Most mornings I listen to Dave & Deb on Z104, which is Utah’s number one country station. They often joke with people that call in. They make fun of various topics and people. They laugh a lot. They are always being goofy and no matter what end calls with “Love ya!” Plus they play a lot of great country music.

So why are they so popular? Well, they are kind of what Letterman and Leno are in the evenings. They dish it out but do it in a way that most of us would think is funny. They don’t make any excuses. They just do it. At times they offend someone but they just keep going. They know who they are and stick to that. They are not trying to please 100% of their listeners or everyone that tunes in. They don’t worry about being all things to all people and that’s why they are so popular. You know you will get Dave & Deb, just the way they are.

If they suddenly decided to try to be all things to all people they would confuse their listeners. Their brand is the two of them being goofy, edgy and slightly inappropriate. How often do you see a popular brand that decide to change and fail?  Even great brands like Coca-Cola has made mistakes like that. The most successful people, brands and companies are the ones that know who they are, what they are good at, what their message is and don’t give a darn what others think.

If your dream involves starting a blog, a business, a new career or anything that involves others reading, buying, selling, or listening to what you have to say or sell then you simply cannot please everyone. Just like you cannot please everyone in your real life.

If you write a blog you can’t please every reader. Even if you try you can’t. That’s just reality. I would love to have 100% of my readers love every word I write but if I constantly worried about what everyone will think then I would stare at a blank page out of fear of potentially writing something that someone would disagree with.

If you are a team leader at work you can’t please every employee. Sometimes you have to make decisions that some will not agree with. Think a CEO sits around worrying about if his or her decision is going to be loved by 100% of his or her employees?

If you sell products you need to stick to your core concept. When you think of the Sara Lee brand you think of baked goods, not panty hoses. Don’t add products that make no sense to the mix.

What you can do is to be you and stay true to that. Trust that. Believe in that. Why? Because people out there is looking for someone just like you and the uniqueness that you bring. There is only one of you and that’s who you should embrace.

Are you trying to please everyone?

 

 

I have always been fascinated by people that can live completely off the grid. It’s not an easy pursuit. Especially when they choose a hardy area like the desert or far away from any modern conveniences. Often though the stories are about people that choose to live off the grid in an extreme way. Now as much as Christopher McCandless, who decided to wander into the vast land of Alaska and never made it out, intrigues me I’m more interested in those that are able to find a balance between the two very different worlds.

The other day I came across a “living off the grid” story. It was about a husband and wife that had figured out how to live off the grid but were balancing it with modern life of Skype, internet and blogging. They share their story and knowledge on their website. They are a great example of balancing the two worlds.

They are only working 5-10 hours a week because that’s all they need to in order to pay for necessities. Are they giving up things in order to that? Most would say yes. But what are they really giving up? They gave up the rat race and the “get it now” lifestyle. They gave up being slave to a job so they can pay a mortgage. They gave up a fancy car. They gave up things that doesn’t always enhance our lives but complicate them and keeps us in the rat race.

What did they gain? Time, knowledge and how to be innovative. Think they can survive in the harshest of environment should a disaster happen? You bet. They have learned skills our modern society doesn’t teach us or forces us to learn.

Can we leave the rat race without joining the “off the grid” lifestyle? Of course, but most of us didn’t make smart choices saving enough money to retire early. Most of us need to work in order to pay our bills.

But what we can do is to decide what is more important to us. The rat race or giving up things that keeps us in the rat race.

So if you are craving a simpler life, want to get off the hamster wheel, want to leave the rat race behind then you have to pick and choose what’s most important to you. A big, nice house with a mortgage or a smaller, less expensive place. A nice car or a paid for beater. It’s not always easy but when you cut your expenses down you can choose to work less or work differently like pursuing your dream. Just like this couple that choose to live differently and work less so that they can enjoy life more.

Would you be willing to give up some of the modern amenities and a fancy house in order to gain 30 hours of free time a week?

 

 

 

I want it all! I don’t want to sell my car that I love so much in order to afford what is part of my dream – namely a Volkswagen van. I don’t want to have to choose. Or make any hard decisions. Or give something up in order to get something else. I don’t want to have to make sacrifices.

But I have a dream. A calling. Things to do. Places to visit. People to inspire. I’ve tried to put it to sleep, I’ve tried to ignore it, I’ve tried my hardest. But it keeps coming back. That voice inside of me that tells me ‘This is what you are supposed to do.’  I’m scared. Fear tells me to settle, that I don’t have what it takes and to ignore that other voice. Fear is trying to hold me down.

It’s like a tug-a-war of emotions but as Jon Acuff says: “Fear only gets LOUD when you do things that matters” and let me tell you, it’s LOUD! It’s up to me to fight the fear. Slap it in the face. Kick it to the curb and show fear who’s going to win. It’s up to me to keep fighting. Make sacrifices. Work hard. Get up when I fall. Lean in and get support from my friends when I need it.

I don’t have a choice. Settling is not a choice. Giving up is not a choice. Because I don’t want to wake up down the road wishing I had followed that voice telling me to pursue my dream. I don’t want to wake up feeling I’m living a great life. I want to wake up feeling I’m living the life I was supposed to live. An awesome life!

So if you’re going through similar feelings as you are starting to pursue your dream or thinking of it, know you are not alone. Going through the motions of an average life is easy. Going against the stream pursuing and living your life doing what matters requires guts and sacrifice. And when fear speaks loud, kick it hard, lean in and find things that inspires you and reminds you to keep going, like this video.

So yes, pursuing your dream takes sacrifice. But wouldn’t your rather live your life doing what matters?

 

 

Dec 26. The day after Christmas. It’s now over until next year. The holiday food, the expectations, the shopping for gifts. Now we move on to the next chapter – New Year’s Eve and making resolutions for 2014.

For me Christmas and New Years is equal to long days of work and being away from family. This year it hit me extra hard. I was constantly surrounded by memories of waking up and enjoying late breakfasts, going playing in the snow, enjoying time together with family and well, the holidays used to be a nice and relaxing time for me.

A few days ago I decided to make an early resolution for 2014. To find a way to spend Christmas with my family next year. I haven’t spent the holidays with them for a very long time. See, I work and live in a ski town. Most everyone I know, including me, work around the clock for the holidays so that our visiting guests can enjoy their time here. It’s a few weeks of truly spinning the wheel. You wake up, work, sleep and repeat.

My resolution for next year will take some creative work. My family lives on another continent, thousands of miles away and my ski resort job requires that I work the holidays. Now, someone may invent a time machine so I can be in two places at the same time but in case that doesn’t happen my resolution means I have a challenge ahead of me.

A resolution should be about something you want to change. Change requires work and dedication. It also requires you to ask yourself why you are doing it.

Because just saying you are going to change something is not going to work. There has to be a reason. I want the magic of Christmas back in my life, instead of it just being a season of exhaustion.

If your resolution is to get back in shape just saying you are going to start exercising is not going to do the trick. You need to dig deeper. Find that internal motivation and drive as to why. Maybe you haven’t hit that “I’m sick of it and want a change” feeling yet. If you have you will find a way to make a change in your life. If you haven’t then maybe a good resolution is to ask yourself what you want in your life and spend some time thinking about it so that you can find that internal drive and motivation.

Make your resolutions real this year. Make them count. Make them happen. Because if they truly count, then you will find a way. If they don’t, then you’ll find an excuse.

What resolution/s do you have for 2014?

Sometimes we do things automatically without putting much thought into it and we have to push ourselves to be a little different. Now you may say, why do I need to be different? You don’t, but don’t you think life is a bit more fun when you throw in some “different” here and there? Instead of following the crowd you changed the direction. You were the leader instead of the follower. You broke the mold. You did something unexpected. You challenged the status quo. When you do something different it makes you feel a bit more alive. After all, it’s usually the times when you did something different that you remember the most.

Today as I was signing Christmas cards for a company that I work for I grabbed my regular blue pen and almost started signing the hundreds of cards when I caught myself looking at all the other signatures in blue and black. I decided to change things up a bit and grabbed a pink marker for my signature. Now, no one is going to be able to read my signature, trust me, a doctor may have a more legible signature than me, but I know everyone seeing that card is going to wonder who in earth signed their name in pink. After all, pink is not a Christmas color making it stand out even more.

Why did I decide to be different? Because somewhere among the hundreds of people seeing these cards someone will be inspired to sign theirs with a different color or do something different that day and the domino effect continues.

Different inspires different.

Maybe someone has wanted to sign with a different color all these years but didn’t dare to stand out but seeing someone else doing it made them dare to do it? I don’t know but it’s not a bad thing to dare to be different once in a while. Of course, there may be a few that thinks that signing a Christmas card with a pink marker is silly and immature but that’s okay.

Different evoke emotions within people.

Ignore the ones that is trying to hold you back including yourself. Be bold, be audacious and go for it! After all, what do you have to lose? What signature do you think people will remember? The ones in blue and black or the one in pink?

 

What “different” have you done lately? Or what “different” do you plan throw into the mix?