Josh Allred's Blog

What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say to themselves as they were cutting down the last tree?

I’m not for sure. But at some point, I’m sure someone said, “It’s someone else’s problem.”

Do societies fail by choice then or are they the victim of circumstances?

It’s easy to push blame away. Much more difficult to see things as they really are—especially when they gradually happen. We can’t fix problems unless we can perceive them.

For one, many of us are haven’t been alive long enough to see the changes or perhaps we don’t even know better.

“This is the way things have always been.”

We also tend to rationalize, make things smaller than they actually are to make ourselves feel better.

“Don’t worry, we’ve planted new trees over there.”

Because we can’t live forever, we will act out of our own self-interest. It’s the tragedy of the commons, as they say.

And of course, we are talking about fixed resources. There isn’t an unlimited supply of trees even if they are renewable. We consume more than we create.

There is also short-term thinking, conflicts of interest (hard to change things whenever rely on it for a paycheck), not enough boundaries or regulation, poor decision making, lust for power, status roles, fear, anxiety, short-term thinking…or maybe the problem is so big, we can’t fix it.

Somebody has to fix things when are truly broken. So, when are you going to realize you are somebody? When are you going to stand up and be the difference?

HT Collapse

If the video would have asked upfront, “How many guerillas appear?” then the answer would have been completely obvious.

The world is full of information. Too much for any one of us to process.

We have to pick and choose what we pay attention to and ignore the rest.

That’s why they say that sometimes the answer is right in front of our nose because it actually is.

It makes you wonder what passes us every day. What opportunities or people or ideas simply never happen because we are not paying attention.

Instead of focusing on the outcomes, perhaps we should be more focused on what kind of questions we are asking?

When someone claims to know exactly where it is they’re going, they are probably overconfident in their own powers of prediction and decision making.

Because no one actually knows what happens next, not even the so-called experts.

Time will tell whether the decisions we made caused more good than harm.

Which makes long term decisions so difficult. What guarantee do we have we will be here tomorrow to see the fruit of difficult decisions made today?

Again, no one knows.

Perhaps, the problem is we are always trying to win. As a result, we lose.

But that isn’t how the natural order of things unfold. Because let’s be honest, the world doesn’t care.

There is no winning or losing. Only the way events unfold. How we respond (rather than react) is how we succeed.

The great Zig Ziglar used to say, “You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want.”

But what if we simply dropped the first part.

And now you have, “Help enough people get what they want.”

Bingo.

Simply, help enough people.

It doesn’t matter if we got what we wanted out of life as long as we helped enough people.

We get so caught up in the day-to-day grind, focus so much of our time and resources into putting out fires, that overtime, it becomes a regular pattern.

Comfortable with the uncomfortable:

“I can’t possibly go to the gym. I’m too tired in the mornings.”

“I can’t quit right now. That’s too risky in this economy.”

Small decisions that turn into a habit. Habits turn into patterns.

We dip our toe into the waters of change and are surprised to discover that the water is actually cold. Of course, the water is cold! That’s what makes it so hard to dive in.

We retreat back to our old ways.

So, the real question to ask if you are serious about changing things is deciding which patterns are you willing to interrupt for a while?

Are you willing to give up marshmallows?

And if you are seeking to change a part of the culture, how can you help others do the same?

In 1963, Dr. King in front of a quarter of a million people said the following:

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

“I Have a Dream” has been recognized as one of the most important and iconic speeches in history.

Shockingly, the most quoted and famous passage above wasn’t part of the original text. Dr. King ad-libbed after Mahalia Jackson shouted from behind, “Tell them about the dream!”

That takes guts to improvise in front of that many people. The more important take away though is this: When we speak from the heart, tell a story about our shared vision of the world that does not yet exist; we can enable the impossible.

Stories are what change people’s minds. Tell them, the people you seek to change, tell them about the dream!

Because the world needs you to change things as they are to enable what is to come.

Continuous learning.

That’s it.

And if you want to become an expert in your field?

Read 100 books on the subject.

So, what’s stopping you from becoming the best in the world at whatever it is you do?

Do something memorable.

How?

There are many paths one can take.

You can create music, you can write a book, you can start a charity or volunteer your time…

There is no path.

You get to choose your art.

Whatever it is you decide, the shortest one always follows generosity.

Be generous.

What are we really buying?

If someone can figure out how to bottle it, that be really cool. Alas, you just can’t beat the new car smell.

Why is that?

Because of the story we tell ourselves about a new car smell.

Everyone knows that a new car smell can’t last forever. As soon as it wears off, it no longer has the same glamour.

What we are really talking about is status. For a moment, we gain a bit of it when someone asks, “Is this new?”

Find a way for others get that status and you are on your way to gaining enrollment.

Of course, we are not just talking about a new car either.

Do something worth making a remark about.

The question is:

Do the things you teach people are they turned around and taught by other people?