Using Your Hands

This weekend I met a guy – the boyfriend of my girlfriends’ girl friend. Don’t get lost in the relationship, because it’s not the point. As we were watching the LSU-Alabama football game at one of my favorite bars in one of my favorite towns, the guy impressed me in a big way.

He nonchalantly told me the story of his weekend prior. He took the weekend to completely tear his kitchen apart and rebuild the floor because it was rotting out underneath him. If you’re anything like me, then you’re impressed by the fact that a 25 year old with a full-time job replaced an entire floor structure in 48 hours.

Part of me was envious of his experience because there’s something about using my hands to make measurable progress that appeals to me in a big way. Here was a guy who was no older than me with no more “training” than me in the realm of building things. Yet he made the effort to find the right people to help him make the project happen and he got down and dirty for a weekend to accomplish something that needed to get done.

I have a huge amount of respect for that approach, and it’s something I want to do more of. Whether it’s learning to build cool things, becoming a real fly fisherman, or learning to edit video… I want to start tackling big learning opportunities with reckless abandon. That learning translates to results over time and I know it’s time t continue building my toolkit.

What’s a skill or hobby you want to learn more about? What’s the next step you can take to make it happen? Most importantly, what excuses will you use when the time comes to choose between building a floor or drinking a beer?

I don’t want to make excuses. I want to learn cool stuff. Period.

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Live Integrity

This past week I finally got around to reading Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. I’ve known for a long time that I needed to read the book, and I flew through the pages as I learned more about the Zappos story and philosophy.

 

One of the things I loved most about the book was the way Hsieh describes the ten core values of Zappos and then illustrates them with stories from employees, customers, etc. It almost serves as a handbook for understanding the culture, which is something the vast majority of companies lack.

 

So, in an effort to make our L4M culture even better, I want to highlight each of our six core values over the course of the next week or so. My hope is that this will help lay out our story and why someone might want to join the company in the future. For me, I hope it will help clarify why these values exist (and potentially highlight what might be missing, if anything).

 

Our first core value at Living for Monday is ‘Live with Integrity.’ In my mind there are two big questions to answer regarding every one of our values:

 

1. Where did this come from?
2. What does it mean for the company and culture?

 

I’ve told the Big League Chew story on this blog before, but it is the most vivid memory I have of learning the value of integrity. From a very early age, I understood that doing the right things for the right reasons would pay off. Even when it doesn’t pay off directly, it ALWAYS comes back around. At least that’s my view.

 

After my experience with Big League Chew, the concept of integrity continued to grow on me. Every year something would happen that showed me that no matter what someone is always watching. Whether I was doing the right thing or doing things that didn’t always make Mom proud, it always came back around. Eventually, after plenty of heartache and unnecessary challenges to overcome I learned that it was far easier to do the right thing for the right reasons as often as possible than it was to try not to get caught doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.

 

I think that doing the right thing for the right reasons is a great definition of integrity. It takes the concept at its most basic level and applies it to our decision making process at home, at work, and everywhere in between. But over time, integrity has come to be so much more to me. When I started this blog in August or September of 2010 (wow, now that I put it on paper, I can’t believe it’s been two years), I racked my brain for a name before finally settling on Living Values.

 

Ultimately, that name represents the next stage in my understanding of integrity. I could do the right thing for the right reasons without ever naming or understanding my personal values, and I could be a valuable, contributing member of society by doing so. But taking my integrity to the next level meant putting my personal values on paper, then on my blog, and ultimately constantly displaying them for the world to see. That’s a vulnerable place to be. It’s kind of like a 35 year old man having to hang his superman underwear out to dry because the dryer is broken – you’re revealing intimate information to the world.

 

I mean c’mon, my values are my beliefs – they are the 5 or so words that describe what means the most to me in. the. world. To openly state them to you is to openly welcome criticism and feedback when I’m not being true to those values.

 

But what I’ve learned is that putting those core values out for the world to see makes it that much easier to remain true to them. There’s no going back when you tell other people what you stand for. Yes, I can make shifts and my values may adapt as I learn more about myself, but by and large those values will remain fairly consistent. So the second stage in my understanding of integrity was to live my values and stay true to them through my actions and words. The same thing applies to a company. When we put our values out for the world to see, we take that seriously. They’re not just a ‘nice to have’ or a ‘plaque on the wall’ – they’re the way we do business.

My learning about integrity has had one final stage to this point. That third stage comes from my experience in taking my first job and then subsequently leaving my first job to start Living for Monday. Through that process I had a lot of heartache and a lot of questions in my mind. Why wasn’t I happy in that great job? What would I do if I left? How would I make money? Is it even possible for me to succeed in starting my own company?

 

When I thought about the answers to those questions, I realized several things. First, I had heartache and I was unhappy because I wasn’t taking my true self to work. I was molding myself to fit what I was ‘supposed to be.’ A suit-wearing, big-word-wielding, corporate junkie that solves problems to add money to the bottom line of our clients… but I don’t necessarily believe in all that. I don’t know that the one objective of corporations should be to increase the bottom line in the short term. I don’t necessarily enjoy wearing a suit everyday. And I didn’t think any of those things were going to lead me to the vision I have for my life.

 

That experience taught me about the third level of integrity, which is staying true to my dreams and vision. I could have made the right decisions for the right reasons in the context of my first job. I probably could have found a way to live most of my values. But what I couldn’t do is fulfill the vision I had for my life – the dreams I had for my future. Living with integrity means having the guts to take a stand, take a chance, and go after the vision I have for my life.

 

The third level of integrity applies every bit as much to Living for Monday. We have a responsibility to pursue our mission and vision to the absolute extent of our capabilities. There are a million ways to make money, but living with integrity means every way we make money should fuel our vision of the future.

 

At Living for Monday, we believe ‘Live Integrity’ means three things:

• Always do the right thing for the right reasons. If in question, use the golden rule.
• Make our values public and incorporate them into every single thing we do.
• Pursue our mission and vision with every ounce of effort we have. Don’t settle.

 

What do you think about our first value, ‘Live Integrity’? Do you have ideas for how we can incorporate our mission, vision, or values into our operations? Let me know in the comments!

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Why I’m Giving Up my 25th Birthday for Charity:Water (And How You Can Help)

When I showed up to World Domination Summit 2012 in Portland at the beginning of July, I had no idea what Charity:Water was, why it was created, or who was behind all the work. When I left WDS 2012, I had become an avid supporter of the cause as a result of hearing the incredible stories from founder Scott Harrison.

Here’s why:

• Scott Harrison has an incredible personal story. He has turned his life around and dedicated himself to a cause that helps people in ways I can barely comprehend as a member of Western society. That makes me want to help him and the cause.
• The pictures of the diseases and pain being caused by contaminated water are unbelievable. And to think that clean water can solve so many of these problems makes me want to take action.
• Charity:Water has an incredible three-pronged approach to non-profit work. First, 100% of public donations (ie the ones to my birthday campaign) go directly to providing clean water for real people in Africa. Second, Charity:Water proves where every dollar goes. 18 months after making a donation, you will know what project you helped fund. Third, Charity:Water is a brand that Scott Harrison wants to be recognized across the globe. This three-pronged approach has been incredibly successful and built immense trust in their community.

Take a minute and imagine living a life in which you had no idea whether you would have clean water 12 hours later. Imagine spending every waking hour walking to and from a water source 4 hours from your home. Imagine having a permanently bent back as a result of carrying 50lb+ of water on your back for hours at a time… every day. Imagine seeing people all around you contract diseases and suffer as a result of contaminated water.

Now imagine contributing to the solution. Imagine opening up hours upon hours of time for people in Africa to learn in school, work to support their families, and maybe even enjoy life a little bit. By supporting my birthday campaign (and maybe pledging your next birthday), you can be part of the solution.

My 25th birthday is a month from now on September 7th. My fundraising goal is to have 200 people contribute $25 for a total of $5,000. That amount of money will allow us together to help an entire community of 50 families, or 250 individuals, get access to clean water.

Can you spare $25? How about $250? If times are tough, and $5 is all that you can afford, that means every bit as much to me. If you want to help out, you can contribute to my birthday campaign here: http://mycharitywater.org/Barrettabrooks.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for contributing. Thanks for being an awesome person. It means alot to me, and it means even more to the people you’ll help.

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Self-Marketing and Facing Our Strengths

Scott Belsky was one of the speakers at this month’s World Domination Summit, and he gave a talk based on his book, Making Ideas Happen (Affiliate). At the end of chapter two, Belsky challenges readers to overcome the stigma of self-marketing and gives several strategies for doing so. One of those strategies is effectively naming the differentiating strengths or experiences you possess. Step two of the process is creating a communications strategy for telling others about the strengths and experiences that make me good at my profession (or the various aspects of my profession). Step three is executing on that plan.

Well, right now I am working with a couple of partners to design and develop BarrettABrooks.com, where I will transfer this blog and also tell more of my story. The blog will be my sandbox for testing creative ideas, sharing life lessons, and taking action (with your help, of course). I’ll write on a few main topics, or buckets:

• Entrepreneurship
• Servant Leadership
• Organizational Culture
• Travel
• Relationships
• The Great Outdoors
• Psychology
• Current Events

Basically, I’ll write about the things I love and the things I learn.

It’s part of my overall self-marketing strategy and it makes me very uncomfortable. I hate talking about myself, I have a fear of sounding pompous or conceited, and I think deep down at the root of everything is a fear of criticism or rejection. After all, if I am to openly proclaim my strengths and my mission and then publicly fail, it opens me up to all kinds of negative feedback.

Luckily, I learned a lot about myself at World Domination Summit. There are several things I need to work on in the immediate future if I want to succeed in establishing and growing Living for Monday:

1. Be more vulnerable
2. Take more action (and finish the drill on key projects)
3. Get comfortable marketing myself and L4M’s products/services

In an attempt at all three, I want to tell you about some of my greatest differentiators. Next time I post I’ll write about how those strengths will help me grow into an awesome coach, recruiter, and product creator. The last post of the series will ask for your help based on what comes next for marketing myself and L4M.

Disclaimer: this post is unabashed self-marketing in an attempt to get over my fear of self-promotion. I go into detail about where my strengths come from and why they are differentiators. I would love it if you would read and tell me how to better communicate these differentiators without sounding conceited or pompous. I would also like feedback on ways in which I am apologetic – I have a tendency to self-efface in order to diminish the self-promotion aspects. Call me out on it!

Here goes nothing…

My Differentiators

I have been given the chance to explore the world.

I have visited three continents, 10+ countries, and 20+ states. That list pales in comparison to a guy like Chris Guillebeau who has visited 175+ countries. But I’ve learned something new about myself every time I’ve visited a new place. I grew up being hauled all over the country because my parents wanted me to see new places and experience new things, and I couldn’t be more appreciative of that fact.

College was a playground for travel where I made two trips to Europe, one of which was to study at Oxford University for an entire semester and live in England/Europe for four months.

My travels have helped me to understand new perspectives appreciate diverse people, and communicate across cultural boundaries. Studying at Oxford ignited my passion for learning, made me a writer, and honed my communication skills. Travelling through Europe with my girlfriend expanded my comfort zone, made me try new things, and challenged conventional beliefs.

Most importantly, my travels have allowed me time to reflect. They have forced me to take a step back from life as I know it and reevaluate where I am headed. They have given me clarity and pushed me to make changes in my life to align with what I truly believe. They have strengthened my relationships with friends and family. And ultimately, my travels have fueled my personal development, which has led to many of my further differentiators.

Few people my age have had the opportunities to travel as I have. I have been fortunate in that way. Fewer still have used their travels as fuel for personal growth. I have done both and it has given me a more wholesome view of the world, of business, and of the impact I can have on others. I can only hope I will have the opportunity to continue to travel and develop new perspectives.

I use both my left and right brain

So many people have distinguished between left- and right-brain people, but it is becoming more and more accepted as a false dichotomy. Brene Brown put it so well at WDS when she said that there are people who use their creativity and those that don’t.

Ie, no one lacks creative ability. Instead, we are molded and influenced to believe that we lack creative ability. Brene reminded us that our art work is graded in elementary school – a purple tree receives a 50 because trees are green… Which send a message of conformity. And then we move up through the ranks of education and we are graded on our ability to find the right answer instead of coming up with innovative or creative solutions to old problems. And then our fate is cemented when we are hired by a big company to follow directions and sit in a cube…

Luckily my semester at Oxford University opened up my creative side again – otherwise I would probably still be following directions and sitting in my cube. At Oxford I was taught to make strong arguments based on research-based unique opinions. Yes, everything was supposed to have some kind of factual basis, but there was no right answer. “What do you think about the Arab-Israeli conflict?” does not have a right answer. For that experience I will be forever grateful.

So then I went to work and I took my learning with me. But at work they wanted right answers. I felt like I was back in the environment where answers should be catered to what a superior wanted to hear. So I found my own creative outlets. I started reading blogs and books and articles from unconventional people. I created a blog in order to have an outlet for my creative ideas.

This unique thing started to happen. I was learning to be a high-level strategic thinker in my consulting work (which built on my experience leading organizations in college) at the same time I was learning to be creative on nights and weekends. The problem was that I was being forced to compartmentalize my life. Left-brain from 9-5 and Right-brain in my free time just didn’t work.

The beautiful thing about Living for Monday is that I actually need both types of thinking to succeed. I have to brainstorm and provide creative solutions to old problems. But then I have to know how to create strategies for execution. I still have a long way to go in molding the two halves of my brain into one complete skill set… In the mean time I know that a key differentiator is my ability to challenge the status quo and then deliver strategic plans to make it happen.

I have strong communication skills

This one is so blasé because its what everyone wants to hear. I can speak, I can write… blah blah blah. But really, I speak well in public and I write well.

My speaking ability comes from the necessity of past experience. I held various leadership roles in my college fraternity that meant I was in charge of leading meetings in front of a large audience at least once a week. I served as an orientation leader, which meant I was on stage and speaking to groups multiple times a day for an entire summer doing everything from acting to reading, to rapping, to speaking to auditoriums of nervous parents, to relaying lessons to incoming college students. I was in a leadership development program where I had to introduce corporate executives to large audiences and make presentations to “clients” from our leadership projects. Finally, I went to work and was immediately put in rooms with executives of huge companies and partners from my firm where I had to present ideas succinctly, answer probing questions, and remember not to bite my tongue at any given point.

My writing ability comes from two places: Oxford University and consistent blogging since my travels to Oxford. If you can’t tell yet, they don’t teach at Oxford like they teach at American universities. Instead of big classrooms, we learned in intimate tutorial settings where a don (Oxford professor) would meet with 2-10 students at a time. Every week, in every class, we were required to write a paper of 4-10 pages in length. All in all, I wrote over 100 pages over the course of three months of classes. At the same time, I started my first blog to catalogue our adventure at Oxford and throughout Europe. When I got home from Oxford I started this Living Values blog, and then when I left my job I started the Living for Monday blog. Basically, ever since I left for Oxford in March of 2010, I haven’t stopped writing.

That hasn’t been lost on the people around me. The reason I know speaking and writing have become differentiators are the way people react to me. Older adults ask if I plan to become a published author (I do) and groups to whom I speak praise me on my ability to communicate a message or facilitate a conversation.

My communications skills are differentiators for me.

I have always been a natural leader

The first thought that comes to mind after that statement relates to my days as a little league baseball player. Even back then I was regularly voted as captain of my team and onto the all-star team. I was runner up for the leadership award as a twelve year old. The point here is that I didn’t know what leadership was at that age, I just knew that I wanted to work hard and be the best at everything I did. Because of that, other people were willing to follow.

There are two sides to this story. The first is that people tend to follow me. I am not entirely sure why, but they do. It has happened throughout my life and I cannot entirely explain, but I know it is a differentiator – when I set a path, create a vision and lead by example, others have followed. Three examples:

• I ran for team captain of my high school baseball team, lost, and then proceeded to act like a captain anyways. I helped set high expectations of winning the state playoffs and we lost in the semifinals where we had only made it to the first or second round in the past.
• I ran for president of my college fraternity unopposed, which meant I was elected. People allowed me to do that because I had a vision of where I wanted to go.
• I was asked to create a vision, strategy, and form a group to refound an honor society in college. I was not elected, but rather intentionally sought out the people that were influencers and could actually make the idea happen.

The other side of this story is that whenever I have asked for permission to lead, my peers have struck me down. I lost election for elementary school president and never ran for SGA again. I asked for my high scool baseball teammates to select me as captain, and they chose someone else. I had an intense desire to be in secret societies in college, and despite my accomplishments I was never once invited to the prestigious groups. I applied to be the student commencement speaker and was chosen as the alternate, but was not chosen to be on stage.

So while I am a natural leader, people do not like to pick me… Especially my peers. Those older than me – mentors, professors, etc have always had more confidence in my leadership ability than my peers. I don’t know where this comes from, but I do know that it is why Seth Godin’s message appeals to me. He says, “Don’t wait to be picked. Go. Take action on your own.”

So I guess what it comes down to is that I’m not scared to get my hands dirty and lead by example. I’ve never asked anyone below me to do something that I am not willing to do. I am not scared to cast a vision that is scary, imposing, and that might not be accomplished. When I am presented with an opportunity to lead, I take it. Not for glory or popularity, but because I don’t know how to do any different. The reality is that I have an intense desire to change the world, and that must come from taking responsibility and action towards a greater vision.

My participation in a leadership development program in college cemented my desire to lead and create change. It made me define my values, create a vision for my life, and define the legacy I want to leave in this world. It made my desire to lead tangible and gave me something to shoot for.

I may not be the first to be chosen by my peers, but I am not scared of the responsibility of leadership.

I have a burning desire to learn

My desire to learn chases me everywhere I go. When I see problems I want to learn potential solutions. I want to absorb the knowledge of the people around me. I want to devour books and articles and blogs and everything else that can convey knew knowledge.

My desire to learn has been a life-long pursuit. When I was young I read voraciously. From Goosebumps to Harry Potter to The Chronicles of Narnia, I read and read and read. And then I wanted to be cool (you’ll notice that my desire to be cool put a halt in my personal development for a couple of years).

What finally snapped me out of the learning plateau was… you guessed it, my studies at Oxford. I finally was given the license to learn for the purpose of forming my own opinion. I hated the confines of college in which I was encouraged to read mandatory textbooks to answer multiple choice questions about minute details in the text. My question to some of my professors if I could talk to them now: why does it matter? Is it just easier to adapt suggested questions from the textbook publisher than to create a test that actually makes us think and requires thought on your part to grade?

I’ll never forget the day I received a paper back that said something like this: “You make great points in this paper, but you didn’t follow directions. Grade: 70.” That was literally the most infuriating experience of my classroom time in college. But I digress.

When I came back from Oxford I dove back into reading and started amassing a library of books. Biographies, business texts, religious writings, novels, classics, and more. It was as if every book held the key to some important piece of knowledge that would allow me to solve a problem later down the road.

What I found was that the more I read, the more I learned. And the more I learned the more I was able to synthesize disparate ideas from various sources. By doing this I realized I could serve as a curator of ideas, reading through sources and bringing together great ideas to save people time and inspire.

My desire to learn fuels my ability to be creative. It creates a way for me to lead and deliver solutions to those that have problems that need to be solved. Most importantly, my desire to learn allows me to write and speak on interesting topics that come from various sources. It allows me to see problems in the world and start to find ways to fix them.

My desire to learn is a differentiating strength for me.

I love building meaningful relationships

I’m just to the introvert side (I think) of the introvert/extrovert scale because I’m not the guy who can or would go to a networking event and hand out 50 business cards. In fact, big events make me nervous. I don’t like the feeling of not knowing people and the idea of standing there awkwardly without anyone to talk to is a daunting thought.

That being said, once I’ve met people I love to learn about their stories. Where do they come from, what do they love, what are they good at, what are their dreams? These things intrigue me, and they fuel deeper connections.

Somewhere along the way I learned the value of close friends, great mentors, and always being willing to share myself with others. When I meet someone, I follow up with a note or email. I keep in touch, I wish people happy birthday, and I make sure people know that I care about them.

People mean the world to me and building relationships is the way for me to learn their stories, stay connected, and help in any way I can. The way that I care about those close to me, my willingness to really listen to others, and my willingness to invest in long-term meaningful relationships are  differentiators.

I am younger than almost any other person in this industry.

One of the first things people say when I tell them about what I’m up to and I’ve answered a couple questions is this: “Just to play devil’s advocate for a minute,” [a polite way of saying: let me call you out on why you’re likely to fail, be discounted, or otherwise crash and burn] “what do you say to people when they ask about your age? Isn’t that a major weakness?”

Here’s what I want to say: “No way. You’re a bozo. My age is to my advantage.” Instead it always humbles me, makes me retreat into my shell to some extent and reply with something weak like, yes but… blah blah blah.

Here’s the reality of the situation: I had to go through a ton of leadership trials in college (more about that later). Then I went off to Oxford and they taught me to think for myself (more on that later too). Then I went to work for a huge professional services firm where within two months I was working on a project team at a Fortune 5 company; within three months I had received a 10% raise and promotion by meeting the right people, proving my worth, and learning the performance review system; and within seven months I was managing a team of three people on one of the most important and creative projects at the Fortune 5 client; by the time I left, I was being asked for advice (yes, me) by every new hire at the staff level in the Atlanta office. Finally, ever since I graduated college I have read, networked, and invested in myself constantly. I’ve learned more in (almost) 25 years than a lot of people have the opportunity to learn in a lifetime.

My age and choice to leave the conventional work force means that I’m not prisoner to the status quo. I don’t have a boss to answer to and I can get creative with the way I solve problems. I don’t have to find the right answer, I can find many potential answers, learn about the options, and then present an educated argument or proposal to anyone asking.

I have youthful energy, passion, and work ethic that carry me through The Dip (to use Seth Godin’s term). That energy, passion, and work ethic will no doubt carry over to my future years because I’m ingraining all three into habits… They are constantly becoming a part of me.

That’s a long way of saying that my youth is an advantage and I don’t want anyone to be fooled because of my age. I don’t have all of the answers, I am not as wise as many people older than me, and I have plenty of hours to commit to my craft before I reach the 10,000 hour mark made popular by Malcom Gladwell. But I can guarantee you that if I don’t know an answer, I know I will find it. I may not be as wise, but I have mentors who can share the wisdom of their years. And I may not have reached the 10,000 mark, but you can bet your tail I’m working towards it.

My age is a strength of mine.

Wow, so 3,500 words later, there you have it. That’s alot. If you know me, I would love to hear your thoughts on everything I had to say in today’s post. Have you seen any of these strengths in me? Do you feel that I’m kidding myself with regard to anything I feel is a strength? How can I better communicate these strengths?

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How to Live a Remarkable Life in a Conventional World

I spent this past week in Portland on vacation with my girlfriend, Nicole. We booked our trip around the World Domination Summit, which took place this past weekend. If you want to know more about our travels in Portland, you can read detailed posts on my travel blog at http://www.barrettabrooks.wordpress.com

Chris Guillebeau created The World Domination Summit in 2011 to bring people together around the shared values of community, adventure, and service. This year’s (un)conference was the second annual, held in various locations around the city of Portland, OR. The theme of the conference was the following question:

“How do you live a remarkable life in a conventional world”

And today I want to share the 15 best answers I found to this question from an incredible weekend spent with awesome people.

1.    Be constantly vulnerable

Brene Brown drove home the point loud and clear that being vulnerable is a very good thing. In fact, it is the only way we can live an authentic life in which we truly impact others. Convention tells us to conform, become complacent, and adjust our actions to meet the image others have created for us.

Brene says no to those false ideas. Instead, “Who you are will always trump who you think people want you to be.” In opening the conference, Brene spoke of Conference Anqiety Syndrome, making several points that apply wholly to living a remarkable life.

First, we have to realize that “cool is about self-protection.” Next time I catch myself being cool, I need to remember that vulnerability trumps cool.

Second, we have to remind ourselves that “no one belongs here more than me.” Whether here applies to WDS, a great opportunity at work, traveling around the world, or anything else, I have to remember that I am there for a reason. Only then can I make my maximum contribution.

Finally, “Your experience here cannot exceed your willingness to be vulnerable.” How true that was at WDS and how true it is for my future endeavors. Authentic connection with others only comes from true vulnerability. New friendships, family relationships, deep conversations, and new projects all come more naturally from a place of vulnerability.

I have to remember that if I put myself out there and fail or receive rejection in return, I have done my best. I have been in the arena and until others have been their too, their criticism cannot move me.

To live a remarkable life, I must continue to push myself to be vulnerable.

2.    It is never too late to make a come back

Scott Harrison taught me that to live a remarkable life we must never give up on ourselves, but instead realize that it is never too later to make a comeback. Scott was a night club promoter in NYC with “every vice possible” before he woke up one day and decided to make a change.

He went from drinking, drugging, womanizing, and spending to serving, feeling, growing, and connecting. He went from club promoter to charity founder. He went from morally broke to founding one of the most inspirational and innovative charities known to man: Charity:Water.

In so many ways, Scott’s early story reminded me of my own. Raised in a good family. Smart, Christian kid. Grew up to rebel for no particular reason. Drinking, drugs, sex. Until one day I was forced to make a change or live a life of insignificance. I am still very much in the building phase, but Scott’s story shows me that a remarkable life is well within my reach.

Never give up on yourself. No matter what exists in your past, there is always a greater future to be had if you will allow yourself to dream. Those are the words my heart interpreted from Scott Harrison’s talk.

You are worthy; you are remarkable. It is never too late to make a come back.

3.    Understand who you are

Susan Cain and Jonathan Fields reminded me that knowing thyself is such an important characteristic for having an impact in the world. Susan is an introvert and proud of it. As she spoke I had this intense realization that although I have always been pegged as an extrovert, I really lie closer to the neutral line in between introversion and extroversion. In fact, if anything, I lean to the introvert side of things until I get to know someone, at which point I can settle in and really share myself.

The point made here is that we can always learn something new about ourselves. We never know everything. We never know every little corner of our souls, but we can always work towards ever-greater self-knowledge.

By understanding who I am, I can better understand how to interact with others to create the greatest impact in the world. People who know themselves and actively design their lives around that knowledge can lead remarkable lives no matter what convention is telling us.

4.    Seek adventure

Adventure is one of the shared values of those that choose to attend WDS, and Jodi Ettenberg embodied that value to a great degree. I learned from Jodi that adventure gives us a peek into our own souls, as well as the souls of others. It allows us to catch authentic glimpses of people, cultures, and locales.

Jodi seeks adventure by traveling the world and experiencing food to connect with people. She has learned many ways to eat safe, but authentic in any city and she used our breakout session to pass that knowledge along… To make adventure more accessible to each of us.

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” ~Mark Twain

To live a remarkable life, I must seek adventure.

5.    Kill good ideas in favor of chasing great ideas

David Fugate, founder of Launch Books Literary Agency, was the first to make this point this weekend during his “Book Concepts that Sell” workshop. And then immediately afterwards, Scott Belsky (read more under #6) reiterated the point.

Both men offered great insight. For creative types, coming up with ideas is not the problem. The problem is actually two fold with the first part being that we can often have TOO MANY ideas. The solution is to develop the ability and capacity to kill the good ideas in favor of pursuing the great ideas.

Good ideas lead to a good life. But great ideas lead to a remarkable life. To live a remarkable life, I must always remember to kill the good ideas so that I can spend my energy chasing the great ideas.

6.    Take action consistently

Scott Belsky is the author of Making Ideas Happen and he presented the second half of the two fold problem I mentioned above. When we have many ideas (both good and great), we often end up taking action on none of them.

Scott shared an equation that will lead to living a remarkable life by taking consistent and definitive action:

Making Ideas Happen

=

(Creativity & Ideas + Organization & Execution + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability)

This led to another great moment of evaluation for me. I am great at coming up with ideas and getting them started in the moment of excitement. But then my energy often tapers off and I repeat the process to renew my energy. Scott calls this habit ‘incrementalism’.

But if you look back at those we admire for having lived remarkable lives, they were not incrementalists. Neither were they just creative thinkers with lots of ideas. Instead, they executed on their ideas by combining creativity, execution, community, and leadership.

To live a remarkable life, I must push myself to take consistent action and finish projects. 1 finished project will have infinitely more impact than 100 unfinished projects. Period.

7.    Develop unique superpowers to do good

Chris Brogan is a comic nerd through and through. He was vulnerable in front of a crowd of 1,000 and I loved it. And in the process he reiterated Brene Brown’s message while adding that we have to develop our superpowers to do good.

Chris used some of our favorite superheroes to describe potential superpowers… things like synthesis, empathy, tenacity, and rage. He challenged us to name our superpower and then to test it, fail, and gain confidence from the experience.

By honing our superpowers in this way over time, we will gain the ability to do immense good in the world. In the process, we have to remember that no matter how weird we are, or how unique our superpower may be, it is needed in the world. Therefore, “the weirder you get, the more you will succeed.”

I must develop my unique superpowers by exercising them, learning about their capacity, failing, and gaining confidence. Only then can I use my superpowers to do good and live a remarkable life.

8.    Commit to serving others

Service is yet another of the shared WDS values. Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott taught me that so much can be learned in the service of others. They have been traveling the world for over five years in the name of serving others.

They taught me that an unheard voice can be made loud and clear through service. They taught me that there is more to every story than what we may see on the surface. And they taught me that only through service to others can we truly experience the world and make deep connections.

To live a remarkable life I must always remember to commit to serving others in all that I do.

9.    Leverage your skills and interests to create passion

Cal Newport taught me that many interests can be molded into a passion, a life’s work, or a calling. I didn’t always agree with everything that Cal had to say, as I tend to lean a bit more towards the fact that there is purpose in what we do and any old interest may not spark our sense of purpose over time.

But, Cal’s message did resonate with me in that developing expertise is such an important part of becoming truly passionate about a given interest. The question I encourage my coaching clients to ask themselves is this: which of my interests do I care enough about to become an expert?

When we care enough to pursue an interest until we have developed true expertise and a valuable skillset, we both become more valuable as a contributor and more passionate as a person. Passion contributors live remarkable lives.

To live a remarkable life I will have to become ever more passionate by developing expertise and skills.

10. Tell a great story

One of my close friends gave a wonderful graduation speech in which he said “Tell a great story with your life.” Sarak Peck reiterated that message in her workshop on crafting narratives.

Sarah taught me that crafting narratives and telling great stories is a way of connecting with others. Stories bind us emotionally, communicate our vision, and share our lessons with others. At the end of the day we all have stories, but to live a remarkable life we must create and tell a remarkable story.

That story cannot always be planned. It cannot be controlled. It can only be communicated as is unfolds. It can be shared passionately, as with Scott Harrison. It can be used to interweave with the stories of others. It can be used to inspire. But for it to do all of those things, we must first create it, and then share it.

To live a remarkable life, I must tell a great story with my life.

11. Build a community of support

The third and final shared value of WDSers is community. The value of community in remarkable lives repeatedly made itself clear throughout the weekend. In particular, Corbett Barr’s workshop on instant idea evaluation showed the immense value of a community of support.

Corbett’s session was like a massive mastermind session, and the value of the feedback reminded me that I must build a community of support in order to live a remarkable life. We need feedback, we need constructive criticism, and when we hit the troughs of energy we need support. Building a community provides for all of these things.

Corbett reminded me that I need a mastermind group (which I’m hopefully forming with a couple of fellow attendees). He taught me the value of open, honest feedback.

To live a remarkable life I must build a community of support that will help me and support me.

12. Keep your eyes on your own paper

I learned so much from the attendee stories that we heard on Sunday, but a common theme was keeping my eyes on my own paper. It can be so easy to look at what others are doing and want to do the same. It can be easy to envy and covet and imitate.

But what makes a life remarkable is its uniqueness. Imitators are not heralded for their remarkable copying. We should be inspired by others but “don’t compare your inside to someone else’s outside.” A remarkable life comes from a place of authenticity and vulnerability. It comes from establishing our mission and getting after it.

To live an authentically remarkable life, I have to keep my eyes on my own paper.

13. Transform yourself to transform the world

J.D. Roth is an incredible man with an incredible story of profound personal transformation. J.D. taught me the value of transforming oneself. He reminded me to concentrate on changing myself in order to inspire others to change as well.

J.D. reminded me that focusing on what others should do will not make me better and it is not the way to transform the world. Instead, I should work every day and every month and every year to become a better version of myself. This time next year, as I board the plane to Portland for #WDS2013, I hope to have transformed myself to become a better person.

I can only transform the world by first transforming myself. To live a remarkable life I must embrace and pursue constant personal transformation.

14. Courageously invest in others

Chris Guillebeau has taught me so much through The Art of Non-Conformity (book and blog), The Empire Building Kit, and The $100 Startup… But never has he taught me so much as he did at WDS.

Chris showed me that living a remarkable life means courageously investing in others. It means trusting and empowering those around you to do remarkable things themselves. It means ignoring the trolls and naysayers and critics in favor of supporting the change agents and problem solvers and doers of good.

Chris has made himself vulnerable in countless ways in order to invest in me. He has neglected his natural introversion to stand on stage repeatedly in front of 1,000 people. He has shared his journey liberally with his followers, even when receiving criticism from others. And all the while he has asked for NOTHING in return.

I know that to live a remarkable life I must courageously invest in others.

15. $100 is All it Takes

Chris has also taught me the value of $100. It stated a couple of months ago when I received an advance copy of $100 Startup. It continued when I attended his Atlanta book signing and met him in person for the first time. Through all of this he showed that a meaningful, impactful business can sprout from $100 or less.

But then Chris did something entirely unexpected at the end of the day Sunday. He made the most courageous investment of all in all 1,000 attendees.

He created his own parable of the prodigal son and will be tracking the results over the next year. Combining this year’s profits with an anonymous WDS donation from a 2011 attendee, Chris dispensed $100,000 to the 2012 attendees.

He showed absolute trust and confidence in our ability to do good with the money. He showed a willingness to be absolutely vulnerable in handing out CASH to 1,000 people, many of whom he does not know deeply. Why?

Because he knows we share values of community, adventure, and service. Because he trusted that we would each walk away and willingly bear the burden of responsibility that comes with such a generous gift. And because he wants to see what happens when you empower a group of change-makers with the tools to make it happen.

To live a remarkable life, $100 is all it takes.

#WDS2012

(To learn more about WDS and to sign up to receive notifications about #WDS2013, check out http://worlddominationsummit.com )

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How to Take a Purpose-Driven Approach to Recruiting Top Talent

Start recruiting based on value alignment

Most students don’t know their values off the top of their head. Why? Number one, the vast majority of students are not being pushed by the education or environment to define their values. And number two, students are not being pulled to learn and emphasize their core values by the majority of employers.

Employees and employers with value alignment will see higher engagement, greater productivity, and higher earning potential over time. But for that to happen, values need to become a part of the everyday recruiting and business vernacular. And they need to mean something.

Truly hire for potential and train for skill

“There’s a tremendous shortage of skilled workers,” said Craig Giffi, a vice chairman of the consulting firm Deloitte. (WSJ, 11/26/11)

This type of statement has been seen repeatedly in the news media in recent times. It’s very obvious it’s a catch-22. Companies need skilled workers because of turnover, growth, etc. Because it requires an investment to train for skill, companies balk at the thought because of Gen Y’s propensity for job-hopping. So we get this vicious cycle of no skilled workers, not enough companies training for skill, and people hopping from job to job looking for satisfaction.

It is the very rare student who comes out of her undergraduate career with a solid skill set. That’s not what colleges and universities are set up to do today. Period.

What to do? Hire for potential. Potential can be judged by value alignment, cultural fit, passions, and long-term goals. Once they’re on board, invest in the people.

Gen Y has this incredible opportunity to access endless FREE information at all times. So why in the world would we expect any less from our employers? We want to learn, and we want it to be in a tech-savvy, engaging way… At work. Let’s solve the skill problem by investing in our workforce. Perhaps turnover will slow as a result.

Get back to the people business – train, network, provide opportunities for people to grow

When I got to my first job there were no road signs and nobody to pack my lunch and pat me on the butt on my way to figuring out the workplace. It was up to me. Luckily, I had the tenacity to figure it out on my own, and then all of the new hires were henceforth sent to me for guidance on what the heck to do in their first week or two in the office.

Here’s my question: is this happening everywhere? If so, we need to get back to the business of people. I’ve heard rants and raves and fantastical stories of the great investment in people and relationships in the business world prior to SOX, the great Enron scandal, and the dot com collapse in the late 90s / early 2000s.

Learning from mistakes is excellent – superfluous spending needs to be curtailed and I can see why shareholders would get pissed off about huge company-sponsored bar tabs and entertainment fees. So STOP providing ridiculous entertainment and alcohol. That doesn’t mean we can’t continue to provide amazing opportunities for growth, relationships building, inspiration, and learning for all levels of the organization.

Gen Yers want to be inspired. We weren’t around when the great collapse scarred everyone’s business sense forever. Yes, we should be reminded of the consequences of superfluous spending, but no, we should not be punished int he form of a lack of people focus in business today. All an organization is is a collection of people. We’ve got to take care of them, or else Gen Yers are going to move on to the next thing. Capiche?

Be open to new ideas

Gen Yers expect to be able to contribute from day one – businesses, bosses, mentors, and org charts need to  least be willing to listen to ours ideas. No, we don’t have the practical experience, and no, we shouldn’t be given the reigns to the company right out of school.

But why not at least perk the ears up and listen for new ideas. We engage with people, information, and the world in entirely different ways today. We use tools for free that were enterprise solutions making companies thousands and thousands of dollars in years past. We have knowledge and ideas that are valuable.

Is it more important to drive business forward, or concentrate on org charts and egos? My vote is for driving business forward and solving interesting problems. Gen Y can help.

Learn from your best people

The top 10% of performers in your organization hold the key to success in recruiting new employees. When is the last time you took them away to understand what makes them so successful and how to replicate that success by recruiting similar people.

I may sound like a broken record here, but what would happen if you took half a day with each person from a random sample of your top performers. In that half day you could learn about their values, passions, strengths, and dreams. What drives them to come to work, work hard, and outperform everyone else? What tool could you use to evaluate their core strengths? What are their dreams — where do they want to be at the end of their lives?

I guarantee not one of those people will name their GPA or former coursework as the keys to their career success and high performance… Which brings me to my next point…

Stop worrying about worthless measures of GPA, coursework, etc

GPA, coursework, etc are vanity metrics. They have no bearing on success in the workplace. Success in the workplace comes from finding the right workplace. It comes from having the heart to show up and bust your butt everyday. It comes from a deep alignment of core purpose and values.

GPAs and coursework are easy ways to check the boxes on candidates. It’s much harder to gauge the intangibles – the things that make a truly successful employee. So what are you willing to invest in order to get the right people in the right seats on the right bus?

You’ll get back exactly what you put into the process.

Realize that most learning goes on outside of the classroom

So what do you judge if you’re not judging GPAs, resumes, and coursework? Life experience. Beliefs. Values. Dreams. Strengths.

Essentially, the tough stuff.

Where does that come from? Not the classroom.

The majority of learning and worthwhile experience DOES NOT COME FROM THE CLASSROOM. It comes from engaging conversations with professors, mentors, deans, and other students. It comes from organizational involvement. It comes from self-discovery and world travel. It comes from stepping outside of our comfort zone.

Want to find out what drives a person? Learn what they did outside of the classroom. That is the answer to success in your organization.

Want somebody for a startup? Go find a student who started a new student organization, refounded a Greek organization, or built a lawn care business in their free time.

Want somebody for a poetical campaign? Go find the students running and winning SGA elections.

Want a great salesperson or customer relationship manager? Go find someone who has 15 mentors because they are so incredible at managing their personal relationships.

Want someone to have a huge impact on your non-profit? Go find the executive director of a philanthropic group on campus that just beat the national fundraising record.

Get it?

Know what you want going in

At the end of the day, as an employer, you need to know the same thing we tell our coaching clients they need to know: What the heck do you want? If you go in trying to attract as many applicants as possible — that’s what you’ll get. If you go in trying to find the students with top GPAs, that’s what you’ll get. Want a pretty resume? You got it.

What do you want? There are a million creative ways to make it happen once you know the answer to that question.

Living for Monday can help.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Have thoughts on this post? Lets start a conversation. What opportunities do you see for employers to start hiring purpose-driven individuals? How can they do that? Do you agree or disagree with any of the points made in this article?

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What is a Purpose-Driven Organization?

At Living for Monday, the company I founded in late 2011, we say we’re on a mission to connect purpose-driven individuals with purpose-driven organizations. But what does that mean? Well, I’ve been giving the question a lot of thought recently as we prepare to open our doors for business in August. We’ll be accepting a maximum of 15 purpose-driven companies and organizations as clients at that time.

In order for us to take on an organization as a client, we’ll first certify that they are a purpose-driven company. With that in mind, here are the characteristics I believe make up a purpose-driven culture:

1. Mission-Driven

Mission-driven companies have more than a mission statement – they have a beliefs statement. They unequivocally state their core message for why they exist. Everything they do reflects their mission or core beliefs.

2. Values-Based

Great organizations establish values and then take measured action to live those values. Every decision, from hiring to sales, is made through a values-based lens.

3. Demonstrated beliefs through action

Most importantly, purpose-driven companies use their mission and values to guide their actions. They use them as the basis for all planning and strategic moves. Press releases, publicity, client service, compensation, etc should all reflect the mission and values of a purpose-driven organization.

4. People-Centered

Purpose-driven organizations put people first. They compensate their employees fairly and encourage them to tackle growth and learning opportunities. They also take care of their customers – because employees are taken care of and are hired based on value alignment, customers are taken care of appropriately.

5. Service-Oriented

Purpose-driven organizations have service built into their mold. Whether committing a % of bottom line profits to charity or requiring employees to take paid service days, they enforce the value of service in and out of the business environment.

6. Problem-Solvers

At the end of the day, purpose-driven organizations solve problems. They have a proven track record of success in solving interesting problems and encouraging their employees to innovate in order to tackle ever greater challenges.

These characteristics are very much a first draft of the requirements we will use to vet our potential clients. What are your thoughts? What else would you add to the list? How can we make it better? And how can we measure these characteristics? Please let me know how you think we can use these concepts to create a Purpose-Driven Certification for our clients!

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Trends: Supplementary Education

One of the things I most often try to do is pick up on trends in the market place. What’s going on out there, how does it affect me (and Living for Monday), and what can we do to be sure we stay abreast of the game-changing trends.

The more I look around and read and learn about whats going on in the marketplace, the more I see this cottage industry popping up across the educational spectrum. I’ll call it supplementary education and I have to say that it intrigues me more than anything I’ve ever read of or experienced.

In the Dec/Jan issue of Fast Company, they ran an excellent, albeit short article on a company called General Assembly. If you flipped the page too fast you would have completely missed it, but luckily I was astute enough to read every word.

In the old days, the ten companies highlighted in the article would be our competitors. But today I look at them as potential collaborators and mentors in producing a generation of productive and self-aware leaders in our work force.

Living for Monday is just getting started, but I’ve got to say that the trend towards supplementary education, focused on real-world learning and personal development is encouraging. It’s a trend we are contributing to and one we will continue to contribute to over time.

We have plenty of problems to solve and obstacles to overcome, but one thing is for certain (courtesy of a text message from my mom today): “There is no such thing as impossible; only what we tell ourselves is impossible.” I am not sure to whom I should attribute that quote, but I do know we are working hard to do something some would say is impossible:

We are helping individuals discover their purpose, take intentional action by aligning with a career that they will love, and be inspired to solve the preeminent problems and seize the premier opportunities of our time.

That’s something I can believe in and something I’m proud to be a part of.

Interesting in joining us? Check out our website, and give me a shout at Barrett at LivingforMonday dot com.

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Groundwork Today Leads to Payoffs Tomorrow

Starting a business isn’t easy. I’m poor, I live at my parents house, and I work… a lot. And yet still, every time I see a friend or catch up with a new acquaintance, I find myself saying that I’m having a blast.

Why? Because I am.

There are days when the going gets tough. Particularly those when bills are due and we need to find the revenue to make the bills go away. But when I lay my head down every night, I rest well knowing that what we’re building today is a catapult for success tomorrow.

That catapult is being put together piece by piece, hour by hour, so that when the time comes… when we reach that tipping point… we’re going to come roaring out of the gates. How could I not be having fun knowing that what we’re doing is building a lasting platform for success?

What platform are you building right now? Are you building one in your personal life? How about at work? What platform would you love to build? What’s holding you back?

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How to Build a Lasting Culture

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately… Building a lasting culture.

I believe in the power of culture and I believe in our power to intentionally create the environment and company we want. But it takes quite a bit of effort.

One of the aspects of our Living for Monday culture is our monthly book club. We read a book every month as a team — so far we’ve read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and Start with Why by Simon Sinek. Both great books, and Sinek gives us the first step to building a culture that lasts in the title of his book. Let’s start there.

1. Start with Why – Why is our purpose. It’s what we exist to accomplish. As Sinek outlines in the entirety of his book, nothing matters unless and until you start with why. Why? Because that’s where motivation comes from. That’s how we draw in our clients or audience or believers or cult. Why is the reason our employees show up to work and our customers buy our products and services. Why matters most. The Living for Monday why: Drive discovery of purpose and inspire intentional action. Everything we do is with that purpose in mind.
2. Define values – Sinek describes values as the ‘How’ to your ‘Why.’ They bring to life a somewhat abstract concept and begin to distill it down into actionable principles. Values are attractors of talent. They tell people how we go about doing things, what they can expect, and whether they will align with us. They’re a differentiator. And most importantly, because they are an outpouring of our ‘Why,’ they give us a way to identify the people with whom we want to work. They tell us whether we’re a good fit. We have six values that we hold dear at Living for Monday.
3. Build values into the operations – Defining values and not putting them to use is kind of like baking a cake and throwing it away. Why would you do such a thing? Values are only powerful when they are built into the essence of an organization. They drive product development, employee growth, incentives, and ultimately the organization’s success. We live our values in every possible way. One example of how we’re building L4M around our values is by reading a book every month and incorporating our newfound knowledge into our operations, which helps us all to learn and grow (one of our core values).
4. Hire, fire, create, and make decisions based on those principles – There’s not much more to this one. This is everything. Trey and Nick align with the L4M values. They both share our why. They’re excited about what we’re up to. We look at our why and our values before we make any decision to grow the company or take on a new opportunity. It gives a sense of purpose and passion to everything we do.
5. Invest in the people – I haven’t worked in or witnessed an organization yet where the people weren’t everything. People matter – that’s one of my strongest beliefs in the world. And I wholeheartedly subscribe to the theory that focusing on the employees and their growth, development, passion, and happiness makes for happy customers and happy shareholders. Did I mention it helps create incredible culture?
6. Believe. Inspire. Act. – As a business owner or leader at any level, we’ve got to believe what we say. We have to espouse the purpose and values of the organization in our personal and professional lives. We get held to a higher standard. It’s a double edged sword in some ways. It means the camera is on us when we act out of line with what we say we believe, sure. But it also gives us leverage to inspire because we embody what the organization is all about. And inspired people take action. They change things. They make things happen that otherwise wouldn’t.

I’m no expert, and Living for Monday is only barely viable at this point. But if I had to bet on how to build a lasting culture, I’d say the six steps above are a pretty good place to start.

What do you think? How have you built lasting cultures? What should be added to the list above? Let’s toss some ideas around in the comments!

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