Recently I had some free time and was watching Jon Acuff’s talk from World Domination Summit; in his talk, Jon mentioned how he took a trip to Maine and saw birds hanging out on top of lobster traps (lobster fishing is huge in Maine). He noticed that the birds had made the lobster traps their home, sort of like a “hipster thing.” He then said, “If you were to ask a lobster what those things were (referring to the lobster trap), they would have said death.” Then he said something even more interesting, “To the birds, these lobster traps were home. To the lobsters, it’s death.” Perspective is everything; this is the same with an idea or concept. We are essentially the birds and we want to soar. The lobster trap can be seen as us attempting to lose weight, start a new business, or pursue a new hobby. We often tell our bird ideas to lobsters, and the lobsters shut them down. What we don’t realize is that sometimes we have doubt in ourselves and we tell our ideas to lobsters to confirm our limiting belief so that we don’t have to go after it.
Let me ask you a question. Are you hanging around too many lobsters?
I have a belief that we design a life to keep us exactly where we are, and that is in our safe zone. The people that we place in our lives are filling a role to confirm that we need to be exactly where we are. Now, just because something is one way now doesn’t mean that it has to always be that way.
At the BTP Retreat I talked about aligning ourselves with playmates, not just any playmates but the ones that are going to assist you in getting to where you want to be. This concept was adapted from the book Superbetter by Jane McGonagal.
In order to soar, you need to surround yourself with as many birds as possible, and not lobsters. Lobsters are similar to crabs, and you know what they say… crabs will keep other crabs from rising to the top. Your playmate will hear your idea and instead of saying that’s not going to work they will say, “What can I do to support you.”
Your playmate will:
- Motivate you
- Give you challenges to stay on the right track
- Not judge you if you have a moment of weakness
- Listen to you and help you strategize
If you are in a place where you aren’t happy with where you are at and want something different, I can tell you that this is the best place to be.
As my mentor Michael Bernoff always says, “Ok is ok as long is ok is ok. The moment ok is not ok, it’s not ok anymore.”
When we realize we want something different, a window opens and during that short period of time… opportunities pop up. Maybe this message right here is a sign. I believe the Universe wants to help you get the things that you desire. However, you have to be serious. If you are not serious and take action, the window will close, and things will go back to how they have been before. The only problem is, this time you will remember the potential, and that record will go into your file of “The things that I wish I could do but was too scared to do.”
In the talk, Jon had a quote “Will I face the fear of today, or the regret of forever.” In my improv workshops, I teach my students that failure is only feedback, now is the time to move forward with what we want in life.
As your playmate, I ask you this, “what is it that you want to do, and how can I be of service to help you get there?”
Please leave a comment and let’s start playing this game of life together. Also please look through the comments and if there is any advice you can provide please do so.
Here is the video from Jon’s talk for your viewing pleasure:
Jon Acuff from Chris Guillebeau on Vimeo.