I tend to agree with all of the personal development and spiritual gurus I’ve consulted in the recent years: Merely taking action for action’s sake is a complete waste of time. The trouble is, so much of our culture operates on the myth that success is only achieved through hiking up your boot straps, hard work, suffering, struggling, and on and on. It’s a complete crock of shit.
I’m spending the month of January in becoming acutely aware of who I want to be in December. What does that person contribute to the world? Who do they hang out with? What is the quality of the work they create, how fulfilling is their family life, what level of abundance they generate, and most importantly: How much joy and happiness do they feel on a daily basis?
Why is it that it takes someone getting sick or dying, or a cyclone of work to complete the day before a vacation for us to pull back from the nagging distractions and do what we should be doing, or what we are here to do? If a salesperson presents you with a crappy offer, it’s pretty easy to ignore it or tell them to go away. What about a boss, a client, or a beloved family member? We get buried in shit we don’t want to do all the time, and then suffer out of obligation, guilt, and on and on.
I’ve already learned that 2010 will be a Year of Polite Decline: I’m flattered, but no thank you. The last thing I want to sound like is a person whose time has become too valuable to be bothered by such things. The first thing I want to sound like is a person who lives 90-100% in their major-definite purpose, doing what they are here to do because they love doing it, knowing that it is by far the greatest value they can provide to anyone around them. Just because you’ve had to learn a great many things over the years doesn’t mean you need to do them for me on command, or even as a favor, or even for money. You have to figure out what it is that brings leverage to all that you are. If what I’m asking of you jives with that, let’s play together.
In going through one of my goals exercises last year (the same one I’m doing this year), I defined my major/definite purpose as: “Entertain/Inspire”. That is the over-arching goal, mission, and blueprint for my life. It’s what resonates with me on profound levels, and it’s what I can trace back any bit of happiness or success to in every area. When I was younger I was positive that it was only “entertain”, which proved to be only a fraction of my potential. It was too limited, and although I have mad love and respect for all who have entertained me, it felt like a lower-value mission than when coupled with Entertain/Inspire.
In reviewing last year, or even the entire last decade, I could immediately get hard on my self for not doing enough entertaining and/or inspiring. Technically, I’m not making a living at either. They are not what puts food on my family’s table, and they are not the reason why I own so many suits. Or are they?
I can feel my very essence in those words, and I know that all who have ever crossed my path (who weren’t somehow repelled 
) see those attributes in me. It could’ve been stocking shelves, or depositing their money at the bank, painting their house, studying together for an exam, on a stage, on a web page, in a sales meeting, or on a dance floor. When I break through the dull layer of soot this world lays on me it’s what always shines through. It is what I have to thank for merely surviving, let alone our children thriving, or anything I’ve sold, written, or created.
I’m not here to sell you shit. I’m not here to only be a clown, although I really do enjoy that. I wish I had more time to only be a clown, but Gayle and the kids don’t need a clown 100% of the time. I’m not here to write clever songs, or build pretty web sites that sell things like art or ideas.
I’m here to express my divine gifts for the expansion of All That Is. To entertain and inspire myself first, and in doing so potentially influence others to do so for themselves, or those around them. My time here is not evaluated on how I monetize or count up how often I perform acts of entertainment and/or inspiration.
Our time here is evaluated on how often we actually feel like who the hell we really are. I’ve been blessed to see the evidence of the details getting worked out in the process. Contentment follows, money follows, exhilaration and adventure follows. Incredible people and interactions follow. There is no more important work you can do in these coming weeks than reevaluating your definitions and conditions. Trust me, the distractions are only here to guide and challenge you.
Who do you want to be this year?
I want to be a great Dad, a strong and capable man and provider, a traveler, adventure seeker, a marathon runner, and artist and musician, a healer, a life coach (for myself and others), a digital strategist, a strong seller, and just an all around happy mofo. That is all.
Give me only “happy mofo” and the others will be done and done.
