SamWatson.us
Fifteen years ago, the band Nickleback was the butt of many jokes. But I submit to you, that there was never a more ridiculous band that gained popularity, than Imagine Dragons. Every time I would hear them, I would involuntarily go off on a rant about how dumb their songs were or how absurd their band name was.
Many years ago I purchased a tuxedo t-shirt for myself and a friend. We wore them for a joke since we never dressed up and we were doing a parody of dressing up. Later on, I thought it would be even funnier to cut the sleeves off and dress it down even further.
This was around the time that Pokemon Go came out and, like many people, I was hittin’ the streets trying to catch ’em all.
Earlier this week I read a story about a man arrested for intentionally leaving out the COVID vaccine essentially destroying them. While reading, I noticed that he was a self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist. His wife was leaving him and feared for her safety due to his erratic behavior.
Today I watched as Trump supporters broke into Capitol Hill because they believed that there had been tampering with the election.
Throughout history, there have been Crusades and Jihads, witch trials, and the Red Scare. The thing that all of these have in common is that mobs of people get together and their shared beliefs divide them against their fellow man.
Recently my brother stayed at my house for a few months. He is an early riser like me, so we took to walking around the neighborhood in the wee hours before the sun rose.
On our journeys, we would discuss many things, but one thing that really resonated with me was the theme of resentment. My brother’s life might seem a little out of control at times, but the one thing I think he has totally nailed is his ability to forgive and let go.
Guess who’s back!
It’s been a while. Today my co-worker was talking about how he would like to start writing and I was thinking about how this blog and the challenges I set around it helped me to start writing. We talked about a similar arrangement as I had with my crew at SUCCESS. Although instead of bringing baked goods on Friday if we missed a Wednesday entry, we would buy each other lunch.
If I had any advice to give someone, at any age, it would be to follow your dreams. Life is too short not to.
But the second, which really is the rubber-meets-the-road, actionable, support system to the first is that everything in life is negotiable. “You don’t get if you don’t ask” has been a philosophy that has opened amazing doors for me.
Recently, I listened to a podcast of Tim Ferriss interviewing Tony Robbins. In it, Tony mentioned something like “Change your life from one of expectation to appreciation.”
Most of your reality is based on how you perceive it. I’m sure everyone knows about the glass half full or half empty. It’s the same either way but it depends on you to decide how you see it.
So here I am looking back at 2014. I didn’t do any of the things I set out to do. But maybe that is just as well.
I did, however, create almost 50 blog posts, went half of the year without eating wheat, and started painting my house. I also changed jobs so was able to cut my interaction with the person I was consistently saying negative (if true) things about. The co-worker in question was the reason I set the goal in the first place so it worked out well.
The other day our bathroom flooded and it got “stuff” everywhere. One of my coworkers actually cleaned up the water even though he was a highly paid executive.
It made me think back to a man I worked for who said, “I would not ask an employee to do something I wouldn’t myself.”
These guys are both inspiring to me because this philosophy displays a humbleness that is rare in today’s world. We live in a country full of entitled people and I am thankful for those who don’t think they are better than anyone despite how much they are compensated.
As a man, I do not think there is a finer compliment, than the one you receive right in front of your wife.
A little back story; I recently asked my boss if I could work in Costa Rica for a while. He said he would sleep on it and the next day said yes.
Life is amazing and I never thought that would be able to happen. I seriously thought that kind of thing could not work in the “real” world. We should all take a lesson from this and realize you can have pretty much whatever you want out of life and everything out of life is negotiable. It is a lesson that I am continuously having to learn over and over.