Favorite Things Friday - October 18

Good Reads
Why Entrepreneurs Should Start $1000 Startups from The Next Web
The Inverted Golden Rule from Leadership Freak
Vision And Innovation Come From Seeing Past The Map from Chris Brogan

Potential Vacation Location


Explanation Of A Seemingly Complex Concept


Behind The Scenes Look


Optical Illusion


Magic Trick

Favorite Things Friday - September 27

Good Reads
Why You Should Accept A Life Less Predictable from Shauna Niequist
8 Rules To Help You Live Long & Strong from Dumb Little Man
From Dot-Com Zero to Hero: One Man’s Story from Tim Ferriss

Favourite "Is This For Real" Product


Favourite Parenting Video


Favourite Public Service Announcement


Favourite Rap Video


Favourite First Responder

Favorite Things Friday - August 16

Good Reads
5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From The CrossFit Games from Under 30 CEO
Culture Is The Glue For Your Company from Inc Magazine
Life's Priorities from Chris Guillebeau

Favourite Guerilla Marketing Effort


Favourite North American Timelapse


Favourite International Timelapse

Favourite Marriage Tune (H/T Nadine)


Favourite Retro Video


BONUS
Honorable mention if you're a Breaking Bad or Price Is Right fan.
http://www.thatvideosite.com/v/5775/breaking-bads-aaron-paul-was-a-contestant-on-the-price-is-right

Favorite Things Friday - July 26

Favourite Reads
Mark Wahlberg On Prison, Faith & Gratitude from Donald Miller
Hipster Traps from AdWeek
Culture Of Accountability from Stephen Brewster

Favourite Athletic Showdown


Favourite Prank

Favourite Timelapse Video


Favourite Piece Of Marketing Genius


Favourite Mosquito Repellent

Eyes On The Prize

I saw this on Fast Company earlier this week. 

It’s called a lilac chaser. You’ve seen it before. It’s an optical illusion with a small black cross in the middle, encircled by twelve blurry lilac-colored dots. A green dot animates over the lilacs as though counting the time on a futuristic clock. Stare at the cross long enough and the lilacs disappear, one by one. But the moment you get distracted and look away, the lilacs come back.

The black cross is the work you do. The lilacs are all the things ancillary to your work. They’re the small choices you’ve made around your black cross: the time you wake up, the tools you use, what you have for breakfast, when you check your email, and so on. 

Guilty as charged.

How often do I let the small (routine) stuff distract me from doing remarkable work?

How often do I look at small decisions that don't really matter (Do I want pizza or tacos for dinner) and allow them to distract me from doing work that matters?

It's productive procrastination.

The grass never needs to be cut as badly as when I have a task I don't want to do.
Amazing how I find chores that need to be done if there's a difficult assignment looming.
You know the feeling.

Want to do work that matters? Keep your eyes on the black cross.

Favorite Things Friday - May 24

Favourite Reads
22 Rules Of Storytelling, According To Pixar from iO9
The Business Benefits Of Volunteering from Entrepreneur Magazine
Make Sure Your Marketing Matches Your Market from Ron Edmondson

Favourite TV Show Moments

Favourite Communication Video


Favourite Photography 'How-To' Video


Favourite New Roller Coaster


Favourite Dance Workout

Favorite Things Friday - April 12

Favourite Reads
32 Ways To Short-Circuit Happiness from Dumb Little Man
Too Late? from Chris Guillebeau
10 Assertions From Elite Entrepreneurs from Forbes

Favourite Prank Gone Wrong


Favourite View From Space


Favourite Travel Video

The Quiet City: Winter in Paris from Andrew Julian on Vimeo.

Favourite Nature Video

Favourite Tutorial

What Have You Become?

I guess it was a couple weeks ago now that Saturday Night Live ran a sketch that has had me thinking. The idea was a game show, asking each of the contestants "What Have You Become?" Three contestants, who had all been told they’d had great potential when they were younger, had never done anything with it as they grew older.

In fact, they’d all become pretty disappointing.

After introducing each contestant, the host would then ask What have you become? forcing each of them to re-evaluate their life choices, often causing them to break down in tears at the realization that they had done nothing with the potential they’d had 20 years before.

I don't want to be that guy. The guy who could have done something significant with their life, but failed to take the necessary risks to arrive at that place. Yet I find myself going down that path. Where I opt for safe. Ordinary instead of extraordinary.

So how do you break out of it? How do you do something meaningful with your life? How do you make a dent in the universe? How do I avoid becoming the 'wicked and lazy servant'?

Same way you eat an elephant, one step at a time.

Maybe you're feeling stuck, going through the monotony of the day-to-day. Let's try to make a change. Let's start to take some steps out of the muck and start to move towards doing something significant.

Read a book
Send an email
Write a business plan
Have coffee with someone who's in the place you want to be

To quote Dave Matthews and the sing that has resonated with me the last couple weeks:
To change the world,
Start with one step.
However small,
The first step is hardest of all

Favorite Things Friday - March 1

Favourite Reads
Can 30 Minutes Change The World? from Jon Acuff
The Hardest Part Is Getting Started from Skip Pritchard
Building Your Business On Value, Not Pricing from Kyle Chowning

Favourite Upcoming TV Series


Favourite Time Lapse


Favourite 13 Year-Old


Favourite Car Commercial


Favourite Guerilla Marketing Stunt

Favorite Things Friday - February 8

Favourite Reads
Why I'm Not More Public About My Faith by Donald Miller
Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop from Fast Company
Move To Your Future, Not Away From Your Past from Skip Pritchard

Favourite Interview


Favourite 'How-To' Video


Favourite Way To Enjoy Winter


Favourite Combination Of Babies And Dubstep


Favourite Will Ferrell Appearance

You Have A Gift To Give The World

I want you to think of a movie that moved you.
Maybe a song or album that impacted you.


That cost someone something.


Everything that moves you, impacts you, benefits you, gives you life... cost something.
That movie had to be written, pitched, financed, directed and produced.
That book had to be written, edited, printed and distributed.


For you to receive, someone had to give.
For you to benefit, someone had to sacrifice.
For one person to say: "it meant so much to me.", another person had to break themselves open and pour themselves out.


For us to receive forgiveness, Christ had to pour himself out. We celebrate this when we take part in communion.


When the Romans 12 says we are to "present our bodies as living sacrifices", could it be God asking us to break ourselves open and pour ourselves out?


I believe inside each of us lurks a desire.
A passion.
A calling.
Something you were made to do, that the world desperately needs. It is where you find your joy.


Sometimes in church world we are told if we really love Jesus, we should deny those passions. If we truly want to serve God, we need to repress those passions and desires.
NO!
You need to go into the heart of that passion, that desire, because God put it in you.


What is it that will get you up in the morning?
Is it art?
Is it justice?
Is it writing?
Is it running a business that is defined by integrity?


We need to experiment.
Explore.
Try this and try that.
And discover what it is, that when you do it, you are alive.


The world needs the gift of you.


Sometimes the best way to find your passion is to ask: "What pisses you off?"
What makes you say: "Somebody should do something about that!"
Maybe that somebody is you.


You're saying to yourself, "But nobody is doing that."
That's why we need you.


There is a dream, a passion, a gift God has put inside you. Go for it.
It might be difficult.
People around you might not understand what you're doing.
They may call you crazy.
It will cost you something, but you might just change the world.

Like Walt Disney said: "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."


Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
- Henry David Thoreau

Favorite Things Friday - Non-Church Podcasts

Time for another edition of Favorite Things Friday.

I love podcasts. If I'm driving for an extended period of time, I plug my iPod in and listen to a podcast (or two). My car has become a learning hub on wheels. Here are my Top 3 (non-church) podcasts:

Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast
I love leadership podcasts. I listen to Perry Noble and Dave Ramsey, but Andy is my favorite. His podcast is so practical, and he doesn't come off as arrogant, like some others do. He is leading one of the most progressive churches in the U.S., so he must be doing something right.

This Is Your Life - Michael Hyatt

Mike Hyatt is relatively new to the podcast game so it's not as polished as some podcasts you may listen to, but the content is great. You want a personal growth podcast? This is it. Career, family, personal health, leadership and entrepreneurship; its got it all.

The Random Show - Tim Ferriss & Kevin Rose

As the title indicates, this podcast covers whatever Tim & Kevin feel like talking about. New technology, books, hot start-ups, food, apps, etc. They don't post very often (latest episode is from November of 2011), but the episodes are always entertaining and inspiring. I think Tim Ferriss is the most interesting man in the world. Seriously, read up on this dude.

Got any podcasts to add?


Any others we should be checking out?