Author Archives: Lewis

Dirty Jobs’ Mike Rowe Answers What To Do With My Life?

This is a great piece I came across by Mike Rowe, presenter of TVs Dirty Jobs (Trailer Here), in which he goes around working with people in jobs most people would think are horrible.  The piece to hand stems from a guy who writes to Rowe asking him for help in finding his ideal job.

mike-rowe-dirty-jobs-letterThe original full article was found on Top Right News and I have included both letters below. ITs a really great view on life from a guy who has seen a lot of jobs!

 

ORIGINAL LETTER:

Hey Mike! I’ve spent this last year trying to figure out the right career for myself and I still can’t figure out what to do. I have always been a hands on kind of guy and a go-getter. I could never be an office worker. I need change, excitement, and adventure in my life, but where the pay is steady. I grew up in construction and my first job was a restoration project. I love everything outdoors. I play music for extra money. I like trying pretty much everything, but get bored very easily. I want a career that will always keep me happy, but can allow me to have a family and get some time to travel. I figure if anyone knows jobs its you so I was wondering your thoughts on this if you ever get the time! Thank you!

– Parker Hall

MIKE’S RESPONSE:

Hi Parker,

My first thought is that you should learn to weld and move to North Dakota. The opportunities are enormous, and as a “hands-on go-getter,” you’re qualified for the work. But after reading your post a second time, it occurs to me that your qualifications are not the reason you can’t find the career you want.

I had drinks last night with a woman I know. Let’s call her Claire. Claire just turned 42. She’s cute, smart, and successful. She’s frustrated though, because she can’t find a man. I listened all evening about how difficult her search has been. About how all the “good ones” were taken. About how her other friends had found their soul-mates, and how it wasn’t fair that she had not.

“Look at me,” she said. “I take care of myself. I’ve put myself out there. Why is this so hard?”

“How about that guy at the end of the bar,” I said. “He keeps looking at you.”

“Not my type.”

“Really? How do you know?”

“I just know.”

“Have you tried a dating site?” I asked.

“Are you kidding? I would never date someone I met online!”

“Alright. How about a change of scene? Your company has offices all over – maybe try living in another city?”

“What? Leave San Francisco? Never!”

“How about the other side of town? You know, mix it up a little. Visit different places. New museums, new bars, new theaters…?”

She looked at me like I had two heads. “Why the hell would I do that?”

Here’s the thing, Parker. Claire doesn’t really want a man. She wants the “right” man. She wants a soul-mate. Specifically, a soul-mate from her zip code. She assembled this guy in her mind years ago, and now, dammit, she’s tired of waiting!!

I didn’t tell her this, because Claire has the capacity for sudden violence. But it’s true. She complains about being alone, even though her rules have more or less guaranteed she’ll stay that way. She has built a wall between herself and her goal. A wall made of conditions and expectations. Is it possible that you’ve built a similar wall?

Consider your own words. You don’t want a career – you want the “right” career. You need “excitement” and “adventure,” but not at the expense of stability. You want lots of “change” and the “freedom to travel,” but you need the certainty of “steady pay.” You talk about being “easily bored” as though boredom is out of your control. It isn’t. Boredom is a choice. Like tardiness. Or interrupting. It’s one thing to “love the outdoors,” but you take it a step further. You vow to “never” take an office job. You talk about the needs of your family, even though that family doesn’t exist. And finally, you say the career you describe must “always” make you “happy.”

These are my thoughts. You may choose to ignore them and I wouldn’t blame you – especially after being compared to a 42 year old woman who can’t find love. But since you asked…

Stop looking for the “right” career, and start looking for a job. Any job. Forget about what you like. Focus on what’s available. Get yourself hired. Show up early. Stay late. Volunteer for the scut work. Become indispensable. You can always quit later, and be no worse off than you are today. But don’t waste another year looking for a career that doesn’t exist. And most of all, stop worrying about your happiness. Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.
Many people today resent the suggestion that they’re in charge of the way the feel. But trust me, Parker. Those people are mistaken. That was a big lesson from Dirty Jobs, and I learned it several hundred times before it stuck. What you do, who you’re with, and how you feel about the world around you, is completely up to you.

Good luck –
Mike

P.S. I’m serious about welding and North Dakota. Those guys are writing their own ticket.

P.P.S. Think I should forward this to Claire?

LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy – How To Deal With Failure

LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy is well known for amazing music over many years now. james-murphy-lcd-soundsystemBeing at the top of the electronic game for many years you would think Murphy would be one of the most organised, successful around and always has been.  Far from it… In this video he talks about how in his twenties he was a complete and utter failure. Not because he failed at trying to achieve something, but because he never even tried.
It is a video that hits home to many people. Similar to thoughts by Tony Robbins about not trying because then you cant fail, so your brain tries to protect you form the failure. This video describes the moments which changed him to the massive success he is today. It will be 9 minutes really well spent, watch it now!

Video: 9 mins.

 

The Road Not Taken – Views on Choices

A lot of people struggle with what a decision can mean in your life. It is natural to have concerns about going down one path or not, and what it could mean. The reality is you can never predict what will happen in your life, so go with the flow…. Easier said than done.

This graphic based off the poem The Road Not Taken is by the incredibly talented artists at Zenpencils.com For their full article click here, or have a look below at this great piece.

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

2 Great Articles – Procrastination and Places Unhappy People Search For Happiness

Stumbled across two fantastic articles about the above. Procrastination and the want to happiness is two of the most important steps to conquer when trying to be successful. Procrastination will always be there for as long as you want something that is hard. While if you aren’t in a good place, then you try to look for happiness in the wrong places. Easier said than done, but you should look for what you have to be happy.

Both articles are easy to read and well worth it. Approx five minutes read each.

10 Places Unhappy People Search for Happiness

How To Beat Procrastination

Procrastination monkey

100 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire You to Be Successful

Found this superb article by Lolly Daskal. A bunch of really good quotes to get you going, when your brain is telling you no. I really like them and I hope you do to. Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I am going to do a massive update today.

100 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire You To Be Successful:

1. If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission. ~Anonymous

2. Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. ~John Wooden

3. To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~Anonymous

4. If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary. ~Jim Rohn

5. Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it’s safe or certain. ~Anonymous

6. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. ~Swami Vivekananda

7. All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. ~Walt Disney

8. Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them. ~Anonymous

9. If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got. ~Anonymous

10. Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill

11. Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly. ~Proverb

12. Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy. ~Anonymous

13. Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them. ~Vaibhav Shah

14. Opportunities don’t happen, you create them. ~Chris Grosser

15. Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. ~Albert Einstein

16. Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

17. I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ~Thomas A. Edison

18. If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents- start charging for it. ~Kim Garst

19. A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. ~David Brinkley

20. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

21. The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it. ~Henry Ford

22. If you’re going through hell keep going. ~Winston Churchill

23. The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do. ~Anonymous

24. Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument. ~Anonymous

25. What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.~ Oscar Wilde

26. The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. ~Anonymous

27. The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. ~Bruce Feirstein

28. When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you. ~Lolly Daskal

29. Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. ~John D. Rockefeller

30. No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.~ Anonymous

31. Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

32. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. ~Albert Einstein

33. Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting. ~Anonymous

34. Do one thing every day that scares you. ~Anonymous

35. What’s the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable. ~Anonymous

36. Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~Lolly Daskal

37. Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. ~Anonymous

38. Knowledge is being aware of what you can do. Wisdom is knowing when not to do it. ~Anonymous

39. Your problem isn’t the problem. Your reaction is the problem. ~Anonymous

40. You can do anything, but not everything. ~Anonymous

41. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. ~Steve Jobs

42. There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed. ~Ray Goforth

43. Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life. ~Dr. APJ Kalam

44. I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. ~Thomas Jefferson

45. The starting point of all achievement is desire. ~Napolean Hill

46. Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out. ~Robert Collier

47. If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work. ~Thomas J. Watson

48. All progress takes place outside the comfort zone. ~Michael John Bobak

49. You may only succeed if you desire succeeding; you may only fail if you do not mind failing. ~Philippos

50. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absense of fear. ~Mark Twain

51. Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. ~Pablo Picasso

52. People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. ~Zig Ziglar

53. We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret. ~Earl Nightingale

54. The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Vidal Sassoon

55. The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning; to create a product or service to make the world a better place. ~Guy Kawasaki

56. I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing. ~Martha Stewart

57. It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. ~Anonymous

58. The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. ~Colin R. Davis

59. The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ~Ralph Nader

60. Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~Maya Angelou

61. As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. ~Bill Gates

62. A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them. ~Henry Kravis

63. The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself. ~Mark Caine

64. People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy. ~Tony Robbins

65. When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. ~Audre Lorde

66. Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ~Mark Twain

67. The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. ~Bruce Lee

68. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life — think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. ~Swami Vivekananda

69. Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. ~Dale Carnegie

70. If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. ~ Jim Rohn

71. If you genuinely want something, don’t wait for it — teach yourself to be impatient. ~Gurbaksh Chahal

72. Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning. ~Robert Kiyosaki

73. If you want to make a permanent change, stop focusing on the size of your problems and start focusing on the size of you! ~T. Harv Eker

74. You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. ~Steve Jobs

75. Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to doDon’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. ~Jim Rohn

76. The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors. ~Napoleon Hill

77. The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them. ~Denis Watiley

78. In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it. ~Jane Smiley

79. Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. ~George Bernard Shaw

80. I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. ~Diane Ackerman

81. You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael Jordan

82. Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. ~Jim Ryun

83. People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. ~Dale Carnegie

84. There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

85. Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. ~Francis Chan

86. You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction. ~George Lorimer

87. To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like. ~Mike Gafka

88. Success is…knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. ~ John C. Maxwell

89. Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice. ~Wayne Dyer

90. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.~ Anatole France

91. Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all. ~Dale Carnegie
92. You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals. ~Booker T. Washington

93. Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~Theodore N. Vail

94. It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~Herman Melville

95. Fortune sides with him who dares. ~Virgil

96. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above it. ~Washington Irving

97. Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. ~Truman Capote

98. Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. ~John R. Wooden

99. You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. ~Margaret Thatcher

100. A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done. ~Vince Lombardi

60 Amazing Inspirational Quotes to Change How You Think

Est. Reading Time 3-5min.

I really like these quotes found on Marc and Angel Hack Life. They are all about the power of changin how you think. You dont need to remember them all, but ask yourself some of these questions and see where the they take you.

  1. You cannot change what you refuse to confront.
  2. Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
  3. Don’t think of cost.  Think of value.
  4. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.
  5. Too many people buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have to impress people they don’t know.
  6. No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.
  7. If a person wants to be a part of your life, they will make an obvious effort to do so.  Think twice before reserving a space in your heart for people who do not make an effort to stay.
  8. Making one person smile can change the world – maybe not the whole world, but their world.
  9. Saying someone is ugly doesn’t make you any prettier.
  10. The only normal people you know are the ones you don’t know very well.
  11. Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it.
  12. The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.
  13. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company.
  14. As we grow up, we realize it becomes less important to have more friends and more important to have real ones.
  15. Making a hundred friends is not a miracle.  The miracle is to make a single friend who will stand by your side even when hundreds are against you.
  16. Giving up doesn’t always mean you’re weak, sometimes it means you are strong enough and smart enough to let go and move on.
  17. Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, etc…
  18. If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
  19. Don’t choose the one who is beautiful to the world; choose the one who makes your world beautiful.
  20. Falling in love is not a choice.  To stay in love is.
  21. True love isn’t about being inseparable; it’s about two people being true to each other even when they are separated.
  22. While you’re busy looking for the perfect person, you’ll probably miss the imperfect person who could make you perfectly happy.
  23. Never do something permanently foolish just because you are temporarily upset.
  24. You can learn great things from your mistakes when you aren’t busy denying them.
  25. In life, if you don’t risk anything, you risk everything.
  26. When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you.
  27. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.
  28. There isn’t anything noble about being superior to another person.  True nobility is in being superior to the person you once were.
  29. Trying to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.
  30. You will never become who you want to be if you keep blaming everyone else for who you are now.
  31. People are more what they hide than what they show.
  32. Sometimes people don’t notice the things others do for them until they stop doing them.
  33. Don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do.
  34. Being alone does not mean you are lonely, and being lonely does not mean you are alone.
  35. Love is not about sex, going on fancy dates, or showing off.  It’s about being with a person who makes you happy in a way nobody else can.
  36. Anyone can come into your life and say how much they love you.  It takes someone really special to stay in your life and show how much they love you.
  37. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.  Don’t save it for a special occasion; today is special.
  38. Love and appreciate your parents.  We are often so busy growing up, we forget they are also growing old.
  39. When you have to start compromising yourself and your morals for the people around you, it’s probably time to change the people around you.
  40. Learn to love yourself first, instead of loving the idea of other people loving you.
  41. When someone tells you, “You’ve changed,” it might simply be because you’ve stopped living your life their way.
  42. Someone else doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right.
  43. Be happy.  Be yourself.  If others don’t like it, then let them be.  Happiness is a choice.  Life isn’t about pleasing everybody.
  44. When you’re up, your friends know who you are.  When you’re down, you know who your friends are.
  45. Don’t look for someone who will solve all your problems; look for someone who will face them with you.
  46. If you expect the world to be fair with you because you are fair, you’re fooling yourself. That’s like expecting the lion not to eat you because you didn’t eat him.
  47. No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life.  Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.
  48. The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.
  49. Many people are so poor because the only thing they have is money.
  50. Learn to appreciate the things you have before time forces you appreciate the things you once had.
  51. When you choose to see the good in others, you end up finding the good in yourself.
  52. You don’t drown by falling in the water.  You drown by staying there.
  53. It’s better to know and be disappointed than to never know and always wonder.
  54. There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go.
  55. Happiness is not determined by what’s happening around you, but rather what’s happening inside you.  Most people depend on others to gain happiness, but the truth is, it always comes from within.
  56. If you tell the truth, it becomes a part of your past.  If you lie, it becomes a part of your future.
  57. What you do every day matters more than what you do every once in a while.
  58. You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.
  59. Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
  60. If you don’t like something, change it.  If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

Tony Robbins – What they dont teach you in School

Tony Robbins is one of the founding fathers of life coaching. The way he talks is very inspirational, and makes complete sense. In this excerpt he is talking to two Internet Entrepreneurs, one who was believed to be the first person to make $1m in ONE DAY online. They talk about how they got the initial drive to get going.

The first minute is worth the watch alone, but I think it will grab you. I have watched a lot of Tony Robbins, and I think this is one of his best videos. I have included the full 45min video below the shortened version for those who want to watch more.

Tony Robbins, Frank Kern and John Reese full video