Developing beliefs about the world is hard work. Sharing your perspective with the world is even harder. And yet, one of the most powerful things you can do to lead and influence others is just that: develop beliefs and share your perspective based on those beliefs.
Not everyone will agree with your beliefs, but that’s not the point. Sharing your perspective is a relic, a souvenir, of your understanding of the world at a moment in time.
Here are some ideas for how to develop beliefs to fuel your best work:
– Write a blog post everyday
– Learn why organic food matters
– Travel to another country
– Watch every episode of Vice
– Go on a mission trip with your church
– Read an academic research journal every month for a year
– Organize a retreat with five of your closest friends
– Go camping
– Go fishing
– Read every report the World Economic Forum publishes this year
– Watch a congressional hearing on CSpan
– Read a biography of every US president
– Listen to every episode of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
– Read every interview by The Great Discontent
– Read the New York Times, cover to cover, every day for a month
– Read the Wall Street Journal, cover to cover, every day the following month
– Join the Peace Corps
– Join the board of a nonprofit
– Be a ski bum for a season
– Read every book by your favorite author
– Read every single blog post on your favorite blog
– Read every press release in the last 25 years from a public company
– Volunteer at a retirement community
– Volunteer at a children’s hospital
– Have coffee with a different person everyday for a month
– Start a YouTube channel
– Make a documentary
– Follow 250 interesting people on Twitter
– Go on a date with your spouse once a week for a year
– Read the entire Bible
– Read the entire Qur’an
– Read the Bhagavad Gita
– Read the Torah
– Learn a second language
– Learn a third language
– Try to live off of $5 a day for a month
– Try to launch a project on Kickstarter
– Fund a project on Indiegogo
– Read 10 random Wikipedia articles per day for a year
– Give a loan on Kiva
– Adopt a child
– Build a school
– Build a well
– Build a piece of furniture
– Move across the country
– Learn everything there is to know about coffee
– Learn everything there is to know about rice
– Work on a farm for a season
– Workout everyday for 6 months
– Have a meal at the top 25 restaurants in your city
– Take a wine tasting class
– Take a road trip
– Go to a movie by yourself
– Run a marathon
– Learn to deadlift
– Sell your car
– Buy a bike
– Rely on public transportation everyday for a month
– Try being a vegetarian
– Try going Paleo
– Give away every dollar of disposable income you have for three months
– Go bungee jumping
– Go skydiving
– Hike the Appalachian trail
– Take cold showers for 30 days
The possibilities are literally endless. Any one of these things might help you develop meaningful beliefs. Different combinations can help you develop them even faster. But what won’t help is doing exactly what you’ve been doing for the past 1, 5, or 25 years.
The thing about humans is that we are capable of change. We don’t possess one track minds. We’re capable of more than just eating, sleeping, and having sex. We adapt. We learn. We grow.
Sharing your beliefs today does not prevent you from changing those beliefs later. In fact, sharing your beliefs with others might be the only way to develop new perspective. And developing beliefs requires new experiences.
So, get out there. Do the work. Explore. Your beliefs will drive you to do the most meaningful work you’re capable of. Without them, you’re simply a shadow of your potential. And we need you to be much more than that.
Thanks to Grant Spanier and Vince Koci for the inspiration for today’s post.
