Life Resumed

One of my favorite people has these two words tattooed on his arm (Hi, Casey). Another person who I watch regularly and read their books repeated these words over and over again to himself while coming up (You’re the man, Gary). “Do more.” It’s a simple statement but it requires discipline to execute on every day. Do more reminds me of some friends I have that sacrificed certain creature comforts to live lives that were in line with their values and their values only. Other friends of mine are globetrotters who always have an adventure planned and I hope they never slow down. Many of my friends and family have their own businesses, support their (sometimes deadbeat) spouses and still have time to raise badass children. I have a friend who often puts in heavy work hours, still makes time to train like a boss and does all these crazy races. You know the ones where there is barbwire, probably flamethrowers, alligator pits and whatever else. Those kinds of races. These are people who do more.

So, what does it mean to do more? Well, it could mean a lot of things. Do more means push. Do the thing you love, do you thing you hate if that can get you to the thing you love. Work your shit job and then come home to work on your favorite job until you don’t need the shit one anymore. Do more means that it’s going to take hard work. Do more means doing it again and again and again, if necessary. Do more means quit using excuses about being too busy to do the things important to you (*ahem* ….. writing more blog posts…). Do more means getting up early and staying up late. Do more means doing something other than complaining. Do more means that there are days when it will suck only getting 4 hours of sleep or none at all. Do more means doing things that are outside of your comfort zone. Do more isn’t just a temporary step, it’s a different path.

Do more isn’t the mantra of the people making excuses for why their life isn’t playing out like they wished it would. Mostly, because they’re wasting time wishing instead of doing. Do more is the battlecry of those who are crushing it on the stage, wall street, social media, YouTube, the internet, the world of small businesses and even your face. And even my face.

The important part about the drive to do more is to gain experiences. Chances are that you’re not going to fall in love with the first thing you try, but you could. You won’t know unless you do more than what you currently are. Starting an apparel company might sound awesome if you want to design clothing but you might realize you hate to sew or that you love sewing even more than design. What about tech? You’ve got this awesome idea for an app but you fall asleep at the computer trying to learn how to program but you still wake up and work on it.  Try these things. Do more means trying something if your current place is not where you want to be. The pleasure of doing more has the chance to outweigh the pain of doing nothing.

What about outside of a career, huh? What do you do in your freetime? Do you have any hobbies? Have you got stuck on a personal project? Try the do more approach but change what it is you’re doing. Writer’s block? Pick up a cheap set of paintbrushes, some paint and throw that around on a Sunday afternoon. Paint a character you’ve been writing about or that crazy dream that you had (you know the one). It doesn’t have to be perfect, this isn’t your typical medium, just get it done. You’re just shaking the tree. Are you on a audio person? Do you record podcasts? Ever considered filming a “walk and talk” on your cellphone with a set of headphones? It’s basically when you talk about a topic that you want while filming yourself and then post it to YouTube, Vimeo or even Instagram. Do you typically make video content? Write an article. Are you musician? Try all of the above. You never know what could happen from it. Explore. Soak up that experience. Level up. Do more.