Most of the time it’s us…drawing the lines that supposedly can’t be crossed, building the boxes we say can’t be escaped, and sharing the words that cut the cords to possibility.
A massive leap towards success happens when you gain the awareness of the dialogue, right or wrong, that is happening with yourself hundreds of thousands of times a day.
Personal Responsibility > The Blame Game.
Who doesn’t love a great story?
In 2010, I read Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and was forever changed.
Finding the concept of story and living a life with meaning and purpose (like a story) was enough to take my life, relationships, and businesses to a whole new level. My wife and I even named our first child Story.
Moving on…
Grand stories are made up of small, easily over-looked stories. The call, the note, the joke, the stranger, the friend, the enemy, the meal, the travel, the action, the reaction, the response, and repetition of it all can be forgettable. The beat of life, relationships, and businesses goes and then and then and then and then…
And then there was today and then there will be tomorrow.
To create a life and a career that are out of the ordinary, we must continually create unforgettable moments and stories that normally would be missed or overlooked.
That thing.
That thing you think about when you look at the cosmos. What is that thing?
That thing you feel when connection happens in a moment, in the world, with a person, and even with yourself. What is that thing?
That thing that has beaten in your chest as long as you can remember. What is that thing?
That thing you feel on December 25th. That thing you wish you could bottle and drink on the 26th, 27th, and thereafter. What is that thing?
That thing that hums when generosity has her way.
That thing that flies when gratitude is swapped.
That thing has a name and its name is Your Music.
I’d like to tell you more, but it’s better if you take it from here.
As you look back on 2014, what is it that you see?
Few things probably.
A great to-be list will reduce your to-do list as you look forward.
Talents.
Ideas.
Money.
Data.
Emotion.
Relationships.
Proximity.
Whimsy.
Belief(s).
Disbelief.
Experience.
Capacity.
Story.
Google.
And so on.
So what’s the good news here?
It’s not all on you.
Ashton.Gustafson 