with hundreds of “goals” (a la bucket list).
I didn’t accomplish everything I set out out do
(in fact, most of them)
But it was akin to throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
It was a necessary step in the beginning for me.
(see Tarzan Method: https://youtu.be/Lg_6wJV6Buk?t=25m7s)
It caused me to EXPERIENCE far more in less time than I ever have.
Since then I’ve been able to narrow it down to 5 primary directions that I want to pursue.
(No surprise that most of them involve WCS & dance in some way.)
In my (ad)venture through the years, I’ve since created a Manifesto that helps me to encapsulate the way I want to approach life:
LIVE A STORY WORTH TELLING.
> To do exciting things that I’m interested in and to do so in a way that maybe, hopefully, inspires others to go after what they want – just as many others have done for me. “Doers,” storytellers and creators of the world are my admiration.
BE UNRECOGNIZABLE IN 5 YEARS BY 2020.
> Quite frankly I didn’t like who I was before 2015. (It wasn’t all bad.) I’m always trying to “reset” and make improvements as I move forward. The goal isn’t perfection, but to be incrementally better over time. And then start over and do it again.
CHALLENGE THE IMPOSSIBLE.
> I was inspired by bloggers who challenged this notion of “doing the impossible” in their life. Often times our biggest limitation is ourselves. They chose to do things simply because they wanted to. And that was it.
NEVER SETTLE FOR MEDIOCRITY.
> I don’t want to live an average life. And while I’m a far cry from where I want to be, I know that incremental change is the game. It won’t happen overnight and it’s not going to be a clear shot to get there. I’ll get knocked down more often than I won’t, so I just have to learn to keep getting back up when I stumble.
PLAY BY YOUR OWN RULES.
> What is success? Most people default to “money” and other materialistic indicators (which are fine), but it’s important to me to not do those JUST because it’s what other people are doing. It’s more important to me to live by own metrics and to do things in creative ways.
These will evolve over time, but for now they serve their purpose: to keep me at the edge of my comfort zone.
At the end of the day: to me it’s all about creating an exciting life, even with contrasting euphoric highs and crippling lows.
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Do you have a manifesto?
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Inspired by Mark Whitehand’s “30 THINGS ABOUT ME EXPERIMENT”, a process to get more personal and work on overcoming the fear of judgement/rejection.
You can learn more here:
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