VAMPIRES

LOVE THIS.  BY WHO ELSE?  SETH GODIN 'CAUSE IT'S BRILLIANT.

"Vampires, of course, feed on something that we desperately need but also can't imagine being a source of food.

You have metaphorical vampires in your life. These are people that feed on negativity, on shooting down ideas and most of all, on extinguishing your desire to make things better.

Why would someone do that? Why would they rush to respond to a heartfelt and generous blog post with a snide comment about a typo in the third line? Why would they go out of their way to fold their arms, make a grimace and destroy any hope you had for changing the status quo?

Vampires cannot be cured. They cannot be taught, they cannot learn the error of their ways. Most of all, vampires will never understand how much damage they're doing to you and your work. Pity the vampires, they are doomed to this life.

Your garlic is simple: shun them. Delete their email, turn off comments, don't read your one-star reviews. Don't attend meetings where they show up. Don't buy into the false expectation that in an organizational democracy, every voice matters. Every voice doesn't matter--only the voices that move your idea forward, that make it better, that make you better, that make it more likely you will ship work that benefits your tribe.

It's so tempting to evangelize to the vampires, to prove them wrong, to help them see how destructive they are. This is food for them, merely encouragement.

Shun the ones who feed on your failures."

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/12/the-care-and-feeding-and-shunning-of-vampires.html

ENDINGS

Some things are meant to end.  Let them.

PRESENT

Uncertainty forces us to be present.  Sometimes people misinterpret being present with being still.  While true that we can be still and present at the same time like when we meditate for example.  Being present as we move through our daily lives however, is like moving down rows of fertile ground dropping seeds and moving on.  

In other words, we go about our day consciously living in each moment.  That conscious moment is our existence in the realm of uncertainty caught between the seed we’ve just dropped and the one we’re about to drop and the future desire that the seeds will sprout and grow and yield what we hope for.  

Being present is consciously living in trust and faith, in the uncertainty of whether things will turn out the way we need them to AND nevertheless continuing to drop those seeds of promise as we move along.

365

I was berating myself the other day for not having posted a blog in over 100 days.  What’s the point, I thought, so much time has passed, I can never catch up... and on and on.  Just as anxiety over failure and disappointment started to well up in my chest the little voice that comes from my heart and knows what’s real and true whispered, so what, start again today.

We have 365 chances to start.  There are 365 times Matilda, our primal lizard brain, our ego’s mouthpiece, can shut us down.  Stuck in the middle is our freedom to choose.

The bottom line?  We have 365 opportunities to choose.

What choice have you made today?

I ate badly all week, what’s the point...

OR

So what, I’ll start again today.

I haven’t worked out in a month, I’ll never catch up....

OR

So what, I’ll go today.

I disappointed my kids yesterday, they’ll never trust me again...

OR

So what, I will apologize and follow through on a promise today.

What have you said SO WHAT to today?  I’d love to know.

COWARDS

Rationalizations are for cowards.  If we're engaged in something that involves lying to others but most especially to ourselves then we need to stop rationalizing why it's okay to be cowards.  

LYING TO OURSELVES IS THE GREATEST LIE OF THEM ALL.

CRAP

While we get really annoyed when we have to deal with other people’s crap, it’s our own crap that’s the real problem.  So cherish the individuals in your life who see the authentic you because they’re the only ones capable of shoveling away this crap we so consistently insist on strewing across our own path.