art by jason

[This article was originally published over at Dumb Little Man. There are some great insights to be found in the comments over there!]

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Wonderland? Or work at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory? Or have an apartment on Sesame Street?

Would your life be better? More fun? More exciting?

A while back I asked the following question on our Facebook page: Which imaginary place would you most like to visit? The responses were quite varied (my favorite might actually be “my clean house”), but here are a few classics that popped up:

• Narnia
• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and the Land of Make Believe
• Wonderland
• Charlie’s Chocolate Factory
• Neverland
• Sesame Street
• Pandora
• Munchkin Land in Oz
• Florin (from the Princess Bride)

The list itself conjures up some great memories from my own childhood. I began thinking about all these imaginary places and wondered if they had anything in common. What made them so special that people would want to visit (or even live there)? And even more importantly, is there anything we can do to make the real world we live in more like those fictional places? I decided that there definitely is, and here’s what I came up with:

Open Your Eyes to Wonder and Imagine the Impossible.
In each of the locations listed, wonder and imagination abounds. The impossible is made possible. Although each place is rooted in reality (that is, there are elements of each world that are similar to our own), there are definitely some exciting differences. Playing cards can walk. Muppets can talk. Magic is real. And rivers are made of chocolate.

In fact, our world is just as wondrous as the fictional ones written about above. Granted, I am unaware of any chocolate rivers, but consider a bay where the water glows and lights bubble to the surface like flourescent Champagne. Or a wall so big it can be seen from space. Skies that magically pulse with washes of vibrant color. A giant white marble palace built by an emperor in honor of his wife who died in labor with their fourteenth child. A curious and breathtaking multi-colored canyon 6,000 feet deep. An ocean so vast that many marine ecologists believe there are still mysterious and massive creatures yet to be discovered.

We need to remove the hazy gray film covering our eyes, created by years of apathy and cynicism. We think we’ve seen it all, so we stop looking. Start again. See the world with new eyes. Watch a toddler on his first trip to the zoo and you will see someone who is as impressed as you’d be on your first day in Wonderland.

And as far as the impossible is concerned, think about how many things we now enjoy that weren’t possible just 200 years ago. The electric light bulb. Automobiles. Air travel. Space travel. Telephone. Radio. Television. Computers. The Internet. The iPhone. To the early American settlers, these inventions (and thousands of others) would have seemed as fantastical to them as a television that could transport chocolate would seem to us. Even in our world, the impossible can be made possible.

But only by the people who are brave enough to believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Embrace (and Learn From) Diversity.
Another thing that strikes me about these imaginary places is the breathtaking level of diversity. There are unicorns, wizards, elves, fairies, talking trees, oompa loompas, munchkins, flying monkeys, muppets, basilisks, centaurs, and even humans. (Just to name a few.) Each has a unique point of view and valuable gifts to offer. The fates of these storybook worlds are often tied to the level of success the individuals have in sharing those talents and working together.

The same is true of our own world, of course. Although diversity has become a hackneyed politically correct buzzword, there is a dizzying array of it in our world, and our willingness to work together will determine whether we will all eventually sink or swim.

I was recently on a jury for a very complicated trial. In the deliberation room after both sides presented their cases, twelve people with different backgrounds and points of view were tasked with coming up with a consensus. It was a challenge. My eyes were opened to some new ways of thinking and I learned a lot about people and about myself. Five hours later, we’d reached a decision, and I think we were all impressed and proud of what twelve strangers had been able to accomplish, despite our differences.

It’s easy, comfortable, and very, very human, to stick close to the people that think and act like us. But once in a while, we need situations that are foreign in order to grow. Whether it’s by traveling to someplace new, taking a class in a subject you know nothing about, or attending a party attended by people you wouldn’t normally interact with, create opportunities to enrich your life by experiencing diversity.

Live a Better Story.
Another thing that is appealing about these imaginary places is that the inhabitants always seem to be engaged in some epic story, a grand adventure. People don’t sit around channel surfing or balancing checkbooks or buying underwear at Wal-Mart. No sirree Bob. There are exciting, wonderful, and dangerous things happening all the time. There is passion. There is a purpose. There are big, holy cow kinds of goals and missions in which life and death often hang in the balance.

There is a great book by Donald Miller called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. (It has catapulted into the top five most personally influential books I’ve ever read.) In it, Miller challenges himself (and the reader) to consider the type of stories we are living. What are we striving for? Miller argues that we are all living a story, but far too few are the stuff that sumer blockbusters are made of.

What about you? Are you on a mission? Is your life leading to something great? Are you taking risks, striving tirelessly, and undergoing your own hero’s journey?

Or are you going through the motions in a vanilla-flavored rut-filled life? If so, it might be time to start living a life on par with the heroes of Narnia.

Don’t Forget That Good Always Triumphs.
Some of the places I’ve listed are always safe — no drive-by shootings on Sesame Street — but in most cases, danger and evil are ever-present. But in the end, good always prevails. The bad guy always gets his comeuppance (or becomes a good guy.) I think this is a big reason why we look so fondly at these imaginary locations. In our world, it seems like the nice guys really do finish last and that evil gets off scott free.

The reality is that in the end, good will triumph in our world. It’s just not always resolved in such a neat and tidy fashion as is common in storybooks and two-hour movies. Sometimes we don’t even live to see it. But I have come to believe and experience that things do eventually work out for the best, if given enough time. There is a battle between good and evil in our world, and we must choose sides. Hang out with good people. Do good works. Believe in something bigger than yourself. And there’s no doubt in my mind that your story will end happily ever after.

So that’s my take. What similarities do you see between the imaginary places from our favorite stories? And what other ways can we make our real world more like these fantasy worlds?

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art by jason

I was back at home, living with my parents, and engaged to be married within a year. I was faced with trying to find a job and I had two choices: get a regular, “normal” job with benefits (that hopefully had something to do with art), or cast out on my own as a freelance illustrator. I think my parents were hoping for the former.

I requested a meeting, and I presented them with a short, three-page document I’d been working on. It had a list of pros and cons of both scenarios. It listed all the money I had to my name (a little over $6,000). It explained why I wanted to go with the freelance option and included a bullet list of action steps — all the things I could think of to get off to a good start.

In many ways, it was kind of a proposal. Not only did I need to know they believed in me and thought I had a good plan, but they also had to sign off on not charging me room and board for the year.

Somehow, they approved my plan. Perhaps they did really think it was a good one. Perhaps they didn’t mind the thought of their firstborn staying in the nest for one more year. Perhaps they didn’t have the heart to crush my optimism. Perhaps they didn’t think I’d stick with it.

But the very fist line on that old “business plan” — I still have it, by the way — was a line from the wise green sage from Star Wars:

“Do or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda

Fast forward eleven years, and after building a six-figure business and creating a life Kim and I absolutely love, I think that Yoda’s quote might well be the biggest reason for my success.

[Sidenote: Technically, God has been the biggest reason for my success. Without my faith -- and more importantly, his grace -- my life would be all kinds of messed up. But of all the things I did along the way, following Yoda's advice was probably the most crucial.]

When I was mulling over my options in my early twenties, I knew I had a big decision to make. One road was well paved, popular, and predictably comfortable. The other was overgrown, rocky, risky, and held no certainty of where it would lead. In my mind, if I were to take the more dangerous path, there could be no looking back. Trying was not an option. I knew that having a backup plan made it much more likely that it would eventually become THE plan. Or as Will Smith says, “There’s no reason to have a Plan B. It distracts from Plan A.” The only way to succeed was to not accept failure.

In order to really make your dream happen, you have to be willing to burn every bridge behind you. Nothing less will do.

You will fail on the way to your dream. And when you’re in the middle of the failure, that fallback plan always looks pretty tempting.

Now, that doesn’t mean you never change course. (Holy cow, have I changed courses!) When you start out, you don’t know everything, you only know what you know. If you’re doing life right, you should be learning new stuff all the time. Things you thought would be really cool sometimes turn out to be not so much when you finally get a taste of them. For instance, I originally thought I wanted to build this big business with lots of employees. But then I realized that I really hate managing. So now I’m focusing on building a company that’s big on impact and small on overhead.

Technology changes the game, too. There weren’t really blogs back in 1999. Now our entire several-thousand-page web site is run on blog software. (I heart WordPress!) Back then, there was no YouTube. No Facebook. No iPhones. No Elance. All have been game changers for us.

So yeah, you have to be willing to change and adjust and explore new paths when you’re chasing a dream. As Rita Mae Brown wrote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”

But I think the big key for me has been that although I have changed courses many times, the thought of going back and getting a “regular” job stopped being an option the day I gave my parents that business plan. I was determined to succeed in my dream of working for myself and doing what I love, no matter what.

There was no “trying” involved.

Of course, that meant I’d have to work harder, persist longer, and fail more often than I ever thought I could.

And that’s what has gotten me here.

So thanks Mom and Dad. And extra special thanks to you, Yoda.

Do you love going to work every day? Chances are, your answer to that question is either an enthusiastic “yes” or a hearty laugh and a “yeah, right.” I wish there weren’t so many people in the latter camp.

Believe it or not, having a job you love is not a pipe dream. If it is, then please don’t wake me up.

No, dream jobs are not reserved for the lucky, the well-financed, or the ones with Ivy League diplomas. Not by a long shot. Believe it or not, your dream job is within your reach. I’ve outlined some of the most important tips to help you find your way. But be warned: The advice is brutally honest. But I’m sure you’ll find it as helpful as it is frank.

First, don’t be an idiot.
Following your heart and chasing your dream job can sound pretty fluffy. But following your heart doesn’t mean you should abandon common sense. Take your time. Plan wisely. Calculate your risks and act accordingly. If you currently have a less-than-stellar job that at least pays the bills, it’s ok to stick with it until your “evil plan” is ready to be unleashed. It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. Reach for your dream, but don’t be an idiot.

Eating pachyderms.
Oftentimes, people look at their current situation, compare it to their dream career, and become totally overwhelmed. They focus on all of the things that would need to to occur in order to make that future dream a reality. The chasm looks too wide, the change too great. Dejected, they tell themselves that their current lot isn’t so bad after all, and settle for a life of silent disappointment.

The secret lies in the old saying about how to eat an elephant. I’m not sure what elephants taste like, or why you’d ever want to eat one, but the answer, of course, is one bite at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself with the big picture and all of the details. Just take one bite. If you look objectively at your situation, there’s always one thing that makes sense as the next bite. It might be a tiny bite, but after that, another bite will present itself. Before you know it, you’ll have eaten the whole thing. *Burp*

Don’t focus on the losers.
It’s easy to scan your surroundings and find all sorts of people who have failed in their attempt at a dream. For the love of God, don’t use this as evidence to support why YOU can’t succeed! The history of mankind is filled with people who found a way to succeed when others around them failed. Perhaps they worked just a little bit longer to find the solution. Or maybe they used their creativity to find a different path.

Learn from the people who have failed. What did they do wrong? What didn’t they try? But never, never, never let those failures cause you to believe that success isn’t possible. If a trail hasn’t yet been blazed, then blaze your own. If you have an interesting mix of skills, think about how you might be able to combine them to offer something completely new. For instance, many cartoonists don’t like public speaking very much, and most professional speakers can’t draw. I’ve been able to combine these two skills (along with some others) to offer something unique to the market. The bottom line is this: just because someone hasn’t succeeded in some area doesn’t mean success is not possible.

Give up on the perfect.
To the restless souls who may be reading this, I’d like to point out that there are no perfect jobs. Even the jobs that seem perfect have their annoyances and difficulties. The power and money is nice, but presidents have to deal with busy schedules and lots of headaches and professional athletes endure rigorous training and endless travel.

Now please don’t misunderstand me. This is not a free pass to stay trapped in a job that you know could be better. But don’t waste your time flitting from one career to the next just because you have the false expectation of finding the perfect situation completely void of hassles and boredom. Not gonna happen.

Beware the almighty benefits.
I cannot tell you how many people choose to stay in their current soul-sucking, black-pit-of-death job solely for the benefits package.

Because we’re self-employed, Kim and I pay for our own health insurance. Self-funded health insurance can be expensive, and adding on maternity benefits costs an arm, a leg, and a house in the Hamptons. Naturally, this caused some concern as we contemplated starting a family.

Armed with the knowledge that we certainly were not the first couple to ever have a child without the almighty benefits, we did some research. To make a long story short, we looked into the actual costs involved with delivering a baby and all the assorted tests and doctor visits. We discovered that if we put a certain amount into savings each month, we’d actually come out farther ahead than if we paid the monthly premiums to add maternity coverage to our current health plan.

So that’s what we did. And we found a birth center that we fell in love with which allowed payment plans and discounts for pre-payment. Ultimately, all of the pregnancy and birth costs were completely paid in full before we welcomed our first child into the world.

Just one example that where there’s a will there’s a way. Please don’t stay in a job you hate just for the benefits. You’re worth more than that.

Risk is a requirement.
In order to achieve your dreams, some kind of risk will be required. It might be financial, physical, emotional, or all of the above. As I write this, big chunks of the global economy are in the tank. A down economy usually makes people shrink back from taking risks and trying new things. But ironically, sometimes that’s the best time to start a business. Opportunities are everywhere. When people are experiencing problems or pain, and you can step in with a solution, you will be very much in demand.

Don’t use the economy (or anything else, for that matter) as an excuse to stand pat and avoid a risk. There will never be a perfect time to make the leap. Believe me, you won’t have to try too hard to find some reason why it’s better off staying right where you are. But ships weren’t built to stay in the harbor. Eventually, you need to push away from your comfort zone to experience the exhilaration of an open sea adventure.

Listen to the guy upstairs.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my belief that unless you’re in line with the Big Guy Upstairs, you may be in for a rocky go of it. I believe that we were built by our Creator to accomplish great things through him. He’s the one that planted the dreams and desires in our heart. Spending time in prayer and letting him guide your steps is not only wise counsel, but it is a big comfort during the the rough patches of the journey. Because if you’re working on something worthwhile, the rough patches are sure to come.

Honesty and change can be icky. Get over it.
You need to be willing to be uncomfortable. I’d say that this is the biggest reason people stay stuck in jobs they hate. Change is not easy. Sometimes it’s scary. And let’s face it, most people reading this have a pretty decent and comfortable life.

To get from where you are to where you want to be is not easy. But you have to be painfully honest with yourself. You need to quit living by rules that don’t exist. You may have a small list of reasons why you can’t really pursue your dream job. They seem iron-clad. But you know what?

They’re weak.

Think about all of the reasons you think you can’t change your current situation. There are probably a million of them, sounding like this: I don’t have enough experience. There’s too much competition. The town I live in is too small. I have a family to support. We need the benefits. I don’t have enough money to get started. The economy stinks. I’m too old. I’m too young. The list goes on and on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these might not be hurdles.

I’m simply saying that they can be hurdled.

Examine your list of reasons why you can’t do something and be brutally honest with yourself. Analyze each one to see if you’ve elevated it to a rule that doesn’t really exist. Chances are, you probably CAN overcome those hurdles. But maybe – and this is where the brutal honesty comes in – it will require a little more effort or sacrifice or risk than you are willing to give. If that’s true, then fine. Admit it. But do me and yourself a favor and instead of complaining that you can’t do something, just admit you don’t want it bad enough.

How’s that for honesty?

Fun. Scary. Exhilarating. Tiring. Invigorating. Challenging. Rewarding. Going after your dream is all of the above. It delivers a life filled with adventure and leaves the world a better place because of all the people you impact along the way.

Sometimes it’s an overwhelming task, but it is my wish that these thoughts will inspire you to take that next step on your journey.

Oh, and I hope your elephant tastes delicious.

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We’ve had several speaking gigs since the Olympics has started and I’m finding it’s a great conversation piece for people. There seems to be a common denominator of interest: the individual stories and montages. The most inspiring ones are the ones where the Olympian overcame a major adversity to get to where they are today – whether injury, personal defeat, loss of a loved one, or just years of discipline and sacrifice.

If you’re not happy for Shen Xue and Zhao, the Chinese pair skaters (and married couple), who finally won gold, then you may not be human. That’s simply an awesome story! Or Lindsey Vonn skiing through her recent shin injuries (OUCH!) to take the gold on the slopes in downhill, the first American woman to do so — now that’s strength and focus. These stories warm your heart and make you proud of the power of the human spirit. But is this remarkable spirit limited only to athletes or is the Olympics merely a tangible showcase of the spirit we ALL possess?

Unless you’re already training for the 2012 summer games in London or heading to Sochi in 2014, you need to start training for your own personal victory…

What’s YOUR gold medal?

What’s the one goal that you would sacrifice TONS to accomplish? That thing that you believe to be possible, but not without a remarkable amount of discipline and strength of character, some moxie, a decent dose of stubbornness, and a boatload of courage.

It’s the same goal that sends chills down your spine when you think about achieving it. It makes your heart skip with excitement and anticipation when you envision the reality of its accomplishment.

The reason these individual Olympian stories are so inspiring and fun to learn about is because they help instill us with the confidence that great achievements are possible with some honest perseverance and spirit. It’s never easy. It’s a road filled with countless falls, doubts, fears, and critics. However, the gold is always worth the journey.

I believe the road of everyday life is filled with potential champions. We are all destined for our own greatness — in our own little worlds.

Jason and I are always working towards gold in different areas of our lives. We walked away with gold medals two Decembers ago when Lucy entered our lives. Anyone who knows our story knows that we had spent the previous eight years of our married life together working and sacrificing to get to a point where having a family would be supported by our business of helping people live lives with less stress and more fun. We “trained” for this gold year after year: going without what our peers were attaining, toiling, praying, hoping that one day our efforts would pay off. To provide us with a lifestyle that we dreamed of, one where we could work together on our mission and have a family (and not have to live in that crappy apartment anymore!) Our hard work and faith ultimately paid off.

So, what’s YOUR gold medal?

Don’t sit on the sidelines. Don’t settle for just getting on the podium. Fight for the gold in your life.

Let me tell you, it’s worth it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what college will look like when Lucy is ready to graduate high school. It fascinates me, because considering that she’s only fourteen months old as I write this, I only know it will look nothing like it does right now.

Degrees earned online used to be the domain of people looking for a promotion or a new career and already juggling a job and family. But now I’m seeing commercials of college-aged students talking about taking classes online. iTunes U is filled with audio downloads of educational courses from some of the most highly regarded institutions of higher learning. And increasingly, degrees from traditional universities are becoming worth less while costing more than ever.

When I was in college, email was just coming on the scene. Dial-up was the norm. And my walks to class were accompanied by a Walkman, because iPods hadn’t been invented yet.

This was only ten years ago.

Things are changing fast, and the rate of change is getting ever faster.

What will college look like in 18 years? The experts barely have a clue what next year will bring, let alone five years from now.

Eighteen years from now is completely up for grabs. It’s very possible that college as we know it — the kind with heavy textbooks, ivy-lined brick walls, and ginormous tuitions — will no longer exist. Seth Godin has effectively proven that the benefits of an MBA can be achieved –and exceeded — without going $100,000 into debt.

It seems to me that now, more than ever, we need to embrace a childlike spirit in order to navigate future that awaits us. You can succumb to Adultitis, get all curmudgeony, and resist the changes, wishing for things to stay the same, or worse yet, expecting that they will. Or you can tap into the open-minded spirit of childhood to curiously ask new questions, create new paths, and see the changes that are coming as an opportunity for a great adventure.

You’ve been warned: Stay shackled by Adultitis, and you’ll be left behind.

The future belongs to the childlike.

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“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
–T. E. Lawrence

(Click comic to view larger)

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but the economy is bad. Like, really bad. It’s not a good time to go out and do anything outlandish, like start a business or invest in learning a new skill. You definitely want to keep risk taking to a minimum, that’s for sure. Oh, and the housing market is still pretty bad — and we’re now getting into the worst part of the year — so don’t even think about trying to sell your home, because no one will buy it. It’s always better to not try at all than to try and fail and be disappointed, right?

*Ahem.*

Dream stealers with Adultitis are everywhere. You can find them on TV, giving their opinions on the “news.” You can find them in universities, citing facts and figures for why the way things are now are as bad as they’ve ever been. You can find them in counseling offices, helpfully suggesting that maybe you should give up this because you’re really better suited for something safe like that. You might even find them on the street corner, in the conference room, at the barber shop, or in your own home.

True dreamers know times like these present a unique set of challenges, but not without a unique set of opportunities. True dreamers know that in order to become an overnight success, you have to work your face off. And true dreamers protect their dream, no matter what anybody says.

“Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” — James Baldwin

Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something. Just because it’s hard or unlikely or never been done doesn’t mean it’s not possible.

[ Hat tip for the video to Fallible Blogma ]

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Are you in your dream job? Do you sometimes wish you could be like Jerry Maguire and rebelliously leave your current workplace behind and break out on your own? Or are you thinking, “Yeah, right, in this economy? I’m glad I HAVE a job!”

We had a chance to interview Pamela Slim, author of the blog and book called Escape from Cubicle Nation. She is a seasoned coach and writer who helps frustrated employees in corporate jobs break out and start their own business. We turned the interview into an ebook, which you can download for free. In it you will:

• Gain insight on whether you should break free from the cube or stay right where you’re at.
• Get great advice for starting a business.
• Discover the most important childlike trait an entrepreneur needs to be successful.
• Learn tips for balancing a business and parenthood.
• Uncover the hidden opportunities in this current economic climate.
• Find the answer to the question, “If chasing my dream is hard, am I doing it wrong?”

The ebook contains our interview with Pamela, as well as few additional articles, a handful of Kim & Jason comics, and some fun useless trivia. Download it here, or listen to the audio version of the interview below.

P.S. Have you recently started a business and feel like you might be crazy? Read Pam’s explanation of why you’re perfectly normal.

by PortocalaMecanica

Pop quiz: What is the opposite of success?

I’m no psychic, but I’m gonna go ahead and guess that you’d probably say that the opposite of success is failure.

That would be wrong. The opposite of success, as Joe Malarkey (the Worst Motivational Speaker in America) recently reminded me, is doing nothing. Failure is actually an integral part of success. Joe points out that all successful people have failed. They just didn’t stay there very long.

We hate failing. We really hate losing. Most of us go to great lengths to avoid experiencing either.

Everyone who’s ever learned to ride a bike failed. At least a few times. Sometimes so much so that you may have felt like filing a restraining order against the sidewalk. But time and time again, you got back up, slapped a Hello Kitty Band-aid on your knee (just me?), and got back on your bike. With a little coaching, and a little persistence, you found it: success.

Failing isn’t fun. But it’s awfully hard to learn how to ride a bike sitting on your couch.

Old people are often accused of being stuck in their ways.

“Old” is a relative term, though. It does seem to be that as our age climbs, we tend to get more comfortable and less open to change. But that can begin to happen just as easily when you’re in your twenties as when you’re taking advantage of the senior citizen discount at Applebees.

This little trait doesn’t usually serve us all that well. Even less so during economic recessions.

The doom and gloom is everywhere. The media gleefully heaps on the bad news daily. Politicians are wasting trillions of our money on false promises and passing the problem to future generations. There are a number of reasons why we got into this mess, and plenty of people who can share the blame, but ultimately, there’s a certain cyclical nature to it all. Just as summer can’t exist without winter, booms can’t exist without the busts. 

But this post is not about the struggling economy and who’s to blame. It’s about you and what you’re going to do about it.

Frankly, there’s not a whole lot you can do about the macro situation. But in the micro situation, all of the shots are called by one person: you.

The way I see it, you have two choices. You could resist change, hunker down and fearfully wait for the worst to happen. Or you could look at this situation as a child would, with big dreams, boundless optimism and a vision of what’s possible. 

Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb in the middle of the Panic of 1873, a six-year recession. He established GE (General Electric Co.) in 1876, which is now the third largest company in the world.

In the late 1970s, we experienced a major energy crisis and inflation ballooned out of control, causing a major recession, which lasted for 30 months. In the midst of the economic storm, Applebees, Ben & Jerry’s, Olive Garden and Fuddruckers were founded. In 1981, IBM sold their first personal computer.

In fact, all of the following companies were formed during a recession: Burger King, The Jim Henson Company, FedEx, CNN, Hewlett Packard, MTV, Hyatt, Trader Joe’s, Sports Illustrated and Wikipedia.

The first Apple Store opened in the recession of 2001 and was declared dead upon arrival. In the recession of 2008, many consider it to be recession proof.

The people who will survive this recession are not the frustrated ones hoping for things to get back to the way they were. Not gonna happen. The ones who will survive — and thrive — will be the ones who embrace the changes and take advantages of the plentiful opportunities that abound.

Unfortunately, no politician or trillion-dollar buyout can give you the ability to see through new eyes and find the opportunity that is right under your nose.

Fortunately, there is a child inside of you that is already well-suited for the task.

Is it possible for a whole town to be Adultitis-free? I don’t know about that, but Bethel, Maine sure comes close.

In 1999, the ski town of about 2,400 residents set the record for world’s tallest snowman.

In 2008, the record was finally broken.

By them.

This time, they built a “snowwoman” and she was no dainty lass. Her name was Olympia, and she clocked in at a towering 122′ 1″ tall (about 30 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty) and a scale-tipping 13,000,000 pounds. She featured eyelashes created from discarded skis and bright red lips made from painted car tires. Schoolchildren made her huge red hat and her 8-foot long “carrot” nose. She sported a 100-foot-long scarf and her eyes were made from giant wreaths. Her arms were 30-foot spruce trees!

Olympia was built with a series of concentric circles with the help of over 100 volunteers. A crane dumped the snow into frames, and volunteers climbed in for long hours shoveling and packing the snow. It took a little over a month from start to finish.

I think this is the coolest thing I’ve seen in quite some time. (Thanks for passing it along, Marilyn!)

I wonder how many people scoffed at the volunteers who contributed to this whimsical project. “An epic waste of time and resources!” I can imagine them saying. Another example of taking things too seriously.

Lots of people live in areas with snowy winters and the ones with Adultitis spend a big chunk of the winter grumbling about it. A snowy day is an exciting one for kids; a cause for celebration. I know that there are a lot of extra hassles that come with the snow when you’re grown up, but it sure is nice to see a community that still knows how to have some fun with it.

How are you doing in that department?

One of the questions that Kim and I almost always ask when we interview someone is, “When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?”

Sometimes the answer to that question is the best sound byte of the whole interview. It’s certainly always interesting, and it never ceases to amaze me how often it ties in to the life’s work of the interviewee. Particularly the ones who are doing what they love.

Our friend Brett Farmiloe is making a career out of getting people to think differently about their career paths. We interviewed him a while back (listen to it here) and when we asked him that question, he told us that his favorite video game growing up was Cruisin’ USA. Well, he and the gang at Pursue The Passion have driven an RV all around the country and interviewed hundreds of people who love their job. They too, have found an interesting connection between what people wanted to be when they were kids and the career they pursued as adults.

A shoe designer who began drawing shoes on little 3×5 notecards when he was in the seventh grade.

A park ranger who loved the outdoors since he was born.

A director of communications who was hooked at the age of five when he picked up a horseshoe crab and touched it.

The video below offers a compilation of people they interviewed who have taken a childhood interest and turned it into their career.

If you’re in a dead-end job, or a career that’s sucking the life out of you, maybe it’s time to ask yourself the question: “When you were a kid, what did YOU want to be when you grew up?”

It might just send you off in an exciting new direction.

Even in this “supersize it” culture, there’s something magically childlike about seeing the world’s largest pumpkin. Steve Connolly turned his hobby into a passion, setting a personal goal of growing the biggest pumpkin in the world!

How childlike is this?!

Apparently the conditions were “just right” this year in Sharon, Massachusetts, which helped to bring his record setting pumpkin to a whopping 1,878 lbs… and its still growing about 11 lbs. per day! Yikes! The coolest thing to think about, though, is that this very same pumpkin started from a seed just five months ago. Whew… I’m sure glad this baby of ours isn’t growing at the rate. Although I do feel like I’m carrying around quite the pumpkin, I’m thrilled it’s not the world’s largest… or is growing 11 lbs. a day!

There are two lessons that jump out to me from this story.

1. It’s important to set fun goals.
Life can be so darn serious. It seems every five minutes I’m hearing about the dow dropping or some other pending crisis. Yes, it’s important to be responsible and set good goals to get through the challenging times. However, as we set our goals for the future, it’s important to remember to interject some fun ones, too. Kids are setting fun goals all of the time… like loosing a first tooth, riding a bike without training wheels, and catching that first fish. The fact that Steve Connolly set the goal to grow the most ginormous gourd says a lot about him. That is simply a fun goal! So, what kind of playful and childlike goals can you set for yourself? It could be attaining something new, like a tandem bike to ride with your best pal. It could be the goal of throwing a surprise party for someone you love. It’s good to think beyond the seriousness of finances, degrees, responsibilities, weight management (all important things, mind you!). Are you having fun with your goals?

2. When conditions are right amazing things can happen.
In a different summer this pumpkin would never have grown to be 1,878 lbs. It’s good to remember that sometimes it’s all about timing and forcing things will do no good. In fact, forcing things is a very childish action. The trick is knowing when to be persistent and when to let things go. For me, the answer is usually found in silence… listening to the small whispers from above. The key is to be aware and keep asking yourself if the challenge you are facing can be faced successfully now or in another timeframe when conditions are better. Are you forcing something that needs to be filed for later?

UPDATE: A special thank you goes to one of our Club K&J members from IL, Sarah Tipperreiter. She sent us the latest news about Steve’s pumpkin…

A world record was not to be for Steve Connelly of Massachusetts after his 1600 pound pumpkin “sprung a leak.” A half-inch crack in the base of the pumpkin disqualified him from the Giant Pumpkin Grower’s annual weigh-off, and now Connelly has to decide the fate of his pumpkin (nicknamed The Beast From the East): sell it to a buyer from New York who wants to carve the world’s biggest jack-o-lantern, or put on his apron and bake it into 5,000 pies. What would you do?

We recently started back on the road for a fall filled with speaking gigs. One thing Jason talks about is to “Stop living by rules that don’t exist.” This is a major way to fight your Adultitis. Living by this philosophy is exactly what gives the typical two-year-old the bad rap as “terrible.” In defense of parents of toddlers everywhere, let me point out that two-year-olds are in the business of testing everything, discovering the world around them and how they fit into it… which doesn’t always look pretty. Jason and I joke that inevitably there’s always a two or three-year-old throwing a major fit on the floor in the airport security line stubbornly objecting to take off his shoes for the TSA staff. We smile because they are the only ones who have the naivety (and guts) to stand up to the TSA, even if it is a losing battle. I secretly cheer the toddler on… how I wish I could refuse and throw a fit one of these days!

There is a lesson to be learned from the stubborn naivety of the terrible twos. You must challenge the status quo. Most of the time the “rules” that you insist on following are either insignificant or they simply do not even exist. As I think about our life, I smile at the opportunities when Jason and I have bucked the system, jumped off the conveyer belt of life, and taken our own path. It’s very childlike and with any lesson taken from our younger years, it creates a life of adventure and spunk.

Here are a few examples of how we’ve demonstrated that childlike grit by living by our own rules…

Rule: Get a job with good solid benefits. We ultimately rejected the safe school district insurance for the high deductible life of self-employment.

Rule: After you get married you should invest in a home. We chose to delay owning a home, and decided instead to invest in our business, ultimately gambling our house fund for a lifestyle that we love.

Rule: Professional speakers travel alone and keep a schedule that puts them in and out of cities in a 36-48 hour cycle. We set our own company policies that dictate both of us travel together. We fly in the day before the event and fly out the day after. If we are visiting a new area, we tack on a day or two for sightseeing. (Sidenote: Unfortunately, there is a high divorce rate in the lives of professional speakers, largely in part to their consistent absence from home.)

Rule: If you decide to move somewhere, you should have a job lined up or at least have contacts in the area to help you secure employment. Our first apartment in Madison was cosigned by our parents, because neither one of us had jobs yet. We came to Madison because we felt a strong pull to be here… it didn’t really make sense on paper but it did in our hearts. It’s been home ever since.

Rule: GenXer’s in Madison, Wisconsin must channel their generationally stereotypical cynicism towards the war, the government, and the environment. Jason and I are two of the few proud conservative thirty-somethings in this city.

Rule: You must prepare for childbirth with a doctor and deliver in a hospital. We are thrilled to have found an awesome fit with an excellent team of midwives at the Madison Birth Center.

You get the idea. It’s exciting to observe others breaking the rules as well. Jason’s brother and his wife maintain a lifestyle with two careers and yet only have one car, even though they work in different cities. They share the car, allowing them to save hundreds of dollars every single month. (Rule: You must have a car for each driver.)

Friends of ours sold their newer, four bedroom home and moved into an older, three bedroom home, so that she could quit her job to stay home with their children, avoiding daycare. (Rule: You must have two salaries to provide for your family.)

Here’s the dirty little secret… most people like it when they aren’t the only ones playing it safe, so it’s hard to find others who will challenge you to step out of your box. If someone they know starts rocking the boat, it’s often met with gossip and criticism because it challenges everyone else’s decisions. What a boring life! I’m not advocating you go to the extreme of childishness and shirk all responsibilities just to “make your own path.” Just do yourself and your loved ones a favor by asking yourself some hard and honest questions, “Why do we do things this way? Is this what’s best for me today and down the road?” Ask these questions and have the childlike spunk it takes to jump off the conveyer belt if you’re unhappy with your answers.

So, what rules are you breaking?

This week’s Escape Plan challenge (aka our Tip of the Week) is #6: Daydream Believer: Write down one big dream of yours. Draw or find a picture to go with it and put it somewhere you will see it often.

This is such a fun challenge! Who doesn’t like to dream about the future? It’s inevitably filled with hope and possibilities of wonderful blessings!

The law of attraction is a mysterious thing. I had a neat moment last Friday when I was cleaning out some papers near my desk. I found two copies of Wisconsin Women Magazine, one from October 2007 and one from December 2007. I remember picking them up with the conscious mindset that I wanted to be in there somehow. Maybe if I looked through them closely, I’d find a connection. Of course, as life happens the magazines got placed under some papers and weren’t seen again for what ended up being seven months… the exact same day that the August issue of the magazine came out, with Jason and I on the cover. The cool part of this story is that we were approached by them to be on the cover. (Read the article here.) By the way, Jason broke records with this… being the first man to ever grace the cover! Don’t you love his socks?!

Don’t skip this challenge! It could truly impact the details of your future.

Share with us in the comments of the Escape Plan blog what dreams you’re recording this week. Be sure to stop back and let us know when they are accomplished.

One of my blog posts recently received a very intriguing comment. It was loaded with interesting observations and great questions and I wanted to address them here.

As much as I love reading your website, and others like yours, I have realized that reading about it, and actually doing something about it is 2 different matter. Believe me, I’ve been a long-term reader of sites such as yours and am always comforted by the fact that there are people out there like you. I also talk about your sites, and my thoughts with my friends.

But lately, my friends have come to the conclusion that, yes, many people out there ditch their jobs to chase their dreams (or something less dramatic), but there are also just as many out there who go to work like we all do, live a 9-6 life and enjoy the weekends.

They’ve actually concluded that I’m torturing myself here because I read all these encouraging articles, dream all my dreams, but still am miserably stuck.

Don’t get me wrong. I love this article. And your site is very inspiring. But HOW do you actually get people out there to ACT and DO it? How are we to ditch our salaries, health benefits, career prospects, etc, and go, say pursue our dream of volunteering in a third-world country?

I know it’s illogical, and I know all the arguments against staying at a job just for the money, perks, whatever. But still we are not taking action.

If we are, there will no longer be visitors to your site!

So how and where do people finally say and go, right, enough of reading….I’m gonna do it!? How do you get to that point?

First of all, it’s never a bad thing to read or listen to things that inspire you to make positive changes in your life. Encountering the stories of people — people just like us — can help us to see that impossible things are actually more possible than we realized. And they can help us build up the courage we need to launch off on our own epic journey. However, a good many people go out of their way to avoid — and even criticize — these sorts of stories. After all, it can be quite unsettling to have your own self-limiting beliefs challenged, forcing you to face the possibility that you’ve settled for less than your best.

One of the things I was fortunate to learn pretty early on in my career as a professional speaker and writer was that I can’t get anyone to DO anything. Not one person. Not one thing. It’s easy to forget that sometimes — because I really wish I could — but remembering that truth has saved me a lot of frustration. Conversely, if someone is waiting for some speaker or some book or some fairy godmother to wink twice, twitch her nose, and magically transform their life for them, well, that person will be waiting for a very long time indeed.

What I can do is try and live by example and use emotion and intellect to communicate a message that serves as a catalyst for someone to make a positive change in their life. Believe me, that’s the ultimate. But when it all comes down to it, nothing I do or say can make them do anything.

All that being said, one thing that seems to be very effective in getting people to take action is bad news from their doctor.

As enticing as a dream may be, the good ones always involve some sort of uncomfortability and a certain level of risk. Two things most human beings aren’t too fond of. Change and risk are scary things, and most people choose to stay in their current situation (which although admittedly not ideal, is at least a known quantity) than set off into the unknown. Bad news from a doctor, or a near death experience, or a sudden death of a loved one does a pretty good job of helping people realize that the things they worry about are not really worth worrying about after all.

I also think people get so caught up in the big picture that they forget that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. It’s understandably overwhelming to consider the concept of quitting your job, abandoning a career, taking a pay cut, giving up benefits, and moving to a third-world country (or whatever the dream requires.) But in most cases, dreams are accomplished in baby steps. Books are filled with examples of people who began chasing their dream while they were still in school, still had a family to support, still had kids at home, or were still working at a job they didn’t care much for but at least paid the bills.

Indiana Jones is a hero because he takes action when most of the people around him are too afraid (or cynical.) That’s not to say he isn’t afraid (snakes, anyone?), just that he moves forward in spite of the fear. He doesn’t always plan everything out to the last detail (that can become just another form of inaction) because he knows that unexpected things are going to come up anyway. We, too, can expect the unexpected on our journey. Just like Indiana, our quest for the holy grail — our “dream,” if you will — is wrought with peril, lonely paths, and bad guys. Undoubtedly, it’s an adventure of a lifetime and the journey is totally worth it.

But nobody can do it for us.

If you’re feeling stuck, maybe you just need a little bit more courage to take that first action step. A baby step. You’re closer than you think.

This week’s Escape Plan challenge (aka our Tip of the Week) is #19: Future Forecast: Spend 10 minutes visioning yourself 10 years from now as having accomplished one of your biggest dreams. Be as detailed as possible; imagine in all five senses.

Every time Jason and I end up at a mall he makes a joke about the “Ice Cream of the Future”… you know, Dippin’ Dots. This frozen treat company has been claiming this title for over 20 years.

When is the future, anyway?

And speaking of the future, when is our transportation system going to mirror that of The Jetsons? Speaking around the country would be so much easier if we could just fly from one place to the next in our own vehicles, or better yet- teleportation. Beam me up, Scotty!

All joking aside, in order to see real change in your reality you have to know what you’re going after. You have to have a vision. Otherwise, you end up drifting from one year to the next.

One of the questions in the Adultitis intake is as follows:

This is what I think about following dreams…

A. I do have dreams, but I try to keep them realistic.
B. My dreams are so big, I think most people think I’m mental.
C. Three words: Get. A. Job. People should spend more time with their feet on the ground than heads in the clouds.
D. I don’t really have time for my dreams.

What would your answer be? I know most kids would answer letter B. If you don’t believe me, just look at their Christmas lists. It’s time to start spending time visioning your dreams coming true. Engage the senses… and most importantly- have fun with it!

So, let me get you started. The date is April 21, 2018. Will you be flying to the nearest ice cream shop to eat frozen dots of wonderfulness?

Share with us in the comments of the Escape Plan Blog what you’ll be doing ten years from today.

Here’s a great itty bitty post from Adultitis Antidote winner Rocks in My Dryer:

We were on our way home from an especially well-played soccer match. My son Joseph settled happily back in the seat and sighed.

“Mom,” he said. “I feel, deep in my heart, that I’m about to be famous.”

“Really? I asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” he said, “You know how I’m not famous now?” I thought for a minute, trying to remember if I’d seen his picture on the cover of People magazine. Nope.

“Yes, I know.”

“Well,” he continued, “I just feel, in my heart, like I’m about to be.”

He contentedly sighed again, and he gazed out his window.

How easily I forget the wonder of having the mystery and possibility of an entire life stretching out in front of you.

It’s good to be six.

Don’t forget that even if you’re sixty-six, there are still a LOT of mysteries and possibilities in front of you. If you’re still breathing, God still has plans for you. After all, Colonel Sanders didn’t become really famous until he was in his sixties.

Dream big. Live life to the last drop.

I love my job. As I write this, I am several thousand feet in the air, sitting in first class on a jet, coming home from some speaking programs in New York. I’m in first class because Kim and I did so much traveling last year, we got bumped up to the next level of our airline’s rewards program, so every once in a while, our tickets get upgraded and we get to fly “in style.”

Here’s the part I love. Not to be stereotypical, but most of the people sitting around me are the, um, “stuffy” types. The business suits checking their Blackberrys and poring over last quarter’s numbers. It’s hard to say, but they don’t seem particularly happy. Meanwhile, I pull out my Powerbook to do a little work of my own. In the middle of updating the online archive of Kim & Jason comic strips, I can’t help but smile. I wonder what other people would be thinking if they took a glance at my computer screen, populated by a continuous rotation of silly drawings of cartoon characters.

This is my work. Sometimes I have to pinch myself at the ridiculousness of it all.

It’s nice to have these moments of Zen, because it helps keep me sane when the frustrating aspects of my job test my patience. Being on the road is tiring. Air travel can eat you alive if you let it. (I’ve yet to figure out how standing, sitting, and waiting can be so tiring.) Impossibly early mornings, delayed flights, and stupid people can make me wonder what the heck I’m doing with my life.

But the good moments help me remember why I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

Mine is a career that even I couldn’t imagine back when I was in high school and college. Somehow, I have a job that brings together every single one of my talents into one unified whole, even though individually, they don’t seem particularly related. But here’s the kicker: none of it would be real if not for the willingness to dream big and take a leap.

During last night’s program, we were talking about dreaming big. I discussed the sad reality that often includes countless well-intentioned parents and teachers discouraging the dreams of a young person, simply because they perceive the dream to be “too difficult,” “impossible,” or “unrealistic.” What a shame. I shared a quote by John Andrew Holmes, who said, “Never tell a young person that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for somebody ignorant enough of the impossible to do that thing.”

After the presentation, a woman came up to me, wanting to share a story. She told me about her son, who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. School was a challenge. He was a bright boy, but every single report card and parent-teacher conference included the same refrain: “Tim is falling behind. He is simply unable to focus.”

The mother boasted proudly, “Want to guess what he’s doing now? He’s a successful photographer in New York City.”

Pretty good for someone who had trouble focusing.

When I was washing cars and running errands for a car dealership as a teenager, it was sometimes hard to imagine that I’d ever be flying first class on an airplane, manipulating cartoons on a cool laptop. But those long, sweaty days — when the clock seemed to only tick backwards — strengthened my resolve to make a living doing what I loved. I didn’t know exactly what that would look like, but I used my ample supply of time to dream up the possibilities.

Now mind you, my parents were a bit freaked out when I proclaimed that I wanted to be an artist. They had only heard of the “starving” kind. But they reached out to my high school art teacher and invited her over for dinner. They asked lots of questions.

“Is he any good?”

“What are his options?”

“What schools would you recommend?”

My art teacher eased their fears (thanks Mrs. Garrett!) and helped guide us on a wise path suited to my personality and ambitions. It has been a bumpy road, but my parents have always supported and believed in me. Sometimes, amidst the long sleepless nights and tearful laments of doubt and sacrifice, their steadfast belief in me has been my single reason for not throwing in the towel.

Sometimes dreams seem improbable, even impossible. The best ones always are. Our role as adults is to encourage our young dreamers. Rather than poking holes in their aspirations, we should offer our experience to point them in the direction that will help them find the tools they need to make their dreams come true.

In the meantime, we need to allow some of that youthful ambition to rub off on us. Big dreams are not just for the young, but they are exclusive to the young at heart.

Be bold.

Dream big.

You never know how high into the clouds they will take you.

Few people in history have exhibited the intense and authentic childlike qualities of Martin Luther King, Jr. Knowing the weight of his message and adversity he met on his journey of justice, he should’ve had a major case of  Adultitis. I do not believe that he did, however. Here’s why…

• He dreamed BIG. REALLY big!
• He was curious (and brave) enough ask some of the hardest questions ever asked. Why? Why not? What if?
• He was honest, speaking the truth that was in his heart, even when others weren’t open to what he had to say.
• Few men have walked this earth with more passion than Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Last, but not least, his childlike faith and courage lead him to a position of leadership that ultimately cost him his life.

Here’s a short clip of his last speech, a day before his assassination. Most notable to me is his childlike faith. He’s not in denial about the difficult times ahead, yet he is not worried. He has no fear, for he knows what’s truly important.

Is there anything more childlike than that?

Click here to view the embedded video.