So here are five questions to consider:

1. Does this opportunity align with my core values and long-term vision?

Will this opportunity support the person I want to become or the life I want to create? You have to sleep at night knowing you’re not selling out, or selling your soul.

2. How will this opportunity impact my energy and well-being?

Does it feel life-giving, inspiring, or draining? Will it support my mental, physical, and emotional health?

These considerations have no price tag.

3. What is the potential for growth and learning?

Will this challenge me, stretch my abilities, and provide opportunities for growing in curiosity?

Sadly, many jobs leave little room for personal growth and lifting the lid on our leadership.

4. Does this contribute to the impact I want to have in the world?

Will this help me make a difference? Will this deepen my relationships or connections with others?

Does this company, organization, or opportunity make the world a better place, or the opposite?

5. Does this foster collaboration, community, or meaningful connections with like-minded people?

The people we work with bring life, or don’t. Our community matters.

These questions take us deeper into considering opportunities.

There are more factors beyond the monetary.

“Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.” -Carl Sandburg

Every human has a finite amount of time. How will you spend it?

Most people spend their “coin” of time on the expectations of others. We make things urgent, which are not, and do “busy work,” never getting meaningful results in your life, leadership, and art.

How can we break the curse?

Try this simple framework for managing your tasks, responsibilities, and time:

1. Give the task a number of importance:

Is this a 10 and urgent?

Is it a 1, and can be done next year?

2. Give the task a timestamp and/or deadline:

Does this need to be completed by tomorrow, the end of the week, next month, or next year?

Make a deadline.

3. Tell your tasks where to live, and a why:

Now, you’re going to examine the urgency of these tasks. The ones needing immediate attention give them a place to live.

Talk to them:

*My task will get my attention on: {deadline}

*You will get my attention on this date because: {my why?}

Pay attention to your why because it reveals importance of the task, or maybe it’s not upon further reflection.

It also gives you a renewed motivation to do the task.

Example: My book project will get 500 words added by Friday. Why? I’ve always wanted to write a book, and help people with my ideas.

Example: My taxes will be paid by April 15th. Why? It’s only January, I don’t have the money, and it’s not urgent.

Talking about your tasks, responsibilities, and work can become a superpower. A powerful tool for relieving stress, worry, and living an intentional and purposeful life on your terms.

Not the dreams and expectations of others.

Try it and let me know how it goes?

-Ryan

Jon Acuff, said in All it Takes is a Goal, if you want to get good at something, or turn something you enjoy into a craft, ask yourselves questions like this:

Can I do it better? Can I do it faster? Can I make it more enjoyable? Can I do it in fewer steps? Can I create something new if I add or remove a part? Can I measure and track my performance?

The path of reaching goals, doing our best work, and making great art requires subtraction.

Often we think: I need to add. I need to buy. I’ll need longer hours.

Sometimes this is true.

You might need more learning, or research, or mentoring before you start. More hours to make the thing.

But more often than not, we need subtraction.

Writing the next book will require removing Netflix, social media, and unnecessary social gatherings from our daily orbit.

If wanting to be a present parent, it will require fewer hours at the office, less travel, and fewer hobbies.

Pursuing a healthy lifestyle it will require subtracting late nights, fast food, toxic substances and relationships, and doom scrolling news.

In cultivating a peaceful soul, it will require less noise and more stillness.

What are you removing today?

Marketing is not a curse word.

Marketing is all of us.

Marketing is storytelling.

Humans are storytellers.

Marketing is saying: here I am, here is this thing I made, here is why I made it, here is why I think it can help, would you like to try it?

Marketing isn’t sales. The selling is a byproduct of a compelling story.

Marketing is about a story.

Every brand, community, person, philosophy, or religion has a foundational story.

We all tell stories, and we’re all marketers. Some stories are more interesting than others, and some are more helpful.

But, all good marketing stories follow a typical pattern:

• A clear beginning, middle, and end
• A conflict or challenge or problem to overcome
• A character/human/community needing transformation
• A resolution/solution that ties to the brands offering/product/service/story

This is marketing.

How can we tell better stories?