Seth Godin’s post and ruined afternoon plans

Recently Seth Godin wrote a short post that made me entirely uncomfortable with the perfectly useless and lazy afternoon I had planned. It irritated me because I wanted to ignore the things that I knew were important (the things that would make my day valuable, but I was too scared to start) and watch a movie on Netflix. But now, I couldn’t.

It’s easier to ignore life. And it feels pretty comfortable to live in a place where you don’t make a difference. No feathers are ruffled and you don’t have to decide to stand up or stand out.

You can just blend in and watch stories on Netflix about other people who make a difference. That quiets the voice screaming inside you, for the moment.

The only problem with living this way is it makes you feel like a stinking pile of crap. And at the end of a life lived this way, only a few tears will be shed at your funeral. Your life really didn’t mean that much to others.

So here’s something I have learned. It is vitally important to surround yourself with proactive people so they can kick you in the butt when you are tempted to step off the “step up and make a difference with your life” ride.

It’s easy to find people who are at the same place as you and become friends with them. It feels good to commiserate about your challenges together and compare hardships. It feels absolutely delightful when someone else struggles with the same things you do. It gives you a great excuse to stay where you are at.

But…

Something wonderful happens when you find and surround yourself with people who are not where you are, but where you want to be. You no longer feel the freedom to complain about your hardships and why you’re not where you thought you would be by now. Because they were where you were at some point too, but they are not there anymore.

Rats. There goes your excuse.

If you are only playing against people of your same skill level in football, how would you ever improve?

The same goes for the game of life. Surround yourself with people who are merely getting by in life (perhaps this is the place you are), and you can expect yourself to be swirling in the same stinking pool of non-progression ten years from now.

Surround yourself, however, with people who challenge you, who have gone through some of things you have and have come out on the other side, and you will find yourself sucked into the wake of their wave. Pulled up by your bootstraps and challenged to do and be more.

You want people in your life who constantly ask you, “Hey, how ya gonna make a difference with that life of yours?”

Who are the people that ruin your afternoon plans to do nothing with your life?

Photo credit: Brian J. Bloom