Escaping Mediocrity

My friend, leader of the 12 for 12k clan and incredibly smart biz guy, Danny Brown recently shared something with me that I found rather appalling. It is a situation that involves a relatively well-known biz declaring itself to be most un-mediocre and then, behind the scenes of course, revealing it’s true nature.

I have so little patience for that. And, sadly, I see it every single stinking day.

I can’t resist the great lessons in this story so I am going to share it with you.

First, let me tell you the names of the players so you can follow along:

BlogCatalog: a Blog Directory that (and I quote from their site) “bring the voice of the people to you. From breaking news, to personal blogs, we are the largest user submitted blog directory the world has ever seen.”

Selina Eckersall – super savvy platform designer and owner of Sublime Digital Media.

IMHO: an ethical consumer review site where bloggers creatively and candidly review products or services that compliment the content of their blogs, with no marketing persuasion from advertisers. IMHO was a partnership project between BlogCatalog and Selina Eckersall.

Now that you have the cast of characters, here is the story of what went down:

Last year, Selina and BlogCatalog partnered to develop IMHO. Selena agreed to take a one-third ownership in the company and BlogCatalog took a two-thirds ownership. Once this new IMHO platform generated revenue, Selena would be paid. Until that time, she agreed to donate her time, her talent, her vast list of contacts and her marketing expertise to get IMHO off the ground.

BlogCatalog fronted the cash to design, program, and launch the site, form the LLC, draft an operating agreement, and provide cash flow until the business could sustain itself.

Great so far. This is how a lot of startups are set up early on.

Ah, but then the plot turns.

After a very soft launch at SXSW, BlogCatalog noticeably withdrew their attention from the project. When Selena inquired, she was told that they were re-vamping their primary site and that IMHO was on the back burner.

Fair enough. Gotta put attention where the money is being made.

BUT, when Selena asked to take full ownership of IMHO (she had done ALL of the work) so that she could get it launched, things go ugly.

The long and the short of it is that BlogCatalog demanded all of Selena’s designs, resources and copyrights, asked her to delete her account and threatened her with legal action if she made any attempt to contact any members.

Oh and they began diverting members who had signed up for IMHO to another site.

No discussion. No open and honest communication.

And here is the kicker. This is how BlogCatalog publicly describes itself: “about humble opinions about humble companies. Companies that don’t say one thing and do another”.

Now, to  me, it is fine if there a particulars in an agreement that need to be worked out. Or if each side has interests that they want to protect when a parting of the ways comes to the table.

But when you are a company that is declaring itself to be different, to be about sharing opinions, about humility and about doing what you say you will do?

Wow.

Fortunately, Selena walked away from this crazy situation rather than duke it out (you can read her resignation letter here) And I applaud her for that

So here is one of the many lessons I am taking away from this (and I would like to thank BlogCatalog for giving me such an excellent teaching example). A company, or a person, can make their public mission statement say anything they want. And they can keep up the facade for a good long while. But at the end of the day: 1) they have to sleep at night and b) their true nature will be revealed.

For me? I’d rather just be who I am from the beginning. It’s just a whole lot easier.

What say you?

P.S. I am gong to shamelessly self-promote the 30 Days to Creating Irresistible Presence Blog Series now. Read more and sign up here: http://bit.ly/irresistiblepresence

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I have entirely too much stuff.

There are lots of reasons for this state of affairs.

1) I am a child of a child of the depression so I learned not to throw anything away.

2) When my dad died, I inherited both his house packed to the brim with stuff as well as my grandmother’s house packed to the brim with stuff.

3) I like cool stuff. Especially if I think I might be able to use it/wear it someday.

But the situation has gotten out of control. I have clothes I haven’t worn in years (and am not likely to anytime in the near future. I have lamps, rugs and knick-knacks that don’t really suit my style. And I have more books than I will ever be able to read or re-read.

The weight of all of this stuff is starting to strangle me. And it keeps me from being nimble. I mean, how can I trap of mediocrity if I am trapped by stuff?

So, starting today – I am pitching out with a heavy hand.  Here are my criteria:

1) Do I love it?

2) Do I use it?

3) Do I want it?

4) Do I need it?

5) It is worth trading my lightness of foot for it?

Now in the interest is transparency, I’ve reached this place before. Sick to death of my stuff and vowing to get rid of it. But my attempts in the past have been measly really. And last night I hit on why that is.

For some reason giving stuff to the Salvation Army so that it can be re-sold just doesn’t do it for me. There are people in my city who don’t even have the cash or the wherewithall to shop there. And beside, I shop there – and I am not exactly in need. So collecting my donations have been half-hearted at best.

Then I remembered something. There is a place that people go, sometimes in the middle of the night, and arrive with nothing more than the clothes they are wearing. Women, children, even men come to this place and need the very basics immediately. The items that are weighing me down would be a godsend to them. Just the motivation I need.

What is this place, you might be wondering? My local domestic violence shelter.

And if the stuff I complain about, put off decisions about and generally feel encumbered by can give someone a boost toward freedom, I AM IN!

So, starting today, I am cleaning out with a vengeance. All it took was the right connection in my brain.

So, I have three questions for you:

1) Are you encumbered by too much stuff?

2) Are you willing to let go of any of it?

3) Is there someone who would could really USE the things that are just taking up space around you?

P.S. Martha Beck always talks about how our houses is a metaphor for our lives. GULP! I don’t want a life crammed with stuff that weighs me down!

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I love naps. I can think of nothing more decadent and more re-charging that catching a snooze in the middle of the day. On the weekends our entire schedule is built around the whole house taking at least a one hour nap each day. It’s serious business around here.

And, at the request of @WarrenWhitlock, I am going to share with you a) why I believe naps are critical and b) some of my best tips for getting the most from your nap time.

So first, why do I thinks naps are so crucial?

1) We live in a rush-rush-rush, over-stimulating, sleep-deprived world. In fact we kind of glorify how fast we can do something and how little sleep we did it on. This is physically and emotionally unsustainable. Your body will rebel. You will get sick. You will run out of steam. You will b e an emotional mess. It’s just a matter of time.

2) We MUST give ourselves the gift of re-charging. Even if we love what we do, we can’t push ourselves on a indefinite adrenline-fed frenzy. Our brains, that organ we depend on to produce our brilliant work, simply cannot fire on all cylinders without rest. It’s like asking your body to run a marathon while eating one meal a day.

3) Our brains and our subconscious produce fascinating ideas and connections when they are at rest but not in full REM sleep. (REM sleep produces great stuff too – it’s just a different kind of great stuff.)

There are tons of really good reasons for taking a nap. And the media has caught on because I’ve seen articles and shows everywhere talking about how sleep-deprived culture really needs to take another look at napping.  In the comments I hope you will leave your best reason for napping – that will be fun to read!!

So, we know rest and re-charge is critical but lots of people say “I just can’t nap!”. Sometimes napping involves actually sleep occurring and sometimes it is just a chance for our brains to rest, dance around a flit from topic to topic. The point is that we set aside a time (about 20 minutes to start) and a place (more on that in a minute) to let ourselves sink into resting.

Here are some of my best ideas for for creating a naptastic nap.

1) Cool, semi dark room. Even in the winter I like to have a slow fan going. In the summer, a fan makes the covers feel that much better.

2) Your favorite pillow. You have one – I know you do. So make sure it is your napping pillow.

3) A blanket. No need to unmake the bed (assuming you made it), but covers are critical.

4) Take off your shoes, belt – anything that feels constraining. You can’t get comfy if you can’t wiggle your toes.

5) Turn off your cell phone and unplug the house phone. Trust me. Nothing will happen that you can’t handle 20 minutes from now.

6) It goes without saying that you are napping in a different room from your laptop, right?

7) Set your alarm. this will keep you from stressing out about oversleeping if you do actually fall asleep.  Again 20-45 minutes is about as long as a nap should last. Any longer and you may have trouble shaking the cobwebs out of your brain for the rest of the day.

Then again, I learned a lot about napping from a great boss I had in Washington, D.C. After lunch each day, he told me to hold his calls, he closed his office door, and laid down on the floor for 45 minutes falling fast asleep. Find what works for you.

So I am anxious to know your thoughts about napping. Do you nap? Do you resist napping? Do you have nips for creating a great nap environment?!  Please share – you know that is my favorite part.

Photo:

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So yesterday pretty much the entire world was annoying me. Everywhere I turned it seemed I was dealing with an idiot or someone mean or someone who just didn’t get it. And I kept getting crabbier and crabbier and crabbier. Just ask my family members who had to deal with me.

And then – it hit me. If the entire world is irritating, chance are it isn’t the world who has the problem. It’s me.

<SMACK>

One of the great double-edged swords of living this conscious life is that I have to take responsibility for creating my own reality. Having to do that sucks sometimes because, boy, is it easier – and way more palatable – to play the victim and blame everyone else.  It also feels really good, at least for a little while.

But, in the end, it all comes down to me and catching myself in this cycle of pissiness.  And I am going to share a tool with you that I learned long ago that helps me derail bad moods, poor knee jerk reactions, and any other bad behavior that a moment of thought would have prevented.

It’s called the Pause Button.

Just like the pause button on your remote, hitting it stops the action. Why is this a good thing? Because stopping the action give me a chance to breathe, to reflect, to make better choices about how I am thinking and how I am acting.

I remember when I learned about this concept ( I was a grown woman), it was startling to me. “You mean I don’t HAVE to react immediately? You mean my auto-response may not be the best response? You mean I have a CHOICE?”  (Read those words with an indignant tone and you’ll get the drift of my thinking at the time.)

Here’s what I can tell you, though. I have never once regretted hitting the pause button. Not one time. But there have been PLENTY of times when I regretted not hitting it to give myself a chance to breathe, collect my thoughts and proceed in a proactive not reactive way.

So the next time you feel grumpy, reactive, indignant, urgent, angry, try hitting the Pause Button as fast as you possibly can. You be glad you gave yourself the gift of some breathing room.

As for me – well, thankfully I hit the pause button, checked in with @ElizabethPW and @AllisonNazarian, got myself collected and realized that an attitude adjustment on my part would miraculously shift my perception of the world.

P.S. Last of my shameless slef-promotion plugs for a while: You still have time to shift your business into high gear, build a strong foundation and put yourself on the map by joining my eight week coaching program that starts tomorrow (Wednesday), April 14. http://bit.ly/RearInGear

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So I am on the plane flying away from Austin and SXSWi and headed to Tampa to join up with my family. I learned some interesting lessons during my first trip to South by Southwest and I hope you find them useful.

(On Thursday I will write a more in depth article about one of my particular observations, so watch for that.)

*** I must give much much credit for this post to my BFF ElizabethPW. Many of the ‘backchannel” conversations we had while walking around Austin, during our morning coffee time or afternoon downtime are reflected in my list below. ***

Top Ten Things I Learned at South by Southwest:

1. All the cool kids call it “South By”. I still call it either SXSW – and I love hearing Nicky Hajal @tumbledesign actually prononunce that – or “South By Southwest”.

2. I really need to learn how to pack like Jonathan Fields. I brought too many clothes and way too many shoes. Next year: Two pairs of my favorite jeans,  a few shirts, a hoodie and two pairs of shoes.

3. You don’t need to by a pass. Chris Guillebeau shared this tip with me in January and because Chris really knows his stuff, I followed his lead. And if SXSWi keeps it’s current setup (the subject of Thursday’s post), you can get a ton of value and only experience minor inconveniences without a pass.  Conversations can happen everywhere, connections can happen everywhere and a sxswi badge does not enhance either of those experiences.

4. Set up the how/when/where of connecting with important people BEFORE you arrive in Austin. I missed seeing some people I really value just because I didn’t coordinate beforehand. Once the bedlam of South by Southwest begins, tracking people down becomes incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

5. Be very solid about who you are before you arrive in Austin.  The air around SXSWi can get very thin and very heady. Are you the kind of person who is going to run from party to party or chase after Gary V.’s flash wine tastings or not. It’s really easy to fall into the trap of thinking you are missing something if you aren’t at this place or connecting with these high profile people. It can be tempting to starting doing things or behaving in a way that isn’t reflective of who you truly are.

6. Know your limits. Because I am primarily an introvert, I have to know what I can and can’t do if I want to protect my energy. Even extroverts can get overwhelmed by the crazy schedule of events. Being aware of what you need to keep your energy and be your best, most authentic self is critical in such an intense environment.

7. Introduce yourself. I can’t tell you the number of parties/events I attended where people did not do this. They stuck with their crowd and didn’t open their energy to including new people. It doesn’t take much to smile and make contact.

8. Be kind. There are two heroes of my sxswi experience that I will thank privately because they, like me, are introverts. They are so well connected and were incredibly kind to introduce me to people, finagle invitations for me to closed parties and check in with me from time to time. I tried to be kind to others with the limited time/contacts I had. Being kind costs nothing and means so much to the recipient.

9. Most of the public parties are not designed for connecting and conversing with people you don’t already know. This makes me sad because that is the one thing I heard people craving over and over again. BUT if you know these mega-parties are loud and often dark, you can set your expectations accordingly.

10. Sometimes when you meet the people you know online, they are way WAY better than you even imagined. And sometimes, they totally suck. I experienced both. It was a great reminder that people can put forth whatever personality they want to online. The only way to determine it’s truth is to meet them in real life.

Bonus: Have a roommate or core person who really gets you at this event with you. It is overwhelming at best and being able to decompress and debrief in a completely transparent way is critical.

Those are the biggest takeaways I am bringing home from South By Southwest. If you have questions about it, ask away. I can’t promise I know the answer, but I will do my level best.

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Since I’ve Burned The Ships and am Playing to Win, now it’s time to get this thing started!!

And, to set the mood, today’s post has a theme song (I highly recommend spinning this tune while you continue reading.): http://tinysong.com/7k4S

Lots of people have asked me how I get started or what starts me up or how I find a place to begin.  I so wish I had a magic somethin somethin that I could share for how I start, but I don’t.  What I do have are some tools that I use when I know I want to get something underway, but can’t quite figure out how.

I didn’t think up any of these, by the way. I read them, borrowed them and adapted them mostly from Julia Cameron, author of the Artist’s Way, and Anne LaMott, author of Bird by Bird – oh and of course my mentor, Martha Beck.

After I list the tools I use, I am REALLY hoping you will add to the list by sharing yours. This way there will be lots of ideas and something for everyone.

Here we go:

1) I walk/exercise without listening to my ipod. This keeps me from tuning out or what is going on around me and I can pay attention. I notice things, people, color, texture – all kinds of things that engage my brain – that are numbed out if tunes are cranking in my ears.

2) I write something everyday. Sometimes it’s publishable, sometimes it’s not. Finding my true voice is a lot like peeling an onion and the only way I know to pull back the layers is to put my voice on paper everyday.

3) I try things. When I get an idea for something, I try it out in some small way. Maybe I ask some trusted colleagues about it, or I tweet about it or I write a blog post about it. Taking a small action on it keeps it from remaining in my head as “just another good idea”.

4) I ask myself this question (a LOT): “What is the smallest step I can take on this – so small that I know I can complete it without fail?”

5) I just start. I know that sounds simple, but I’m really good at getting ready to start, reading more about starting, gathering my “stuff”, etc. For me, these are just delay tactics to keep me from starting.

And at the end of the day, here’s the one thing I always try to remember: I don’t have to be certain to begin; I just have to begin.

So now it’s your turn (my favorite part!). How do you get yourself started?

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If you’ve been following along the last few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that my blog posts have gotten quite Ernest, Sincere and Serious (I capitalized these on purpose). It seems that I fell into the trap of “escaping mediocrity is serious business” thinking.

And some days, it is serious. It requires that I be more than I think I can be, make choices I don’t think I can make, and push myself into places I’m frightened to go.

So I sit and think, and write, and ponder about all of this and then…..

My seven year old son asks “Hey mom, can you make Snickerdoodle pancakes?”

And I realize that there is this whole other piece to escaping mediocrity that I’ve been totally neglecting.

It’s the part about having fun. It’s the part about playing. It’s the part about looking up the recipe or the instructions (or making up either of those if necessary) for something I’ve never done before – simply because.

And if the holiday season can’t bring out the playful kid in me, I am doomed.

So, I said to my son, “I’ve never made snickerdoodle pancakes but they sound delicious. Let’s find a recipe and make them!!”

(I tweeted about this on Sunday and many of you asked for the recipe. I found two which are posted below.)

We measured, we stirred, we laughed when the sugar dumped over. We even cut the top off of a squeeze bottle so we could make funny faces and shapes in the pan.

And when we ate them….mmmm…it was like eating a warm cinnamon sugar cookie with butter and maple syrup. And we reveled in the edible masterpiece we created.

And all the capital E effort I can muster will NEVER be able to duplicate that most UNmediocre split-second in time.

I’m thinking this might be the secret gas pedal for my escape plans. Just to make sure, I plan on experimenting with more fun, play, laughter and doing stuff just because it sounds like fun.

Wanna come decorate cookies with me?!

Snickerdoodle Pancakes Recipe #1:

2 eggs (can use egg whites only if preferred)

¼ cup sugar

1 1/4 c milk

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (to taste)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Beat together eggs and sugar with a wire whisk or electric mixer. Then add the milk and stir.

2. Add vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.

3. Stir in flour until batter is smooth and thick to the point that it coats the back of a spoon.

4. Pour onto a non-stick griddle or frying pan.

5. Flip when exposed top is bubbly and the edges of the pancake are drying.

6. Serve with your choice of syrup, fruit topping or as a desert with ice cream.
Snickerdoodle Pancake Recipe #2

2 cups Pancake Mix

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

11/4 cups milk

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

In medium bowl, stir together pancake mix, brown sugar, chocolate chips and salt. Add milk, egg, butter and vanilla. Stir with a whisk until blended. For each pancake, pour 2 tablespoons batter onto lightly greased and preheated 375°F griddle (medium heat). Cook 11/2 minutes per side, turning only once.

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Whew. I am still recovering from setting my ships on fire and watching their smoldering remains slowly sink in the harbor.

My stomach is still a tad topsy-turvy and I feel slightly disoriented. But you know what? There’s no way home so I best got hopping on on my game plan.

Which brings me to today’s post.

See, I’ve written game plans before. I’m very good at them really. And I can fill all the pertinent details and even execute them with precision. Knowing “how” to do something is one of my specialties. I can fill my days, my weeks, my months and my life with executing the “how’s”.

And that is playing not to lose. Let me explain.

(Just for clarity, the rest of this post is about me and my biz, not the work I do with my clients. I push them to the point of insanity. Really. Just ask them.)

I am a small business strategist. It is my job to assess a business goal and build the very best strategy to achieve it. I don’t like guessing at outcomes; I like controlling them. And if I can’t control them or know them ahead of time, I’m not stepping out. Minor risk is ok, but nothing that will liquidate major assets (cash and otherwise) is acceptable.

To make it sound savvy and smart, I’ve called it “calculated risk” (which, just so you know, I think is a wise thing). But I wasn’t mapping out “calculated risk”, I was mapping out safety nets and cautious progress. Just push the envelope a teeny bit here, try not to make too many people mad, try this little thing over here that *might* work. I think  you get the idea.

Why would I do that? Because if I don’t try too hard or care too much, I won’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t work

I was playing NOT to lose.

But now that I’ve burned my ships, here’s what I know: crippling caution will not serve me; it will get me killed.

Yes, I need to read the lay of the land and decide exactly where I am going (which I will finish up tomorrow) and then I MUST strike out boldly. (Remember that saying “Fortune favors the bold.”? I believe it.)

Now is my time for Playing To Win.

Let me give you a few distinctions on Playing to Win vs Playing Not to Lose. (And I am REALLY hoping you will add yours to the list in the comments.)

“I’m gonna knock this out of the park!” vs. “Gee, I wonder if anyone is going to like this?”

“Here’s what I have to say about that.” vs. “Saying what I think might make the wrong people angry.”

“I have what it takes to make this succeed.” vs. “I wonder if I know enough to do this?”

“I can slay the field.” vs. “I want the field to like me so I won’t try too hard.”

“I will push all my chips to the center of the table.” vs “I holding a pile of chips back in case I need them.”

“I deeply care about this.” vs. “I think it will sound good if I say I care about that.”

“I dug down and gave it my best.” vs. “Meh, I really didn’t try that hard anyway.”

“I love you.” vs. “I’m not telling them because they may not feel the same way.”

I think you get the idea.

So, as always, I’m hoping I’m not alone in shifting my game from playing not to lose to playing to win. AND, I’m hoping you have a PTW vs PNTL you will share in the comments, too.

Who’s in?!

(And you are feeling a big YES to all this, please check out my upcoming blog series 30 Days to Changing Your Game.)

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So I was on a coaching call with my amazingly fabulous coach Andrea J. Lee and we were doing our typical stuff “I’m, working this….I needs help with that…” when suddenly, in true AJ Lee style, the conversation turned to the stakes I am playing for.

First she asked, “What would you let stop you?”

I felt so smart and smug, “Well Andrea, my post last week called “What Stops You” talks about that. I listed all the scary things I’m really afraid of out in front of god and everybody.”

Score one for the good student. I thought.

“Uh huh.” she says. “Let me ask you this: are you playing to win Sarah or are you playing not to lose. Because it sounds like you are playing not to lose.”

Crap. She’s on to me.

“What would it look like for you to be ALL IN with no way back? How do we burn your bridges? Orbetter yet, burn you

r ships like Cortez?”

“Uhhhhh……”

I couldn’t answer the question.

So I got direct kick in the ass instructions and this post is my starting point.

I am terrified to burn my ships. I want a safety net. And yes, I am afraid I will fail and look ridiculous in front of people who so matter to me.

But just saying those things isn’t enough. In fact, saying I’m afraid is a cop-out. It makes me feel like I am doing something big and daring when actually I’m not. I’m doing something that I hope YOU will think is daring. Because I’m all about what other people think.

What is daring is saying this: 2010 is my make it or break it year. Actually the first quarter is my make it or break it window. All my chips are in. And if I don’t make it, I am PACKING IT UP.

What does packing it up look like?

This: shutting down my blog, ending my social media engagement, giving up my coaching practice. It means getting a job, working for someone else, possibly putting my child in daily after school care and not seeing him between 7:30 and 6pm ever day, leaving behind the tribe I’ve finally found, forfeiting the way of life and the way of work that I have come to cherish during the past five years.

Would I survive all that? Sure I would. Do I WANT to survive all that? Just thinking about a life like that makes me want to throw up. No – it makes me want to curl up in a ball in my bed and stay there.

But that is my future if I don’t pull out all the stops, play to win and DECIDE I am burning my ships.

(And just so you know, for me burning the ships means more than just saying there is no Plan B. It means eliminating Plan B and C and D altogether. )

I’m no longer willing to be afraid of anything I listed in last week’s post.

-If I embarrass myself and look so horrifically foolish in the first quarter of 2010 (so foolish I don’t want to show my face on twitter or in public for fear of the ridicule), I still have people who will love me and hold my hand and step back out again with me.

-If I say something that pisses off you, my tribe, or anyone else I think highly of (so much so that you slam my name all over the web and in the real world), I can either a) apologize if I am wrong or b) realize that I am not going to make everyone happy all the time.

- If I splay myself open and find out someone doesn’t care (which will break my heart into a million pieces), I will remember that the important thing is that I told the truth – my truth – which all I can ask of myself in this life. This won’t stop my heart from shattering, but it will give me something to hold onto while I am picking up the pieces.

- When I am afraid that there is not enough love, or money, or recognition or success to go around (there is a part of me that still believes that more strongly that I want anyone to know considering what I do for a living), well….I’ll just have to work on my scarcity mentality.

-And if that super influential, important person decides they don’t like me (and that opinion matters WAY more than I want to say out loud), well all I can say is FU because I am awesome.

-If I make a mistake – and I am certain I will make many of the kind that make me feel stupid, fraud-like, embarrassed and ashamed – I can apologize, make things right, re-group with my nearest and dearest and keep on going.

- When I don’t know the endgame, and I don’t and I won’t (even though I pretend I do to keep myself from feeling so untethered that I might fly off the planet), I can take the next indicated step or leap and remember that “action is the middle finger to doubt” (thank you John Haydon).

- And when I avoid pain (the heart-wrenching, rattles my core, puts me under the bed kind)  I can remember that my greatest lessons have come from feeling extreme pain (and I can call on my BESTEST friends to hold on to me while I get to the other side of it – which is way better than remembering some dumb lesson).

So, to begin setting my ships on fire (I still have more to do), I flashing a giant middle finger to EVERYTHING I am afraid – no – everything I am physically, to-my-core, in a caveman survival kind of way – TERRIFIED of.

I’ve lived through worse than anything you can dish out.

And you, my tribe, are bearing witness to my declaration. This game is on!

(Ready to burn your ships too?! This is as good a time and place as any to make your declaration!)

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Wow. The questions you all are posing in response to my Escaping Mediocrity Self-Test post are incredible. (If you haven’t added yours, take a minute, go here and do that.)

I’m actually going to turn the whole thing into a pdf and include your questions along with attribution.  We’ve built something incredibly valuable and I want to share it with as many people as we can.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress with that project.

So now I’m thinking about all the great questions we’ve written and I keep coming back to this: if I know the questions to ask and I’m pretty sure I know how I am “supposed” to answer them, then…..what freezes me in my tracks?

This is sort of the mirror question to Monday’s post and I am hoping you can help me with this one, too. In fact, I am COUNTING ON your brilliance. Because this question is a lot less sexy really And a lot scarier. It demands rigorous honesty and terrifying transparency. I don’t want to go there alone, ok?!

So, here are some of my reasons:

#1 I am scared sh**less. (pretty much all the rest of my reasons drill down on this petrifying fear.)

#2 I don’t want to look foolish in front of anyone.

#3 I don’t want to make people that I love – or even like – angry.

#4 I don’t want to splay myself open and find out somebody doesn’t care.

#5 I am afraid there isn’t enough…..well….of lots of things….

#6 I want to be liked by the “right” people.

#7 I don’t want to make a mistake(s).

#8 I want to know the endgame.

#9 I don’t want to feel pain.

So, there it is. Some of the very raw, very scary reasons that the prospect of escaping mediocrity stops me dead in my tracks sometimes.

I REALLY want to hear what stops you in your tracks on this journey, too, ok? That way we can hold hands and face whatever it is together.

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