Be Fucking Courageous

2 Things:

1: LOVED the post. Someting I am busy with myself and it really is powerful to try. I picked a small, personal life, target. I always wear a notebook and a pen, and whenever I see someone pretty, someone with a nice style, good smile, or a sad face who I don't know, I write a note. My last one was: "You are looking stunning, have an amazing day." and I try to reverse pickpocket (put it in their bag, pocket or whatever) it so they'll see it somewhere. I never put a signature, a phone number or a twitter account. I just do it for their day. The first time really was a thrill and I really was tense, but it felt so amazing to just (probably) improve a day of someone you never met and (probably) never will speak. (Hint for the ones who will do it: Pick a bright-colored paper. People will see it easier that way. And please, don't do the creepwalk. Just walk naturally and let it fall out of your hands)

2: Something which kinda bugged me. Fear and that awful feeling of failure. Please guys, it is okay to feel! Don't forget. We can all be courageous as a bugger and change the world and stuff but anyone will feel the 'What if my friends will see.', 'what if she thinks I'm a creep.' Anyone has felt it and I don't think you can teach yourself not to feel it. Feeling failure is not a failure on itself. Don't be too afraid to feel failure. It's alright. It's a part of being human! (Dunno if you or someone else wrote a blog about that subject, but recently read a brilliant blog about that subject. If someone wants to read I'll dig into the archives for it :).)

First reaction to this post:

Absolute. Fucking. Poetic.

The use of the F-bomb was not lost on me, as a bit outside your usual style, Daniel. But this is you demonstrating in a strong unmistakable way how you are here, right now, stepping out of your own comfort zone, being daring, and risking alienating or maybe just waking up some of your readers who might be taken aback by this.

My father always told us not to swear as kids because he said people would think we had a "lack of vocabulary". I think people can become lazy when they revert to profanity or certain words like "awesome!" habitually, unconsciously, even. (Isn't a crucial part of being alive, being conscious?) Part of the value of any method of "shock value" is saving this stuff for special situations to get people's attention. I think people can get used to almost anything, no mater how surprising it sounds at first. You pulled off something very delicate here. You managed to tastefully, powerfully, naturally - even elegantly - drop the F-bomb. Bravo!

I love the message you're sharing with us here, Bro. This might be the single most important inspiration a human can read. For me, Freedom is the essence of Life, because it's the Love of Life that inspires us to be Free, to embrace it with all we've got, in our own unique way. No one else can tell us exactly how to do that.

Today, Daniel, you changed the world. And I was here to see it.

Ok. I WILL set an official launch date for my blog. There's my ONE THING.

Literally just booked a plane ticket to Vegas for my company's training conference before reading this email. This will be my first time going to the conference and is definitely a step outside my comfort zone!

Last week I finally had the courage to start my online magazine for a travel niche and this morning I got an email from someone that noticed that I'm just getting started and wants to talk to me. this guy owns a well known luxury resort...I'm hoping he wants to work together and invest in my idea. :)

Also understand that you have to maintain your courage. I don't know of anyone who was blessed with the ability to continue on in the pursuit of their dreams without feeling the doubt creep in. Do something that fires you up before you end up too bogged down to keep going. Watch an inspirational video (one of the ones I watch on a regular basis when I'm feeling uninspired https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cutpSwtwozQ), talk with someone who you know will support what you're doing or has done what you're doing before, take a walk, anything that will keep you on the path you know you need to be on.

EDIT: I'm not sure how to post the video link without having the video actually show itself. Feel free to delete the comment if it's obnoxious, Daniel.

Awesome vid!

I pledge to push through anything that I feel a strong resistance towards.

Hey D, My courageous thing would be to ask you for a coffee to identify how I could help you in some way. Since we live, like... in different parts of the globe I would opt in for a skype call. whatd'ya say?

Thanks for filling my inbox with swearing. I just lost a lot of respect for the quality of you information. I find it hard to read past it. Hopefully it won't happen again, otherwise I will look for information elsewhere.

Yesterday, I started writing a book that my brain says I have no business writing, but my heart/spirit tells me I simply MUST write. I want to write it quickly, before my courage runs out.

Hey Daniel,

This is inspirational stuff as usual. Made my morning!

@Cyclia PS - as always, thanks for contributing to the community, Michael :)

@Cyclia This is SO SO SO good. Addressing #1 first, have you ever gotten "caught" in the act?

@JulietAnnerino I'm SO glad that you noticed the use of the "F Bomb" was for a specific purpose. I wanted people to get riled up. I wanted them to open their email, and even if (on the way to the "unsubscribe" link), they glanced at the content — hopefully something that they read would stick.

It's important to wake up. It's important to be conscious. It's important to love others, but also to take what we want an not apologize. Especially as adults — if we don't reach out and grab it, who will hand it to us?

Looking forward to connecting for coffee next week :)

DD

@Amanda Awesome. What's the date??

:)

(Public accountability works)

@drewcurtis21 OMG Vegas. You'll have so much fun :)

http://www.rich20something.com/vegas-recap-terrible-gambling-skrillex-sara-kicks-dude-nuts/

@KD So cool!! Keep us posted. What's your magazine??

@TysonL On the contrary, I love this video. Plz keep posting. Not obnoxious at all :)

BTW, what do you do to maintain your courage?

@TysonL Really beautiful, powerful video, Tyson! Thanks for sharing this :)

@BenAustinBlog Yep. The gut is often right. If you feel nervous, that's not "fear" — that's excitement. Use that feeling as a sign to DO something, not to avoid it.

(Within reason)

Haha!

Definitely hit me up. Love your story, would like to chat sometime.

DD

@Diana Reid I'd love it :)

Hit me up via email and we will schedule!

@Signman Courage isn't for the faint of heart. If you can't handle a curse word, how are you going to be able to do anything I just mentioned in the post above?

But you're still here. If you stop reading the dozens of valuable articles on how to connect with people, make more money and live a happier life because I dropped an F bomb, who's really missing out...me or you? Love having you as a reader, but this is a personal blog. If I feel like cursing, I will.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Respect!

DD

@MaryJSchiller1 Every day, your courage REFILLS :)

If you can make it into a habit, it will work without too much effort (see "The Seinfeld Strategy")

Good luck! Let me know when it's out, I'll pick up the first copy!

DD

@DonnaMumbua Donna! How are you? I miss our Skypes :)

@Rich20Something Not yet, but I really hope to be caught one day. Not by them though, since letting them read the note (to explain it) would really spoil the surprise. Being caught by the cops would make an amazing story. (Yep; I'm a thrill guy). Trying to explain you're not grabbing a wallet but putting a random note, complimenting something would be such fun.

@Rich20Something It's only been very recently that I've made a conscious effort to keeping motivated and not letting myself doubt what I'm doing. There was a quote I read in the 4-hour Chef section of the extended version of the 4-hour workweek by Tim Ferris that had a Bobby Flay quote on it. It's a quote that Tim keeps on his desk and looks at every day.

"Take risks and you'll get the payoffs. Learn from your mistakes until you succeed. It's that simple.

-Bobby Flay

My philosophy on pursuing my goals has been similar, so the core message has been enough for me. By taking a risk, making a mistake and learning from that mistake, you're 6,000 steps ahead of the rest of the people who won't even take the risk for fear of that first mistake. It also helps when you can make the mental shift to viewing mistakes as intensive learning processes. Not many of us dislike learning, so by trying new, unfamiliar things, you're being given the opportunity to learn to better yourself.

Sometime in the future I'll come across another doubt that I'll need to address, but for now, just realizing that I need to take a risk and make mistakes doing it is enough.

Fantastic article, Daniel.

@Rich20Something Thanks for your reply. It’s not a question of whether I can handle it. I am sixty years old and have worked with blue collar people most of my life, including longshoremen and truck drivers. Hard to find more swearing than that. I still don’t like hearing or reading it. Most expletives tend to be overused and non-descriptive, and simply replace a much better word that would describe the object or action under discussion.

That being said I do hope to continue reading and benefiting from your insights.

@Rich20Something @MaryJSchiller1 Awesome! I do love the Seinfeld Strategy, BTW. Simple, just the way I like it. Thanks for the encouragement!

@Rich20Something Daniel, I am fantastic. I am happy to see that you are doing epic stuff! I have been listening to the free e-course on generating an idea for an online biz and I have some follow up questions but just wondering the best channel to ask those questions- is it ok to send a quick mail with a small list of my Qs? Thank you so much for putting out this awesome stuff :)

@Cyclia Now I'm kinda hoping you get caught too so that we can say we saw it here first!

@MaryJSchiller1no prob!!