Let’s try this: You – yes, you – don’t have to be ok with average. It’s your choice. Who said you had to?

You don’t have to accept the fact that, well, the average person just kinda puts up with their job. Disliking your job is, you know, normal.

You don’t have to accept the fact that the average American gets sick every winter – or three times every winter – or once a month – or whatever.

You don’t have to accept the fact that you can kinda pay your bills every month. That you’re not saving nearly as much as you’d hoped – or none at all. But hey, that’s ok, that’s the same situation the average person is in.

You don’t have to accept the fact that if something is uncomfortable, it’s bad. People can’t change – they can’t better themselves or change directions or quit their job – that’s not normal, you say!

False assumptions.

You don’t have to accept any of these things. You can, if you wish. But you don’t HAVE to.

Mmmkay?

Your story is your story. Embrace it, appreciate it, love it, own it. So many folks are ashamed of where they came from, of the mistakes they might have made on their journey to where they are today. Why? Isn’t that what MADE you who you are today?

Why don’t more people create great stuff out of the story of their journeys?

Could you even go so far to say that without your mistakes and whoopsies and stupid decisions you would not be in the position you are today? That you wouldn’t have come up with that business idea or you wouldn’t have met the person you did or you wouldn’t have appreciated what you now have or you wouldn’t have been open-minded to that new idea that transformed your life?

If I hadn’t spent 7 painful years working against my personality in corporate, I would not be where I am today. Hands down. Not professionally, not financially, not personally. In fact, you could even say that I wouldn’t have met my husband. And I know for sure that I wouldn’t have met the gal who I first went into business with and failed, and then went into business with again and succeeded, which in turn allowed me to financially be ok with leaving that job.

(Side note: Life is scary-cyclical sometimes, yeah?)

Whatever your beliefs – that everything happens for a reason or part of a master plan or whathaveyou – you are who you are today because of your experiences. You might think you’re better off because of them, or perhaps worse. Or maybe it should just be a neutral balance. Better just meaning stronger – more experienced, more lessoned.

Whatever the label you choose to identify its impact, use those experiences and share them with the world. Embrace your story. Because if we aren’t a better person today because of what happened yesterday, what was the point?

What say you?

You’re too good for that. Here’s why (if you cannot see the video below, you can watch it here):

So take that fear by the horns and get into action already. How will you ever know what could be if you don’t?

Thoughts on fear in business? Fear in life? How do you push through it and get yourself to take that critical first step?

I snapped a photo of the entry, however, not because of its historical importance but because of it’s application to our businesses today.

Stick with me here. This wraps up all neat and tidy-like, PROMISE.

So, what do you think, could we sum this up by saying that nothing of great importance is ever achieved unless a risk is taken?

Or perhaps we could say that history’s greatest accomplishments are typically the result of someone willing to do what no one else has ever been willing to do?

——
Or how about something like you never know unless you try?
——

Do you think you can you make that first phone call? Or finally put pen to paper to record those goals? Or read that first, positive book that’s been sitting on your nightstand for three years?

Can you finally launch that blog you’ve been intending to get off the ground for months? Or upload and share that first photo? Or record that first podcast?

Can you finally talk to that banker to discuss your idea? Or your lawyer? Or CPA? Spouse? DOG?!

I bet you can. And you know what? Even if you can’t, you won’t know unless you try.
“The good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine.” – Meriwether Lewis

I want to take a pen to this and add, “…but we don’t give a sh*t. We’re giving it a try anyway.”

Objectively, the book takes up an average-in-size 241 pages, not including the Epilogue and Online Resources. I found the cover art, frankly, kind of cluttered and annoying. And the quality of the writing? It was…ok. Pretty terrible in the beginning when Tony’s describing his childhood and early business ventures, improving a smidge later on when Zappos comes into the picture. Generally, it’s pretty fluffy reading. I read the entire book in two medium-ish sittings.

On the surface, Delivering Happiness gets an “ehh” rating.

But – and this is a BIG but, as in, MASSIVE and THEY DON’T LIE – upon closing the back cover and setting the book down, I wanted to be a better person.

I wanted to be a happier person.

In other words? Read it.

And that’s all there is to say about that.

P.S. The awesome folks on the Delivering Happiness Book Team graciously sent me 2 pre-release copies of DH. Thanks, DHBook team! I can only hope to have a team with a fraction of the excitement, caring, and connectedness when I release a book someday. (ahem) Cheers!

Powerful, eh? Immediate reactions?

I was burning holes in my esophagus, tasting hot sauces in my husband’s honor at a cute little shop that sold nothing but the spicy stuff. And that’s when it hit me – this is exactly what I’ve always wanted.

Ok ok, not the hot sauces specifically, as frankly it was a rather uncomfortable experience, but simply the ability to taste hot sauces…if I chose to…because I could…in the middle of a Friday afternoon…in a city of my choosing.

I’m currently sitting in my room in a tall hotel on Canal Street in New Orleans, just steps from the famed French Quarter. Yesterday, bright and early, I dragged my laptop down to the Starbucks in the lobby and sat there for 8 hours working. By mid-afternoon I had accomplished quite a bit, so I closed up shop and took off on foot to wander the Quarter.

I’m here in nawwwlens because a girlfriend wanted to attend a conference this weekend related to her business and thought it’d be more fun if I came along. With her paying my way, it was a quick and easy decision. I can work from anywhere, after all, so why not!

But the point of all of this is that it was, in fact, a quick and easy decision. I work for myself now. I can work from anywhere, at anytime. It’s all up to me and me only. I finally – finally, FINALLY – after years of effort, have 100% time freedom.

And there are moments – like when I’m walking the smelly, loud, beautiful New Orleans French Quarter on a cool afternoon – when I wonder, how did this happen?

And, more importantly, how can I get others – read: YOU – to the point where we can share in this together?

I thought this was fascinating and went to work thinking about what mine would be. A few entries the paper shared that I loved:

“Went to college. Came home pregnant.”

“Born naked, raised Catholic, love fashion.”

“Went for it…almost always succeeded.”

“Life’s funny secret: some assembly required.”

“I look like a great cook.”

And it didn’t take me long to come up with my own:

Now, everything I have always wanted.

So, what’s yours? If you had to describe your life – now, then, in the future, whatever – using only 6 words, how would you do it?

** From the Kansas City Star: My Life in Exactly Six Words. **

The girl in the photo didn’t know she would, in fact, start businesses she was only then dreaming about. She didn’t know that in a month from then a certain boy would see her from across the room, nine months later ask her to dinner, and four years later ask her what she was doing for the rest of his life. She didn’t know the best friends, the business friends, the mentors, and the inspirations she would someday meet, nor how to even tell the difference.

That girl hated Kansas City.
That girl thought her paychecks were HUGE.
That girl thought 22 sounded old.

She didn’t know when, if ever, the entrepreneurial bug would really take hold. She didn’t know then that she’d soon be getting into trouble for awesome things like arriving too late in the morning, taking too long of a lunch break, working from home without telling anyone, and taking too much vacation. Umm, I’m pretty sure that girl should have taken the hint sooner.

The day I took this picture I also signed an employment agreement, the agreement I had long since forgotten was stored away in the depths of HR somewhere until it was surprisingly sent back to me last week, six and a half years later, with the request that I print and sign the elusive last page. It was a page I initialed that first day with the letters ALP and dated 07-21-03 in an excited scrawl, while probably not giving a second thought to when I would ever – or IF I would ever – see it again. The Termination Statement.

Yikes.

Six and a half years I’ve carried this security badge around in my purse. I never, ever removed it. It has traveled all over the country, all over the world, with me. It’s been stepped on, thrown across the room, ripped, muddied, cleaned off, dropped down stairwells, used as a weapon, used to show off, and screamed at for not “catching” the security reader as I ran by it too fast in attempts to catch the meeting for which I was surely late. It said one name for many years, then switched to another. It’s been used across town for corporate discounts, made fun of for the crazy orange exposure of the photo, giggled at for the hairstyle of its featured face, and accepted as a part of life.

It was The Badge. It didn’t need any other description. And it was always there, tinkering on the brink of the always-needed-yet-never-noticed line.

And today I will turn it in, along with all of my other…stuff, most of which I have long since emotionally accepted as mine yet have been sharply reminded these past weeks that they never have been, and never will be. I will hand all of it over. I will hand it over and then walk out the door – THE door – and politely, excitedly, and emotionally close it behind me.

I’ve done it. WE have done it.

And with that, I’m off to find new, exciting doors to open…who’s with me?

…I want to be like Gary Vaynerchuk, because he cares. Period.

…I want to be like Jon Wheatley, because he launched a start-up and is having an absolute blast with it.

…I want to be like Malcolm Gladwell, because he produced media that changed our outlook on the world, one thought at a time.

Who do you want to be?