Josh Allred's Blog

Level playing fields do not exist. Ask anyone with a disadvantage.

It’s just playing fields.

What needs to be celebrated isn’t how someone performs. What needs to be propped is anyone participating.

And the key to a better culture, is tearing down the barriers where the field is more inviting for anyone to join.

Unfortunately, One mistake can change your life trajectory (and the people around you).

And while so much emphasis is put into that one decision, we tend to ignore everything that leads up to it.

We are so used to making decisions, pretending that some don’t matter, and putting weight on a few puts a lot of pressure to get it right. The reality is that when someone makes 50,000 decisions a day, one slight misstep can change everything.

We don’t give ourselves credit for how good we are at deciding.

We fight so hard against the labels others put on us instead of living according to the labels we can create.

The reason? Its easier to believe in our insecurities. Indeed, we hold the opinion of those around us high. Sometimes higher than our own.

Sometimes, this is called overcoming the ego or the natural man.

The whole outlook is flawed.

By adjusting, a part of us needs to change; we also say there is a part that we don’t like.

This isn’t the right approach. What is the goal? To fit in? To reach modern standards of status?

Instead, we can change because there are other parts of us to explore and experience. Not because there is something wrong with us. There’s already way too much shame in the systems we have built.

We know that touching a hot stove will burn.

Storms will bring cold temperatures.

Heat will make one thirsty.

And yet, the creative process will bring doubt or shame—yet, we don’t associate these feelings with being innovative because the moments of joy it brings make it all worth it.

So, when feeling stuck, we can expect this as part of walking into the creative sphere.

Freedom is the degree measured by the amount of one’s agency.

When people complain of needing more freedom, what most mean is more ability to choose.

Of course, it is not the kind of choice between products. We are talking about choosing what type of work to dedicate oneself to. The option to begin (or quit) something. Deciding which direction to walk.

What robs us the culture we have built that strips agency away…

Debt systems.

Incarceration.

Addiction.

Technology.

There’s something very human about having the ability to choose our path even when that path isn’t optimal.

The frightening part is when we surrender this last part of ourselves, whether to a higher power, cause, or algorithm.

Running away from something is instinctual.

Turning about and making friends with the thing that scares us is hard to do.

I don’t know anyone that can run for forever.

If there is no game, recognition, status—would you still do it?

If the answer is a yes, then that’s a project worth pursuing.

The bottom isn’t made of rock. Its made of dirt. And you’ll hit it once you stop digging.

The first step:

Tell yourself the story that you are going to make it. That you are going to break through.

The second step:

Believing that story. Long enough for it to come true.