I was recently listening to a podcast you were featured in, “The Art of Noticing, and Then Creating,” and I have to say that I was able to clean up my room and fold all my clothes, and I still didn’t get through the entire 55 minutes. But that’s no disrespect to you at all; it actually proves that listening to your thoughts made me more productive.
A sense of initiative was instilled in me for a moment, but I didn’t let the words sink in as well as I should have. I need to work on staying motivated to be my best and to stay motivated in the face of failure. There was a quote from the audio that read something like, “Say, ‘that didn’t work,’ not, ‘this doesn’t work,'” with regards to reflecting on a situation that didn’t go as planned. If I rear-end someone while driving for the first time in the rain, I shouldn’t say, “I can’t drive for crap!” I should say, “I didn’t know how much traction my tires had when quickly stopping on a slick surface.” And now I know.
“What used to be safe is now dangerous,” is a quote from the audio that really scared me. To think that the traditional route of school, college, and working my way up isn’t going to be sustainable is shocking to the 17 year old me. I’m going to have to be a creator to have a sustainable life? Me? I can create something that people need? With my ideas, skills, and talents, I have to make a difference in the world to make it in the world? Worries reverberated through my head at that point in time, but it made sense when I heard that I shouldn’t be afraid to be wrong because we are all artists and all creators. The only thing that I can think of creating is music. There’s an avenue for an extremely successful career if I work hard enough, but not a lot of people make it in the music industry and that doesn’t sound safe either. So how does being a creator give me stability? That is something that I will need to explore on my own, but if you want to help my music carrer… Check out this link to propel me towards a sustainable future. www.Soundcloud.com/shodameyer
Here’s another great quote: “The cog-like obedience that has been taught in school does not equate to success in the real world.” I’m proud to say that I didn’t get all A’s last semester. An “A” in a class might not guarantee me A job in my future life. I have already come to accept this fact and I enjoy thinking this very much. Now, my problem is that I’ve been trained to learn my material for upcoming test. I absorb a good two weeks of learning, take the test, and in a couple of years, I’ve already forgotten the basis of the material. That’s the education system’s problem. Tests put too much stress on results and they take away from the learning process. I know that, but I still need to act on my knowledge.
There is one part of the podcast that I didn’t enjoy hearing, it made me a little anxious to be honest. When Godin started talking about how humans are culturally evolving and that there is a new world order, I got the sense that he is referring to a larger, more powerful group that is in charge of the evolution of the human species. New world order, new world order. I’ve heard Eminem say this, I’ve heard George Bush say this, and now I’ve heard Godin say it. All people of enormous influence telling me that change is happening and that I’m not in control of it. A little scary and unrelated to the rest of the topics of the podcast, but somehow the phrase “new world order” always freaks me out and I just don’t get good vibes when I hear it.
At the end of the day though, Faith is something that I need to have. I need to have Faith in the universe as Godin mentioned. Faith is something that isn’t taught as a subject, but should be integrated into the standards of learning. I mentioned this in my English class earlier in the year, and what do you know? I hear an influential scholar talking about Faith as I’m coming near to the end of my semester. Well, I have Faith in my future and Faith in the future of the world. Life is what you make it right? Well, if I’m a great creator I’m going to make a great life.
-Chris.
dearworldandtrulyyours 