I was on the phone with my brother yesterday, and I gave him some career-related homework (the pro or the con of having a sister who’s a life coach, depending on how you see it). I asked him to write this question at the top of a piece of paper:

What am I uniquely suited to do, given my random talents, skills and interests,
that makes me feel ALIVE?

Dig back to your childhood. My brother manufactured and sold Creepy Crawlers and hustled so that he could own every new gadget — probably to a fault (remember MiniDisc players? Biiiig mistake). I practiced being a news anchor, took dance classes, started a family newspaper, hosted a neighborhood carnival, and opened a library operation out of my bedroom.

What lights your SOUL on fire?

It might be a set of skills so random you have NO clue how they relate. Write them down anyway. Those of you who have been around a while know that I love teaching, organizing, inspiring people and dancing (ideally on tables in Las Vegas if we’re getting really serious — ha).

Enter Seth Godin, The Domino Project and a peek into my crazy brain

Yesterday was a big GIANT day for me. Seth Godin linked to my 15-tab book marketing spreadsheet from The Domino Project blog, and it set my inbox ablaze. Within an hour we had 100 retweets. I watched with glee as dozens of people seemed to exhale a collective sigh of relief upon seeing the spreadsheet — something that at one time I was afraid to share for fear that it makes me look LIKE I’VE LOST MY DAMN MIND to a bout of uber-neurotisism and compulsive organization.

But alas! Yesterday clarified that one of my superpowers is organizing complex ideas in service of making people’s lives easier. How many thousands of authors have gone before me, and yet — none have chosen to share their process in this much detail before. If you’re promoting a book — or anything really — check it out. You can read the full back-story of how the Seth connection came about here. An excerpt:

Against today’s conventional book marketing advice, I decided to self-fund a 14-city ACTUAL book tour (in person! not virtual!). When I was invited to share my experience with Seth Godin and his team at The Domino Project headquarters in New York (by my good friend Willie Jackson), I jumped at the chance.

I had 15 minutes to present something related to my experience as an author. With a bit of nervous excitement, I decided to share the book marketing spreadsheet, which also felt very vulnerable. I was sure that sharing my spreadsheet with Seth and his team would brand me as a Type-A obsessive compulsive freak. But there was also a small chance that they would like what I had done — and that my crazy template brain could be put to use to make other author’s lives easier too.

Long story short, everyone loved it. Willie remarked that my spreadsheet “glows in the dark,” and Seth’s literary agent Lisa wanted to recommend it to every single one of her clients as a way to get organized. Seth offered to share it with his readers — and that’s when I knew I was really on to something.

Here’s one of my favorite tweets from the day:

Pop on over to The Domino Project blog to check-out the post — HUGE thanks to Seth for the great opportunity!

Speaking of superpowers…the Only72.com personal development fire-sale ends tomorrow morning! (9am Pacific Time on Thursday)

I can’t think of a better way to reveal, dig-into, enhance and plot world-domination-style greatness around your unique strengths than with the Only72 mega-pack of over 22 personal development products. A quick reminder for those of you still thinking about grabbing a set: the bundle is valued at $1087 and is selling for $97…but for three days only (ending Thursday at 9am PT). It will not be offered again.

I think this is a killer deal, but it won’t be for everyone. This offer is great for anyone who has considered buying these products independently (a particularly good deal if at least three or more look interesting), and for those of you who are looking for a summer boost on productivity, relationships, and goal-setting.

If you purchase the bundle, you’ll get a sneak preview at the course I’m launching later this summer called Make Sh*t Happen. This is my new baby: an 80-page e-book formatted very similarly to my actual book that I started working on in January to help you tackle a GINORMOUS goal. I think you’re going to love it To receive a free preview of 3 sample chapters and to get on the early notification list for when the 8-week Make Sh*t Happen coaching course launches this summer, sign-up here.

I leave you today with a set of questions to consider:

• What lights your soul (and your brain) on fire? What fills your heart with glee (beyond puppies, wine and chocolate)? What would you pay someone to be able to do?

• What brings out your inner hustle? What gets you out of bed in the morning on your very best days?

• Given your random background, education, job history and skillset — what are you UNIQUELY qualified to do or talk about? It might be the psychology of stardom, how to crush it when your parents are no longer with you and you’re allergic to the 9-to-5, or first-class hustlin’ — buying office supplies from stores going out of business and selling them BACK to Office Depot for profit (ahem…my brother).

• If you weren’t waiting to be good enough, smart enough, skilled enough or rich enough — what would you share with the world?

Don’t know the answers? GOOD! That means we’re running your brain through some new and exciting calisthenics. Write these questions at the top of a piece of paper and let them marinate for a week or two. And answer in the comments when you think of something! Nothing lights me up more than hearing about what gets you going

Thank you for all of your kind comments, thoughts and outreach on Saturday’s Human Magic post. Feeling much better already!

That post helped me articulate a much-needed reminder that with big GIANT goals come big giant roller-coasters of emotion — dips and triumphs, highs and lows. So it feels like perfect timing to introduce you to one of my favorite pieces of writing about living life to the fullest. I humbly turn the floor over to writer and philosopher Joseph Campbell (bold emphasis below is mine); I find this essay incredibly moving and inspirational, and I know you will too.

The Hero’s Journey (On Living in the World) by Joseph Campbell

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
What you have to do, you do with play.
Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it.
The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be.

Being alive is the meaning.

The warrior’s approach is to say “yes” to life: “Yea” to it all.

Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.
We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
When we talk about settling the world’s problems, We’re barking up the wrong tree.
The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess.

We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.

If we fix on the old, we get stuck. when we hang onto any form, we are in danger of putrefaction.
Hell is life drying up. The Hoarder, the one in us that wants to keep, to hold on, must be killed.
If we are hanging onto the form now, we’re not going to have the form next.
You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.

Destruction before creation.

Out of perfection nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up. The earth must be broken to bring forth new life. If the seed does not die, there is no plant.
Bread results from the death of wheat. Life lives on lives. Our own life lives on the acts of other people.
If you are lifeworthy, you can take it. What we are really living for is the experience of life, both the pain and the pleasure.
The world is a match for us. We are a match for the world. Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging. Negativism to the pain and ferocity of life is negativism to life.

We are not there until we can say “Yea” to it all.

To take a righteous attitude toward anything is to denigrate it. Awe is what moves us forward. As you proceed through life, following your own path, birds will shit on you. don’t bother to brush it off. Getting a comedic view of your situation gives you spiritual distance. Having a sense of humor saves you. Eternity is a dimension of here and now.

The divine lives within you. Live from your own center.

Your real duty is to go away from the community to find your bliss. The society is the enemy when it imposes its structures on the individual.
On the dragon there are many scales. Every one of them says “Thou Shalt.” Kill the dragon “Thou Shalt.” When one has killed that dragon, one has become The Child.
Breaking out is following your bliss pattern, quitting the old place, starting your hero journey, following your bliss. You throw off yesterday as the snake sheds its skin.

Follow your bliss.

If you read my post Live for the Dip last year, you know that I felt like I BOMBED my first official bookstore event (even though my friends would tell you otherwise). I’m proud to say that I’ve since emerged from conscious incompetence, feeling much more able to deliver a speech or workshop with the right mix of structure, clarity, humor and inspiration.

Most recently, I delivered a 40-minute webinar that outlines how we can shift the paradigm of Career Development (click here to watch The Ladder is Out — How to Manage Your Career in the Age of the App).

It went off without a hitch, but what you may not know is that as I was being introduced I put myself on mute, clenched my fists (to give my adrenaline something to do), and started taking deep yoga breaths (called ujjayi breathing) to calm my slight nerves at seeing the attendee list hover around 85 people.

When my good friend Doniree recently asked for my advice on how to feel more comfortable at the front of a room, I realized that I had a few great methods to share with all of you from delivering training for over five years at Google.

Most of all, experiment AND smile! Try variations of all of the above. Remember that everyone watching wants you to do well. Have fun at whatever you are doing, roll with the punches, and laugh off any mistakes! Besides, those are what make you human and relatable. No speech or presentation will ever be perfect — so just get out there and do the best that you can! For my FAVORITE book on the subject: check-out Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun.

I would love to hear from you in the comments:
What public speaking tips work best for you?

***

P.S. I have a guest vlog (short 2-minute video) up at Corn on the Job today. I talk about how to do a Gap Analysis for your own career development. Click here to watch! Big thanks to Rich for hosting me

With the greatest leader above them,
people barely know one exists.

When a leader trusts no one,
no one trusts him.

The great leader speaks little.
He never speaks carelessly.
He works without self-interest
and leaves no trace.
When all is finished, the people say,
“We did it ourselves.”

-Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching

I read a truly outstanding and inspiring book this weekend called The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership. As a UCLA grad, this book is near and dear to my heart. John Wooden, named by ESPN as the Greatest Coach of the 20th Century, is arguably one of the most effective leaders of our time. I felt it worth sharing some of his pearls of wisdom (excerpts from the book) with all of you:

• Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.
• Failure to act is often the greatest failure of all.
• It is so easy to quit, to turn back, to give in. Never do so. Try again, and again. Try harder, smarter, but try again.
• The star of the team is the team, and not one individual
• If you’re not making some mistakes, you’re not doing anything – not trying to make things happen
• Prepare, plan, practice hard, and then execute without thought of failure.
• Perfection is impossible. Capitalizing on imperfection – mistakes – makes all the difference.
• Your opinion, if you are respected, will often carry more weight than your advice
• Saying bad things about others is a bad habit. For all the shortcomings I see in others, I keep in mind that my own failings are many.
• Listen with your eyes, not just your ears
• It takes less than one second to say thank you. The rewards last much longer.
• The more concerned we become over things we can’t control, the less we will do to improve those things we can control.
• The past is for reference, the future for dreamers; The present moment is where you create success.
• Seek those moments when you can offer a sincere compliment to those who don’t get many compliments.

From his father, Joshua Wooden:

• Be true to yourself.
• Help others.
• Make each day your masterpiece.
• Make friendship a fine art.
• Never try to be better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can be. You have control over that. Not the other.

And one final excerpt:

There is a choice you have to make,
In everything you do.
So keep in mind that in the end,
The choice you make, makes you.