Category: Being Action Oriented

I have never taken a web design class.

Nor have I ever taken a coding or branding class.

Yet, here I was, spending 6+ hours this weekend doing all of the above for MoveMe Quotes.

I revamped the whole website and feel like I did a pretty damn good job of it.

It all started with a curiosity back in 2010: “I wonder if I could build a website that could house all of my favorite quotes?” Which eventually became: “I wonder how I can make this website cooler?” Which quickly turned into: “I wonder how I can speed this site up?” Which then made me think about: “I wonder how I can improve its SEO?” Which today is essentially a compilation of all those thoughts rolled up into one.

And I can’t even begin to list all of the skills exploring this one initial curiosity has helped me develop.

All almost completely unbeknownst to me as any kind of formal educational endeavor.

All just interesting little problems I get to solve while building something I think is cool and useful.

Learning works so much better this way. Don’t use “I haven’t taken a class / course on that yet” as an excuse to not explore a curiosity. Everything you need is readily available and but a few finger taps away.

You just need to do it.

Hey Sonya,

It’s so great to hear from a fellow quote enthusiast. Love love love hearing that you have mountains of notebooks filled with quotes.

The act of reading quotes is definitely not the same as the act of writing quotes. The former brings the words in through the eyes which are quickly deposited into the brain, but the latter… the latter allows you to bring the words in through your body… through your fingers, up your arms, into your torso, and up your spinal cord and into your brain.

It’s the literal embodiment of the words.

So, while you may feel like there’s no sense or order to them all… just know that the process is not for nothing. You have embodied 10x more insight from this simple practice than your counterpart who merely read those same quotes and does nothing with them.

Cheers to quote collecting and embodying the insight that’ll guide us forward on our paths!

~ Matt

The reason I share this reply is twofold:

1) To remind you that reading insights is not the same as doing things with the insights. Whether that’s applying the ideas to your life (opting in to the expressed gratitude challenge); typing, tagging, ordering, and making them digestible and accessible (like I do at MoveMe Quotes); or simply writing them into notebooks (like Sonya)—it’s the application of insight that leads to better living—not the looking at it. And…

2) To challenge you to start doing things with insights, too!

…You’re not really just going to nod along and do nothing with these insights after reading them are you?!

Enough looking; time to start embodying.

…Your better life depends on it.

If you’re serious about making something happen in your future, the realization of that thing should be made a serious priority in your present.

If your goal is to own your own business one day… but you’re not doing anything about that today (e.g. building a side hustle, writing a business plan, prototyping products, etc)… the reality is: you’re not serious about wanting to own a business one day—you’re fantasizing.

If your goal is to get into the best shape of your life… but you’re not doing anything about that today (e.g. exercising, eating healthy, sleeping properly, etc)… the reality is: you’re not serious about wanting to get into the best shape of your life—you’re fantasizing.

If your goal is to build a beautiful, happy family… but you’re not doing anything about that today (e.g. investing time into relationships, putting yourself into fresh social situations (if you’re single), reading up on love/ parenting/ relationship building, etc)… the reality is: you’re not serious about wanting to build a beautiful, happy family—you’re fantasizing.

Making your future goals actionable today is how you prove to yourself that you’re serious.

And making future goals a reality always starts with choosing to be serious about them today.

P.s. Need help becoming future serious? My guide will help.

This week, Mark Manson challenged his following to:

“Do something that increases the chances something good happens to you—this could be doing co-workers a favor, volunteering your time on the weekend, taking the time to meet other parents at your child’s school, whatever. Think of something you can do, then go do it.”

And it made me think about the times when I’ve gotten “lucky” and something good happened to me…

Times when strangers were turned into friends; times when running into friends turned them into good friends; times when I was a victim of a random act of kindness; times when I had a direction changing conversation; times when one thing led to a lover.

And it made me think about how none of those things ever happened while I was being passively entertained or otherwise choosing to withdraw from the world.

There’s a time and a place to withdraw from the world—undoubtedly. The introvert in me knows. But, it might not be the best strategy for increasing luck—depending on what that means to you.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.