Josh Allred's Blog

It’s fun to be connected with so many people at the same time. The mass of input. The chance to discover something new. It’s exciting to keep up with what’s going on around the world.

But when was the last time someone wrote an update that changed you?

A tweet that took you to a place of discomfort? An Instagram that challenged your world view? When is the last time someone wrote a Facebook post that changed your mind?

That’s the beauty of good books and teachers. They give you a chance to learn about one idea. They help turn down the noise, and for a moment, help you see the world as it is.

It’s increasingly concerning how we are spending our time using these tools. We’re not taking full advantage of them to learn and grow. And too often they interfere with the important relationships around us, which is what these tools were made for in the first place. Watching cat videos distracts us from the things that matter most in life.

Forget about your 20 year goals.

No one knows what’s going to happen between now and then.

Instead, make a 20 year commitment.

The key to making any significant impact is to start making the change you are seeking to make in the world. Everyday. Little by little. Drip by drip by drip. One by one.

Resistance will tell you that you’re no one. I say, start by being somebody to someone.

Chen Si is no one to everyone. He’s a courier in China. Making couple hundred bucks a week. He gives half of his money to his wife. And the other half, he uses for his work.

Every weekend, Chen goes out to Nanjing Yantze Bridge. The most popular place in the world to commit suicide. Chen saves people from jumping off the bridge. He’s been at it for over a decade now. I don’t think he will be stopping anytime soon. He’s saved over 300 people. It’s his work.

Chen Si is somebody to someone.

That act of bravery, to dare and change the world, one person at a time, is what makes all the difference. It’s desire over love or money or fame.

No one gave Chen permission. He just went out there and did it. That’s what you should do too.

Put something in before you can get something out.

Contrary to what is being pushed from the culture, you can’t continue to accumulate more junk.

It has to end.

[Debt:Junk Ratio Graph]

Eventually, you run out of resources: Time, money, attention.

The problem though, is that debt continues to grow. Because you are getting charged 35% interest. And it compounds. Getting worse and worse. Which amplifies the story we are telling ourselves about money.

Today, Americans are spending more money on storage units than going to the movies. Think about that for a minute.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t get nice stuff. By all means, I love nice tools. But if we are going to build a culture that we can be proud of, we have to start saying enough with the pursuit of more. And learn to love what we have.

[We all take for granted what it means to be warm and to have food and clean water. Along with education and opportunities to recreate.]

In 1805, there were 15 corporations. The average American owned one pair of pants, 2 shirts and one pair of shoes.

There were two major problems in order for the industrial economy to grow to what it is today.

First, we had a shortage of workers. How were we going to train people to work inside a factory, do what their told, work faster and cheaper from the day before, while making a profit?

And second, how can we get people to buy all this stuff?

The solution, of course, was public school. Train people to sit in the same spot all day, follow instructions and be rewarded. At the same time, create social pressures to keep up with the Jones’s.

This worked great for a long time. We all got very rich, technology grew and our lifestyles got better.

Now, two centuries later, we have a new problem.

At some point, we can’t get faster. At some point, we can’t continue to get cheaper. At some point, we hit the bottom.

And people are starting to realize,that the endless cycle of accumulation is actually endless. The promise of a good job after years of debt accumulation isn’t such a good deal. The carrot being dangled is out of reach.

So as we approach the bottom, a revolution is taking place. (Just in time.)

No longer are people satisfied with average products for average people.

The alternative is to race to the top.

I think we need to spend some time wrestling with this idea of what’s bringing us meaning. Or rather, can we do work that is meaningful?

Because more isn’t enough.

James Carse points out that there are two types of games.

There are finite games and infinite games.

We play finite games all the time. Like when the car next to you is racing to merge on the freeway. Or launching your next product line ahead of the competition. Pick up basketball is also a finite game.

You play finite games to win. They are made to end. They have boundaries.

On the flip side, you have the infinite game. The purpose of the infinite game is to keep playing. You don’t play to win. When you throw a ball to your kid, you don’t throw it as hard as you can so he’ll quit. No, you throw the ball to him so that he’ll throw it back.

Right now, the ball is in the air. What are you going to do?

Try zagging.

Stand up.

Stand out.

We need you.

Here’s the truth: You’re not going to enjoy what you do everyday. No one does. Anybody that tells you otherwise isn’t stretching themselves. There not producing enough bad ideas (so they can come up with some really good ones). There not going to the edges. There not pushing the boundaries. There playing it safe.

But having some bad days isn’t the real reason you should quit.

Quit for the right reasons. Which is early and often before you start. Quit at the beginning when it’s cheap. Don’t start anything unless you intend on finishing it.

Don’t quit because it’s difficult. Of course, it’s difficult. That’s why the thing you’re doing, is worth doing.

If it was easy—if there was a shorter cut—someone else would have figured it out by now.

Push through. Everything worth doing has a Dip.

[Tip: The time to be looking for another job is not when your tired of the current one you have. The time to look was yesterday. Since you can’t go back, the next best option is now.]

It’s the only life worth living.

Right now, the voice in your head is telling you that (a) you’re not good enough and (b) who do you think you are?

That’s what Resistance does. It wants us to believe that you’re something you’re not.

I played on the internet for 30 minutes before writing this post. Pretending to be productive. Acting like I was looking for inspiration. I realized afterwards that I was just wasting my time so I didn’t have to write anything. Because I was afraid.

I was afraid that no one is going to read this. That I’m not cut out to be a writer. That I’m not doing work that matters.

Despite being afraid, I beat Resistance today because I created something and shared it. Despite the risk of failure, I did it anyway.

(Maybe no one will read this. Maybe it won’t make an impact. That’s okay. I can learn and try again tomorrow.)

Don’t quit. The change you are looking to seek in the world is right there. The work you do matters. But it takes time.

The only promise I can make is that if you stick it out and finish, you’ll be a better person from when you started.

[Starting is the easy part. Finishing something is what makes all the difference. I’m finished writing for today. But I’ll be thinking about what I’m going to write tomorrow all day today. I feel better that I finished something meaningful. It’s what I have set out to do. Everyday. Yep, the start is exciting. But joy comes when we finish what we started.]