First is Seth Godin, whose conversation with Tim Ferriss on a recent podcast convinced me of the value of writing something you can stand behind every day, not for a a diary or a journal but for the world to see and way in on. As small as my audience is in the early days of this blog, I am nevertheless in the public eye. I may only occupy a tiny sliver of its iris, but by taking the time to write a little, every day, I will be forced to make predictions, applaud or denounce people or thing because I have strong opinions, and if I write here every day about something I'm thinking about, they will emerge.
I think that's a good thing now matter how you slice it. I started my youtube channel about a year ago with the goal of figuring out how to turn that (and my other endeavours online) into my primary source of income) and to do that people need to know me and love me, I need to be indispensable to the daily routine of at least 1000 people, and that won't happen if I don't put myself out there.
It may be becoming obvious that listening to podcasts is a big source of information and inspiration for me when I get deeper into a brilliant metaphor from Adam Corolla. That being said, I also listen for fun and enjoyment. Bert Kreischer is a hilarious comedian with an incomparable laugh and great stories--he was the single inspiration for the Van Wilder character, if you want his credentials. (He also robbed a train in Russia with some mobsters.) But as interesting as he is, his podcast generally provides more moments of laughter than it does epiphanies, so catching a conversation that inspired and moved me wasn't expected, but that is what I got when I listened in on his chat with Adam.
Bert was clearly inspired by Corolla, and that's why his questions brought out such brilliant answer; one, about how Adam chooses his projects will stick with me for a long time and I`ll do my best to lay out this metaphor with the same skill and simplicity as the Aceman.
You walk into a bakery and you need to pull a ticket--take a number, and get in line. You look at the ticket machine and the next number reads 999, and at the same time the man behind the counter calls out `three!` At this point, many people refuse to even take a ticket and they walk away--who is going to wait for 996 to order just for a loaf of bread? If you never grab a ticket, you never get in line--and the brilliance of Corolla isn't just the advice he gives to take that ticket, regardless of the wait, but to head to every bakery in town and grab a ticket.
Those tickets are your ideas, and the loaves of bread you receive after putting in the time are your rewards. The translation is simple--take chances, a lot of them all at once, if you want a chance of success. That brings me (perfectly I might add) back to Seth Godin, who pointed out that those who claim they don`t have many good ideas will admit that they dont have many bad ones either, and that those people you know that are full of good ideas will have had a lot of bad ones along the way.
This blog is a ticket, its an idea (good or bad), and so are my Youtube channel, my Twitch channel, and my twitter feed. Every one is a shot at a loaf of bread--the chance to expose me and the things I do to a broader audience, which in the end is the goal. It is really easy to make excuses, to explain to yourself why you dont have time to take on the new project you cannot stop thinking about, but its another ticket. Do it, poorly at first if you have to, but do it.
If it hasnt yet become obvious, this blog is another ticket. Its purpose is to give me another portal to you guys, and maybe you'll like what I have to say and you'll tell a friend, or you'll head over to my youtube channel and watch my lets plays. Maybe it'll become the loaf of bread I'm after.
-UTC
No comments:
Post a Comment