“Hey, I was checking out your bucket list online, and you have ‘tour the White House’ on there. I’m headed to D.C. in a couple weeks – wanna join me and we’ll try to get a tour?”

Um – yeah!

Last week, I spent 3 nights and 4 days in our nation’s capital with my best friend (the week before his wedding). He was there for a real estate conference, and I took it as the opportunity to head over and take in the sights and sounds of Washington, D.C., as well as meet up with a few people that I’ve been meaning to get together with – further a little business at the same time, right?

So below are my reflections on spending that time in Washington, D.C.:

It’s the perfect budget trip

By the end of the first day, I realized that I had to get my wife on this trip in the near future for one simple reason: it’s pretty cheap! Outside of paying for food and a hotel room, you spend a couple bucks to take the subway around. Admission to almost everything is free, with the exception of the Newseum. All the monuments and the Smithsonian museums are all free to the public – how cool is that?

If your goal is to travel more, I can’t think of a better place to put on your list. Not only is it an awesome place to visit, it’s pretty nice to your wallet.

The people are actually pretty friendly

Need directions? Trying to figure out where to get off the subway? Somebody will likely be willing to help you. You might even get a weirdo that will approach you in his car and offer to give you a ride (yeah, I appreciate it, buddy, but you can’t actually think I’m getting in there with you, do you?). Even crossing the street, people are willing to stop and let you cross, and nearly all of them smiled at me as I waved a “thank you”. My buddy says it’s just because it was during the day and all the criminals come out at night, but still…

This is the place where history comes alive

You’ve read in a book for years that man walked on the moon, but seeing the actual spacesuit is totally different. The Holocaust is a disturbing idea, but it hits you hard when you walk through a room full of shoes that the Nazis collected from Jews before killing them. You can’t help but feel a little inspired when you stand on the spot in front of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the “I Have a Dream” speech.

If you don’t like history and find it boring, then you had the wrong teachers. There are some awesome stories from history. Take the time to digest and experience some of the highs and lows of American history with the actual artifacts from these moments. It gives so many stories a new perspective.

Public transportation is great – in theory

The first few days, I loved the Metro. It was great to only pay a couple bucks and get all over the city. How convenient is that?!? Being from Milwaukee, I never really used a subway in any practical form. Because I was on my own for a few days while my buddy was at his conference, I got around using the subway almost exclusively, and it was fantastic.

Then, on the final day, we were trying to get back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, and one of the tracks was closed. It took us over an hour to go 2 miles. When it works, it’s great. When it doesn’t, it’s a huge pain in the butt.

The White House tour is limited, but impressive (+ Another one off the list!)

Tour the White House (9/24/2011 with Aaron)

After going through four different security checkpoints, Aaron and I walked through the first floor of the White House. You start on the side, walk through the Blue, Red, and Green rooms, as well as a hallway that lets you peek into a few other rooms, including the library. You walk through one of the dining rooms, and you also walk out the front door of the White House. There are two other floors and a whole wing that you don’t get to see, and you don’t get to touch anything.

But here’s the thing: it’s still the White House! They had partitions up because a guard said the First Family was “in residence”, which is an insane feeling. And all the rooms were ones that are still used on a regular basis; they just had ropes up temporarily so we didn’t ruin the place. And not only do you get to see a lot of Presidential artifacts, but most of the famous Presidential portraits are hanging all over the place. That famous painting of Teddy Roosevelt? It’s up in the dining room, next to the most famous portrait of George Washington that exists. They’re not copies – they’re the real deal! It’s a great tour, totally free (but you have to book it through your congressman well in advance of your trip), and totally worth the hassle to get in.

Meeting fellow bloggers is awesome

I sat in a pizza place for about ten minutes, putzing around on my phone, waiting for a guy I only knew as “J. Money”. Yes, I was meeting a dude whose name I didn’t even know. But sure enough, he showed up, and we had a great conversation for about an hour and a half. We kicked around our business ideas and thoughts, and had a lot of fun.

Recently, I’ve been meeting with and speaking with a lot of fellow bloggers, and it’s a great piece of motivation to know these people and bounce ideas around with them. Entrepreneurship can get lonely at times, and it refreshes me to get the chance to talk to so many in recent weeks! (And check out J.’s site Budgets Are Sexy sometime!)

We know our monuments

Walking through the relatively-new WWII Memorial between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, all I could think of was, “Man, you can say what you want about America, but we sure know how to build a monument!”

No matter the monument or memorial, I’m always stunned at the attention to detail and the sense of respect that our monuments give. It’s touching to see so many people honored in our nation’s capital with this stuff.

It wasn’t as political as I feared (and that’s a good thing!)

Okay, I’m a conservative guy. I didn’t vote for President Obama, but I respect the position. He’s our President, fair and square. But I was worried that I would run into a lot of partisanship and stuff, just like on TV. But remarkably, I never felt confronted with politics. Obviously, the museums are pretty pro-America, and they should be. But Presidential screw-ups were on display as well, and it was nice to see all the past Presidents treated with respect, historically-speaking.

Additionally, it was freaking awesome when a caravan of helicopters flew over us, and the President leaned out of the last one and waved at us! (The tiny helicopter in the picture there)

It’s exhausting

In the span of four days, I saw the Air and Space Museum, the Washington Monument (several times), Lincoln Memorial (several times), the WWII Memorial (several times), the Washington National Cathedral (kinda – it was closed, but I walked to it), part of the Smithsonian National Zoo, the Newseum, the Holocaust Museum, the National Archives, the Museum of American History, the White House, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the Vietnam Wall.

Yeah, my feet hurt.

But I have to say, it is a must-see trip for everyone. I went 10 years ago, and I didn’t have nearly as much of the appreciation for everything as I do now. It’s fun, impressive, and educational. Highly recommended!

By mile 60, Scott was vomiting and shaky. His hands dropped to his knees, then his knees dropped to the pavement. He collapsed by the side of the road, lying in his own sweat and spittle. Leah and his friends didn’t bother trying to help him up; they knew there was no voice in the world more persuasive than the one inside Scott’s own mind. - Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

You’ve lined everything up. You are ready to take that next step. You know all that you need to know, and now it’s time to put your plan into action. You have a clear game plan to making your dream a reality. Then… you wait.

And wait. And then you wait some more.

You worry that you don’t have it all figured out yet. You start doubting yourself. Then you go back to the drawing board to tweak your plan. You find another book to read, another blog to follow. You pore through bookshelves and Google results for even more information. Your dreams are never realized.

Does that sound like you? It sure sounds like me.

Scott was (and is) a world-class ultrarunner. He runs miles on top of miles. The situation above was in a race in the middle of the desert, where only the strongest even finish the race. Leah is his wife. At first glance, the idea of your husband collapsing on the side of the road and not trying to help him seems cold-hearted. But then, look at the last sentence – the only person who could get Scott up off the ground was Scott.

When we are faced with adversity that scares us or makes us doubt our own talents and abilities to get the job done, we go back and look for more motivation. We look for books that could give us another “secret”, or we read blogs of people who have done it so that we know it’s possible. But we never just do it.

What causes this? I’d say fear. We’re scared to be held accountable for the results. If we fail, we might be embarrassed or lose something important to us. Because we doubt our own ability to achieve something, we never bother trying. All the external motivation in the world can’t compare with the voice in our heads.

Your Brain: Your Own Personal Life Coach

A good life coach or personal development guru is not going to be someone who feels the need to keep you motivated. He or she can’t do that for you. If they are, then they are full of crap. The smart coach gets you to buy into it. The reasonable guru or mentor or what-have-you will take the time to help you believe in yourself, and in your ability to do awesome stuff.

You have everything you need.

Got a specific dream? Do a Google search and find some information. But then sit down and figure out why you want to do this. What is pushing you? What is motivating you? It can’t be money, or good looks, or anything frivolous. It has to have a deeper meaning. Once you nail that down, you have to accept that it’s going to happen.

Once you convince yourself you can do it, then you can do it. Nobody else can motivate you better than yourself.

Don’t believe me? Scott wasn’t even halfway done with a 100-mile race. All the other runners were out of site. He was blown up and exhausted. He remained lying on the side of the road for ten minutes. Once he got done arguing with himself, he promptly pulled himself up, began running again - and won the whole freaking race while simultaneously shattering the previous record.

Yes. You can do much more than you think. But I can’t convince you of that. You need to convince yourself first.

It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.

I was watching A League of Their Own with my wife last night and this quote popped up, delivered by (my favorite actor) Tom Hanks. It was manager Jimmy Dugan’s response to Geena Davis’ character Dottie Hinson, who was quitting baseball despite being the best player in the league, mid-season. He told her she would regret it, and she said, “It just got too hard.” Then he let loose with the quote above.

I, like so many other times, immediately pulled out my phone and sent a note to myself about it. What a great line: “The hard is what makes it great.”

How often do we run away from something just because it’s hard?

• We plunge deeper into debt because it’s too hard to sacrifice some things.
• We keep putting on weight because we don’t want to get sweaty or tired.
• Our health goes in the can because it’s a pain to pay attention to what you are eating every day.
• We never succeed in building that dream business because we have to work for years to get it off the ground.
• We stay single for the rest of our lives because it’s tough to compromise with someone every day.

My Personal Saga of Barefoot Running

After reading the excellent book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall (affiliate link), I’ve been inspired to take up barefoot running, as I do believe that it is healthier and safer for you in the long run (pun fully intended). As you might remember, I ran a 5K a couple months ago, and have spent most of this year running. At one point, I was in good enough shape to run almost 5 miles at a time.

Since taking up barefoot running, I just run back and forth in front of our apartment complex. Sometimes I run on the sidewalk, sometimes I run on the grass. In total, I probably run a fraction of a mile in a typical workout now. And yet, when I’m done, I’m sweaty, my calves ache, and my feet are a little sore. I’m retraining myself how to run again, and it is hard.

Hard work is almost always worth it

As I push through that pain, it is gradually getting easier. I’m not as sore for as long, and soon I will embark on my first barefoot mile. As I put in this hard work, I know that my body will eventually reward me.

The gratification of that moment will be because of my hard work. As Jimmy Dugan is saying above, it’s the hard work that will make it worthwhile. Anything that you do that requires hard work is worth it in some shape or form. Maybe it won’t bring the intended result that you wanted, but you will learn something from every experience.

When did we forget how to work hard?

Do you remember learning how to walk? Of course not – it was so long ago. But have you ever watched a young toddler learning to walk? Sometimes they step gingerly. Sometimes they don’t make it past a few steps before falling down, but they keep going. One of the most heartbreaking things I’ve seen is my nephew Mason as a baby, trying to move. His muscles weren’t developed yet, and all he wanted to do was crawl. He’d push himself up on all fours, rock back and forth a little, and then fall face down onto his stomach. Immediately, his face would communicate intense frustration, and he would begin to sob, as he was working so hard to try and move on his own.

We take walking for granted now, but we forget how much of a struggle it was for us to learn. Our bodies had to learn balance and develop muscles we had never used. But nobody can deny that learning to walk was worth the trouble. It was extremely hard work for us to really accomplish it.

As toddlers, we were okay with working hard, because we could see the rewards. They were tangible – you learn how to feed yourself, you can eat faster. You learn how to walk, you can get places on your own. You learn how to talk, and people will finally listen to what you’ve been trying to tell them.

But as adults, the rewards get more abstract, and they are not always immediate. Once we lost patience, we lost the desire to work hard. And it doesn’t help that so many things are given to us nowadays without having to work very hard for it (money – at least a minimum wage, shelter, food from the supermarket, etc.).

My challenge to you is this:

Pick a goal. Grab it off your bucket list, or just think of something you’ve always wanted to do. Got one? Good. Resolve in your mind that it’s going to be hard work at times, but that you are going to accomplish it.

Now get after it. Don’t let anything stop you. Start believing in yourself and your goals. You have the capability to work harder than you ever have before. Even if you think you work hard now, you probably don’t. When things get tough, don’t whine and complain. Just accept it and keep going. Things sucking at times is a part of life, so just take it.

Embrace “The Beast”

One runner profiled in Born To Run was a woman who liked when fatigue set in during a race. While that seems backwards to some, it made perfect sense when it was explained – once fatigue hit, she knew what she was going to be dealing with, and once she learned to love it, she learned how to conquer it.

She called that fatigue “The Beast”. Too often we psyche ourselves out of something because we are afraid of “The Beast”. But more often than not, our fear is worse than what “The Beast” would do to us.

Go after it. Get “The Beast” and make it cower in fear of you for a change. It’s going to be hard, but that’s okay – it’s supposed to be hard. That’s what makes it great.

• Set up a training log.
• Put together a healthier meal plan for next week.
• Balance your checkbook and plan out your budget.
• Brainstorm your business idea.
• Call that guy/girl you’ve always wanted to date but never had the courage (or, to a lesser extent, send them a Facebook message).
• Pick up the phone and call up a friend you haven’t talked to in a while.
• Find a new book to expand your knowledge of a particular topic.
• Write something of your own.
• Research that trip that you’ve always wanted to take and put together a game plan to get there.
• Go pull your kids away from the television and play a game with them.
• Ask your spouse how his/her day went and listen to them.
• Jump on Craigslist and find that instrument you’ve been meaning to play.
• Go down to the basement and find five things you can sell on Craigslist to make some extra cash.

Did you click on any of the links above and start reading them? Great (that’s the point) – but end it there. There are thousands of things you can do with your time. At some point, you’re spending too much time reading about them and not doing them. Don’t get lost in the inspiration phase. Get away from the computer and start getting things done.

I bet you’re ready.

There are plenty of places to look if you want to see “impossible” achievements. This post by Jacob Sokol lists a stunning 48 examples of people who have rocked their worlds with fantastic achievements. But if you are sitting around, not getting anywhere in life, trying to visualize yourself quitting your job and traveling the world may feel like a stretch. These people must have resources you don’t – intellect, money, time, or whatever.

Right?

Nope – they’re average people. They’re your peers. I’ve had conversations with many of them personally, and they didn’t just get up one day and knock it out of the park. They started small – they achieved goals that look minor on the surface, but those goals propelled them into excellence. They laid the foundation with achievement, so that they could build the momentum and confidence to go out and grab their dreams.

What’s more, you’ll see below that some of them are still going after little goals. Changing your life is not a one-time thing; it is a continual process of going after the things you love and the dreams you’ve always had. With this in mind, you can go after your goals and clip them off, one by one, building on the last achievement. Change isn’t impossible – you may have to start small, but getting started is often the hardest part anyway.

Here are 20 of your peers – some are members of The “I Can” Movement (see the subscribe box to the right!), and some are entrepreneurs and inspirations of mine that are doing some amazing things. Check it out, in their own words (emphasis mine):

Tom’s note: I really wanted to include pictures of everybody here, but I didn’t like what it did to the formatting. If you care that much about how they look, just click over to their pages. They’ve got pictures. I would’ve just stolen them from there anyway.

David Cain – Raptitude – @DavidDCain

David’s blog has the awesome tagline: “Getting better at being human”. He currently has over 90,000 monthly readers while he discusses his efforts to destroy life’s difficulties. Here he emphasizes taking steps towards your goals, which is something I love to preach here.

“One pretty ordinary thing I did was start a blog. Just another blog on a heap of hundreds of millions of blogs out there. Anyone who can Google ‘How to start a blog’ can do it. Since then it has grown beyond my expectations, but that was a gradual process and there was no one task I did during that process that was particularly difficult or took any kind of special character. So I don’t think it’s a huge accomplishment. I didn’t have to reach down to the depths of my soul to move it forwards, I only ever had to go and do the next thing. And if I ever got to a point where I didn’t know what the next thing was, then the next thing was to figure out the next thing to do. Most big accomplishments are just a series of ordinary, fairly easy actions. They become insurmountable when you look at them as if they’re one giant action that only a superhuman could pull off.”

Mark McGuinness – Lateral Action – @MarkMcGuinness

Mark is a coach that focuses on helping creative professionals. He is incredibly friendly and is the most successful poet I know (okay, that doesn’t say much, but the guy is very respected in the entrepreneur community!). I like that he shares his struggles with his goal and how he was able to hold himself accountable to it – and how often do we fall into this trap?

“An everyday goal that eluded me for years was the simple habit of practising daily meditation. I would do it in fits and starts, for days or weeks on end, but always came unstuck by skipping the odd day when I was ‘too busy’. Finally, I posted it on my blog as a new year’s resolution, and told my readers they could hold me accountable for it. As a coach I’d have looked pretty silly if I’d had to admit the following year that it had been ‘too hard’ for me to establish a simple habit. A year later and I’d done 363 days out of 365, and over three years later I’m still sitting every day, so it worked – finally!

Here’s the original piece.”

Ali Luke – Aliventures – @Aliventures

Ali is a writing coach who I’ve seen write for many of my favorite blogs over the years, including Dumb Little Man. I’ve had the pleasure of having a few short conversations with her lately, and as she is getting into the self-publishing game, I have a feeling I’ll be talking to her more and more. She’s in the business of writing – and she’s good at it. She also admits to not achieving some things that most consider to be “average”.

“I’ve accomplished all sorts of very ordinary, humdrum things. And there are plenty of very average achievements that I’ve not managed yet — I can’t drive, for instance. I guess one of the most “average” things I did was to lose weight, back in my teens. I was overweight from childhood, and I was convinced that I couldn’t really do anything about it. Once I really focused on eating healthily, though, I found that I lost the weight quite quickly. It not only gave me a ton more confidence in myself (I used to hide under baggy clothes), it also made me realise that so many goals are possible, you just need to start moving towards them!”

Jonathan Mead – Illuminated Mind – @JonathanMead

Jonathan focuses on helping people ditch their day jobs in favor of getting paid for their passions. He, obviously, is a very passionate guy and recently put out a free workbook to help people figure out where their passions intersect with sustainable profits. He also values marriage very highly, which instantly makes him a favorite of mine. Lesson learned: you define what is extraordinary:

“The most ordinary thing I’ve accomplished is a great marriage. It might seem ‘ordinary’ but to me it’s something amazing, and epic in an unassuming way. My relationship with my wife is something I really cherish, and things wouldn’t be the same without my ‘partner in crime.’”

Marc And Angel – Marc And Angel Hack Life – @MarcAndAngel

I’ve followed Marc and Angel for several years now, and if you are looking for a little inspiration to keep you going throughout the week, their blog is the place to find it. They successfully merge inspiring content with practical tips every week. Congratulations to them for getting in better shape and making some friends – two goals I’m working on as well!

“Here are three ‘ordinary accomplishments’ Angel and I have conquered in the past year:

1.  Ran in four 5K runs for charity.

2.  Started consistently working out at the gym three days a week.

3.  Made several new friends in San Diego (we moved here two years ago).”

Brett McKay – The Art of Manliness – @ArtOfManliness/@BrettMcKay

If pressed to define two guys that I would consider to be “heroes” of mine, I would say Chris Guillebeau (see below) and Brett McKay. Brett runs possibly my favorite blog and community on the internet: The Art of Manliness. He also wrote a book of the same name. While the title makes people laugh, the content is classic advice to help dudes be better human beings instead of the buffoonish caricatures that we’ve become. He also ditched being a lawyer to do it – you gotta love that! His goals are pretty exceptional to some, but not everybody does this kind of stuff:

“- Paid off my school debt in a year and a half

- Graduated college in three years

- Had my first blog, which was a much smaller blog, The Frugal Law Student, named one of the ABA’s best law student blogs

- Made varsity on the football team in high school having not much natural ability but a lot of hustle”

Nathan Agin – Nonstop Awesomeness – @NathanAgin

I didn’t know Nathan until Jacob Sokol (see below) introduced us. Jacob thought he would be a good addition to this post, and I totally agree. Describing himself as a “permanent nomad”, Nathan dedicates himself to pretty awesome experiences. Heck, his average goal is something that plenty of people in this country probably thinks it pretty awesome:

“I file my taxes early.”

Tyler Tervooren – Advanced Riskology – @TylerTervooren

Tyler is one of my favorite guys on the ‘net these days: he’s established himself as a guy who’s swinging for the fences, and he’s put together lots of great, usable stuff. I purchased his Guerrilla Influence Formula a couple months ago, and it’s made a huge difference in how I’m approaching things here on The Nerd. He calls himself the “Professor of Riskology”, and his site is chock full of stuff that will help you take a few risks toward your goals. He has a great attitude towards accomplishments, too:

“This is such a hard question to answer because, honestly, most of my achievements are pretty ordinary. In fact, I think most extraordinary achievements come from piling together a lot of fairly ordinary ones. For example, I’m a pretty unfocused and scatterbrained person, so just picking something and sticking to it is an average accomplishment. Nothing special about that, but when I do it long enough and for the right reasons, cool things usually start to happen.

Nothing big that I’ve accomplished really ever started out that way. It usually started small and then grew as the little, ‘nothing to write home about’ successes started to mount.”

Jacob Sokol – Sensophy – @JacobSokol

If I ever need a little encouragement, I know where to find it. Jacob kick-started his online identity by being challenged by a reader to take ridiculously-successful (and busy) Gary Vaynerchuk to a New York Jets game. He got it done, and the rest is history. His post from the beginning of this article is the one that got my rear in gear. And he’s a cat guy, so he’s got that going for him:

“My most ‘ordinary’ accomplishment must have been getting two new best friends: Krylon and Prisma. Of course, you may refer to them as cats but I know them in their respective roles: my cuddling cartel.

My entire life I had always wanted a cat but my momma’ never gave the go-ahead for them. Well, one week I indeed did come home with my homeboy Krylon. Huge chick magnet BTW – he’s got a set of head-handles (ears) that could have melted Saddam Hussein’s heart.

Anyway, I’m not fronting. Those enormous ears instantaneously made way into my mom’s heart. She fell in love with the little guy and we’ve been homeboys ever since.”

Peter – Member of The “I Can” Movement

Great to see a couple guys from The Movement drop in and share their experiences as well. Peter walked away from a job, but managed to get it back, better than ever. Way to go, Peter!

“After twenty years of being a signwriter I returned to my first career as a dentist (I’d left that a couple of years out of college), first finding out how, then doing the required 300+ hours of retraining whilst working part-time and looking after our children before finally getting a job. And guess what – with a bit of maturity and life experience behind me, I am a much better dentist now then I ever was as a fresh faced twenty year old!”

Matthew – Adventure-Some – @AdventureSome – Member of The “I Can” Movement

If you’ve participated in the comments of this blog over the past two years, you likely have seen Matthew’s name pop up. He’s been an ardent supporter of The Nerd for a long time now, and he’s also a guy working very hard to put together his digital business. I’m very happy to have him as part of my Mastermind group.

“- Read all of the Harry Potter books

- Purchased a motorcycle (managed to do w/ cash so that it’s paid for, which might make it a bit less average)

- Studied abroad for a semester”

Colin Wright – Exile Lifestyle – @ColinIsMyName

How can you not like a guy who has his readers vote on where he’s going to live for the next 4 months? Colin is a very generous guy (as you can see by his great answer below), and is working hard on Ebookling – a self-publishing ebook platform. Like Ali Luke above, I have a feeling I’ll be having more conversations with this guy. Good thing, too. You should also check out his very good TEDx Talk.

“From my early teens, onward through my early college career, I had REALLY bad skin. For a slightly type-A, super-clean person like myself, it was offensive to the max that I had such horrific acne. I knew that other people probably assumed that I just didn’t take care of myself, and that irked me even more.

For years I had been telling my doctor I wasn’t so vain that I needed to take serious meds to deal with the problem – the potential side effects were INSANE – I didn’t want to take the risk, and I could deal with the bad skin until I grew out of it.

Eventually it got to the point where it was clear this wasn’t just going to go away on its own, and I had a very heartfelt nurse tell me that she was praying that I would go on Acutane, because she was afraid I would be ‘scarred forever by your acne, before it goes away.’

Looking at it from that perspective, how could I NOT try something new? All the other meds I had tried had very little impact, and I figured it was time to try a new tact.

So I did, and it was one of the better decisions that I ever made. My skin cleared up and I didn’t experience any side-effects other than a little dryness while I was on the meds. Booya.

It was a truly ordinary achievement – all I had to do was decide to give in an try something new – but it was one that made all the difference in the world for my confidence level. Sometimes it’s the little things that end up accruing the most positive results over time.”

Matt Gartland – Modern Audacity – @MattGartland

Matt’s whole platform is centered on doing some pretty awesome stuff. He is currently pursuing 10,000 Random Acts of Greatness, and is working hard to help people achieve their dreams and live fulfilled lives. Just check out the “Popular Articles” section on the right side of his blog for instant inspiration!

“My ‘ordinary achievement’ would be surviving middle/high school. Teenagers can be brutal to the unpopular, and I wasn’t. Add on top of that academic pressures, and those years are ripe for lots of challenges. Most of us face these challenges; most attend a middle school and high school in some fashion. And although we’re not always on the short-end of the popularity stick, we all wrestle with our emerging self-identity crisis (which is what I believe most/all of teenage popularity drama is about).

I overcame the pressures, putdowns, and whatnot to graduate a co-valedictorian and multi-time varsity sports letterman. Good achievements for sure that I’m proud of. But the mere fact that I finished is what’s most important. Many students still don’t finish high school, dropping out or worse.

The lesson here, to me, is that we must all endure everyday challenges in order to have an opportunity to become extraordinary. Sure, some have an easier path than others. But we all have our commonplace struggles and modest achievements. Engage in them, endure through them, and aim high!”

Penelope Trunk – Brazen Careerist – @PenelopeTrunk

Penelope has a bit of notoriety on the web for her honesty. I discovered her blog rather recently (though I’ve heard about it for years), and it’s stunning how open she is about her life. However, at the same time, she lets those stories inform some really valuable lessons. Her perspective is one I value very highly, and that’s not just because she’s also from Wisconsin.

“Getting out of bed everyday to me seems like a huge accomplishment. Life is hard, most days are not euphoric, we just hope they will be. I can’t believe more people don’t kill themselves. It’s so much easier than going through life. But still, I get out of bed every day and try to make things better. It feels heroic, but what I love about the world is that we all do it. Together. Every day. ”

Pete Michaud – Pete Michaud – @PeteMichaud

Pete is another guy that has been generous with his time, and I can’t thank him enough. His blog is a lot of fun to read at times, and rather poignant as well. He emphasizes the fact that we have more control than we think, and the time to act is now – so you can see why we’re going to get along just fine.

“I think all accomplishments are kind of trivial in retrospect.

Think of passing an English exam maybe, when you were in high school. Make it an easy one, for argument’s sake. You took the test, answered the easy questions, and moved on. But it’s only trivially easy in the context of the 12 years of prior ‘trivially easy’ English tests you took, leading up to that one test.

So sure, an A on the easy test you passed would be a monumental accomplishment for a fourth grader, but a fourth grader isn’t even going to be the situation where he has the chance to take the test.

So it is in life. You have to put in the consistent effort of taking baby steps through what you consider trivial accomplishments, to ‘graduate’ to a context where you can leap into what you think are major accomplishments now. Except when you get there, that ‘major’ accomplishment will feel like just another trivial, baby step to you.

That’s how normal people (read: everyone), reach extraordinary goals.”

Chris Guillebeau – The Art of Non-Conformity – @ChrisGuillebeau

As I stated earlier, this guy is my hero. The Practical Nerd exists because I read his great (and free!) guide called, 279 Days to Overnight Success. Had I not, this site would still be a blog devoted to ’90s pop culture – and you wouldn’t be reading it (nobody was). His book is a true inspiration, as is his whole story. Some could look at his answer below and not see a whole lot of value in it, but I immediately did, and here’s why: this is a guy who devotes his life to traveling all over the world. He published a book and put together his own book tour. He works incredibly hard and accomplishes stuff that people only dream about. But look at what he wrote below: does that sound like an average guy or what? Even people who are dominating their goals place great value on the average things they do, even if it’s just running a mile or writing a blog post:

“Not sure… got up this morning? Ran 1 mile? Wrote one blog post?”

Lachlan Cotter – The Art of Audacity – @LachlanCotter

Besides having some of the coolest designs on the internet, Lach’s site is a boot-in-the-butt for everybody who is tired of being ordinary. He also has my favorite call-to-action on his front page: “Not the life you signed up for? Sign-up here instead.” And he’s honest about his struggles, too:

“There’s really not much difference between an ordinary, average, little goal and an extraordinary, impossible goal. It just comes down to perspective. Just about every ‘big’ thing I ever did seemed pretty ordinary once I’d accomplished it. So it’s easy to lose sight of how far you’ve come. You are where you are. And since you’re always looking forward it often feels like you’re stuck. Like you haven’t ‘made it’. But by the standards of the ‘you’ of 5 years ago—you’ve made it big time. The reason big goals aren’t much different to little goals is no matter how ambitious the prize, the process to getting there is always the same: what are you going to think and what are you going to do right now, in this moment?

My little goals include: getting up in the morning, writing the next article, making the next call, knowing myself a little better than yesterday. And yeah—sometimes I still have trouble with the little things.”

Karol Gajda – Ridiculously Extraordinary – @KarolGajda

Karol’s name has been around the web for a while, and if nothing else, I owe him a debt of gratitude for helping me discover the wonders of the Neti pot. His average goal isn’t even considered a goal by many, but how many of us skip this important step? Maybe it should be a goal for us:

“I woke up and ate breakfast! Underrated and underutilized, but very important, average goal.”

James Clear – Passive Panda – @PassivePanda

If you are looking to start a business, even on the side, start by visiting Passive Panda. James is a very smart guy, and he should be charging for the kind of advice that he puts up there. In addition, he was also a very friendly, personable guy to chat with. His lesson is maybe the most important:

“My most ordinary achievement has been believing that achievement is ordinary.

It doesn’t require permission, it doesn’t come with an award, and you won’t get recognition simply because of having that mindset … but it builds the foundation for great things.

It’s your responsibility to believe in everyday achievement. Getting something done today should be the standard. Moving in a positive direction should be expected. Building new relationships should be part of the typical day. You have to make accomplishment a standard practice. Everyday progress is the only way to reach bigger goals.

Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Take one step in a positive direction. Reach out to someone new. Start on a project you have been putting off. Just get out there and make something happen. Then do it again.”

Yours Truly

My favorite “ordinary goal” is getting rid of cable TV. I’ve talked about it here, and in fact, multiple times. I have an even more sophisticated system now (thank you, wedding money!), but as a kid who grew up watching television nearly constantly, I was viewed as crazy by people around me – even members of my own family! But today, I don’t miss cable one bit, as there are plenty of great offerings online and through Netflix. Besides that, I’ve cut down drastically on my TV consumption, allowing me to do things like read more books or, I don’t know, start an online business.

What about you? What goals have you rocked in your life? Remember – no goal is too small!

I got up from the couch and marched into my office. It was 10:00pm on a Friday night. I grabbed my dry-erase marker and immediately began scribbling things down on my whiteboard. I needed to get a lot more done than I was.

My wife, still drying her tears, turned off the television. We had just finished watching The Pursuit of Happyness, and as she stood in my office doorway, I told her, “I can do better than I’m doing now. But I promise you, we will never have to live like that. I won’t let that happen.”

Some movies garner a more emotional reaction than others, but for us the film was especially poignant: the sting of a failed business venture, and the stress that finances can place on a marriage. I’m not going to let that happen to her, and I think about that movie often as I go about my day, pushing myself to succeed.

Inspiration can come from a lot of places. Some feel you shouldn’t need it, but I say human beings may struggle at times, and we all need a little bit of help to keep us going en route to our dreams. The following is a list of 4 movies – one fiction, three based on true events – that will leave you feeling like you can do anything in the world:

The Pursuit of Happyness

What it’s about: Will Smith plays Chris Gardner, a man who invested all of his life savings in selling portable medical scanners that are considered a luxury item for doctor’s offices. He drops his son (played by his real-life son, Jaden) off at a crappy day-care center every day, and his wife leaves him due to the stress of supporting them. They get kicked out of their apartment, then the hotel room they are staying in, and wind up staying at poor houses while Chris takes an unpaid, six-month stockbroker internship to try to start a new career.

The message you’ll get: If you think you are sacrificing enough to get ahead, or you think that you can’t sacrifice this or that to put yourself in a better position to succeed, you are a complete wuss. This is the true story of a guy who sacrificed almost everything to give his son a better life and to prove to himself that he was something better. If you are looking at career changes, watch this and then realize that you can, regardless of where you are in life.

Defining moments to watch for: Chris denying his own misery to turn being homeless into a fun game (for a night) to keep his son going, ending in him holding his sleeping boy in a subway bathroom and trying to protect him from the noises outside the door. Also, the entire story arc of Chris networking his way into the internship despite being woefully unqualified. Finally, try not to be moved at the emotions that overcome his face when he is offered the job at the end of the movie.

Comedian

What it’s about: Jerry Seinfeld is a kajillionaire who created and starred in pretty much the biggest show on television in the 1990s: Seinfeld. After the show ended, Jerry did a one-night special on HBO (called I’m Telling You For The Last Time) where he ran through all of his old stand-up material and then retired it all. This documentary involves his struggles to develop new material and put together an entirely new act in small night clubs in New York, and also follows the life of Orny Adams, a stand-up comedian trying to make it.

The message you’ll get: First, success is hard work. Many people view a stand-up comedian as a guy who just stands around and tells jokes, but Jerry and his crew of fellow comedians demonstrate in conversations that there is a real psychology to putting together a stand-up routine, and Jerry struggles to put it all together, spending endless time honing his craft all over again. Second, you’ll see the importance of challenging yourself. Jerry wasn’t struggling to pay bills or anything. He continues to make money from the syndication of Seinfeld. But he wanted to prove to himself that he could still do it, and challenges himself to make it happen again.

Defining moment to watch for: There are a lot of cool, fun little conversations between Jerry and lots of famous comedians, but to me, the most impactful moment comes early in the movie, where Jerry is developing new material and gets off-topic for a second, which derails his act. You can see the frustration and the awkwardness as he stands on stage, silent, staring at the floor, wondering how he can get his set back on track.

Rocky

What it’s about: Just in case you don’t know, Rocky is the story of a has-been (or never-was) boxer named Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote the film). In order to garner some ratings and more money, heavyweight champion Apollo Creed publicly challenges Rocky to a fight, and everyone expects Rocky to get killed. Rocky pushes himself to train hard, wooing his future wife Adrian in the process, and winds up lasting the entire bout with Creed. He doesn’t beat him, but he proves that he can hang with the champion. The story is so good, the franchise makes five more movies about the character.

The message you’ll get: You may not be the most talented, or the most graceful. You may not be the smartest, and you may be a step behind everyone else. But if you are willing to work your butt off, you can hang with the big boys. Rocky is big, dumb, and slow. But the whole point of the movie is to show Rocky’s heart, which is why there are tender moments with Adrian and lots of arguing with his manager, Mickey. Rocky has his crap to deal with, but he fights through it all to stand toe-to-toe with the champ. Also, you define your own success. Rocky just didn’t want to lose. He wanted to prove that he could hang in there with Creed. People forget that Rocky didn’t beat Creed in the first movie (he does in the second movie).

Defining moments to watch for: While most guys are looking for the fight scenes, notice Rocky’s heart on his dates with Adrian. Also, the iconic training sequence is one that will show you what hard work is all about. Finally, try not to be anxious to go get something done with your life when you see Rocky at the end of the match, screaming for Adrian and celebrating his victory.

Miracle

What it’s about: The 1980 United States Olympic Hockey Team. This team, led by coach Herb Brooks, are put together as a group of amateur and collegiate hockey players. They spend the entire movie learning to deal with each other (some of them don’t quite get along), and deal with a coach who runs them ragged, seemingly overworking them. The reason for this is because it is widely considered that the Soviet Union’s hockey team is the best in the world and will win the gold medal. Brooks pushes these players to their breaking points to put them in a position to beat them en route to a gold medal.

The message you’ll get: There’s no such thing as “impossible”. While the Winter Olympics get lost in the shuffle in today’s media, the world was transfixed by the Olympic Games thirty years ago. The Soviet Union wasn’t just the home country of every villain on American television and movie theatres back then – they were real-life sports villains as well. No hockey team played better than the Soviets at that time. But Herb Brooks found the drive deep down in these players to show them that they could get it done – and they do. In addition, it’s important to find the right guys to work with. The team finds themselves when they realize that they have to do this together, not on their own. That’s how you get ahead in life. Build the right team to get yourself there.

Defining moments to watch for: Herb Brooks (played by Kurt Russell) making his players practice incessantly, skating back-and-forth to the point of exhaustion, punctuated by his shouting of “AGAIN!” after every workout. They finally realize that he wants them to view themselves as a team, instead of individual players, which is the key to their success. Also, the goosebumps-inducing call by Al Michaels at the end of the game, screaming, “Do you believe in miracles?!?” as the clock runs out and the U.S. team beats the Soviets.

There are plenty of others that might inspire you, like Good Will Hunting, or Forrest Gump. But the point is this: for every 20 pieces of crap that Hollywood puts out there, they can put out a gem that will keep you going. Instead of watching mindless garbage on TV, invest a little time in a movie that will push you towards your goals. These four are a start. Then, when they are over, turn them off and get to work on pursuing your dreams, whatever they are. What movie or movies inspire you?

Rest assured: that’s not the behavior I’m referring to in the title.

As I watched the end of The Aviator on my honeymoon – an excellent portrayal by Leonardo DiCaprio – I noticed something else about Howard: his drive. After flying his giant plane in front of the media, despite years of speculation and skepticism, Howard Hughes should have been basking in the glory. He should have been doing interviews and press junkets talking about how he proved everyone wrong and everyone should apologize to him and give him lots of money. But he didn’t. When he got off that plane, he immediately went to his advisors and started discussing the possibility of jet engines in plane travel. They couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to enjoy his success.

Enjoying success is great, but it gets you in trouble. There are numerous washed-up celebrities that had a good thing going and then… nothing. Think of all the one-hit wonders in the music industry. Many of them rode the wave of success from their big hit, but then had nothing on the other end when it ran its course. They wound up broke, miserable, addicted to whatever and, worse, dead.

When you get a promotion at work, does that mean you stop trying to be better at your job? For many, yeah, it does. Or even when you get that big job, you don’t try to better yourself and climb the ladder. You celebrate your success too long. The last time I went full-time with my freelance business, I scored a big client that paid the bills and I rode the wave well into the ground. Next thing you know, I’m stuck behind a desk working second shift in customer service. I celebrated my victory too long and paid the price.

If you have a child in school and they get an “A” on a paper or exam, it’s a great success. But do you then give the child more slack to do crappy on subsequent tests? No. You hold them accountable for that “A” and you help them to keep improving their knowledge. So why do we not hold ourselves to the same standards?

Strive to be better. Push yourself. Look for ways to make your home a better place to be, to make your family a more cohesive and loving unit, to strengthen your friendships, and to love more deeply. Work hard to improve every aspect of your life. Celebrating is fine, but it is temporary. Living in this world is a lot of work – there’s no dancing around it – and the party will eventually end. End it yourself and roll up your sleeves again before it’s too late. Howard Hughes had some mental problems, but he knew how to innovate and how to push himself to be better. We should all do the same, every day.

First, he picked up some hard-hitting defensive players. In the first few weeks of the season, their defense played superbly and their offense kinda sputtered. Gruden gradually improved the offense every week, knowing that there was no way that the team could win consistently unless they were performing well on both sides of the ball. As we live in an age where immediate gratification is needed, those players on offense showed frustration as they struggled to get going. Coach Gruden then made a very important comment to them that summed up their entire season:

How do you build a mansion? Start with the foundation, then put on a few bricks a day.

I actually paused the video to stop and jot that down. What a great piece of advice – not just for the Buccaneers, but for anybody. It’s such simple advice that rewards patience. Think about how you can apply this in your own life.

Start with the foundation.

In The Bible, Christ talks about a foolish man who builds his house with a lousy foundation in the book of Matthew, chapter 7:

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

You could build the tallest, grandest mansion in the world, but if you don’t have a solid foundation, it will fall like a house of cards. If the foundation of your career is money, you’ll hit the glass ceiling pretty quickly. If you are dating (or worse – marrying!) because your significant other is sexy, that love will surely die.

Your foundation is the basis for what you do. When you build a house, the foundation is the most important first step. It is what the rest of the house is built upon. Your foundation starts from within – it’s what motivates you and it is what you build your life upon. If you do everything for the wrong reasons, then everything will fail eventually and you will be left miserable. Take a close examination of your life and what it means to you – where happiness comes from, and what you want to do with it and why. Knowing these answers and having a solid response for any of those types of questions will help you in achieving your goals.

Put on a few bricks a day.

Have you ever seen a house being built? Once the foundation is poured and set, the house doesn’t just go up in a day. First the framework needs to be done, then the walls put up, and so on. It doesn’t happen automatically, and it doesn’t usually happen particularly quickly. In the same way, the goals you want to achieve in life aren’t going to be met overnight. It takes ruthless determination and stubbornness; you need to be willing to stick with them for as long as possible.

In my case, the “few bricks a day” concept helps keep me on track on days when I don’t feel particularly motivated. When your business fails so many times, making adjustments and trying again can be difficult and exhausting. So I decide I just need to throw on a few “bricks”: work on my business plan a little bit, knock out a blog post, read something useful and educate myself a little more, and so on. Action needs to be taken every day. If that means doing a little bit of exercise to get your heart rate up to start losing a little weight, so be it. Sit with your other half and talk about each other’s days to form a stronger bond with him or her. Introduce yourself to someone influential in the industry you want to be in. The bricks don’t have to be huge and you don’t have to get there right away, but if you consistently push yourself to make even a little progress every day, you can get there.

Coach Gruden’s lesson on persistence paid off, and the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl. Their offense scored 48 points during that game, which is a sign of an offense that is working very well. At the beginning of that season, nobody would have expected that team to score 48 points in the Super Bowl. Don’t let other people’s expectations of you bring you down. Start with the foundation, and start throwing some bricks on it. You’ll see results.

You just got home from a long day at work, and you feel fried. Your brain is running on fumes, and your body just wants to collapse on the couch. You want mindless entertainment, and fortunately, you’ve got hundreds of channels to choose from. You sit down, and from about 6:00pm until 11:00pm, the TV is on. Sound healthy to you?

I hear people at the office talk about Bachelor Pad and other pieces of garbage like that. I hear them spend 10 minutes talking about Twilight and what the celebrities are up to. In my mind, all I can think is this question: “Isn’t there something better we can do with our time?” I’m a self-admitted TV addict, but my TV watching has tapered off in recent years. And with the average cable bill running $75-$100 a month, I think it’s time we staged a revolution. Too often, we have let networks tell us what to talk about, what to buy, what to eat, and how to live. I say we turn off the TVs and start doing something. Here are some great alternatives that will make your life more fulfilling and, let’s be honest, healthier:

Have a conversation

Yoga/Pushups/Situps/Gym/Running/Walking/Get Off Your Lazy Butt

Expand that brain of yours

Start a side business

Read a book, or twelve

Today, we’re talking about mentors – how to pick one, why they’re important, etc. We’re also discussing the absent Pile o’ Links and the new design. Join us by clicking the “Play” button!