Hacking Your Passions

On a hike with friends in the woods last week, one person asked the following question to everyone in our group:

“If you had to describe yourself using just one word, what would it be?”

Everyone answered more quickly than me. I take questions like that pretty seriously, and found myself irrationally afraid of answering incorrectly. The closest I came to was “connected” because it has many meanings I think apply to me (though my second choice of “geek” would have been fairly accurate as well).

That question, and the process I went through to get to an answer, got me thinking on another path. Maybe the appropriate follow-up question would be:

“If you could choose one word to be described as by everyone who knows you, what would it be?”

What do you aspire to be remembered as, as opposed to what you believe you would be remembered as today. How would you like to be able to most accurately describe yourself? In one sense this is harder than the first question, because it’s more theoretical and less concrete than the question asked of me by my friend on that trail in the woods. But in another sense, it is easier in its lack of need to be based on the reality of now. It is an opportunity to create a new, somewhat different shade of you.

As alluded to in a recent post, I have been working on focusing my life through a simple, specific set of goals or, if you will, mission statements. Between last night and this morning, I came closer than ever to figuring out what one of the big mission statements ought to be. It came partially out of conversation with a friend last night (in a bar this time rather than in a forest) and partially while walking this morning along a canal with my wife. This new mission statement is:

“To inspire myself and others through my actions. To be outstanding in the pursuit of my goals. To be generous in my respect for and trust in others, so that others may come to trust and respect my generosity.”

To be remembered, in one word, as “Inspiring”. That’s my dream.

What’s yours?

I had several goals going into the Blog-A-Thon.

• Write a huge number of posts
• Have the content of the posts be meaningful
• Establish the three new blogs I had in mind to begin – Heartprint, Internal Innovation, and Resolution Revolution
• Write at least one new post on each of my eleven blogs
• Introduce my group writing contest
• Have fun
• Learn about myself
• Help others

I accomplished all but the first and fifth ones, and I am working on getting that fifth one tackled before evening’s end. 

I also got a lot of things done in the last 31 hours that I had no idea I would accomplish. I sort of planned on just writing, but life got in the way in interesting ways. Besides writing, I

• cleaned the bathrooms
• did five loads of laundry
• made the beds
• vacuumed
• joined a gym (and was not particularly upset by most of my measurements)
• had dinner with my wife’s parents and aunt
• filled a swimming pool
• slept a reasonable amount of time

So the answer to “was the day particularly successful” is a resounding “yes”! no one contributed any money to Make a Difference, but I think I didn’t market that well either. I’ll give that more thought – would sure like to get some donations flowing their way.

Anyway, tomorrow will be time for doing chores around the house and out and about. But chances are, I’ll get a few blog posts in too. And I’ll be quite happy with it, I suspect.

I spent a year of my life recently going through an intense development program at the company I currently work for. I learned untold numbers of new skills, and built significantly on those I already possessed. I learned over time how to succeed in that role, how to take the potential it held and what was expected of me and push myself to harness the opportunities present and excel. In other words, I would deem my role in that program a success.

As I moved into my new role in the company, I wondered how to take what I had learned and apply it to the new tasks at hand. What had made me successful in meeting/exceeding expectations in regards to my previous responsibilities, however, didn’t necessarily transfer one-for-one to the new role. I addressed this discovery with a friend and fellow coworker, who challenged me to consider that what worked before might not apply at all to the new job. Some things have, but it has been wonderful and an entirely new journey to learn what I need to do differently to meet and exceed the needs of my new team.

When I read this post regarding getting past done, and learning what you can from the successes and failures of a project once it’s passed, the first thing I thought of was this “aha” I had, of taking the new role and treating it like, well, something new, different, with different needs and responsibilities and expectations.

Beginning oh, say, NOW, I will begin blogging for 31 hours. My goal of blogging 31 times on average over the course of the 31 days of January is a HUGE stretch to reach at this point, so I’ll need to do something huge to even come close. Something like blogging for 31 hours straight. I will blog across all of my different blogging outlets at some point in that time span, including:

• Iain’s Den
• Follow Your Passions
• Hacking Your Passions
• Harness Your Passions
• Four Hour Challenge
• The Winter Festival of Pie
• Orange
• 100 Lists of 100

And three all new blogs:

• Heartprint
• Internal Innovation
• Resolution Revolution 

There will also be a contest. Details to come.

While we’re on the subject of why to blog, here are a few from this list of 33 more reasons that I definitely connect with:

4.) A blog is a great way to make a difference and raise awareness about certain topics mass media ignores or would rather not discuss

14.) Posting on a blog is a great way to get regular feedback in your niche and on your ideas

17.) Regularly posting to your blog can allow you to focus more on your passions and dreams

25.) Many bloggers have turned their blogs into published books, who knows you might end up with your own book one day

29.) Sharing some of your life lessons on a blog is a great way of giving back to the community

Over at Lifehack they have an article up about the reasons blogging will improve your 2008. Curious, especially in light of my attempt to blog 961 posts this month, I decided to scroll through their reasons and see how many match my own. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being a strong match to one of my own goals, here’s how they match up:

• Track progress – 2
• Get feedback – 3
• Share knowledge – 4
• Meet like-minded people – 3
• Running Resume – 1
• Family Links – 1
• Creative pastime – 4
• Stay sharp – 5
• Make money – 3
• Develop writing skills – 5

I’m always on the hunt for good sources of inspirational quotes, especially more obscure ones I may not have come across on twenty quote sites already. This list of 50 inspirational quotes contains many that are new to me, including a few I really enjoyed:

• “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer
• “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas A Edison
• “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” – Winston Churchill

Why do we sometimes behave in dumb or irrational ways?

The answer quite often is because of other people – something social psychologists have comprehensively shown.

The studies linked to within the article go on to delve deeply into this concept, but what a lot comes down to for me is this: you are not what people call you, you are what you answer to. You have the choice, in every situation and interaction: are you going to be in control of you, or are you going to leave control of you to someone else? You have control, power beyond what anyone else realizes, to be the best you possible. That we all have so much potential is what brings me some of my strongest hope. That we squander so much of our potential is what brings me some of my greatest sorrow and feeling of loss.

“The present moment is always small in the sense that it is always simple, but concealed within it lies the greatest power. Like the atom, it is one of the smallest things yet contains enormous power.” – Eckhart Tolle

This is one of the lessons I am particularly desperate in somehow providing a mentee when I’m in a mentoring relationship. People always seem to want opportunity to knock, but it is, all the time, wherever you go! You just have to learn to see the potential in things, to make connections, to question everything… to remember how good we were so many years ago in our childhood at asking “Why?“

In case the first day back in the office in 2008 is a bit slow, here’s two or three or seventy of the best Lifehacks the Lifehack blog had to offer in 2007. Of course, I have my own personal favorites…