"Life is Too Short Not to Do Something That Matters" & 13 other things I gathered from the Gaping Void

I’ve got a terrible habit.

When I’m not busy being a therapist, dad, husband, Sherpa, runner, coach, or superhero; I have a terrible reading habit. I contracted it at an early age. I tried to shake it, but I couldn’t. I read a lot. Science fiction, self-help, psychology, business, cereal boxes, inspiration, motivation, comic books - you name it and I will read it.

It’s been a great few weeks for me and my habit. Two of my favorite motivational-inspirational- business authors released new books – it’s almost like they were conspiring to do it just for me! I thought I would share some of the insight I have gathered from Hugh Macleod – artist/cartoonist/advocate for creativity at www.GapingVoid.com , and author of the new book Evil Plans. Hugh has an interesting perspective on life and business – one that I think can benefit you in a lot of ways. He’s deeply philosophical, somewhat “Eastern” while still being “Western”, and he truly believe we were all designed to go out and truly DO something with our lives. Here are a few of his ideas that resonate with me:

This is it. Fight like hell. You get one shot at this life – no matter what your spiritual beliefs, you are only given a finite amount of years on this earth to do what you are going to do. Shouldn’t you work like mad, or “fight like hell”, to make it a life worth living? If you are not there yet, what are you going to do about it?

You are responsible for your own experience. It is often far too easy to relinquish responsibility for our lives to someone else – spouse, parent, boss, government, etc. But in the end, YOU are responsible for how much joy and how much pain you experience, as well as everything in between. What will you do with that responsibility?

Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Somehow, we give up that creativity later in life, in exchange for a firm set of directives and directions on how to think, how to act, what to wear, and what to do. But what if you had that box of crayons back – what would you create? Would you draw a new career? Would you color out of the lines? Would you draw a book? What could you do with a new sense of creativity – even better, what would you do with the creativity you gave up after kindergarten?

Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb. We can seek guidance, find a Sherpa, and help each other along the way; but in the end, it is up to the individual to choose to scale that mountain, or to stay at base camp, wondering what the summit looks like. It’s hard to always know what part of their journey another traveler is on, so be kind and help them if you can.

If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you. Plan for it – know that whatever you are going to do, it takes effort, energy, sacrifice, stress and sometimes pain. If you plan for it, if you know it is coming, it’s not as bad, and what you accomplish is usually far worth it. When it comes to training to run a half marathon, there are a lot of long and lonely weekend runs – I had a friend this weekend remind me, “start thinking about it now, and the pain is more manageable when you do it”. He was right.

Never compare your inside with somebody else’s outside. Our society tends to put a big emphasis on “stuff”. Whoever has the most stuff, the best stuff, and the costliest stuff is considered to be worthy of esteem and praise. We may often become trapped in believing that we will only be worth you esteem and praise if we have equal, or greater, amounts of stuff. Where do you fall in to the “stuff” trap?

The world is changing. Lately, you can’t NOT hear or see how the world is changing. We shrank the world in the past decade with the internet and digital technology – now what? Nobody is certain, but we know it will continue to change – where will you be in that change? Will you embrace it? Will you fight against it? Will you be active or passive in it?

Nobody cares. Do it for yourself. You don’t need everyone else’s permission or esteem to do or be something great. All you have to do is want it and be ready to work for it. Don’t wait for someone else to “let” you be great, go be great.

Choosing an easy life rarely ends up with much of either. I have been there and lived that – I have taken the easy way out, and found it to be more difficult and a complete drain on my life. Hard work pays off, and rewards us with a life worth living. Are you taking the easy way through life, or working hard to live it to its fullest?

The secret sauce is – there’s no secret sauce. I wrote about this a few weeks ago on my "other" website, as I was inspired by Po, of Kung Fu Panda legend. We spend quite a bit of time looking for that “secret ingredient” to get us motivated, to help us feel confident, or to guarantee success before we start to do whatever it is we are going to do. The secret is, there is no secret – go do it, stop waiting to find the secret sauce.

The world will ALWAYS conspire to make you less than you are…so decide what you are going to do about it, then act. No matter what you want to do in life, there will always be opposing forces that try to keep you from it. To succeed, take responsibility, formulate your plan, and execute it. If you fail, get up and do it again, but try something a little different. There is plenty of help available if you want it, but, in the end you must act.

That’s why we’re here – to make a DENT in the universe. Just one more answer to the question, “what is the meaning of life”. Are you searching for meaning? Start making dents in the universe, and see how that meaning becomes more apparent.

Everybody needs an evil plan. If you stop by my office, you will see this one prominently displayed. I like this idea, I believe in this idea, I live this idea. We all need to have an “Evil Plan” – a plan to break free of whatever keeps us stuck, a plan to become “better” than we are, a plan to do something that makes a difference. This “Evil Plan” can be within our current situation or career, or above and beyond it. Whatever it is, start planning for it – you don’t have much time. Life is too short NOT to do something that matters.

It’s fairly obvious I really appreciate Hugh’s Western-but-still-Eastern philosophy thing he has going on. He has some brilliant things to say about getting motivated and achieving in life. Did any of these resonate with you? Is there one you will take with you and implement?

To find out more about Hugh, take a look at his website, or pick up one of his books Ignore Everybody or last month’s release Evil Plans.