Book 266 - A Year of Magical Learning (2/2)

Reflection Title: I’m a Heretic of the Church of Grit!

Book – Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin (Part 2/2)

Book Description:

Since it was first published almost a decade ago, Seth Godin's visionary book has helped tens of thousands of leaders turn a scattering of followers into a loyal tribe. If you need to rally fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers around an idea, this book will demystify the process.

It's human nature to seek out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. Social media gives anyone who wants to make a difference the tools to do so.

With his signature wit and storytelling flair, Godin presents the three steps to building a tribe: the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.

Reflection:

There is an informal “religion” that has been forming in modern times around the critical importance of specialization at an early age if we want any chance to achieve our dreams. The prevailing faith and dogma that exists in our world today is that if you really want to be world class at something, you have to sacrifice everything. You need to put in your 10,000 hours, block out all distractions, put in the work, and eventually you will break through.

Angela Duckworth calls this grit, or the combination of passion and perseverance coming together to push us forward until one day we break through and achieve our dreams.

We are told that if you can find this magical combination of passion and perseverance around a particular activity, dream, or goal that one day you will find happiness. At least that is the assumption, otherwise why do it at all?

Specialization, Grit, 10,000 hours are the modern-day church of the western world. It is engrained in our culture, how we live our lives, what we learn, and how we teach our children.

Hell, I had one of my best friends tell me that their 10-year-old “had no choice” but to play travel basketball, spend $1,000’s of dollars on their club team, and dedicate ungodly amounts of hours toward the game if he had any shot of being good someday. That is the price the whole family must pay to make this dream become a reality.

Think about how crazy that sounds…he’s 10 years old!!! Do you have any idea what you cared about at 10 years old? I know I sure as hell didn’t. I swam, played tennis, played baseball, played basketball, biked with friends, played flashlight tag, got into trouble, did dumb things, etc.

I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at 10, and I still don’t at 38. This is actually a fact that I’m pretty proud of and hope I never figure it out if I’m being honest. The whole fun of life is learning, exploring, and taking the journey. There is no end destination that you magically find once you hit 10,000 hours of specialization.

The Church of Grit, naturally thinks living a balanced life is an impossibility. The path toward happiness is found one single road of specialization. There is no way for you to meander your way through the forest while doing it all, so why even try. The best path toward happiness is to set a goal and relentlessly pursue it come hell or high water.

At the Church of Grit, they don’t believe that we can simultaneously be a great parent, be a great spouse, be a great friend, be a great family member, be a mentor, donate your time to help others, be a top producer in your chosen field, keep ourselves in good physical shape, and still find time for yourself to express your creativity and do the passion projects you love.

We label this “myth” today with the words work-life balance. People laugh when you say those words because it is a joke, and they know it. I can’t argue with that at all, because it is. There is no way to worship at the church of Grit and simultaneously live a balanced existence.

Well, I’m happy to say that through this journey, I’ve become a full-fledged heretic of the church of Grit and I’ve never been happier.

I set 0 goals every single day, I have no end project that I’m working 10,000 hours toward, I don’t care what outcomes I do or don’t achieve anymore, and I’ve never been happier!

I worship at the Church of Balance these days!

At the Church of Balance, we try our best to do as many activities each and every day of our lives that aligns to the values that we care about most in this world. That is it!

To be clear, that doesn’t mean I don’t do anything each day (far from it). I actually do more now each day than I ever have in my life. The big difference is the stuff that I do is because I want to do it, which makes it sustainable. I want to spend time with my wife and kids, I want to create projects and do it with people I care about, I want to mentor people and share my thoughts with the world, I want to learn stuff that I want to learn, etc.

As Emilia taught me, you never know how many days you have left on this beautiful planet, so do your best to make each one filled with as many things that you love as you can.

All are welcome at the Church of Balance…join us!

Question: What might your life look like in the Church of Balance?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Tribes