Equipment may ultimately help the creative type succeed, but there is no equipment in the world that knows the precise moment when to click the shutter and capture art.
Sometimes it’s best to just stop and stare out into space soaking up the view, looking at the task ahead and remembering just how beautiful life can be.
Pic is from Joe Piccola’s wedding this past weekend in Lake Tahoe. Joe and his freshman year roommate take a moment to reflect and look ahead.
Read them. Print them. Post them where you can see them.
It’s too easy to forget in this hyper-connected world, where celebrities’ reputations die in seconds and commentators spew loud opinions from their talking heads in pressed suits, that the world isn’t about reaching perfection, but about striving to be better. Those who push boundaries, take risk, help others, and most importantly leave nothing on the table are the ones who lay down at night and smile. They might be broke, out of a job, at a loss for direction, but they are the innovators, the creators, and the brave few who challenge the impossible and try try again.
What have you deemed impossible and thus holding back from?
“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enought to know they were impossible.” ~ Doug Larson
“Never tell a young person that something can not be done. God may have been waiting for centuries for somebody ignorant enough of the impossible to do that thing.” ~ Dr. J. A. Holmes
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” ~ Saint Francis of Assisi
“Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.” ~ Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis
If you’re not bat-shit crazy with a bit of sensibility then what the hell are you doing with your life?
Like some who are addicted to TED, I’ve found a deep love for the Commonwealth Club of California. Most of their talks are available as podcasts and feature personalities ranging from Ted Turner to Gwen Ifill, but the most surprising as of late was Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and author of The Pluto Files. During his talk he answers questions about Pluto’s demise, why it didn’t exactly match up to be a planet and what a young boy sent him when he learned his favorite planet was no more. The hour-long talk is entertaining, refreshing and well worth a quick listen to.
To download the podcast either check out the Commonwealth’s Apple Store page or go here.
Comments from the 5th annual Magazine Publishers of America digital magazine conference.
Rodale executive vice president and group publisher MaryAnn Bekkedahl, on charging for online content: “People have been talking for a long time about how the consumer is in control—I think it’s time we should take back control, and set the policies.”
Bekkedahl adds: “The 23-year-old on an iMac in the café—people are beginning to realize that isn’t great content. He doesn’t have the experience.”
So much to say, but I’m only 26 so I guess I should just keep my mouth shut and go back to taking unpaid internships.
- Quotes thanks to Folio Magazine by Dylan Stableford
Write it down. Post it somewhere. Don’t forget it.
“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” ~ Robert Anthony
Answer this: If you could drop everything, without consequence, and follow one dream, what would it be?
Now think about what is stopping you? The barriers that immediately shut down your idealism. Are they able to be breached? Are they materialistic? Are they family based? Are they rooted in fear?
My dream?
The Six Degrees of Separation Project
The Mission: America needs to remember its beauty – The idealism that has captivated millions to risk death just for a chance to succeed. To jump borders. Leave family. Drive a taxi by day, go to school at night. America needs to hear the stories of idealism beyond Disneyesque packaged prime time. The need to see the faces of struggling entrepreneurs. Stay-at-home mothers. Hourly wageworkers. Wall Street wonders. The project will link together, using the philosophy of six degrees of separation, the everyday fabric of our lives.
Execution: I would start out with one person, and listen to their story. That one person would then be responsible for introducing me to the next individual. I would then listen, learn, and document their story. The individual would then be responsible for introducing the next person. The catch, however, is the person cannot introduce me to a person the previous person knows. I also will need to spend at least one night with the selected individual, so I can accurately portray a sliver of their life.
Deliverables: By meshing my love for storytelling with technology, I will produce a variety of multimedia components: video, written word, photography, podcasting, GPS oriented content to name just a few. The project would be available via a website, and social networking tools.
The Crux: Before embarking I would compile a bucket list of goals: be a guest on the Tonight Show, run a marathon in a major city, help a kid learn how to throw a baseball, learn how to sail, and have dinner with the President. That I wish to complete during the trip.
Barriers: Capital. That’s it.
My Challenge to You: If you feel as though reaching your goal is out of reach, help me reach mine. I will make a promise to fulfill on this. All I need is a little help. This does not necessarily mean just cash, though that will put some gas in my tank. A simple introduction may be more than enough.
What would this take? Honestly, I’m not sure. Startup costs would be roughly 5K to get the appropriate equipment and website built. Then it’s a matter of gas, food, and enough cash so when I stay with a stranger I can cook them dinner, or take their kids out for ice cream. Ideally I would start in Colorado, and work east.
It is also important to note that I am not just asking for a handout to travel without risk to myself. I am willing to put my own capital behind this journey, as well as my personal name and time. Several people noted that “this seems a little strange,” and “I’m not sure what my first impressions are,” which is more than reasonable. I will work on answering these questions in a more detailed post shortly, but for now I wanted to just put the idea out there.
Think you can help? Let me know. If I can raise 20k I will hit the road and follow a life-long dream, which will hopefully change one persons life for the better.
Note: 20K is also equal to 200 folks taking a $100 chance. Broken up, anything is possible.
Please feel free to circulate this post to whomever you like.
If you don’t know me and would like to talk, please feel free to give me a ring at 303.406.1876 or email me directly at timshisler (at) gmail (.com) – I will be more than willing to answer any of your questions.
A dear friend of mine recently passed along, J.R. Moehringer’s recent memoir The Tender Bar, and since all three of her children work in bars, and usually are pretty good at getting into trouble without going too far, reading it was a no-brainer.
Last weekend after a perfect bluebird day here in Colorado, six inches of snow kept me indoors and restless. Wrapped up, sitting on the floor, I opened The Tender Bar and started to read. Four hours later I set the book down, went out and bought a 12 pack of beer, then promptly preceded reading. Ten beers later, I was done.
The following are two passages that stuck out:
J.R. talking about his cousin’s baseball career
I understood that my cousin was a budding major leaguer. He was a dedicated craftsman, and the rewards he’d gained from hard work went far beyond mastering a slider and a change. He’d mastered himself. He knew that hard work was the right path for a man, the only path. He wasn’t paralyzed, as I was, by the fear of making a mistake. When he bounced a pitch in front of me, or threw it over the head, he didn’t care. He was experimenting, exploring, finding himself, and finding his way by trial and error to a kind of truth. No matter how foolish he looked on a pitch, no matter how badly he missed the target, with the next pitch he was focused, confident, relaxed. He never once that afternoon lost the look on his face that he’d worn when we were boys. He was working hard, but he’d never stopped playing.
J.R. remembering a conversation he had over scotch with a priest on his way home from Yale
“Can I tell you something?” the priest asked. “Do you know why God invented writers? Because He loves a good story. And He doesn’t give a damn about words. Words are the curtain we’ve hung between Him and our true selves. Try not to think about the words. Don’t strain for the perfect sentence. There’s no such thing. Writing is guesswork. Every sentence is an educated guess, the reader’s as much as yours. Think about that the next time you curl a piece of paper into your typewriter.”
