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Lesson Info
Walk Your Path
Anybody in here meditate? (group chattering) Okay. The concept in meditation is when your mind wanders what do you do with it. You bring it right back to your mantra, to your breath, whatever it is you're focusing on. That's the same thing with what we're talking about here walking our creative path. You're gonna get lost, lots of times. You have to pay bill, parent's gonna get sick, you're gonna have a child. You're gonna have to figure out a way over and over. Meditation is this right here. Meditation isn't this. Meditation is this. So is the work that you have to do for what it is that you want in life. It's just gonna continue to just need to be bringing it back to the path. Now, in culture, we're taught... We're actually sold... Again, it's like, I don't know who I'm throwing rocks at but this is again, this is just a product of, we live in a mass culture and we are social animals. Whether we like it or not. So we need acceptance and connection. Does anyone know what happens to ...
a baby if it is born and it is not held? It dies. It dies. So if you've ever wondered if you might be an introvert, you're an extrovert. I'm not judging you may be an ambivert. You're a social animal and you need human connection. Human connection right now is at an epidemic alarming. Epidemic rate in our culture. It's more harmful to our culture than smoking. Science just came out. Loneliness, isolation. So, you need connection. I don't wanna tell you how to do it but I know that you need it. Okay? Get back on the path. What we're sold, is we're sold a map. Go to this school, get this job, have this career, then get, you know, work at it for this long. Maybe 40 years 'cause then you get the gold watch. Then you can retire and then you can actually start your life. Totally fiction. But the cool thing that is easy to point out, is that here's what a map looks like. It says you are here. And then there's a bunch of dots and it goes, you know to this other corner of the map and then there's a red X and you say, this is where I wanna go. You were all sold this. Has anybody's map looked like the map that they were sold? It's laughable. Right? And yet we're selling maps down the street right now. (audience laughs) Second graders are getting maps. Third graders are getting maps. High schoolers are getting maps. Here's what I want you to do. And this has a lot to do with this. Imagine what's possible. What we are all given, is a compass. Tell me the difference between a map and a compass. A map, I'm gonna tell you. (audience laughs) It's gonna be too long if I let you guys tell me. I know the answer. Okay? The difference between a map and a compass. A map shows it all and you can see it from the top. You have it on your phone. And I'm holding it up here like it's paper but it's really our phone, right? It gives us step by step instructions. Turn right, turn left. And then you can see the little flashing blue dot. Don't trust that map. 'Cause that map is not the thing that you need. It's not gonna get you where you wanna go. It's okay to have the end in mind but a compass on the other hand, what does a compass do? It just points north. If you line it up, you can point at whatever direction you want. But imagine if north is your head heart alignment and what happens if you start just heading in that direction? The world starts happening for you rather than to you. And the cool thing about a compass, maybe not so cool is it says up this hill you get to the top of the hill and you look down and you're like, oh my God, there's a lake. I love swimming. You can swim across the lake or I can go around the lake. You don't have to see the whole staircase. You just have to see the next step. You just have to see the ridge line. You just have to see this keeps... Excuse me. Keeps everyone I know who's stuck from starting. Is they feel like they have to have the end in mind. And I'm saying, you got to trust the universe just a little bit. The universe has your back if you follow this compass. I promise. Now, you want something to tweet later? (audience laughs) (indistinct) Okay, I'm gonna write this down. All you have to do to be the noun is do the verb. The point is, there are so many things, there are so many gates we throw up in front of who we're supposed to be and what we do and how we get there. You just... I actually made... Before I had a professional camera, I had my grandpa's sort of semi-pro kind of junker. Before I actually had a professional camera, you know what I had? I had a card that said Chase Jarvis photographer. Whoa. You know where I kept it? Hidden. (audience laughs) But I had it and I looked at it. And then you know what I did? I bought a camera. Actually, that's a lie. You know what I did? I started taking pictures with the camera that I had. And then when I'd had enough success with that little crappy camera, then I bought a slightly better camera. But the point is I was taking pictures every day. I was developing the film. I need to apologize to my wife. I was developing film in our bathroom. The point is, action over intellect. Right? Action is identity. I'm gonna say another thing here, 'cause we all get stuck because we wanna do what we wanna do the most perfect action. Because what if we walk over here, instead of walking over there? Don't yet have our compass figured out yet. We're kind of, I'm telling you what? Here's really what you wanna pay attention to. The quality of your decisions is not gonna be perfect. And I wanna see imperfect small actions regularly just driving you in the direction that you wanna go. This was the decision to do something that got me a little off the path and then I sort of overcorrected. And then... But what's the slope of that line? Winning. And notice, this is decisions. I made these decisions and I took actions in line with my values. This is action. Right? Because what is sitting on the couch thinking about something? Is sitting on the couch. And we get tripped up. I'm gonna talk a little bit more about this later. We get tripped up over trying to make perfect action. So we take no action. If you're not sure what you wanna be Rebecca, you're like, I don't know. I gotta figure this out. Start doing something. Do something rather than nothing and you're gonna know really quick. This is what I mean. We have this intuition. We think we don't and then we go, okay, cool. I'm gonna go club in tonight. And then you're at the club going, I do not wanna be here. (audience laughs) The cool thing about that is you learn something.
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