Torley Lives

I are preased to declare that my first article for Stepcase Lifehack aka lifehack.org is up!

Titled “Achieve Unique Success by Emphasizing Unique Skills”, I’ve woven together some of my fave inspirations to illustrate why things that don’t seem closely connected actually are, and how they can benefit you.

Lifehack is one of the most popular blogs on the whole Internet, with almost 70,000 readers subscribed to their RSS feed and numerous notable rankings. Productivity masters like Leo of Zen Habits have been contributors — so I’m thrilled to add value alongside such usefun minds.

And among them has got to be Dustin Wax, editor & project manager, who’s astutely sharp at giving feedback. Sure, I get lots of feedback on stuff I do, but his exceptional suggestions on my first post and his warm welcome have already honed and sharpened my focus on my next columns.

If you enjoy making your life better, visit Lifehack!

You came into this world without knowing what you'd get out of it. In the time that followed, you learned more. Some of what you learned changed a lot. And some always stayed the same. You grew beliefs, like a tree, watering and nourishing the branches you trusted in the most. The rest withered away. Throughout it all, you looked for others who grew trees, so you could talk about growing trees together.

Some things didn't work out. There were disappointments. Some of life's dreams were snatched away from you, like lighting striking your tree's branches. But that's alright, because you made new dreams — you grew them on your tree. And since you have a tree of beliefs, you believed in your dreams. Sometimes not enough. Sometimes too much. But you kept learning, growing with your tree.

Some of your fellow tree-growers are gone now. Permanently. With others, you discovered their trees looked too unlike yours, and you felt uncomfortable with this. And yet, there were other tree-growers you wanted to be near, even with very different trees.

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Do you not like someone because of who they are, or because of who you aren't? Jealousy is part of it. Jealousy always is. But let's consider personal development for a moment: say you've invested a lot of time, energy, money, and other resources in learning how to play guitar. Infact, over a stretch of years, you've gotten quite adept at twanging out riffs and blazing solos. Someone else who's just started on their guitar journey openly insults you…  why? While they won't admit it (few of the few ever do), it's because in terms of their own growth, they're but a tyke while you may already be an elder statesman of the School of Rock.

By "earlier versions", I refer to specifics such as someone who: hasn't learned a skill as well as you, doesn't have the well-learned adventures of traveling worldwide as you have, or someone who simply doesn't have enough experience in a given area that you possess… which they don't. Money, sex, and power are often coefficients, not inherently wrong in themselves, yet their disproportionality serves to addle the minds of many.

So yes, they want to improve, to be more like you (in some ways), but instead of taking that action, they back away from it. Here's why:

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I love connections. I've been reading a lot of Seth Godin recently: right now, his book Free Prize Inside. He thanks Joi Ito within (and cites him as an example in another chapter). Well guess what, I've been reading Joi Ito's blog too — and enjoying watching him cook bamboo shoots to a soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto, longtime fave composer of mine. Of course, in another direction, Godin cites Malcolm Gladwell's studies, who I enjoyed before. Gladwell is on TED Talks, where many of my fave thinker-doers have presented, including David Pogue, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, and Seth Godin (don't need to hyperlink him again… gee this is getting MetaFilter dense! And MetaFilter was founded by Matthew Haughey, who posted his "Adventures in $40 eyeglasses" on 43 Folders which helped me get new vision. Not only did they reference PKD, 43 Folders is often cited in "lifehack/productivity rings", including Lifehacker, which has featured articles by Seth Godin and Tim Ferris before).

This great blog post glues the Godin-Tim Ferris connection.

Today, I heard of Cali & Jody of ROWE rising fame from Tim Ferriss' blog. Cali & Jody, au naturel, mention Seth Godin.

All the excellent people know each other — or perhaps can be inferred from this post, Seth Godin is just a really remarkable connector-maven-salesman hybrid.