Some Useful Information on Changing the World (and transforming your self)

I’ve always been a bit of a humbug when it comes to “personal development”, happiness fluff and life-changing inspirational yaddayadda…

That’s because i’ve known for a long time that all these damn lists, personal improvement systems and anti-systems, productivity tips, self-righteous self-help gurus and on and on are mostly just more noise added to the online eco-system of “average” — more stuff to read and follow, more stuff to “TRY” when really you should be out there cutting your teeth and “DOING.” I’ll talk a bit more on my own experience with this, but first let’s get to the point:

There ARE a number of exceptions to the rule of general mediocrity and fluff online…

One of the true stand-outs is Seth Godin. It’s been remarkable for me to watch Seth in recent years, as he dives deeper and deeper into his own real natural genius. His short, brilliant, and to the point 14-page manifesto, Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself is indispensable for anyone who’s struggling to change the world, grasp their own genius, and stand in their greatest personal power.

“Are you serious about transformation? I’m not talking about polishing yourself, improving yourself, making things a bit better. I’m talking about the reset button, a reinvention that changes the game. That means an overhaul in what you believe and how you do your job. If you’re up for that, then right here, right now, you can start….”

I especially love his definition on art, and its relation to each person’s struggle to break through fear, self-doubt, and ultimately what’s termed the “resistance”. Art is not defined as a painting or a poem, instead it’s defined as something — anything — you create, and share with another human.

The true test of the artist, however, is if they’re able to overcome their personal resistance: (or inner inertia…)

“What artists over time have figured out is that the resistance is the sole barrier between today and their art. That the act of genius required to produce original and important work is crippled by the resistance, and ignoring the voice of skepticism is critical in doing the work.”

I’ve found this to be especially true with my own work and personal progress on so many fronts. You can download the new pdf from Change This here (yes, its free). In it, he goes through “seven levers available for anyone (like you) in search of reinvention…” Don’t miss it. (But don’t just read it and file it away in the memory banks — i say read it, digest it, and take some time to really think about what it means to you, how it applies to your past and present, and what you’re going to DO with it.) That’s all that really matters.

If you still need some inspiration to get out of “try” and move into “do” — i recommend a short and fitting little post by Chris Guillebeau What you don’t do doesn’t matter… Quite funny, brilliant and SO TRUE.

Now to the personal struggle part…

Over the years i’ve struggled greatly with my public persona, and i’ve spent years struggling with my own limiting self-beliefs about what is possible, based on the performance of my various previous efforts in life and online. The problem with this kind of thinking is, i’ve been hampered so much by my beliefs based on stuff that’s happened in the past (DUH…), and some sort of strange concept that somehow all those good things that only happen to other people… they’re not necessarily for me.

Well a lot of that’s changing for me, as i see my efforts, goals and dreams pay off in different ways — directly in relation to the amount of action-oriented energy i put into them. As Chris Guillebeau mentions in that article, what you Think about doing, really doesn’t matter… “It’s only when our thoughts translate into actions that we reach out of ourselves and impact the life of another.”

Taking action — that counts; that’s what finally matters. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, what you didn’t do, or what you’re trying to do, you gotta get to that point where you “Ship”, as Seth puts it. You get it out there, and you let it fly… As Yoda himself famously put it, “There is no Try — there is only Do….”

I wrote about Seth’s new book yesterday, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, and The #1 reason you need to buy Seth Godin’s new book today, plus 59 more… on my business blog at iEnvision Media.

I wrote about it because it’s exciting, and new, and because i believe in Seth, and i believe in all these other brilliant bloggers who reviewed his book. I wanted to be that person who bought his book on the day it launched, and i thought that was a clever blog-post hook. (No, i didn’t go for the pre-launch, citizen blogger review offer he put out, cause i was way too snowballed with my own projects, client to-do’s and holiday preparations) But worse still, I have a confession to make: yesterday i was jamming through a 5-page to-do list (including writing that post) and believe it or not… by the time the clock rolled past midnight, and i was getting ready to crash for the night, i hadn’t gotten around to buying the damn book!

I’ll tell you the reason why — my lame “resistance” excuse — i wanted to get out to the Barnes and Noble and pick up the book in person, so i wouldn’t have to wait for the shipping from Amazon! But by the time i got through a massive round of executing and administering client projects, the brick and mortar bookstores had long closed!

Well, I’m taking a break in a few mins, I’m going out to buy the damn (blessed) book, and i’ll DEFINITELY be reading it, but will i actually DO something with it…?

Subscribe to my blog or newsletter and i promise to share it with you… better yet — go out and do something creative for yourself — anything — and share it with another human or two (or 2,000, just please send me a note or a comment and let me know about it aso!)

How have YOU been able to overcome your resistance? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below… Cheers and all my best to you–

UPDATE 01/28/10: here’s me and my Linchpin — sent from my phone, at man on the fly picked it up yesterday as promised! ($25.99 +tax — don’t you hate paying full price…?)