Hello and Happy World Kindness Day and Guinness World Record Day! When I was a kid one of my favorite books was a paperback Guinness Book of World Records. I even remember that the world’s tallest man was Robert Wadlow and the fattest man was Earl Hughes. The book said they had to bury him in a piano case! Turns out that wasn’t true.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that the majority of truly successful people I know have three things in common:
1) A Career
2) A Venture
3) A Hobby
And here’s my first attempt at creating a graphic…!
Before I explore them in depth, let me define “success”. To me, success mean consistently experiencing fulfillment both professionally and personally. You know, that cool feeling you get in your stomach when you’re doing something you love? Let’s break these down…
Career: This one sounds pretty obvious. To most, having a lucrative career is the definition of success. While I agree it’s a big part of it, it’s not all of it. For me, my career is as a voice talent and coach.
Venture: When I say venture, I mean a project you’re working on “on the side” that may or may not lead to generating revenue. It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to your career, either. However, it keeps you engaged, thinking both forward and laterally, and motivated to explore & develop aspects of you. For me, my venture is creating the comic book “Agent 1.22”. The website and Facebook Page are up but we haven’t officially launched them yet. Feel free to take a peek!
Hobby: Almost everyone has a hobby, though many do not realize it. For some, it’s what you’d think of as a hobby (stamp collecting, bird watching, etc.). I call them 20th century hobbies. For many others, it’s what I like to call 21st century hobbies. Things like video games, fantasy football, Pinterest, etc. Equally valid as the 21st century hobbies, but I don’t think people think of them as hobbies per se. For me, my hobby is HeroClix. It’s a geek-tastic collectible superhero miniatures game where you build teams of superheroes or villains and battle it out. I loves it!
These three aspects of your life complement each other. If you have a career, a hobby, and a venture and give them the time and effort they deserve, you’re not spending too much time involved in any single one of them. You have achieved balance in your life. Dare I say, harmony?
TIP OF THE WEEK: Step back and determine how well-balanced your life is. How much time you spend on your career? Do you have a venture? A hobby?
If you’re spending too much time on your career, create more downtime. Give your friends & family the attention they deserve. Find a hobby that can distract & relax you.
If you’re spending too much time on a venture, make sure you’re saving & spending for the now and don’t let your career suffer. Most of the time, your career is what raises capital to invest in your venture.
If you’re spending too much time on your hobby, grow up, man-child! Put the X-Box controller down and think about something besides your need for self-gratification.
If your life is out of whack, un-whack it!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
How do you not love someone who forces you to do your best? Aaron Sorkin
STUFF!: Over the weekend I was hanging out with my niece, the world-famous Asha, and she made us play “School”. Our assignment was to make a list of things we want. This is what I wrote. BTW Tony Tiger was the name of the stuffed animal I was pretending to be. Note the high sass content of my list as well as the lousy illustrations. I gave myself an A!
From Tom Dheere’s apartment, this is Tom Dheere: GKN News…