Hey friend,
I'm in Berlin. Oh, good God, I feel like I can breathe.
Sitting in my normal chair, in my normal cafe, drinking iced coffee and eating blueberry coffee cake, writing the #ENTRYLEVELBOSS email at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, from the city where it first originated.
Like I told you last week, I'm here for less than 48 hours to shoot music videos tonight -- with the same old glorious crew that did Sitting Waiting Wishing and Colder Weather. We're planning to try and do a ninja shoot on the old abandoned airport tarmac turned beloved Berlin green space, Tempelhofer Feld.
With all the traveling I'm doing this week (back-to-back weddings on two continents plus this music video shoot in the middle), I've already had to do a fair bit of life explaining to people I haven't seen in a while or who have just never met me. And I'm honestly getting a kick out of it.
-- Explaining to my musician friends about how I managed to also 'accidentally' wind up with a big bonafide career in technology.
-- Explaining to my cousin's new girlfriend about how we're not actually cousins at all, but sort of are, but it's only because of an internship I did in 2010, if that makes sense.
-- Explaining to wedding guests about why I can sing like that and wait did I also just say I released a single, when I just told them I work a desk job.
-- Explaining my day job to people in general.
And I honestly wished I could just download the entire #ELB archive and send it to each and every one of these people and say:
"In my experience, there's almost always a way to make it all work. Whatever professional thing you seem to think I have, that you think you're lacking... I guarantee you, none of what I'm doing is magic.
"Most everything I've accomplished just boils down to being curious, allowing yourself permission to be curious, and figuring out what the next singular step is in building your career in whichever way is going to make you the happiest."
But I didn't say that, because it's actually really hard to explain #ELB out of context, especially when I've already confused people by just being able to sing and also working with engineers.
With all the traveling I'm doing this week (back-to-back weddings on two continents plus this music video shoot in the middle), I've already had to do a fair bit of life explaining to people I haven't seen in a while or who have just never met me. And I'm honestly getting a kick out of it.
-- Explaining to my musician friends about how I managed to also 'accidentally' wind up with a big bonafide career in technology.
-- Explaining to my cousin's new girlfriend about how we're not actually cousins at all, but sort of are, but it's only because of an internship I did in 2010, if that makes sense.
-- Explaining to wedding guests about why I can sing like that and wait did I also just say I released a single, when I just told them I work a desk job.
-- Explaining my day job to people in general.
And I honestly wished I could just download the entire #ELB archive and send it to each and every one of these people and say:
"In my experience, there's almost always a way to make it all work. Whatever professional thing you seem to think I have, that you think you're lacking... I guarantee you, none of what I'm doing is magic.
"Most everything I've accomplished just boils down to being curious, allowing yourself permission to be curious, and figuring out what the next singular step is in building your career in whichever way is going to make you the happiest."
But I didn't say that, because it's actually really hard to explain #ELB out of context, especially when I've already confused people by just being able to sing and also working with engineers.
"We accept the love we think we deserve."
You've heard that before, right? Well, with every year that passes, I'm finding it to be more and more true -- but here's the kicker: I'm finding it to be really true professionally as well.
We accept the careers we think we're supposed to have.
I meet incredibly talented people everyday who have been working adults for over a decade but have never moved past a junior level position, because they're waiting for someone to tell them they're allowed.
I meet people who are chained to their desks at jobs they hate for low pay, and it's like they're waiting for some fairy godmother to come sprinkle some pixie dust that will conjure up the perfect new dream job.
I've said this before and I'll say it again: No one is coming to save you.
And I think I sometimes freak people out at weddings, because they realize I decided to stop waiting a long time ago and, instead, set to work figuring out all the ways in which I can save myself.
I want to leave you with an assignment today.
A leader in my life shared this list with me last week -- and I want to pass it along to you. It's a list of 14 ways we hold ourselves back, as illustrated in The Quantum Leap Strategy by Price Pritchett.
I want you to read through this list and figure out which ones are stopping you from getting what you want out of your career. Heck, out of your life in general. For me, it's #6, #7, and #8.
They are:
#1: The Be Reasonable trap — limiting your goals to what you think you 'can have' instead of what you want.
#2: The Half Throttle trap — living life with a lukewarm heart.
#3: The More of the Same trap — reliance on trying harder instead of trying differently.
#4: The Doubt trap — believing in your limits instead of testing the limits.
#5: The Faith in the Familiar trap — relying on your usual routines.
#6: The Methodology trap — focusing on means rather than ends.
#7: The What I Can't See Isn't There trap — thinking you have to do it all by yourself.
#8: The Playing It Safe trap — choosing the wrong risks.
#9: The Passivity trap — wishing for what you want instead of pursuing what you want.
#10: The Failures Aren’t Allowed trap — unwillingness to make mistakes (and interpreting problems as proof you should give up and quit).
#11: The Comfort Junkie trap — being afraid to confront fear.
#12: The Use It or Lose It trap — not opening your gifts.
#13: The Preparation trap — bogging down in getting ready.
#14: The Perfect Timing trap — waiting for the “right” circumstances.
If you're anything like me, odds are you're going to flinch at at least one of these. Write me back and let me know which one gets to you the most.
Rooting for you, always.
Big love,
xxA