Josh Allred's Blog

There is a space, a void that is only momentarily filled when we create something worth sharing. We fill satisfaction when we change the recipient.

But just like that, it’s gone.

Because no one is forever changed by one blog post. No one is changed after one public speaking engagement.

If we are lucky though, and if we can build enough trust, they will be inspired to read another blog post, to listen to another talk.

Soon enough, real change begins to happen.

Send it. Click it. Ship it. Make better art. Capture us again, if only for a few moments.

Figure out what it is you want to accomplish, where it is you want to go.

Now work backwards from there, all the way to where it is you stand today.

There are no maps to follow but this is closest thing to making one.

Your first step is to write.

Now that you have written something, no matter how bad it is, you can now make it better.

First comes the quantity, then comes the quality.

In the 1400’s, being a Scribe meant you had a rare skill–you could read and write–skills that only a fraction of the population possessed. Often, scrolls and manuscripts would decay, be misplaced or be destroyed; creating more scarcity. Being a Scribe was a lucrative profession.

Until one day, it wasn’t.

When Johannes Gutenberg invented the Printing Press, he transformed the way we duplicate information and provided new access to literature for the masses. You could now copy a book faster than you could read it. The skills that Scribes possessed were no longer a valuable commodity.

Fast forward 600 years to today, are the skills you possess scarce?

If so, how long is it before they become commodities?

How long before they are no longer valuable?

The world of commodities is shrinking. Fast. It is no longer good enough to have a competent skill. Because the world continues to change. Progress continues to step forward.

If you are going to insist that the world stays the same for your livelihood, you are going to be left behind with the Scribes. The few that could see the Printing Press as an opportunity to create a new scarcity flourished.

The question is no longer, What kind of scarcity do I rely on? But rather, What kind of scarcity do I create?

Your Facebook post that you are about to share, what is it for?

The Monday morning meeting where everyone gathers around to talk about what they are going to accomplish, what is it for?

That policy and procedure that no one seems to understand, what is it for?

Writing an angry email to the customer service manager to explain how wrongly we have been treated, what is it for?

If what you are doing is going to help you reach the top of the mountain, the goal you are trying to accomplish, please take one-step forward.

If not, it’s okay to say this isn’t for me and move on to the important work we have been delaying.

It is easy to chalk up someone as talented, a gift this individual is naturally born with.

By doing so, we separate ourselves into believing they have something we don’t, that we can never be like them.

We’re wrong.

It turns out when we put in the daily work that is needed to be good at something, we will soon discover that we have many of the same gifts as other professionals.

We just needed to remove a bit of dirt in order to discover these gems.

“You are not good enough.”

“Who do you think you are?”

“You are just like your Father (or Mother).”

“You will never amount to anything.”

“You are a failure.”

“You are not worthy for love or forgiveness.”

“You are alone.”

“You deserve this.”

“No one can stand you.”

“You are worthless.”

“You should be ashamed of yourself.”

This vicious tape recorder that plays over and over in our head is shame talking. It isn’t who we are. We are more than any one mistake we make.

What would you be able to accomplish?

What business or project could you start?

How much more love / purpose / meaning / joy could you bring to yourself and others?

The thing is, fear will never go away. Fear has what kept us alive for thousands of years. Survival is in our instincts.

But if you are fortunate enough to have your temporal needs covered (food, water, shelter, clothing) and have access to tools that level the playing field (a laptop and a connection to the internet), you have a chance to do something that most human beings never have had.

A chance to make things better.

A chance to build something remarkable. Something you can be proud of. Something you can put your name on.

Yes, the fear will never go away.

The question is: What are we really afraid of?

Because fear of rejection, stepping into the unknown, leaping, being judged, standing alone, vulnerability, the risk of being exposed, not feeling good enough, shame–these outcomes are not going to be the end of us. Failure doesn’t mean game over.

The choice then is to dance with that fear–our discursive thoughts, our false limits we put on ourselves.

Yesterday would have been the best time to start. Today is the next best thing.

The problem is, once you start down that road, the question is no longer whether or not you can be bought but what’s the price?

Slopes are slippery for a reason. After you have justified yourself once, it is easy to do it again.

If opens the door of possibility. If means something might not work.

The problem is when we introduce only to the conversation. Only is conditional, restrictive and wishful. Only is predicated on the actions of others (chance). Only implies that something has to work.

If only we can get the boss to change his mind. If only we could get the right funding. If only we could get one more customer. I could be charitable too if only I had a million dollars.

If we are going to insist on sticking with things that can’t fail, what we are competent at,  then we are living below our potential.

If failure is not an option, than neither is success.