PAJAMA SHARKS and OCTOPUS MAGIC
Thursday, April 29, 2021
I believe wholeheartedly, ferreting out our ‘next new thing’ remakes our emotional bottom line, quenches emotional and pecuniary necessaries, leaves enough beneficial aftereffects to be worthy of crumbs of self-pride, and contribute meaningful impacts on earthbound-life. Maybe only a driblet to two, but we need to feel that our efforts made some difference, don’t we?
I like books, documentaries, talk shows and lectures that enable me to learn from brilliant minds.
Too often, I hear someone reciting how they built their innovation, business, or empire as if it was an audio-how-to-book. Great. To appreciate what inspired them, what sparked their creativity – but no magic bullets there to spark mine!
We all have to spark our own.
For me, that comes from triggers.
Tiny successes reaffirm my ability to do large-scale things – no immediate re-infection of big-deal-itis.
But I feel the adrenalin spike.
Great conversations or meetings sometimes trigger inspiration too. Sometimes something someone said or a thought arrived while my mind was wandering …
Becoming a recycler in our homes or shrinking our carbon footprint are great ways to make tiny impacts if you haven’t already shifted that gear – but I mean ‘something more meaningful.’ It could be landing that great job or career shift, or contract, or project, or a big meeting with le grande fromage.
It’s not a dog-eat-dog world anymore; it’s shark-eat-shark tank time.
Whether we want to be the next tycoon or change-agent in philosophy or open a Kool-aid stand to quench the thirst of a paving crew (my first venture at seven) or tackle BHAGs, we all need something to get results, but first, we need desire, to leap from bed every morning (apologies to those who desire to stay in bed – but, for that, you need someone in bed with you).
No matter how much we read or learn, we won’t be able to replicate what anyone else has done unless we copy them. We won’t be first. We’ll be next.
I was listening to an inspiring talk by Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist, the other night. He had a few things that impacted me – and much that didn’t. But it was the combo of watching that after watching a movie. The movie was one I’d not heard of until the night of the Academy Awards – My Octopus Teacher, which I highly recommend (it’s on Netflix). At any point in time, that’s just another octopus swimming in the ocean, but it’s far more complex and intriguing.
We can do what everyone does, or we can do what we feel destined to do. We will encounter obstacles and sometimes life-threatening or venture-threatening forces acting against us.
We know that every creature swimming in our oceans eats other creatures swimming in our oceans.
Life is unforgiving.
We too often relax too well for too long in our comfort zones, as if we somehow deserve to be spared difficulty or should be allowed to buy our way out of or around obstacles.
Being eaten by sharks is no pretty end of a journey, but after you see that movie, you might appreciate their lives and how their lifecycle works a little differently.
Wherein lurks your motivation?
Sunny spells help – but expire at sundown.
We need warmth and light-heartedness.
Is that enough?