Apologies for being so slow to post in the last few weeks. I am busting my ass to finish the book. I’ll be done within a few days and back to your regular posting schedule.
I did an incredibly fun interview with Scott of Lifelong Learner last month, Scott’s been super busy with his myriad of projects but finally had time to post the video.
First a bit about Scott . . .
Scott is a hustler. The guy is one of the most popular teachers on Skillshare with 200+ student endorsements. He is a networking savant and a productivity guru, as well as my high school foil (him: star football player at way more athletic school down the road, me: really good at science and head butting girls when attempting to kiss them).
Check the full video out on Scott’s badass blog to watch us chat about girls, business, life, and how to rock at all three of those things.
I want to tease one point out though:
Scott and I first crossed paths when I took his Skillshare class on 30 life hacks for more time, energy, and well-being about a year ago. I thought it was awesome. A few months later, we bumped into each other at a bar, each of us exchanging hello’s, but not much more. I kept up with his blog (which is great) but we never wound up connecting again.
Flash forward a few months. I make the plunge and despite serious fears that I’ll be vilified decide to “come out” as a dating coach.
All of a sudden, I have a reason to contact Scott (he is looking for interviews for his blog). We set a time and do the interview. It goes swimmingly, we click. The next day via one short email, Scott has already given me invaluable advice on improving Kickass Academy. We’ve got plans to hit up NYC’s best party while eating and drinking for free.
Whether or not we become great friends, I have no idea. But it occurs to me:
When you publicly announce who you are, in all your passionate weirdness, awesome people come out of the woodwork.
This has happened a dozen times in the last month. People from the periphery of my life have found out what I was doing, thought it was awesome, and connected on a more meaningful level than ever before.
Far from isolating me, taking a controversial position and doing what I love has brought tons of TRUE support and guidance into my life.
There is such a temptation to hide who we are. Because what if a stranger who Googled us found out the truth of our weirdness (dating coach, anyone)? What horrible things would they think? How much would that destroy our pristine images and sabotage future job opportunities?
So we lay low and admit to no one, sometimes not even ourselves, what we really ought to be doing.
I’m here to tell you it really is all upside. Do what you love with conviction. Do it publicly. Your fears are overblown and the rewards are beyond your imagination.
I’ll leave you with a quote
The amateur dreads becoming who she really is because she fears that this new person will be judged by others as “different.” The tribe will declare us “weird” or “queer” or “crazy”.
Here’s the truth : the tribe doesn’t give a shit. There is no tribe.
That gang or posse that we imagine is sustaining us by the bonds we share is in fact a conglomeration of individuals who are just as fucked up as we are and just as terrified. Each individual is so caught up in his own bullshit that he doesn’t have two seconds to worry about yours or mine, or to reject or diminish us because of it.
When we truly understand that the tribe doesn’t give a damn, we’re free. There is no tribe, and there never was.
Our lives are entirely up to us.