Josh Allred's Blog

When there’s credit to go around, it is easy to pick yourself. Much harder, however, when there is blame going around.

Which is why we hesitate.

What if I get in trouble for something they did/didn’t do?

Being in charge isn’t about a title or badge or a paycheck but about accepting the responsibility of others.

Unfortunately, too many of us will happily give it away.

Decide then to take charge. Because…

Most of the time, you will be right to assume so.

It’s worth noting, the person who was in charge of inventing a ship also invented the shipwreck.

Most of us don’t actually know what it is we actually want.

So, we begin to look around and rely on others to tell us what it is we are supposed to want.

Status, artifacts, symbols…

Over time, we accumulate some of this stuff but learn that isn’t what makes us happy.

And because we still don’t know what we want, we haven’t committed to anything that will create the conditions that we say we want—to make our promises and commitments become a reality.

If you were to make a list of things that actually make you happy. You’ll find that the majority is spent with other people doing remarkable things and solving interesting problems.

You don’t need money to be happy.

Ready?

You’re never ready to graduate high school and step into the adult world.

You’re never ready to hold your child for the first time.

You’re never ready to say Yes.

But prepared?

You can always be prepared for when the tension comes. The tension of this might not work, but I will give it a try.

If you are waiting for conditions to be just right before you step into the unknown, you are going to be waiting for a long time.

If you are waiting for permission, it’s your turn.

If you are waiting to be in the mood, then you are hiding.

Go.

Do.

Do!

In 1974, Phillippe Petit stunned the world by high wiring between the two World Trade Center towers.

Last year, Alex Honnold became the first person to ever free solo El Cap.

Here’s the thing:

Every future acrobat and climber is being raised in a world where high wiring the World Trade Centers or free soloing El Cap is possible.

We no longer wonder if it can be done. Rather, we ask, “How did you do that?”

That’s how impossible is enabled.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair

Bingo.

When you create systems that focus on short-term gains, you ignore long-term prosperity.

Worse, the more intellectual debt you collect, the more bureaucratic things become, the more interchangeable the system gets, when entities grow too big to fail; we pretend we are no longer accountable for the actions of others.

Besides, if we just leave, someone else will just be plugged in to do it anyway. “I might as well get mine while I can.”

Indeed, the marshmallow is a real temptation. Whether we are talking about eating the forbidden fruit or today’s problem of climate change:

We don’t live forever. As a result, it isn’t natural to act in the self-interest of others. 

The point isn’t to become self-reliant so that you never have adversity again.

There is little doubt that with the right combination of resources, environment and grit, you can accomplish just about anything in our post-industrial world.

Want to make a million dollars? You can.

Want to have a million Twitter followers? You can.

But, here’s the question:

What are you doing to matter?

If you get to choose, might as well choose to matter.

Comfort and convenience aren’t the same as important.

I want to…

Have a house in the Hamptons.

Find a job where I am my own boss.

Retire.

And on, and on, and on…

Here’s the question though: To do what?

What are you seeking to make?

What are you seeking to do?

Because we already have more comforts than any generation in human history. Convenience has never been more prevalent. Thanks to the internet, you don’t need permission to create. To just start.

The point, the opportunity of our time, right now, is to connect, to be generous, to make things better by making better things. Not to have enough that you never have to work again.

Conventional norms are not the same as bringing water into the desert.

That’s just good wisdom. You should always bring water to the desert for good reason. Because you might die otherwise.

There are some rules that you just don’t break.

Everything else, however, with good judgment, can be bent and broken.

You don’t have an idea or business until you go from zero to one.

At least one person who hates it.

At least one person who loves it.

And at least one dollar.

One is good enough for a lemonade stand.

If you can do it once, then you can do it again.

And again. And again.

Drip by drip until, one day, you have something special.

If industrialism has trained us to do one thing it has pushed us to believe that we live in a world of scarcity. Too many of us fall into this trap of accumulating as much as we can while we can.

It’s survival of the fittest: Get a degree, find a job, buy a house, gain some status, etc., etc…

And soon, we realize that it isn’t enough and we forget, rather quickly, what’s it all for in the first place.

Stumped, we start the cycle again and think we need to aim higher. A better degree, a better job, a better house, better status…and then we will make ourselves happy.

It’s a vicious cycle. One that we make worst by choosing to live in a deficit of time, energy and money.

You are more than a collection of artifacts and status symbols. You are what you contribute.

Acquiring more doesn’t mean you are being more.

Instead of asking, “What is it that I want next?” perhaps a better question is, “How can I help someone do something they never thought was possible?”

We don’t need to acquire more money or status to contribute to things that matter, things that are important.

“Contribute. Contribute. Contribute.” can be our call to go forward.