Look Up

It's so easy to get mired in what's wrong, what isn't working, just how BUSY you are. But you have to look up. You have to see that big expansive sky. And you have to take big deep breaths.

Look Up

I was feeling a bit gloomy for the last few days, I'm going to admit to you. It came from the realization that people seem to react a lot more positively to the "Hey look at this shiny thing!" bloggers and media makers of the world. We LOVE hearing about all the "new" that's out there, and if you talk loudly and excitably about "NEW!" to people then you'll get a lot of attention.

But what I've come to realize is that if you tell people "Okay, this is going to take some work, but you're going to love what you see when you put in that effort," a lot of folks have checked out when they saw the word "work." It's the broccoli of messages. "Hey, you get successful for working hard." Crickets.

LOOK at this new selfie drone and live video channel! Woo! *Balloons fall. Confetti cannons go off.*

But Work Isn't Gloomy

Champions and leaders all put in the time. They all know what it takes to get there. And they sell that as the path for YOU to take.

But the magic trick of it is the looking up. When we're striving to reach our goal, when the pieces aren't entirely lining up but we sense that they will, we have to look up at that big blue sky, take a deep breath to fill our lungs, and we have to force a smile for the fortune and opportunity we have been granted. We are FREE to pursue these great opportunities and we have the pleasure and honor to serve great people and help THEM grow.

What's not to love about that?

Here's What's New and Shiny

You know what's new and shiny? People! Great people doing wonderful things. Wonderful people finding ways to take their confidence and apply it to the challenges they want to solve. People like this Forbes list of top YouTube stars who make millions by entertaining and informing. People like DC Central Kitchen for bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to inner city convenience stores because people deserve good food options. Or a Romanian immigrant to Montreal working on getting us to fly.

We're in a world where we get to create shiny and new all the time!

Look up! Be excited about what we CAN do, but then do it. Do something about it. Make the steps necessary to be able to breathe that amazing fresh air and look at that beautiful blue sky and think, "Wow, I really can help some people today!"

That's what's new and shiny to me. The software? Those are the sneakers that I wore when I won the race. Did the sneakers win the race? No. Me!

Look up!