Passionate Living

It’s been two months into the first year of the new decade. January and February have passed and have been filled with many lessons for me personally. I think now is a good time to stop and review the progress that’s been made.

In another post I made a list of my resolutions for 2010 [1]. This is because I promised myself that I would be prolific. Most of the projects in that list are writing projects (content that I post on various blogs), and one main year-long project which is to write and release 26 songs in 52 weeks [2].

So far the results have been satisfactory, although there have been some days where I inevitably miss a schedule due to shortage of time and energy. I thought at first that I’m spreading myself too thin, and the quality suffers. But then I remember: the point of the resolution was to be prolific, I didn’t mention anything about quality.

The first thing that goes

In the months before 2010 (and in the months before I started writing in this blog), I was mainly a content consumer. I would spend my mornings reading every single post in my RSS feed [3]. It would take me up to two hours just two devour 20-30 posts, which I think is quite a long time compared to the speed I read now.

I feel that the months I spent merely consuming content was a necessary period – the period where I let all ideas come in and let them sediment inside my mind. Now, I’m regurgitating and remixing those ideas and adding my own perspective to them – which leads to the blueprint material for the thoughts I write in this blog.

I have to admit though, by taking on multiple writing projects – and being a content creator myself – the first thing that suffers is my RSS feed. Usually I would only have 20-30 unread posts at any one time, but today I could reach 200-300 unread posts! My perfectionist side would shiver at the thought of abandoning these subscriptions, but I also said to myself that I would embrace imperfection [4] and just let it slide.

The year of prolificiency

Between the songwriting project, the happiness project, and the dream journal project, I’m also thinking about starting new writing projects to promote my music through the Blue Summer brand. The prospect alarms me slightly, because I fear that there will simply be not enough time to write them all. Besides quality, consistency of content could also suffer (and it already has more than a few times).

But in the spirit of prolificiency (I just made that word up), I’m going to just do it. I’ve spent enough time aiming for perfection – this time I’m just going to aim for action. This time, I’m going to achieve results.

So join me, ye fellow songwriters, musicians, authors, entrepreneurs (and any other class of profession that reads this blog)! Two months have already passed, and we will have a great ten more months to this year. How will you shape and fill this time in your life, with the dreams and the values that you want to create?

This is your story. Better make it a good one.

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[1] For a Happy and Productive 2010, 2009
[2] 26 Songs in 52 Weeks. Today’s release is #4/26
[3] How to Use RSS, 2010
[4] It Doesn’t Matter Where You Start, 2009

When we talk about success, we inevitably talk about personal development. And when we talk about personal development, inevitably we talk about business or marketing success [1]. When previously we talked about Six Pixels of Separation, this time we talk about another marketing thought leader worth following: Seth Godin.

Seth Godin is a highly prolific author who has published many books on marketing (and most of them best sellers too). Besides writing books, he also writes in his blog [2], that is subscribed to by tens of thousands of readers. Although he mainly talks about marketing terms, Seth’s primary topic is about how to spread your ideas in the post-digital world.

I haven’t read any of his priced books, but I have read several of his freely downloadable ones [3]. The style with which he writes, as one other blogger says it, is “short and succinct”. Seth doesn’t write long blog posts – not like some of my other favorite bloggers – but in the short sentences that he does, he hits the point home with thousands of his readers; this is how he spreads his ideas [4].

The books Seth has published include best hits such as The Purple Cow and All Marketers Are Liars. His latest release, just published last month, is titled Linchpin and has been bought, read, shared, and tweeted about intensively in the circle of thought readers that I follow – including musicians! There is a wealth of ideas to absorb in his books, or you could opt for the daily snackable content by subscribing to his blog [5].

Seth Godin’s main idea – or at least the one I can conclude from reading his blog – is what he calls resistance; or the lizard brain. The lizard brain is basically part of our ego whose job is to maintain the status quo. Therefore, it’s the part of our brain that creates the resistance when we strive for success.

The lizard brain is the part of the human psychology that inhibits our growth by drawing from survival instincts from back when humans still lived in wild environments. In the wild where lack of concentration could lead to physical or fatal injury, the purpose of the lizard brain is to teach us not to take foolish risks. We have survived partially because we listened to what our lizard brain said.

Unfortunately, we brought this thought process of living in the wild into living in modern society – where the rules of survival and prosperity are different. To succeed in the social environment, we need to take risks that may seem highly dangerous to the lizard brain. Our perception defeats the substance, and we retreat each time an opportunity presents itself.

In the social environment, the risk that is feared the most is failure. It’s an abstract risk, yet we fear it as if it was a physical one. We react violently towards the thought of failure, or the possibility of putting ourselves out on the line for everybody to see.

Seth’s idea is we need to defeat the impulses of the lizard brain. We need the intelligence to know the difference, which risks are physical and which ones only exist in our prejudices. When we can differentiate between the two, we are one step closer towards achieving our dreams.

Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain from 99% on Vimeo.

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[1] Book Review: Six Pixels of Separation, 2010
[2] Seth Godin’s blog
[3] Check his website for links to these free ebooks
[4] Therefore this isn’t exactly a book review, it’s more a blog review
[5] For why and how to subscribe, check How to Use RSS, 2009

After postponing for more than a month, last Sunday I attended my premiere Parkour practice session (bonus achievement points for me!). I’m interested in the exercise because of the connection I made after watching District 13, a movie featuring expert Parkour talents. As I shared in a previous article [1], I can relate well with the philosophy behind the art of movement that is Parkour.

high wire 2 by Graeme Maclean

During my childhood I suffered from Altophobia, a fear of heights. When I was at a high level from ground, I would lose my balance and felt heavy to one side – like I was constantly going to fall. I managed to overcome this fear during one out bond session I had several years ago as part of a larger personal breakthrough training, but I think a part of it still remains inside me today.

I was made aware once again of my fear of heights when we entered the balancing exercises where we tiptoed above a steel fence that had a cylindrical form. I kept thinking that I would fall off, and I couldn’t keep proper balance. Back on the ground though, I looked at the others tiptoeing and I thought to myself if it was lower I would certainly be able to keep balance. Why does the mere addition of height make me unable to perform what I would otherwise be able to do on low ground?

Fear of falling

Having fear of heights isn’t about the height itself as much as it is about the perception of height. Perception adds depth and a narrative towards the substance that may or may not have it. For some people, heights are threatening while for some people it isn’t.

Whether it be heights or something else, the perception we have in life forms our beliefs and also forms our fears. When we perceive, we don’t see things as they are – we see things as we interpret them. Perception is an important concept to understand in sound and music, since perception is the reason why people have different tastes – because they have their own narrative and their own opinions on the subject matter.

The things we fear come from our perception of that thing. A scientist may not be afraid of a tarantula like a normal person would, because the perception of the scientist and the normal person is different, even though the substance is the same: a tarantula. Difference of perception results in difference of thoughts and images that appear in our head, ultimately resulting in difference of reaction: the scientist is in awe, the normal person runs for his life.

Fear has its own benefit, and some degree of fear is essential to our survival after all. But for the things in life that determine our success, our perception of our environment and our own capabilities tend to obstruct more than it helps us to achieve our goals. Before anything is said and done, we already back off or reject the opportunity because our perception already tells us a pre-fabricated story that may not be true.

I’m going to fail at this job.
She’ll never accept my proposal.
But what if they think my idea is stupid?

Real substance

There are as many perceptions as there are lives who have lived and experienced stories. Yet, any substance we meet in real life is the same substance as anybody else meets. When we see a plane, we see a plane. But while one person may think of it as a dream to fly, another person might see it as a highly risky way to travel.

We need to learn to see the real substance, if not for the mere acknowledgment of it alone. If we still are afraid because of our perception, at least be aware about it. Don’t blame the substance when it’s your perception that’s at fault.

As I was standing on top of that fence with my right hand constantly on the wall, I laughed at myself because I realized this was silly. I can keep my balance, but why can’t I keep it up here? The fear of heights made me paralyzed, and I couldn’t move without taking my hand off the wall.

Our fear of things get in the way of our dreams.

Maybe we can achieve it, maybe we can’t. But we won’t know if we are too afraid to try it in the first place. To overcome fear, we need to understand our perception that forms the fear in the first place. Then maybe, overcoming fear is as simple as changing our perception.

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[1] That’s Why They’re Called Parkour ARTISTS, 2009
[2] Photograph by Graeme Maclean. Because we shouldn’t be afraid