Category / action

by Nathan Coumbe

Why do we diminish our work?

An acquaintance of mine in Seth Godin’s Purple Space Community announced a new project. It was one I never would have thought of, yet still found fascinating and potentially life-changing for some people.

But he ended his announcement by saying, “I know it’s not significant or anything…”

Why do we do that? Why, when we embark on a new journey or start something new, do we diminish it from the outset?

Because we’re afraid it might not work.

Because we don’t want to feel a sense of letdown.

Because we equate “significance” with the size of the impact, not the impact itself.

Significance: the quality of being worthy of attention; importance.

Nowhere in that definition does it say anything about being worthy of attention to a large number of people. It just says “worthy of attention.” And if it’s worthy of attention to a few people, that makes it significant to those people!

I shared with him the Tale of the Starfish:

A young girl was walking along a beach where thousands of starfish had washed up during a storm. When she came to a starfish, she picked it up and threw it back into the ocean.

A man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? You can’t save them all. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl picked up another starfish and hurled it into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference for that one!”

by Nathan Coumbe

Courage starts with you

It’s tempting to ask why people who have more power than you don’t use that power to change the situation.

But what about you? Why can’t you muster the courage to write a letter, make a phone call, or attend an event?

If you’re afraid to do something small in service to the change you want to make, how can you possibly expect someone else to do something bigger and potentially more consequential?

Often, the bigger the impact an action has, the more courage is required to act.

So, you must start small. Start with yourself, with the small things you know you can do.

Be brave in the little moments to model courage for others when the big moments come.

by Nathan Coumbe

You are the one you’ve been waiting for

At the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (spoiler alert), Harry stands near the lake waiting for his father to appear and ward off the dementors attacking Sirius’s, Hermione’s, and his past selves.

After waiting for an agonizing amount of time, he realizes that he was the person who conjured the Patronus and drove the creatures away, not his father. He was the person he’d been waiting for all along.

Even without time travel, this is a relevant lesson to us. We often sit around waiting for someone to swoop in and save the day. We wait for someone else to act.

The problem is that everyone else is doing the same thing—they are all waiting around for someone else to rescue them from whatever the problem may be.

At some point, you must wake up and realize you are the hero of your story. You are the person everyone else is waiting for to act.

Someone eventually has to take a stand, so it might need to be you.

by Nathan Coumbe

Victims are required for change

We need a victim to effect change, a victim whose outcome so outrages a vast majority of people that they clamor for reform.

It’s not right, but it seems to be the only way to incentivize people to create lasting systemic change.

by Nathan Coumbe

The end vs. the beginning

One of the essential habits in Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is #2:

“Begin with the end in mind.”

The premise behind this habit is that before starting something—a career, a hobby, a marriage, a life—you should project yourself into the future.

By doing so, whether three years or five (or even all the way to your 80th birthday), you can lay out a map for how you want to live your life or complete a project.

I love this habit, and the idea behind it, but it’s also the only habit out of the seven with which I struggle. Why?

Because it’s overwhelming! Sometimes I don’t even know what I want life to look like tomorrow, let alone in 47 years. (God, is 80 really that close?)

It’s also overwhelming because at times, the daunting idea I have in my head seems so impossible that I become paralyzed, unable to do anything.

I know I’m not the only one.

The negative thoughts creep in with a seeming inability to solve them.

  • I can’t uproot my family while I pursue a master’s degree—it’s too many years out of work!
  • I can’t possibly go to medical school—it’ll practically leave my wife working as a single mom!
  • I can’t throw all my energy into a marketing business—we could be left destitute and homeless!
  • I can’t coach people to improve their health—I’m still trying to do that for myself!

The solution?

Start.

Decide on the very next small thing you can actually do.

Julia Cameron calls this “filling the form”—taking the next small step instead of leaping ahead to some giant thing you might not ready for.

Using the examples from above, you can…

  • Put in an application to see if you even get accepted to school
  • Take a biology course to get your first prerequisite needed to attend medical school
  • Call one business in your area to see if they need a freelance marketing expert to help them
  • Help one person you know develop one new healthy habit

It’s the oft-cited cliché that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

You have to put a destination into the GPS. But then you must focus on the directions and look for the next turn.

If the end in mind is too big to tackle, focus instead on the tiniest first step.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Why not you?

Why can’t you organize a study group to work through a difficult Udemy course?

Why can’t you pick yourself to be a successful musician (rather than waiting for a record company to do it)?

Why can’t you organize a petition to get an environmental ordnance passed through your local government?

Why can’t you start that small marketing agency on the side and build it up to your full time gig?

Why can’t you throw together a fundraiser to help a down-on-her-luck mom keep her house for a year?

Why can’t you coach someone else to help improve their health and well-being?

You don’t need another credential. You don’t need permission.

You just need the skill… and the desire to act.

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by Nathan Coumbe

It’s not an absence of passion

It’s a presence of fear. 

That thing you were considering—now you feel you aren’t “passionate” enough about it to pursue. 

The business you thought of starting. The video you were going to film. The degree you thought about getting.

You’re telling yourself you aren’t passionate about it. And therefore it’s not worth doing. 

You’re wrong. 

Passion has nothing to do with it. You’re just scared. 

Scared of starting. Scared of failing. Unsure of what it will look like once you commit. 

To paraphrase Seth Godin: if it scares you, it’s a pretty good sign you should try to do it.

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by Nathan Coumbe

The silent woods

Henry David Thoreau wrote:

“The woods would be silent if no bird sang but the best.”

If all of us waited around until we believed ourselves to be the best at what we did, the world would stand still.

Stop waiting to be the best—heck, stop waiting to get better—and start doing something instead.

“Better” will come with action.

by Nathan Coumbe

Is your frying pan too small?

If you ever go fishing, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to say that you’ll keep the big fish you catch and throw the little ones back…

But not for this one guy.

Zig Ziglar tells a story about a fisherman who was found throwing all his big fish back and only keeping the little ones. 

When asked why he was doing such a ridiculous thing, the man had this to say:

“Boy I sure hate to do it… But I’ve only got this itty bitty frying pan to cook ’em in!”

Now, you might laugh, but you and I CONSTANTLY do the same thing on a daily basis. 

Here’s what I mean:

We say we want big opportunities. We want to achieve big goals and leave our mark. 

We want more responsibility at work, a chance to prove (or practice) our skills, and the chance to make “the big bucks” (or a big difference). 

We pray to God or ask the Universe to help us…

And we get an affirmative reply!

You get a huge opportunity to do everything you asked for…

Then what do you do?

You say, “Well… That’s too big. I don’t think I can’t handle that. I’m not [insert your adjective here] enough.”

We’re given the big fish… And we throw it back because we don’t think we have what it takes to cook it. 

My advice?

Buy a bigger frying pan. 

In other words, take the opportunity and run with it! The worst thing that’ll happen is you’ll fail. 

But failure isn’t fatal in most cases. You’ll be alright. 

And you’ll learn and do it better the next time you have a big opportunity come your way.

by Nathan Coumbe

Act “as if”

Acting “as if” is the only way to change. 

Reading, studying, thinking—none of that will create change without action. 

People are afraid to take the actions necessary because they don’t feel like they’re “THAT” type of person yet.

But you don’t become “that guy” until you start acting like that guy.

So act as if.

…As if you ARE patient, kind, and understanding.

…As if you ARE lean, strong, and healthy.

…As if you ARE a confident entrepreneur.

…As if you ARE a loving spouse or parent.

Acting as if, a little bit each day, will eventually become a self-fulfilling prophecy.