Josh Allred's Blog

We like to think that when the voice in our head says, “Oh, I am really scared” that those thoughts proceed to control our actions.

It turns out it’s the other way around: that our body has made a decision that it’s scared (or hungry, or angry, or lonely, or tired, or whatever) and then the voice in our head reports what is going on with your body.

In other words, the voice in our head is a narrator. But if we want to change the story, we don’t stop the person narrating the script. We need to change the script!

We can stop bargaining with the voice in our head and realize that it has no autonomy or agency. Instead, we can say thank you. Thank you for informing me about what is going on. This is significant when it comes to making work that matters.

The Body: Hands get hot, posture sinks, hands folded across your chest.

The Mind: “Stop this. You are going to be made fun of. You’re not qualified for this. Who do you think you are?”

Your Response: “Thank you. But I need to get back to work.”

Recently, Steven Henegar College approached the Mayor of Midvale, UT (suburb of Salt Lake City) to offer two life changing scholarships to the citizens of Midvale.

The first scholarship was a full ride, four-year program (valued at $25,000). The second scholarship was for a two-year associates program (valued at $12,000).

The Mayor announced the scholarships in her newsletter to the citizens. She asked for anyone interested in the scholarships to write her. From there, they would choose who would most benefit from this opportunity.

At a local art show, the Mayor rose to the podium to announce who would receive the scholarships. As she spoke, she announced that she received only one letter. One letter!

There are about 28,000 residents in Midvale. Of those 28,000 residents, 4,000 fit in the 15 to 24 age demographic. The 15 to 24 year olds are not the only ones to blame for a missed opportunity here. Most people know somebody that could have benefited from this scholarship.

In this case, if anyone would have picked themselves to play the game they would have at least received $12,000 to go to school. But only ONE person picked themselves. Just one. (And good for her.) I know some people didn’t get the message. And I get that. But “I didn’t know”, “I didn’t have time”, “I didn’t think”, “I didn’t see” are forms of hiding.

This is an endemic problem. The internal narrative. The story we tell ourselves. We can’t bargain with it. We think we are being safe and cautious listening to this voice that is telling us not to bother with an opportunity just to play the game. We think we are being rational, “People like us don’t win things like this.” It is ingrained, “We aren’t special enough. You are not good enough. Who do you think you are?” Worse of all we minimize it and amplify the story, “I didn’t want to go to Steven Henager anyway.”

We sit back and wait and wait and wait to be picked. Then we complain that we never get picked.

So pick yourself. Pick yourself to play in the game. You might not win. And that’s okay. Play again tomorrow.

If it’s not causing tension, then it’s not scary enough.

If it’s not scary enough, then you are probably looking for a guarantee.

If it’s guaranteed to work, then it leaves no room for failure.

And if it can’t fail, then it’s too safe.

If it’s safe, then there is too much compliance.

If you are looking for compliance, then you are looking for a map.

But leaders are map makers, not map readers.

If you are following instructions, then there isn’t much risk.

What kind of risk are you taking: is it real or perceived?

If it’s real and you need to run from a saber tooth tiger. Then RUN!

But if it’s not a saber tooth tiger in the bushes and it’s your boss wondering how far along you are on the TPS reports…then it’s not real.

It’s all invented.

If it’s all invented, then maybe we can tell a different story.

A better story: you are good enough.

Does that make you feel uncomfortable?

You are good enough to show us your best work.

If it’s going to be your best work, then you are going to take a beating.

Trolls will be trolling. Critics will criticizing. Haters will be hating.

That’s the price for admission.

Before you step on that stage, that moment is yours.

It’s tension.

Lean in.

You can’t out “Wal-Mart” Wal-Mart. And you can’t compete with Amazon or McDonald’s.

They have what they do down to a science: measure for productivity and accuracy to become a little faster and a little cheaper.

Henry Ford perfected it. He went out and said “Come work for me. And instead of making 50 cents per day, I’ll pay you $5 per day.”

For a while, this made us all very rich. Particularly the factory owners. But it doesn’t anymore. And quite frankly, it isn’t a good deal either.

Here is what’s changed: the means of production are no longer controlled by those who own the factory. We saw it 500 years ago with the printing press. Scribes lost their job and power shifted from the professional scribe to the amateur presser. And we saw it recently with the music industry. (Remember when the record labels were bringing families to court over pirating.)

It is self-preservation. And it happens when we can amaturize an industry – “Professionals”, factory owners, and scientists lose control.

Scribes were scientists. Henry Ford was a scientist. Record Execs were scientists. And they were all very good at inserting money at one end of the machine and having profit spit out on the other. Tinkering with it to squeeze more profit.

However, the demand for scientists are gone. Because at some point it can’t get any faster or cheaper. (Think about messaging: from horse to train to phone to fax to email to IM.) What we need are more artists to change the status-quo, to raise the bar. Wal-mart is no longer remarkable. It doesn’t cause us to stop and cross the street.

What if we decide to quit the things that take 80% of our time that only bring 20% of their value?

You don’t have to quit TV, or Facebook, or Pinterest, or SnapChat, or Twitter, or YouTube all together. But maybe you quit on the videos or feeds or outlets that don’t bring a lot value.

How about customers, can we quit them?

You bet. Not all customers of course. The customers that take advantage of your generosity – we can quit them. When we free 80% of our time: what could we do with all this free time?

We can treat the other customers differently. The ones that really matter.

And now: you’re either in or you’re out.

Instead of spending our time chasing every customer that walks by (to the bottom), we can now spend our time sharing our work in a more generous way (to the top).

So welcome: Here, I made this. It’s not for everybody. But it may be for you. And if not, that’s okay too. There is something else down the road that could probably fill your needs. But over here – people like us do things like this.

There is none.

Either you do it, or don’t.

You can participate or spectate.

Once we are in a place where all of our needs are taken care of, we can make a choice.

The choice to keep doing what we are doing that got us here. But a little faster, a little cheaper, and squeeze a little more profit.

Or we can choose to make an impact. Did I make a difference in someone’s life today? Did I help someone do something that I could have never done? Did I get out-of-the-way for someone to level up?

There will be plenty of people telling us how nice that is but it’s not the right time. I mean with the economy the way it is and the recession, someday you’ll be in a place to do this.

I don’t buy it.

It’s never the right time to leap.

But we do.

Because people like us do things like this.

The juxtaposition of scarcity and abundance. We can decide. Operating in a world of abundance brings fulfillment. But it takes discipline. With the compounding effect of daily discipline we can understand that we weren’t just born but why we were born.

At first, it is difficult to ask someone to catch you when you leap without first feeding the network.

You can’t say give me your trust and attention and then I will do the work.

(No one will be there to catch you when you leap.)

You do the work and then maybe credibility will follow.

When you feed the network, the network will turn around and feed you.

Once we have enough money for the necessities (food, water, shelter, clothing), money becomes a story.

There are two types of stories: either you have enough or you don’t have enough.

Sedrick has the mentality of someone who has enough. It took Sedrick four years to save $320 for a passport and some extra cash to serve a church service mission.

Some quick math: $320 divided by four years equals $80 per year. There are 260 working days a year (although I doubt that Sedrick gets the 4th of July off) which equates to 30 cents a day he was saving.

Of course, Sedrick has to take care of the necessities of life (he isn’t just saving money). My guess is that Sedrick was saving about 10% of his income to pay for his passport. Which means Sedrick is roughly making $3 a day.

So what is the story we are telling ourselves?

I am going to go out on a limb and say if you can read this you are making more than $3 a day.

In the United States, the typical family makes about $50,000 per year (in 260 working days that is $192 per day, $24 per hour). The average American household will make 40 cents a minute while working today.

Yet, somehow in a nation where more money is spent each year in storage units than in going to the movies, we are worried we don’t have enough.

That story can change. We can be outrageously generous (tipping 200%, donating to a church or foundation, slipping a 20 to someone on the streets). Someone who gives like this cannot but tell a story that says, “I have abundance. I have enough. Someone needs this more than me.” You can’t possible say you don’t have enough if you are giving money away.