Are You Living It?

There is an obsession with newness in the business world. Entrepreneurs struggle under the burden of their forbears, who in the lore of commerce, invented the first car, the first light bulb, and the first web browser. 

“Is it new?  Has it been done before?  Has anyone else already patented it?”  If you’re trying to raise money for a new business, or even just trying to convince a bunch of eggheads that you have a good idea, get ready for these types of questions.  And then get ready to hear a few pre-rehearsed, spittle-filled speeches about some wunderkind whose grandparents survived the Gulag and who at the age of nineteen has just invented the first real-time, browser-less application capable of keeping you from drunk-dialing your high school gym teacher after 11pm EST.  Young Sergei’s software will only run on Mac OSX 10.3.9 or later (running Java 1.4.2)……BUT it is the first of its kind

So what are you supposed to do if you’re an entrepreneur and your “it” isn’t really an it, after all?  What then?

(Enter Live Your Passion logo, stage right):

I had the privilege of chatting on the phone the other day with Dean Karnazes, the premier endurance runner in the world (check out his book on Amazon).  We talked about Live Your Passion.  Sure, we talked about eco-friendly apparel, shirt designs, and retailers and stuff like that, but the most refreshing part of the conversation was hearing him describe how he’s spent the last fifteen years of his life preaching and living the same message that we are now:  There is great fulfillment to be had in life if you prioritize the pursuit of your passion, whether it’s endurance running, mountain biking, yoga, crafting pottery, or birdwatching.  Stop making excuses, invest yourself in the thing that makes you feel alive, and you’ll see the positive results.

Dean’s message is our message.  We weren’t the first to embrace it, and neither was he.  And the truth is that it isn’t an “it”–it’s an It, with a capital “I.”  We and people like Dean agree that It’s a great human sentiment to be shared and that more and more of us need to dare to say It out loud.  Take a look at our newest blogger’s profile.  Randy Stueve is just the latest person I’ve met whose story has blown me away.  He perfectly embodies the thought that you need to look at the amount of time you have left to walk around on earth and declare to yourself and others that, gosh darnit, this isn’t going to be a waste of time.

Humans have some unique traits compared to our other mammalian friends.  I’m sure there is an animal behaviorist out there somewhere who could prove me wrong on this, but it seems to me that people do a few things that really stand out.  For instance, we like to memorialize things.  We have baby showers, funerals, weddings, and graduation ceremonies.  Dolphins are smart, but I doubt they ever yell Mazel Tov! and throw rice at each other.  Another example is that we take unnecessary risks in the name of fun.  I sailed off a ledge on my mountain bike the other day and wore a big grin for the next twenty minutes.  Only hours later did it cross my mind what might have happened if my front tire had jack-knifed on a rock. 

Well, my newest discovery among the traits that make humans unique is that we see the value in pursuing our passions.  We realize it makes us happier and nicer to be around, even during life’s more mundane moments. 

This thought makes me feel liberated.  Live Your Passion and Are You Living It don’t have to compete with all the brilliant inventors working away at Stanford or in a basement in Montana, and we don’t have to think about whether someone beat us to the concept… millions have.  For us, I’m learning, that is a wonderful thing.

Our “It” has a capital “I” and has positive meaning for billions of people… not just your high school gym teacher.

Are You Living It?

By:  James Schaffer