Today’s article is from Sal Greco at Surfer Lifestyle Design.

So much going on, yet to you almost nothing is happening.  You can be surrounded by roars, bombs, and crashes, but inward you could be feeling pure serenity or peaceful bliss.  You could not be deeper into a moment.

Most likely your knees are shaking.  Your pupils are dilated and heart pounding with heavy breaths.  For no reason you cannot stop swallowing (even though you have not put anything in your mouth).  Your inner core feels rushed with compassion, and there is no acting left but reacting.

This is Thrill, and the power it has over us.

The power is uncertain and that’s what makes it thrilling.  Not that we do not know what the power is, but the fact of “uncertainty” is the actual power.  We throw ourselves into situations that are mostly out of our control because a level of uncertainty thrills us.

This level of uncertainty is where we “play the odds”.  Some people play these odds at casinos, and others choose skydiving.  When you are divulged in “playing the odds” you are actively being “thrilled”.

Why do we seek it?  Where do we find it?  How does it add value to our lives?

When I look at human behavior and ask myself “why?” I often try to think as far back as our civilization goes in search for answers.  What I imagine is that life thousands of years ago was 100% filled with uncertainty.  In such a way that every single activity had to be “thrilling” in some shape or form.

To our nomadic ancestors (the non digital kind) food was never fully guaranteed like it is now.  So every single day people were “playing the odds” of finding or not finding food.  Then if they did find a heard, would they kill it, or miss an opportunity to feed and clothe their tribe?

Basic necessities just got easier…

It is not very hard for me to find food.  Especially when it is in the refrigerator.  The same goes for the roof over your head, and any other basic needs.  They are taken care of.

So naturally that “thrill feeling” as part of daily life has to come from somewhere else.

Where is the Thrill now?

Any where you want, but it has to be based on odds of uncertainty.  Also, depending on the type of “thrill-seeker” you are, the odds differ immensely.

On one end of the scale we have people seeking “some thrill”.  The act of watching a scary movie or playing a video game falls under this category of thrill seeker.  Instead of waging their own lives, they would rather watch someone else go through a heart pumping, visually intense scenario.  The odds for the activity is 99% certain that they will be okay (I left out 1% because you never know what can happen during a movie…).

Then on the completely opposite end we have people who are actually identified as having Type-T personalities.  The Segen’s Medical Dictionary defines Type-T personalities as:  “A personality type that takes risks. Type-T’s tend to be extroverted and creative, and crave novel experiences and excitement; they can be positive (e.g., entrepreneurs) or negative (e.g., sociopaths); mental (e.g., Einstein, Galileo) or physical (e.g., extreme athletes)”.

Being a Thrilling Heroics reader, we can mostly assume that you have some Type-T traits.

Traveling is a huge thrill for most of you.  Is the uncertainty of what could be around the next bend something that “thrills you”?

For a lot of the readers who are entrepreneurs or aspiring to be, you feel the need for thrill on a daily basis.  So much so that you throw out conventional living, risk a “steady paycheck” and go for glory with your business ideas.  I can speak for myself when I say this “entrepreneurial thrill” aches my stomach more then a 20 foot face (wave face, we will get to that).

Some of us just thrive on creating.  Whether it is a piece of framed art, composed music, or writing the uncertainty for how the project will come out and be appreciated is what thrives this thrill seeking.

How does it add value?

The more you thrill-seek, the more you hone your skills of focus, persistence, and winning.

So for me as I mentioned earlier, my thrill (when not in business mode) is found in the Ocean.  I love to surf, it is one of my biggest passions that I thrive on and the reason is absolutely 112% how freaking thrilling it feels to be out there.  Every wave that comes by me is an uncertainty of either a crisp clean, soul searching ride to a death-defying, crises-escaping tumble.

I know that the waves I ride are not the “deadly” ones, but my body does not know the difference.  When I take a fall, it goes into survival mode instantaneously.  So no matter what, when a wave comes by and I pick it up, my focus is entirely in the moment, harnessing the power of thrill.  As I alluded to in the opening paragraph, there is so much going on around me, however internally, there is nothing going on but the wave in front of my face.  This practice of focus will only trickle down into other areas of your daily life.  In my case, the more I surf and practice extreme focus, the easier and easier it gets for me to tune out other things, sit down and write an article.

Persistence, persistence, persistence.  The word that seems to sound best when used in threes. “Thrilling” means you are playing the odds. So when I Surf, I know that I might not make every wave.  Just as in any business or creative journey, they might all not succeed.  However this lesson in persistence training I gain from surfing allows me to keep going at my business or creative endeavors no matter what.  Most importantly, this persistence comes in handy when you get “knocked down” (both figuratively and literately).  I know that another wave will come, so I get on my board, forget about the last one and move forward.  Just as you should do with a business or creative work that does not go the way you planned.  In the end it will not matter the time you fell, or how you got up, but how you placed your efforts afterward.

Finally, YES, winning can be a skill that you develop.  It is true that you see people around you who just seem to be “winners”.  You can be one too, just give yourself something to win at.  Start small, and work your way to bigger and bigger victories.  Every time I paddle out and just catch one good ride, I consider that a victory.  That feeling transcends the moment, and when I go to do something else (like work on my blog), I am doing so as a winner!

Where do you seek your thrill?

You do not have to jump out of a plane or travel to Antarctica.  However there has to be something that you do, that squeezes your tummy, bulges your eyes, gets your blood pumping and wets your pants (perhaps not that part).

Tim Ferriss has been known to say how important it is to overcome fear on a daily basis.  In The Four Hour Workweek he says “what we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do”.

The focus, persistence and winning skills you gain from your thrill can be taken into any fear setting you have and used to crush it.  After skydiving, bungee jumping, surfing, or even getting up in front of an audience to sing a song…

Is making an important phone call that bad?  Is proposing a business solution that hard?  Is dealing with an awkward client that difficult?

NO!!!

Just another case of you being focused, being persistent, and winning!

—

Feel free to subscribe to more posts like this from Sal Greco, or drop by and snag his Free Series to Charge Life Like A Surfer!

Featured image by Jim Bahn.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: The Power of Thrill: Lessons from the Big Waves

From March through May, Bangkok, Thailand was victim to intense political unrest, involving skirmishes between anti-government “Redshirt” protesters (UDD), Royal Thai Army soldiers, Bangkok riot police, and third-party elements scattered all around the city.

It had lasted two months but thankfully been fairly isolated in other parts of the city, but in the last few days, for the second year in a row, the clashes very suddenly focused right on Thanon Ratchewithi, the main road that I walk along every day to get to Bangkok’s public transit, the BTS Skytrain.

Friday, May 14th. Everything up until this point in our neighborhood had been fairly quiet. Early afternoon, my girlfriend and I parted ways—she had to do some business errands at the bank and the post office and head to her apartment 5 minutes up the boulevard from me.

Two hours later, I get a phone call. “Someone’s shooting right outside my condo. I can see people running up the street. We’re stuck inside the building, they say it’s not safe to go downstairs.”

Not long after, worried sick about Nikki and her roommate getting stuck in their tower for days (and the potential of losing power, water, etc.) I wandered out with Sean to see what there was to see right at the end of our soi. Demonstrators were subtly provoking the soldiers, who were slowly advancing up the street in our direction. They had blocked off the road to traffic, but there were a few locals trickling out of the sealed-off area, so I was sizing up the situation to see if I could get to them… I was wondering whether there was a back entrance to their property if I went down Soi 1 and climbed the fence…

As Sean and I were getting ready to head back home to safety though, in our last moments of stupid curiosity a few loud shots fired in our direction and we frantically ran for cover with the crowd of onlookers, dodging behind a small pickup truck as the adrenaline started pumping. Just another day in Bangkok, I started off dodging bullets with Sean Ogle, but our neighborhood then fell under siege for the next six+ days.

Looking up Ratchaprarop Road about 300 meters from Nikki’s condo before everything went to hell. (Photo by Sean Ogle)

A protester prepares to hurl a Molotov cocktail up the street from me. (Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

A burning tire rolls toward the line of Thai soldiers moving to disperse Red Shirt protesters on Friday, May 14, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Red Shirt protesters create a burning barricade on Rama IV road to stop army soldiers from advancing in Bangkok May 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

A Thai man believed to be a Red Shirt demonstrator lies dead in the street after being shot by an unidentified sniper Saturday, May 15, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo)

A Thai man removes a can from a burning barricade in a main avenue of Bangkok during clashes between demonstrators and security forces on May 16, 2010. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images)

Anti-government protesters carry a man who was shot by live ammunition during clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Bangkok on May 16, 2010. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

This is literally 200 meters away from my door, at the end of my soi in Victory Monument. Bangkok on May 16, 2010: a war zone. (Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

Thick black smoke billows through the air behind the main Chulalongkorn hospital near the Red Shirt encampment on Wednesday May 19, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

An armored personnel carrier moves toward a burning anti-government barricade during a military crackdown Wednesday, May 19, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

An anti-government protester piles tires on a fire at a shopping center Wednesday, May 19, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

A statue and a torn Thai national flag remain in front of Bangkok’s Central World shopping mall, which was gutted by fire after army soldiers advanced towards an encampment of thousands of Red Shirt protesters, May 19, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

Friday night, I watched right outside my window as rioters dragged heaps of sheet metal, scraps, and rods onto my soi to build a makeshift road blockade, watched them throwing Molotov cocktails over my neighbors’ roofs at the police and Army at 4 in the morning. Rubber bullets were flying, tear gas is in the air, and homemade explosives were going off all through the night, grenades being launched in the air, gunfire, and numerous reports (via Twitter) of unidentified snipers on rooftops throughout our neighborhood shooting at protesters, soldiers, and even uninvolved onlookers.

This is the scene that unfolded literally right outside Nikki’s front door on Saturday morning, May 15th—Thanon Ratchaprarop became one of the two main “Live Fire Zones” where soldiers were shooting on sight. Protesters created a tire barricade 15 meters up Nikki’s condo driveway, and at least two or three protesters and bystanders were shot and killed. Their bodies were dragged inside her lobby where a doctor (or a paramedic?) was trying to tend to them. There is also video taken from above by some other residents in her building, from one of the upper floors of The Complete Ratchaprarop condominium. That bursting loud gunfire sound echoed throughout our entire neighborhood all day and all night.

Nikki called me at 10:30 Saturday morning. Needless to say, it had been a rough night to try to sleep.… and I missed the call since I’d only finally passed out three hours earlier. Her third attempt woke me: finally, after she’d been trapped inside for about 24 hours, she had been evacuated from her building by soldiers, guided out the back of the condominium, through an adjoining garden park, and had to use a ladder to get over the back wall.

Without hesitation, I packed a bag in about 10 minutes, taking all my most important items I couldn’t stand not to ever see again. Several of the buildings on our road were torched, as you can see from some of the photos above. Rioters set about 35 major fires around the city, and Asia’s second-largest shopping mall, Central World, was completely destroyed.

Thankfully, we were finally able to meet and get out of the city safely. We took a bus headed to Kanchanaburi, a small countryside town about two hours northwest of Bangkok, to stay alongside the River Kwai for a few days. There were plenty of places in Bangkok that were left untouched, and on some streets life went on like normal and you almost wouldn’t have any idea anything was wrong, but we found ourselves right in the center of the worst of it, so we spent the next four weeks away from home.

But even for the first week well away from harm, I was concerned for the safety of many of my friends who live in my building, or up the street from me, including (you can read their accounts of the events too) Sean Ogle, Dwight Turner, Mark Weins, Jodi Ettenberg, my friends May, Joel, and others…

All around Bangkok, protesters and rioters sacked shops and malls, torched electricity companies, municipal services buildings, the Thai Stock Exchange, provincial halls in areas outside of Bangkok, they shot at firefighters trying to put out fires in Siam, attacked TV stations and newspaper headquarters. After days of rioting, torching, and clashes with Army troops, much of my neighborhood, Victory Monument, Rajavithi Road and Din Daeng intersection in Bangkok, were reduced to rubble.

Peaceful demonstrations and violent uprisings

Our universe revolves around a cycle of creation—life is created and fades, energy is formed and consumed…

In my mind, as human actors in this reality, we have three modes of interaction with this system: production, consumption, and destruction. We create offspring, we distill and consume energy, we produce and consume things of value. Sometimes, we destroy life, or we destroy things of value, so that they are of no use to us or to anyone else.

War is destruction. Don’t let politicians fool you into believing war is about freedom. You don’t need to wage war on another society to become free, or to protect your freedom. Sometimes it is about securing resources for one nation’s future consumption, to someone else’ detriment (like all the US’ wars in the Middle East), but usually it is nothing but destruction.

I don’t condone governments that wage illegal wars. I don’t like seeing soldiers in the streets shooting people. I find all the “collateral damage” of conflict that lasts for decades despicable—the adverse effects on families and societies, the mines that kill and maim children thirty years later in places like Vietnam and Cambodia, for example.

But anti-establishment, anti-government movements are destructive too. They rise out of an opposition to injustice, or opposed to something they see as unethical, which are valid and good motivations. But all too often these groups—even the most organized forms of counterculture movements like Marxism and communism—tend to become as corrupt as the regimes they originally opposed. They use violence and destruction as a means to overthrow the existing systems and institutions.

“What is the point of anyone feeling proud of being the winner, when standing on a pile of ruins and rubble?” –King Rama IX of Thailand

As an aside: I am a capitalist, and until I find a better solution, I think I always will be. The capitalist free market is about both production and consumption. Businesses and entrepreneurs must create value—things and ideas of value—for others to consume. Yes, there are thousands of unethical businesspeople and corporations out there, but ethical entrepreneurs and corporations capitalize on whatever situation they find themselves in in the most effective way they can without causing hardship to those around them—in order to create the best possible outcome from their situation—creating jobs, income, products, services, and new ideas and solutions for problems that society faces.

In the last few months, there has been an interesting discussion unfolding in the online personal development and lifestyle design communities (see here and here, including the comments) about the merits (or lack thereof) of consumerism, pitting capitalist thinkers against anti-capitalist thinkers. But I don’t believe that solutions to the world’s problems—hunger, disease, poverty, war—are mutually exclusive from capitalism. Yes, we need to strive for a more ethical lifestyle design movement for example, and yes, the world deserves more ethical business. Definitely. But a radical abandoning of capitalism in favor of a radical leftist movement isn’t the answer. Anti-consumerism and anti-corporate attitudes aren’t really the answer, and in fact, while I agree with much of what my colleagues who hold those beliefs say, I think going too far down that road is dangerous.

The only way to create true positive change in the world is to find unconventional ways to work within the system, and change it from the inside out. You don’t create long-lasting positive progress with uprisings, by forcefully casting down the existing system, violently overthrowing the ruling elite, or the incumbent institutions. Once you spill blood, you forfeit your credibility entirely.

We are all participating in our own constructed fantasies, and none of us realize it. We are all trapped in prisons we cannot see.

Like Eric Schiller said in his recent critique of the lifestyle design and personal development communities, “the problem is not that we are participating in a fantasy, but the fact that we do not realize it is one.” We are the stories we tell ourselves.

Yes, I have my fantasies, and you have yours. But we need to take off the Che Guevara t-shirts. We need to stop idolizing the mythical “freedom fighters” without fully understanding the details of their lives. (Seriously, read about El Che and all the violent acts he committed before you put on that t-shirt again.) Rejecting consumerism and saying “fuck the system” like you’re Tyler Durden seems cool and trendy, until it leads to running around in ski masks blowing up Starbucks shops and financial buildings.

The protests in Thailand were largely bankrolled by someone very rich and very powerful, and I watched as these people were fed a certain story by protest leaders shouting propaganda over the radio every night for two months. I’m all for peaceful demonstrations, but you either stick to your principles or you don’t, and there’s a big difference when you incite an angry mob to violence. This was more like brainwashing, to the point that it became normal and acceptable to these people to come to Bangkok and destroy people’s businesses and homes, put their own children in harm’s way, kill their own countrymen in the street, and go back home to sleep in their own beds. (Please note: I don’t really support any side here, not the Redshirts, the Yellowshirts, the Army, or anyone. Everyone has some responsibility to take and I just hate seeing people killing each other.)

There is definitely a place for real heroism in the world, but we need to stop painting ourselves in the role of David against Goliath. Governments and people in positions of power use these types of stories to breed nationalism, racism, and hate, and pit us against each other. But if we believe these stories, we end up fighting each other in the street. Instead we must see reality for what it is, and stop believing these myths that it is “us” against “them”, “good” versus “evil”, that we are in some epic battle against injustice which justifies any means to an end.

Society has steeped itself in myths and ideologies about heroism and the fight for what is “right” for millenia—you see it in our stories, in our comic books, in our movies, you see it on television. It’s the reason why the US has occupied Iraq and Afghanistan for nearly a decade. It’s the reason why Christians, Jews, and Muslims continue to murder each other every day.

But the only way to peace and prosperity for everyone is through nonviolence, through rationality, and through conversation.

After being there in the middle of a so-called “people’s uprising” for two consecutive years—a socially- and economically-fueled revolt against the “system”, against the elite, against the people who pull the strings—all I can say is I don’t want any part of it. These things happen all the time, all around the world (we’re pretty sheltered in America). There certainly are important disparities and inequalities that need to be examined and resolved, but we must not sink to the same level of corruption and violence to solve the injustices in the world.

We must embrace rationality. This needs to happen at every level of society, all the way down to you and me. For lifestyle designers, personal development bloggers, and online marketers like us, perhaps we need to reexamine the language we use. We need to stop calling ourselves “radicals” and “revolutionaries” when we’re really not. We need to stop reinforcing the myths of “revolt against the system”. Because I think if you step back and ask yourself if you would truly want to be a part of a real revolution in the streets, I think your answer would be “no”.

We must destroy our idols. We mustn’t make our lives about what we are against, but make them all about what we are for. Whether you’re for liberating people from the cubicle, saving the environment, helping the oppressed and disadvantaged, or otherwise making the world a better place, we need to band together and focus not on destroying what we don’t like but on producing. On creating alternate solutions.

Photo sources:

• Protests turn deadly in Thailand – The Big Picture – Boston.com
• Crackdown in Bangkok – The Big Picture – Boston.com
• Bangkok Street Fighting Intensifies – Photo Essays – TIME
• Terror in Thailand – Photo Gallery – LIFE

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Dodging Real Bullets: Revolutionary Behavior & Violence in the Real World

Last week I encouraged business owners to concentrate on your passion rather than on making money. In The Monk and the Riddle, Randy Komisar points out the challenges that await you if you don’t consciously build your life around doing work that you’re passionate about:

“Personal risks include the risk of working with people you don’t respect; the risk of working for a company whose values are inconsistent with your own; the risk of compromising what’s important; the risk of doing something you don’t care about; and the risk of doing something that fails to express—or even contradicts—who you are. And then there is the most dangerous risk of all—the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.”

Komisar’s book is geared towards entrepreneurs. What if you’re not entrepreneurially inclined though—what control do you have over creating a career that makes you happy and fulfilled?

If You Go to Work for Someone Else, You Damned Well Better Pick the Right Workplace!

If you’re gonna spend your career working for someone else, do it where the corporate culture is awesome. I’ve been wanting to talk about Tony Hsieh and his company Zappos for this very reason.

A while back I read an article by Inc. Magazine writer Max Chafkin called “Get Happy: How Tony Hsieh uses relentless innovation, stellar service, and a staff of believers to make Zappos.com an e-commerce juggernaut—and one of the most blissed-out businesses in America.”

Hsieh helped found the online shoe retailer in 1999, and it has since grown to over a billion dollars in gross annual sales. They’re so successful in fact, Amazon has just negotiated to acquire them (thankfully Hsieh will continue to run things his way and infuse the company with his awesome management style).

Zappos has been notable in the past few years for their innovative service (absolutely free shipping and returns) and successful use of new media to connect with customers. After sharing a note about how impressed I was with the Inc. article on my Twitter account, I immediately received a personal note from someone on their Zappos_service account with a cheerful offer to set up a tour of the Zappos facilities next time I stop in Las Vegas! (They’ll pick you up at your hotel for a fun, free tour of the company headquarters.)

In my opinion, even more important than their stellar customer service, Tony Hsieh has decided that his business revolves around happiness, which he studies with the dedication of a laboratory researcher. “What would make you happier in your life?” Hsieh asks the writer. He is fond of asking employees, customers, and everyone he meets, “On a scale from 1 to 10, how happy are you right now?”

And it shows in the company’s whacky, uninhibited corporate culture. You can follow Tony’s musings on Twitter, job interviews and company meetings often take place over drinks in nearby Vegas bars and hotspots, and every employee is encouraged to be themselves! (What an idea!) It looks like most employees wear their dyed hair, tattoos, piercings, and other unique styles with pride. They have no call scripts and are given the freedom to troubleshoot customer complaints on a case-by-case basis. One of the 10 crowd-sourced core values of the company is to “Create fun and a little weirdness”!

Salaries are modest (starting pay between about $8 to $12), but the real attraction to working for Zappos is the work environment. To weed out the folks who aren’t committed to a fun, weird work culture, each and every new employee is offered $2,000 plus time worked to walk away after their first month of training. For those who stick around, Zappos invests serious bank in their personal development—with classes, business books, public speaking and personal finance courses for example.

All of this is to say: if you are less inclined to work for yourself and more inclined to go to a job like a majority of folks are, ask yourself what’s important to you at work. You’ll spend the majority of your hours at your desk, in your cubicle, or wherever that puts you, so I suggest you find an innovative company that values it’s employees’ happiness and encourages a fun, meaningful, unique workplace culture.

To learn more about Tony Hsieh and how he got his start, also check out this recent interview Jun Loayza did! Tony’s advice to anyone planning their career right now:

“I would say rather than focus on what will make you the most money or be best for your career, figure out what you would be passionate for 10 years and go pursue that. A lot of people work hard at building a career so that one day down the road they think it will bring them happiness. And most of the time, when they finally accomplish their goal, they realize that it doesn’t really end up bringing happiness or fulfillment for the long term.”

Rather than preparing for the template career like everyone else, and saving for years to one day do what you’re really passionate about, just get started doing what you’re really passionate about now!

Feature photo credit: Randy Stewart

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: How to Stay Happy If You Work for Someone Else

Business shouldn’t just be about making money. Entrepreneurs should approach business as their opportunity to create a legacy—their chance to add something to the world and leave a positive impact.

“[Entrepreneurship is] the chance to turn ideas into viable enterprises that can change the world and to prosper in the process.”

Today I want to point your attention to Randy Komisar, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Silicon Valley, California. I spent the last two weeks reading through his book The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living.

Komisar has been an influential collaborator in at least a dozen innovative Valley companies like Claris, LucasArts, Crystal Dynamics, WebTV, GlobalGiving, TiVo, GO Corporation and Apple. The Monk and the Riddle is an eye-opening look into the mind of a Valley venture capitalist, but it also serves as an unconventional philosophy about the motivation behind work and integrating what you do with what you truly believe.

“I admire people who are willing to bet everything on a belief. Some of these risk takers…have a profound impact on what happens in the world. They place bets on the future, often against fantastic odds.”

The fact is a lot of entrepreneurs want to build something that will make them rich. But to be truly successful at what you do, you must make it about something you’re truly passionate about—something that you’ll get out of bed excited to do each day. Komisar asks the question, “What would you be willing to do for the rest of your life?”

“…business isn’t primarily a financial institution. It’s a creative institution. Like painting and sculpting, business can be a venue for personal expression and artistry, at its heart more like a canvas than a spreadsheet. Why? Because business is about change.”

Komisar also introduces readers to what he calls the “Deferred Life Plan,” which is what most people mold their lives around. Step 1) Do what you have to do, then, eventually, Step 2) Do what you want to do. You build a career, build a business, and hope to earn enough so that finally, one day, you can retire and do what you really want to do with your time—whether that’s spending more time with friends and family, traveling, focusing on your hobbies, or giving back through some sort of charitable work. We sacrifice our time and energy now in the hopes that we’ll get a big payoff and have more freedom to do what we’re passionate about in retirement.

But why not just start doing what you really want to do with your life? Why waste 30 or 40 years doing something mediocre, something that pays the bills but doesn’t get you excited? Something that isn’t fun?

“It’s the romance, not the finance that makes business worth pursuing.”

What would make you willing to stick with your current business for the rest of your life? What changes would you need to make it a real mission business? Or if you’re just starting, how can you build a legacy project from the beginning?

This is a fantastic book if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or want a peek into the mind of a hugely successful investor and “virtual CEO” about how to transform an average business into something that will truly fulfill people’s needs and become a huge success. Komisar explains the necessity of being a leader who can “develop a compelling vision worth following.” (Steve Spalding wrote about sharing your story in another great recent article.) If you need to re-orient the way you look at work and transform the focus of your life and your business into something you’re passionate about, grab this book.

Randy is also a lecturer at Stanford University, and you can watch some great discussions on entrepreneurship, innovation, philanthropy and more at the Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner. (If you’re interested on his take on applying an entrepreneurial discipline to social missions, also check out this discussion with Stanford Social Innovation Review.)

How can you turn your passion into something that will also earn you a living? How can you build a legacy with your business?

Feature photo by Dwight Turner

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: It’s Not All About Money—Building a Business is your Chance to Make a Difference

Today’s awesome video post is by guest writer Matt Wilson, co-founder of Under30CEO.com. Matt’s mission is to lead people to go out and do what they are passionate about instead of falling into the rat race and playing by corporate America’s rules. You can follow him on Twitter @MattWilsonTV

You Can Be Whatever You Want When You Grow Up

We were all told we could be whatever wanted when we grew up. So why isn’t anyone doing it?

Are you designing your life so it’s fun and exciting? If not, quit! Or at least make it exciting!

Life is about the accumulation of stories. Are you writing your story? If your story is boring now, it will probably be that way for the rest of your life.

Sit and think—what am I passionate about?! How can I turn this into viable cashflow. There are people out there doing it now and it’s because they struggled with this question day in and day out. Most people don’t think it’s possible, so they don’t bother.

Focus on your goal. Whatever it is that you want to do, dream it, live it, do it. Stick to your plan and execute.

If you can’t see the video above, please click here.

Under30CEO’s newsletter HelpAnEntrepreneur.com allows anyone to ask a business question and get answers from real people in their inbox or Twitter feed.

Feature photo credit: Dr. Pat

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Don’t Give Up on Your Childlike Dreams

Jun Loayza is a young CMO to keep your eye on! I met Jun through the Brazen Careerist Gen-Y blog network, and we’ve exchanged thoughts a few times as we both worked through some late nights! As co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Future Delivery, he’s certainly an interesting guy to follow if you want to learn about startups and entrepreneurship. Future Delivery has just recently launched their new project: a roleplaying game (RPG) that awards students and young professionals for things like joining new organizations, taking internships, scoring well at college, and attaining their career goals! I think this is a great idea, because it takes a form of entertainment that our generation loves—games, that is—and puts a really productive spin on it. Jun is also an exceptionally friendly, hilarious, and approachable guy who loves to share his insight and experience, so he volunteered to answer a few questions about his new venture and lessons on entrepreneurship for the Thrilling Heroics audience.

Hey Jun, so give us a little professional background on how you got to be where you are and what your role is with Future Delivery.

As an undergraduate at UCLA, I got a taste for entrepreneurship by founding Bruin Consulting, the UCLA Undergraduate Case Competition, and the Veridical Group. Each experience taught me something new about myself and really amplified my abilities as a leader and consultant, and my business sense.

After I graduated from UCLA, I worked at an international consulting firm for about three months. At the three month mark, I realized that the corporate life was just not for me. I mean, the pay was good, the job was steady, it was around 55 hours a week (not bad for consulting), and we even had an amazing Flavia machine in the kitchen! What drove me to step aside from the corporate world was that I felt unchallenged, and that I was in cruise control. You go to work, come back home, eat dinner, you might have time for the gym, and then you sleep. It became an endless routine!! From my experiences as an entrepreneur, I knew that my passion was in having my own baby (company).

I stepped aside from my corporate job and teamed up with Yu-kai Chou, my Delta Sig pledge brother who co-founded Bruin Consulting and the Veridical Group with me. Together, we founded Future Delivery. This is a startup company; therefore, I wear at least twenty different hats. My main responsibility is that of Chief Marketing Officer. I am in charge of everything having to do with our branding, advertising, lead generation, conversion, and client fulfillment. I am the face of Future Delivery, so I must always make sure I look my best!

What is the new FDCareer roleplaying game all about? Give our readers a run-down of the community and why it’s such a great benefit.

Many of you play video games and watch TV all day. Many undergraduates go to class, play and party all night, and ignore their careers until right before they graduate—which in many cases, may be too late. We created the FD RPG so that undergraduates and young professionals can have fun while developing themselves professionally.

In the FD RPG, every time you gain an internship, get a high GPA, or become a leader of an organization, you gain experience points and level-up on the site. As you level-up, you gain prestige, new abilities, access to new areas of the site, and will be able to recruit with more prestigious firms. We’ve also implemented Quests that help you develop career-wise. For example, a Quest for a Consultant could be a business analysis case. You will have to solve a company’s problem—could be profitability or an acquisition—and you will submit your solutions online to be reviewed by our expert panel. A Marketing Quest could be to gain social influence on Twitter by gaining more followers.

Monster.com is about helping people apply for a job.

Vault.com is about helping people research companies.

FD Career is about getting students and young professionals prepared for their careers. It helps you discover what you want to be, and how to get there.

You’ve got a great blog where you share your journey with entrepreneurship. Can you share some of your thoughts on the startup life and your opinions on work-life balance?

Hahaha… there is no work life balance. To be a successful entrepreneur (not that I’m successful yet), your work and life have to be one thing. That is the key. My personal relationships, family relationships, and girlfriend relationships have suffered because of the path that I have chosen. But these are the sacrifices that you have to make in order to put yourself in the position to be successful.

For example, I probably have time to hang out with my friends from UCLA or high school once or twice a month. I do see my girlfriend a lot during the week, but this is how we spend time together: her sitting in front of the TV watching a show or movie, me sitting by her side with my laptop and earphones on so that I can concentrate and meet my project deadlines.

This life is NOT for everyone. Cody, I chat with you all the time at 3am because we’re both still up doing work. We don’t even complain about it because we know this is the life that we have chosen, so all we can do is laugh. Though the road is tough, you will love what you do.

I keep pushing because I truly believe in the idea, I love my baby, and I love my team. If we fail, I would gladly start another company will all of them.

I’ve heard some rumblings about a sort of reality show that you guys are putting together to showcase your experience starting up a company?

Glad you brought it up! Our first video will launch this week! Hopefully it’ll launch before this is posted so you can link to the first episode. [See Episode 1, Part 1 here, and Part 2 here, also see below. —Ed.]

The Living the Startup Life video series is for all of those people who have a great idea but don’t know where to start, for everyone stuck in their corporate job afraid to leave their company to pursue their dream career, and for everyone who just wants to watch some guys have a lot of fun while succeeding or failing.

Lastly, would you mind sharing a bit about your education and how your experience has helped you become an avid entrepreneur. I’m interested if you have any good tips for students or twentysomethings that want to start their own businesses and really exercise their entrepreneurial muscles!

Why yes I do. My major at UCLA did NOT prepare me for my entrepreneurial quest. The three main things that prepared me to pursue the entrepreneurial life were:

1. Finding a mentor who guided me on my path to become an entrepreneur
2. Getting a taste of it while starting an orginzation and a company as an undergrad
3. Reading business books in class instead of paying attention to the teacher

• The E-Myth Revisited and E-Myth Mastery by Michael Gerber
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

If you do these three things, then you will be prepared to become an entrepreneur.

Thanks for your willingness to share your wisdom with the Thrilling Heroics community, Jun.

If you have any questions about entrepreneurship, Jun is genuinely interested in helping you guys out and making new friends on this great online web community of ours, so please feel welcome to contact him at Jun.Loayza (at) FDcareer (dot) com or on his blog Living the Startup Life. If you are interested in the FDcareer RPG, I highly recommend it! In my experience on the community site, I’ve already reached level 25 (currently #7 on the leaderboard!) so feel free to connect with me if you have questions about blogging, WordPress, or web development, and keep an eye out, because I will be creating some web design and blogging-related quests for you guys in the next few weeks! (Check out a little more about the FDCareer RPG in this intro video below.)

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Young Entrepreneur Jun Loayza Reveals the Interactive Web Game That Will Rock Your Career!

For any readers in the greater Sacramento area, there is a great business networking opportunity on Tuesday, June 17th at the Mondavi Center at UC Davis: The New California 100. Billed as the Central Valley’s first leadership summit, the event will honor the top 100 companies in Northern California that generate more than $50 billion in revenue and employ more than 250,000 people. The event will feature 100 companies, 100 C-level executives, and 100 entrepreneurs and investors, so it will be a good opportunity for entrepreneurs or leadership-minded graduates to meet some influential individuals.

There will be a keynote address by Steve Sabol, President of NFL Films, discussions on the growing network culture among businesses, and some appealing showcases on the High Technology and Internet/New Media Industries. The summit will also have sessions focused on cleantech, manufacturing, consumer products, healthcare, land development, and more.

• The event is designed to bring together the top 100 companies in the 19-county area that stretches from Redding to Bakersfield through the Central Valley
• The economy in this area is different than in San Francisco, LA, San Diego or other coastal counties
• The goal is to bring together the leaders of these companies, along with several early stage companies from the region, and hope to stimulate ongoing dialog and business activity among them to benefit the area
• The primary producer of the event is Golden Capital Networks, based in Chico, and the producer of several regional venture capital events (Venture Vineyard in Napa, Silver & Gold in Reno and Angel & VC Investment Summit in El Dorado Hills)

The New California 100 summit should offer many opportunities for CEOs, entrepreneurs, VCs, development professionals and professional services providers, but Josh Morgan, principle of Morgan/Dorado Public Relations, also wants to draw a younger crowd out to the leadership event this year. I know that there are special rates for students and free press passes available for a select few business- and entrepreneurship-oriented bloggers. Follow me on Twitter and send me a direct message to get connected to Josh for student/blogger passes. Or you can contact Josh directly via Twitter.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: California 100 Leadership Summit at UC Davis Next Week

I’m still traveling through Spain for the holidays, but I have some useful goal-setting exercises on the way soon! In the meantime, here’s some interesting material to keep your appetite satiated.

At the 2007 Entrepreneurship Week USA opening ceremonies at Stanford University in California, Carl Schramm (President and CEO, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation) surprised some of the audience when he said that 70% of college students will start a business at some point in their lives. Schramm said that while our grandparents had four jobs on average, over the course of their entire careers, Generation Y students in general will look forward to working 13 major jobs during their professional lives! And who is responsible for creating all those new jobs? Entrepreneurs, of course!

Schramm is author of The Entrepreneurial Imperative and calls entrepreneurship the US’ “competitive secret,” which allows us to stay ahead of developing nations economically (who knows for how long?). Startup companies “birth the new” and give security to others by creating jobs, and they posses the only key to creating wealth! They even facilitate non-profits and philanthropic ventures. This presents an interesting new way to look at economic models that I hadn’t approached before: without the for-profit businessman to virtually create capital, governments could not operate (there would be no one to tax!), and the non-profits would not have any money for their causes. Without individuals to start up businesses, there can be no government, no philanthropy, no charity…

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Carl Schramm on Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs, self promoters, and anyone who wants to live unrestrained by the rules of “normal life” have to learn to sell themselves. If you’ve got a business idea you really want to see take off, or if you’d like to excel through the ranks of your company, or even to build great personal relationships that last, you need to learn to pitch yourself. Lasting Relationships is all about building great relationships and how skill at relationship-building can help you pitch your business or excel at work. Rajesh Setty, author of Beyond Code, shares some valuable lessons about networking in this ebook.

Rajesh is the president of Foresight Plus, a management consulting firm that helps businesses get the most leverage out of their pre-existing relationships and resources and extend their reach with new media communications. The same concepts apply to your personal life, and this e-book can help teach you how to form the most valuable kind of relationships, as well as maintain a productive list of contacts—helping them achieve their goals as they help you achieve yours—like Zig Ziglar said, “You can get everything in life you want, if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.”

Raj notes how many professionals consider spending lots of money on precious MBA programs for the built-in social networks they seem to offer, because as he states, “To succeed well—what many call making the dream a reality—you need help.” But luckily, you can build a great network without a degree from Harvard or Wharton.

Rajesh shares many insights he has learned throughout his business and entrepreneurial life:

• Number one is that no one can succeed alone. Networks are necessary to ensure success.
• Some people might approach networking with a great attitude and have something of value to offer, but if you don’t develop your communication skills, you may leave the other party guessing how to assess your value.
• Even quality business relationships require the proper time and energy to invest in. “If you don’t have the bandwidth to foster a relationship, you are better off not starting one.”
• When you meet a new contact, take time to listen first, and understand what they are trying to accomplish, or what goals they are trying to reach. If you know these things, then maybe you will know how you can be useful to the person!

Rajesh has made his ebook available to everyone for free, and I highly recommend that you invest time in learning the value of interpersonal communication and building great relationships. This is a quick, easy read, and it teaches some invaluable lessons.

Lasting Relationships ebook at LifeBeyondCode.com

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: The #1 Skill You Need to Succeed at Anything

Rajesh Setty is president of Foresight Plus, where he helps give his professional clients the unfair business advantage. He also blogs at Life Beyond Code, where he coaches the rest of us on how to have the unfair life advantage! Rajesh has written numerous books (he had his first one published at age 13!) and founded several successful companies, and he shares his experience and knowledge with us in his Distinguish Yourself series, an invaluable resource on productivity, efficiency, and plain old good tips to raise your likability in the workplace and beyond! In an October 2006 interview with Little India magazine, he shared his top ten life tips:

1. Focus on ROII (Return on Investment for an Interaction)
Time is precious for everyone. Ensure that you provide the highest value for anyone investing time in an interaction with you.

2. Keep the promises you make to yourself
Making promises to yourself is easy. Keeping them is very hard!

3. Set right expectations
The first step in trying to exceed the expectations is to set them right in the first place.

4. Set higher standards
Raise your standards higher than the general norm and watch miracles unfold!

5. Avoid complacency at all costs!
There is nothing like maintaining the status quo. You are either falling or rising.

6. Commodotize your work at regular intervals
You don’t have to wait for someone else to commoditize your work.

7. Balance home runs with small wins
Home runs are great. But small wins are important too!

8. Think!
Set aside time to “Think.” Most often thinking is done in parallel to other activities.

9. Never take people for granted
Would it be any fun if someone took you for granted?

10. Ask the right questions
Answers help. But, it’s not always the answers that matter.

————

Rajesh is one of a few individuals whose success and generosity with his gifts is inspiring me to aim high, continue learning, and hopefully become an entrepreneur one day. So, thank you for your continued generosity and your painstaking work to share meaningful information and lessons with us all here in the online community, Raj!

[via: Top Ten Life Tips From a Tech Wiz]

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: 10 Great Ways to Distinguish Yourself from One of Silicon Valley’s Top Entrepreneurs

I’ve been working hard the past two weeks on getting an interview series together for Ramit Sethi’s site IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com. We are hosting interviews with authors and experts on women and personal finance/entrepreneurship, so it’s been very interesting so far. The series starts this week, so keep an eye on IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com for more info. Also, I will link to each story as they are published. (Ramit’s site is one of the most popular personal finance blogs on the internet. Pay close attention to the great quality of comments and discussion that arise from each of his posts.)

The panel will include:

• Michelle Goodman: Author of The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube
• Pamela Slim: Owner of Ganas Consulting and Author of the Escape from Cubicle Nation blog & podcast
• Alexandra Levit: Founder of Inspiration@Work career consultancy and Author of They Don’t Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something’s Guide to the Business World
• Anya Kamenetz: Author of Generation Debt: How Our Future Was Sold Out for Student Loans, Bad Jobs, NoBenefits, and Tax Cuts for Rich Geezers–And How to Fight Back
• Julie Jansen: Speaker, Coach and Author of I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This and You Want Me To Work With Who?
• Barbara Stanny: Speaker, Coach, and Author of Overcoming Underearning and Secrets of Six-Figure Women

Anyone else you guys would like to see interviewed? Let me know your suggestions.

I’m REALLY excited to get to work with Ramit and to learn from so many accomplished professional women. I’ll be busy for the next few weeks with these interviews, but it should be well worth it. Stay tuned for more…

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Interview Series with A Few Prestigious Female Authors

I LOVE this article by Ron Davison! The Bay Area and the Reinvention of Self:

“I don’t know if there is another place on the planet where people are so full of possibility – whether it be the possibility of reinventing themselves by a change in thinking…or body…or starting a business with which they expect to change the world and become rich.”

I think I love Ron’s musings about Silicon Valley and the Bay Area because they reflect my own. I am SO drawn to that region because of the tremendous number of creative people! It is a hotbed for startups, entrepreneurs, and young-at-heart companies–the kind I love, that toss out the traditional rules! There seems to be (at least a bit) more sense of collaboration as opposed to competition. People are less afraid of failure. They are more passionate about their ideas, and doing whatever is necessary to make them become reality! These are not people who give up easily.

And it’s not to say that the region is the only one with determined, creative professionals. I think what actually happens is that those sorts of people are attracted from all over the world to come and work together in this centralized area. Actually, I KNOW this is the case. When I’ve visited Stanford, and interviewed with small companies down there, I meet people from all around the globe. It is a creative center. Take a minute to read Ron’s thoughts as he visits Silicon Valley.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Excuse Me While I Slip Into a More Comfortable Paradigm