Category / proactivity

by Nathan Coumbe

What does the community need?

Benjamin Franklin knew how to make things happen.

He founded the first post office in the (future) United States, its first subscription library, and even established the first fire departments and police force.

He created what eventually became the University of Pennsylvania and the nation’s first learned society (The American Philosophical Society) to promote useful knowledge for the good of the citizenry.

He was able to do this by constantly asking, “What does this community need?”

It might seem like this question is harder than ever to answer. So many of the things we need have already been created.

But even in the digital age, humans need new creations.

Maybe the community isn’t the one you live in, like it was for Franklin. Maybe it’s one you can create online.

Maybe the needs are less tangible than they were for Franklin. We have fire departments and schools, so what do we need now?

Perhaps it’s connection. Or understanding. Or a group. Perhaps it’s a new tool or process.

The needs may be less obvious than they were, but they still exist. And remember, the needs Franklin solved were probably not obvious in his time either, even if they are now in hindsight.

by Nathan Coumbe

You can’t control the weather. You CAN wear a coat.

Seth Godin wrote on Medium that knowing what the weather forecast is give us the illusion of being able to control it. 

Of course that’s not true. 

We seek control in our lives and settle for these illusions without actually being able to do anything about it. 

You can’t control whether or not it’ll snow, but you can prepare by putting on coats and boots.

You can’t control whether or not it’ll rain, but you can stick an umbrella in the car just in case. 

You can’t control whether or not a post you write will go viral. But you can write the post and ship it. And if it doesn’t, you can write another one tomorrow. 

In short, if you want to control something, you can control yourself. Your actions, reactions, words. 

But that’s all you can control. 

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by Nathan Coumbe

If you want to be a teacher…

Teach. 

Make videos. Write blog posts and articles. 

Host a workshop or a live social media “conference”.

Teach what you’re learning and you’ll get better at it. 

It’s a practice. And you don’t need permission.

(Though it helps if you know what you’re talking about.) 

The same holds true for just about any other practice or identity you wish to adopt.

“Just do it” isn’t a slogan reserved only for Nike.

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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

The first thing to do when you get laid off…

I lost my job yesterday – nothing to do with me. Something happened with the company, and I was one of the casualties.

There’s nothing I can do about it but to accept the reality of the situation and figure out how I’ll respond, rather than react, to this setback.

And the first thing I did?

I went for a walk.

Even though I really didn’t want to. I did it anyway – and I felt better for it.

When something like this happens, the best thing you can do is to get in some movement. Any form of exercise will do:

  • A long walk
  • A few laps at the pool
  • A great strength session

Get the heart pumping, the blood flowing to your brain, and the endorphins storming throughout your body.

There’s another thing you need to do, too—take your daily dose of motivational vitamins.

I love to listen to Seth Godin and Zig Ziglar on a daily basis – the same messages over and over again until I can repeat them verbatim. Why?

Because when I start repeating what they say—when I can finish their sentences—it means I’ve changed the way I talk to myself. Their messages of hope and success become my thoughts on the same topics.

So, if you’re about to lose (or already have lost) your job, take these two steps immediately.

  1. Get in some exercise (and do something physical EVERY SINGLE DAY)
  2. Take your daily motivational vitamin

By the way, here are two great recommendations from Seth & Zig to get you started:

P.S. Check out my cute little video talking about this very topic.

by Nathan Coumbe

Your dying day

We are all mortal, which means all of us will die someday. That’s obvious.

But there are a few questions we don’t know the answer to, such as…

How long will that be?

How miserable will our dying be?

But there are some other, less depressing questions we can ask as well. And they happen to be questions we can answer on a daily basis…

How did I make life less difficult for others?

How did I influence things for the better?

Better to focus on what you can act on rather than worrying about the unknowns.

by Nathan Coumbe

You are already successful

There is one particular Buddhist philosophy I’m particularly fond of:

Define success as what you already have right now.

So what do you already have that makes life worthwhile?

A loving spouse or partner?

Healthy relationships?

A car that runs?

A roof over your head?

A job that keeps you fed?

It’s even possible for those that have little or nothing. Because as the Stoics would say, you still have your mind—the one thing that cannot be harmed…

That thing that lets you make choices… Or take action.

Some of us—living in war zones or on the street—have lost everything. Even a sense of hope or safety. That cannot, and should not, be minimized.

But where there’s a mind, there’s a spark of potential.

by Nathan Coumbe

Choices

Almost everything that’s ever happened in your life has been the result of a choice.

A lot of it has happened because of your own personal choices.

But even those things that have happened to you completely and totally outside of your control have usually resulted from a choice…

Someone else’s choice in that case. And it created circumstances, good or bad, that affected you.

Interesting, and quite sad, to think about.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Hit the buzzer before you know the answer

The secret to winning Jeopardy?

Hit the buzzer before you know the answer

If you wait until you know the answer, that split second hesitation lets the other person get ahead of you.

If you hit the buzzer first, you’ll at least have a chance of getting it right.

But if you wait, the opportunity to succeed instantly passes you by.

(H/t to Seth Godin for reminding me of this principle.)

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by Nathan Coumbe

We don’t control the world around us…

Here’s a quote worth writing down:

A Stoic believes they don’t control the world around them, only how they respond—and that they must always respond with courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice.

I believe the same thing applies to all humans, not just those of us who practice Stoicism.

Write it down (and check out the author’s post).

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