If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.
– Antoine De Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
Seth Godin often talks about the importance and significance of tribes. Macheads are a tribe. Twitter users are a tribe. Boca Junior fans are a tribe. Entrepreneurs are a tribe. Surrounding yourself with people in a tribe that you believe in or long to belong to is important. If you want to be a musician, surround yourself with people who long for nothing more than to play music. If you want to be a writer, drown yourself in literature that inspires you, surround yourself with good mentors, practice your craft. If you want to be an inventor, seek crazy motivated people who want to make things that matter. If you want to create a charity to help needy women, give of yourself to the women in your community, see what a difference your effort makes and envision a grander plan.
We are what we think and who we surround ourselves with. We are the sum of our efforts, thoughts, desires. And if you’re sitting at your desk doing work that someone else has asked you to do but you don’t truly believe in, the nagging feeling that you’re wasting away hours of your precious life contributing to someone else’s passion instead of yours will soon become a pounding voice in your head that won’t be ignored. Sooner or later, the truth of your heart’s desires will whisper ever so clearly, asking for the space and time and wings to take flight. Are you going to listen?
Sometimes, passion is scary. Sometimes it is our strength, not our weakness, that most scares us. Why? Because we fear most what we want most. Isn’t your greatest desire worth taking a gamble on?
What is my vast and endless sea?
It is the feeling that I am tapping my creative energies everyday, in all I do.
It is the desire to touch others, to help them succeed, to make a difference in the life of one girl, one woman, one person. And then again.
It is the desire to live in the zone of my existence, with a feeling of constant purpose, goodness and love.
It is writing and finding the truth in writing. It’s sharing wisdom, it’s sharing inspiration, it’s using the power of words to share a message worth spreading.
It is the desire to build something with likeminded people, with a common purpose, a shared vision. It is decision making on the fly, it is agility, it is innovation, it is change. It is working in small teams and doing great, fun things.
It is the desire to find wisdom, courage and grace in every moment. It’s lending a hand, it’s sharing insight, it’s learning from the now. It’s giving without the desire to receive. It’s openness and closeness at once.
It is living with arms wide open.
This is my vast and endless sea.
What is yours?
