Choose Impact Over Self-Importance

In high school my standardized test scores were so low I had to take the SAT's twice. 

I once asked if I was sent by "the enemy" after I failed for the 5th time to grasp the system in place at a homeless shelter I was volunteering at.

My first screenplays were so bad my friends didn't even know where to begin with their feedback.

As a kid, I was a great third baseman but couldn't hit the ball if my life depended on it.

-- And in college I once received a paper from a professor, who was once the ambassador to the Ivory Coast, that said, "Nick, I don't much understand what you're trying to say and I suppose you don't either."

The point is that some of my shortcomings were failures to push myself, while others were simply abilities I lacked. As a young man any talk of deficiencies would have compelled me to get defensive. I'd take criticism personally and fail to recognize the ways I could leverage my strengths, while being a shrewd judge of my shortcomings.

As I get older I realize how liberating it is to recognize you're not going to be good at everything. We're all given certain superpowers, or the ability to do certain things better than others. It's important we take stock of those gifts and find ways to use them for positive impact.

Unfortunately, a lot of people never grow up to realize all the teachable moments failure and deficiency can offer. A fixed mindset offers a stale outlook and a refusal to be open to ways to get better at life. One of the most counterproductive ways this philosophy can manifest itself is through defending bad ideas. Because we're insecure about our intellect, resume, or get caught up in comparing ourselves to others we allow our ego rather than humility to be our north star. When this happens the "meritocracy of ideas," as Ray Dalio calls it, gets buried in the rubble caused by insecurity.

What's much more interesting and courageous is recognizing when we aren't the best at something, or don't have the most influential idea, and instead identifying when someone else does. Rather than claiming ownership for something we didn't come up with we can do something much more engaging, uplifting, and noble: we can become the proprietor's biggest fan, supporting his or her idea as if our life depended on it. 

In the process, we lift each other up instead of leave one another behind. As a result, attainment of our goals becomes much more about creating impact rather than self-importance. And when we get behind someone something remarkable begins to happen: we gain the trust of others through our humility and conscious commitment to put the priorities of the group ahead of our own.

The University of Traffic

One of the most common complaints I hear for not beginning projects of value is, "I don't have any time." And many times it's a valid argument. I certainly don't want to be insensitive to the many hats we all where in our busy day-to-day lives.

But if there's one thing I've learned it's that successful people have a way of converting "shoulds" into "musts." They take inventory of how much something means to them and decide it will, however difficult, get done.

When I first moved to Los Angeles I spent several hours of my week stuck in traffic. Invariably, I'd grow agitated each time I thought about how much time I was losing. 

But when I made the slight adjustment to use that time to inform myself and turn gridlock traffic into the "University of Traffic," I slowly found other ways to utilize my time more productively, even when it seemed I didn't really have any options to do so.

You can find "pockets" where you might listen to an interesting podcast, or audiobook on the way to work, or while working out. 

You can also do something author, photographer, and high performance expert James Clear (http://jamesclear.com/) calls, "stacking." Maybe you do your laundry, while treating yourself to a Netflix show. This cuts down on wasted time and moves the needle forward in both tasks that need attending to and projects you're passionate about.

The best part is that you're building a muscle and conditioning yourself to optimize the time you have. You'll grow much more conscious of time wasted and look to find creative ways to invest in your development.