Today I’m releasing something that I’ve talked about for a long, long time. The IMPOSSIBLE standards. In a world that shies away from impossible standards, we’re inundated with propaganda telling you to be less: “That can’t be done” “Aim lower” “Stop trying so hard” I’m going to step in and just let out one big. F-------- THAT IMPOSSIBLE Standards IMPOSSIBLE Standards are a standard. They are binary. Either you get there or you ...
Compete Against Your Friends
Coming out of Hell on the Hill 6 - I noticed a theme came out of nearly every conversation I had. They all started with these two questions: What challenge did you just do?What challenge are you doing next? The best part about doing hard, ridiculous and sort of stupid challenges is that you filter out everyone not willing to do hard, ridiculous and sort of stupid challenges. And, when you’re around those people - the types of conversations you ...
Year 3 of Hell: (Hell on the Hill 6 Recap)
Every year the hill brings it’s own anger. Every year it shows it in a new way. The first year was HOT. The second year it rained. This year, I thought I was ready… Spoiler alert: you’re never ready. This year, I thought I’d write a practical guide to Hell on the Hill - by the numbers - mostly determined by the thoughts going through my head as I did it. Pre-Hill The music is blasting,. You’re jacked on inspirational stories. Jesse ...
It’s Only Going To Get Harder
What’s the thing? The thing you’re meaning to do, but haven’t done “quite yet.” It’s difficult, it’s hard, and you don’t want to do it yet. Most people would say you need to do something else. Relax, lower your standards and do something easier. But what if you don’t? What if you need way more stress in your life. If you’re feeling slow, stuck or need a change. Maybe you don’t need to have things be easier, or do less. Maybe you need ...
A Simple Action Plan For When You Feel Like Crap
I wrote this blog post a year+ back but never published it. I was going through my drafts and decided to share it today. The other day, I ran across this tweet I really like: http://twitter.com/mmay3r/status/817511856898129921 I responded: http://twitter.com/joelrunyon/status/819091291892023296 I got a question from a reader afterwards that asked what do you do when you physically feel like you can't do that due to fatigue, illness or ...
Finish The Damn Thing
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. George Patton I once had employee that I had to let go. When I let him go, I went through a post-mortem of what went wrong and started reviewing some of his work. There was something like 5 projects that were all un-done. He would get to a specific part in the project (typically 80% through - almost finished) and then inevitably hit an obstacle. And ...
“Creative Fundraising Ideas That Worked: The 777 Project” – My Talk At The Collaborative 2019 Conference by Classy.org
Last week, I was in Boston for 36 hours to speak at The Collaborative - a conference for non-profits put on by Classy.org. This was a talk a little different than I normally do - but I spoke about a little "crazy fundraising ideas that worked" - the 777 project - the things we did right and some of the things that we could do a lot better (don't completely mess up your peroneal tendon and do 6 months or rehab in the middle of your fundraiser is one ...
10 Good Stories: The 5 Year Rule For Your IMPOSSIBLE List
10 Good Stories: The 5 Year Rule For Your Impossible List How many times have you run into someone that’s still talking about the good old days, but the good old days were high school and they’re 40? They sound like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite "How much you wanna bet I could throw a football over them mountains?"Uncle Rico https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL-VX3WbA9U So how do you fix this? If you find yourself looking back - wishing ...
Hard Mode
Growing up I played video games quite a bit. I had to quit when I realized you could put all the hours I put into getting imaginary badges in a game into having real life experiences. When I picked up a new game, "easy mode" is typically how I'd jump in and learn the game. It's a bit slow, but you get the hang of things and figure out how to move around, fight the bad guys without getting pissed off and breaking the controller before you even get ...
When Good Enough Is Great
One of my favorite topics of all time is a discussion around cities. What cities do you love and what do you get when you go to individual cities?* This Paul Graham essay is a great conversation starter on this. He asks the question: What does a city whisper to you? After traveling for 2 1/2 years, I had a list of some of my favorite cities - but I became caught up looking for the perfect one. I've got a lot of places with memories and it was ...
