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As a general rule, if you don’t know what to do on any given day, spend at least some of your time helping someone else. Instead of having this be an afterthought, you can build a life focused on the relentless pursuit of what you want coupled with the call to make a difference—starting today.
When faced with a choice between abundance and scarcity, choose abundance. Scarcity is the default mode of operation for most of us. It’s a hard habit to break, but almost always worth it. Scarcity involves hoarding, and abundance involves sharing. We’ll look at this more in chapter 9, but in short, the choice for abundance typically involves a refusal to view the world as a zero-sum competition. No one else needs to lose for you to win (and vice versa).
You can have unlimited dreams and goals, but not unlimited priorities. Almost every time I head out on an international trip, I end up talking with someone who expresses an interest in doing the same thing. Their statement is usually something like “Wow! I wish I could do that.”
The pathway to world domination, or whatever it is you want to do, begins with clearly understanding what you want to get out of life. • Once you begin taking your ambitions seriously, you can usually accomplish most things in less time than you initially expect. • In the end, it’s not all about you. Most of us want a life that leaves a positive impact on others. • When you start doing what you really want, not everyone will understand. This is okay.
The absence of fear is not courage; the absence of fear is mental illness. —PO BRONSON
Apply the “no regrets” mind-set.
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. —DALE CARNEGIE
Take the worst case scenario. Asking
Create mass accountability. You
Give yourself a carrot.
the person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.
You need a vision and a task. The vision tells you where you are going; the task tells you what to do next to get there. You need the answers to the two most important questions in the universe. What do you really want to get out of life? How can you help others in a way that no one else can? Once you have the answers, you’ll be ahead of most everyone else.
Memorize and follow this never-fail recipe: get started. Don’t quit. —BARBARA WINTER
Some people get an education without going to college; the rest get it after they get out. —MARK TWAIN
I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. —RALPH NADER Let’s return to
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. —JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
mandatory. Motivation comes in three forms: inspiration, education, and entertainment. When deciding how to train your army, you’ll need to choose from these three forms or create your own combination of them, based on who you are and what your goals are.
I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something. —JACKIE MASON
Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it. —EUDORA WELTY
the fun thing about setting big goals is that once we really get serious about setting them, we often find that they take less time to achieve than we initially expect. For my 100-country goal, this was certainly the case.
On one of the early trips I booked a “Circle Pacific” ticket, which allowed me to visit several countries in Asia from the United States by arriving via the north (China, Korea, or Japan), swinging through the region on a couple of stops (Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore), and going home through the south (Australia or New Zealand).
When you set out to create something that will outlast you, there are a number of characteristics you need to consider by answering the following questions: • Vision—how will the world be different because of the project? • Beneficiaries—who will benefit from the project?
Primary Method or Medium—how will you do the work? • Output—what will be produced as a result of your work? • Metrics—how will success be measured? As you’d expect, your own legacy project will require your own characteristics. I’ve listed my answers for the AONC site as a point of reference below, but each project is personal and fundamentally unique. Vision: To empower people to live unconventional, remarkable lives Beneficiaries: A group of at least 100,000 passionate individuals who want to live differently and change the world Primary Method or Medium: Writing (I also create
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