Your Life. Your Choice.
My early dreams of being a landscaper changed.
I woke up a while back and realized I wasn’t going to be president. Or a garbageman or mow lawns for a living (though I tried to do two out of the three.) That’s okay. I also realized that there is no law saying you’re a failure if you are not (or are) the person you thought you would be.
Do you realize how many chances you have every day to be the person you thought you’d be as a kid?
Furthermore, do you realize that you also have the option of being somebody completely different than you thought you’d be? That you don’t have to be the person your parents expected (or demanded) you be…that you can be someone other than the adult that education, religion or peer pressure molded you into?
I’m talking to you if you’re restless, bored, or waiting for something to happen. I’m talking to you if you’re subsuming your talent because taking risks in this economy is “crazy.”
I’m no self-help guru, but I do think we all have a choice–even within the confines of the jobs we have today–to live life on our own terms. It doesn’t mean you will get everything you ever wanted or be famous (necessarily) or rich (though you might). Living life on your own terms–even if only in your own backyard–makes life worth living.
Choose to find ways to put your stamp on your job, your relationships–and yes, even your yard–to make your life more fulfilling.
Create. Innovate. Think. Don’t coast. Turn off the TV. Your life should be way more interesting than some contrived “reality” show, right?
Or you can also just go to work, eat, watch TV and sleep. It all goes so fast–is that going to be your legacy?
Your life. Your choice.
Seth Godin’s rant: Deliberately uninformed, relentlessly so
This is ground we’ve covered before, but Seth says it better than we did:
Many people in the United States purchase one or fewer books every year.
Many of those people have seen every single episode of American Idol. There is clearly a correlation here.
Access to knowledge, for the first time in history, is largely unimpeded for the middle class. Without effort or expense, it’s possible to become informed if you choose. For less than your cable TV bill, you can buy and read an important book every week. Share the buying with six friends and it costs far less than coffee.
Or you can watch TV.
The thing is, watching TV has its benefits. It excuses you from the responsibility of having an informed opinion about things that matter. It gives you shallow opinions or false “facts” that you can easily parrot to others that watch what you watch. It rarely unsettles our carefully self-induced calm and isolation from the world.
I got a note from someone the other day, in which she made it clear that she doesn’t read non-fiction books or blogs related to her industry. And she seemed proud of this.
read the rest here: Seth’s Blog: Deliberately uninformed, relentlessly so [a rant].
