Josh Allred's Blog

There is more in the world than we could ever consume. Most of us are starting to realize that on the endless wheel of accumulation, it’s actually endless.

If you see the world as only having finite resources then you’re seeing it as a cake. Fixed. If your slice is bigger than mine, it must mean I received a smaller piece.

On the other hand, when we see the world as having an infinite amount of resources (and opportunities and possibilities) than we can view it as a candle.

We can share what we have with each other by lighting the other person’s candle. By doing so, we add more light in the room.

We all benefit to more light and knowledge.

[Merry Christmas. I hope it’s a good one.]

One of the biggest traps we see in the culture today is this idea that everything is relative.

It’s dangerous to imply that there isn’t a moral standard or absolute truth for each and every one of us to discover.

Often, we hear the phrase, “It’s all relative,” as some sort of intellectual argument. A way to dismiss other perspectives so we can protect our own world view. It’s a form of hiding.

Hiding because we don’t want to be accountable for the years of mistakes. Hiding because we would have to change. Hiding because we’re afraid. We’re afraid of consequences and shame. Hiding because we would have to say we were wrong.

The moment we abandoned this search for absolute truth—the kind of truth that once was and always has been—we see the degradation of family and culture. While it’s great to learn from your own mistakes. Wisdom is learning from others:

• The Surgeon General reports that 1 in 5 Americans are struggling with a drug or alcohol addiction.
• Google recently published a list of the 100 largest non-Google sites, 8 were adult pornographic destinations. According to one analytics company, 200 million unique visitors pass through Facebook every month. A single porn conglomerate, boasts over 100 million unique users every day.
• The National Institute of Diabetes reports that 1 in 3 adults are considered to be obese.

(Note: I’m not talking about those with clinical struggles. That’s a different discussion.)

If we are going to build a culture that we can all be proud of we can’t justify or excuse or dismiss bad behavior by simply saying everything is relative. Not when we’re trying to solve one of the biggest public health crisis in history. We can’t live in a world where everyone gets to pick their own truth. All it does is take us one more step further down the road we don’t want to be on. Making it even more difficult to turn around when the instinct is to keep moving forward. Which perpetuates the cycle of bad decision-making: one bad decision leads to another.

Sure, it’s natural to think that saying ‘no’ is a form of control. People don’t want to have their rights and agency and freedoms infringed upon. But freedom isn’t defined by those who can (or are allowed to or have the right to) pick up a cigarette. No. Freedom is the ability to put it down.

Everything has an opinion.

Everything.

Your family, your friends, your co-workers, and even products.

Nowadays, you can’t even buy a sandwich without hearing what its stance is on the economy or the environment or politics.

Some thoughts:

1. You can have an opinion. But if it’s not for them, it’s not for them. Be okay that not everyone is going to agree with what you have to say. Not everyone is going to get the joke.
2. If you are going to have an opinion, might as well make it a good one. An educated and informed decision of why you believe what you believe. Reading and writing will help articulate your position. And yeah, you will be judged. But great work never happens without critics criticizing. So stand up and stand out if you believe it’s right.
3. The good news is living in a digital age you can scroll to the next article. The bad news is maybe you never find anything that will challenge your world view. The kind of stuff that makes you think differently. Where growth can take place.

A few years ago, Marcus “Notch” Persson began developing a video game as a side project. While lacking time, money, man-power, hardware, and other resources. What he had an abundance of was vision, imagination, and grit.

With over 70 million copies sold, Minecraft has become the third best-selling video game of all time. In addition, Microsoft purchased the franchise for a whopping $2.5 billion.

How did Minecraft become one of the most successful video game franchises of all time with throwback 90’s graphics?

Marcus Persson, or “Notch”, began developing the game as a side project. Some of the constraints included: scarcity of time (full-time work), money, man power, hardware, and other resources. What he had an abundance of was vision, imagination, and grit.

These constraints were opportunities. The beauty of the game is not because he wanted to be the best in the world in terms of graphics. He focused on being the best in the world by tapping into what all human beings want to experience: to create something new (communities, resources, projects, buildings).

It didn’t matter that the game had throwback 90’s graphics. Too much time is spent these days polishing edges instead of doing the work that matters. While the graphics may be described as “poor” (depending on your view), the experience is rich. The constraints of the blocky graphics have enhanced the game experience not taken away from it.

Notch used what he had available and turned Minecraft into something worth mentioning, something worth experiencing despite the restraints of the project.

We have come so far in the last ten years. If I had to put a number on it, I would say we are 10x. 10x faster, 10x cheaper, 10x better.

But what happens when we add a zero to that number?

Sure. It’s inevitable. But there are many people spending an enormous amount of time fighting the wrong battle. Instead of defending the status-quo—fighting for average jobs for average pay—change it. Let work become more digitized and commoditized. Let work become more efficient and more perfect. Let work be something we do on the clock and get paid by the hour.

It’s a race. A race to the bottom. One that you can’t win. Are you able to out Walmart Walmart? At some point, instant is instant. And you can’t find something cheaper than free.

There is an alternative though. At the same time, a door is opening for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and free lancers. It’s a door for anyone willing to do labor.

Labor can continue to scale. Labor is the human work. The imperfect kind. Labor is about kindness and respect.

And if you find some encouragement in your labor, you might find the strength to keep going. To push through the Dip. And if you can find a tribe and solve interesting problems, you might just get hooked.

The world will always need more passionate people—the ones who are willing to do the human work that a machine can never replace.

That’s a battle worth fighting.

Leadership doesn’t come after years of waiting to be picked.

Following instructions and following the map doesn’t develop your ability to leap, to stand up, or stand out.

No. It’s about incremental steps of taking responsibility without any authority.

No one cares about the badge you carry. Just whether you are ready to assemble the tribe, take us where we want to go, and getting out-of-the-way.

A hero hears the alarm, gets up and says: I am going to go out there and kill it today. Then I am going to drag it back to the cave.

Maybe you are the victim and your first reaction was: Why is this happening to me? I am not a morning person. Leave me alone.

Maybe you are the villain and by an act of self-sabotage you hit the snooze button on your alarm and then you turn it off and maybe you turn off your spouse’s alarm. A villain goes out to break the rules so that others can’t play.

How do you wake up in the morning?

And walk uprightly.

You have more power than you think.

It’s a shame that you didn’t grown up in the best neighborhood or had parents that didn’t take enough interest in your education or that you made mistakes in the past.

But it would be a waste to go another day without living to your full potential.

If you don’t like the way your story is being written, then change it.

Yesterday would have been a good day to start. Since you can’t go back, now would be the next best thing.

The only thing stopping us from learning, improving, and getting better in the developed world is us.

We have more access to more information than ever before. Use it.

Why do we use 100 words to explain ourselves when 10 words would suffice?

Why tell people to read the fine print when no one actually reads it?

And who benefits from the Unions, SOP’s, Policies and Procedures, and waivers?

I think it’s all a form of hiding. We use 100 words to insulate us from the truth.

We think we are doing ourselves a service by protecting ourselves from being assigned a job we can’t do. But were wrong. Doing the same task over and over again, doesn’t make us better.

(Do you have 1 year of experience repeated 30 times or do you actually have 30 years of experience?)

What make us more valuable in the work place is doing tasks that might not work, that might fail. Trying to solve interesting problems (the ones that might not work) is also what brings us meaning.

It’s a skill (and I do believe it’s a skill) to look someone in the eye and be able to tell them the truth: This didn’t work. We failed. We didn’t keep our promise.

No excuses. Just the facts.

Or you can say, you just work here.

It’s important to pick and choose your battles.

A while back, I was on the phone with my cell phone company to inquire about an overcharge.

The conversation didn’t go as expected. I asked to speak to a Supervisor. She then hung up. I called back and I was told that someone would get back with me.

It never happened.

I could pick up the phone and call again but I know what I would be walking into. So why walk through that door?

[I decided to fire my cell phone company. Took my business somewhere else and learned a valuable lesson about the argument room. Turns out, I found a better cell phone provider. I highly recommend Republic Wireless. Phenomenal service and is the best deal on the market.]