Building, Buckets, & Business

Dear Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Dreamers, and Creators of Great Things: I write these Love Letters each month with the hope of bringing you a little encouragement, some marketing help, and a few minutes of joy. Whether we are already friends or have yet to meet, I hope you’ll enjoy my stories from the road and some awesomely random takeaways, tools, tips, and updates.

Climb

Three years ago today, I hiked the Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye, in north-west Scotland.

It’s a rocky hill, located in the area known as ‘Trotternish’. Legend has it that there was once a giant who lived on the Trotternish Ridge. And when he was laid to rest upon his death, his thumb— the Old Man —remained partially above ground.

The Old Man is 674 meters high, or about 2,211 feet. For some, that isn’t a big deal. For me, it was a very big deal. You see, I was new to hiking and climbing. And all my life, I have told myself, “I can’t do this” when it comes to physically hard stuff. But that cool June morning, I set out to climb it.

I started out really early, prepared for whatever weather the north of Skye was going to dish out. And I got pretty much all of it – rain, ice pellets, sun, and mud. I pulled into the car park and immediately started telling myself I couldn’t do it. I wanted to quit before I even started.

About 10 minutes in, I considered giving up. I stared up at this rock and thought about all of the times in my life I thought I couldn’t go on. Times when I was alone, afraid, depressed, broke, betrayed, and exhausted. And yet, somehow, I made it through. So, I told myself, “Ok, you can only stop and complain every 100 steps.”

The wind is pretty fierce on Skye, and even more so on Storr. About halfway up it started pouring. The path was slippery and uneven. But I kept counting to 99 and then taking time to breathe. I kept looking back and seeing how far I had come. I thought, I can do 99 more. Every time. Just 99 more.

I’m not super fit. I was not in the habit of climbing mountains. But at some point I stopped thinking, “I can’t do this,” and started telling myself “I am doing this.” Every 99 steps – I AM doing this.

And I did! I made it all the way to the base of the thumb. And I looked around me and thought, “If I can do this, I can do anything.”

I smiled like a loon all the way down. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face all day. And three years later, I still smile when I think about it. Since that day, I have hiked mountains much higher – tens of thousands of feet higher.  And I always remind myself, “I am doing this, 99 steps at a time.”

So many of us are climbing right now. The climb feels steep, impossibly long, and it’s raining. We feel ill-prepared for the journey we are on. The market has shifted. What worked before is not working the same way now.

I want to remind us all of something:
Between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps in the mid 1800’s to connect Vienna and Venice. The tracks were built even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They had to invent new types of locomotives to make the journey. But they built it because they knew some day, the train would come. The Semmering is still in use today, and today it still requires twice as many engines to complete the trip.

Start building, friends.
Start climbing.
Even if you don’t think you can make it. Even if you don’t have all the tools or the knowledge or the experience. Start even if you have to stop every 100 steps to breathe. Even if you have to use twice as much effort as others.

Because the view from the top is amazing. And you ARE doing it.

Tell Me Something

I have been hearing the term “bucket list” a lot lately. Every time I have friends that travel, I inevitable see people comment on their posts that it’s a “bucket list” trip for them.

This term was first coined in 1999 by screenwriter Justin Zackham, who created “Justin’s List of Things to Do before I Kick the Bucket” – which later became the basis of the 2007 film The Bucket List, starting Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. It’s come to universally mean something to do before we die.

A couple summers ago, I started making a “Fucket List.” (Sorry, mom.)  Instead of listing all the things that I want to do before I’m dead, I have started listing the things that scare me, and then I do them anyway.

Making my Bucket List is easy:
Deliver a commencement address
Go whale watching in Antarctica
Have my portrait professionally painted
Own an original Anna Blatman
Learn to make stained glass

But writing my Fucket List is much harder. In past summers it has included things like:
Take an unpaid sabbatical
Do a big solo trip
Donate blood
Go on a date
Finish my knitting projects
Launch something new and risky
Go to the beach in a bathing suit and no cover up
Write a book

You’ll notice that some of those things seem relatively small, in the grand scheme of things. And yet, it’s easier to put them off because they require growth and grit.

This week is the official start of summer for me. It’s the week my Summer Camp wraps up and I have a few empty weeks ahead of me. It’s the week that I am writing my Fucket List. So, friends, I am challenging you to do the same. What scares you? What is going to require some grit and growth? What are you committing to do now, instead of putting it off until you die?

Tell me.

This is where I share the good stuff

… the latest websites, books, & tools that are inspiring me, the people who are making me smile, and the stuff I have been writing on sticky notes.

• Read this. It’s beautiful.
• Watch this short video. It’s worth it.
• This basically sums up everything. It’s so good.
• Read this. Then share it with someone else.
• Love this mission-based, women-owned business out of Detroit – making jewelry out of city graffiti. Check them out!
• Everywhere I go, I get compliments on my purse and it’s straps, in particular. This local business makes them by hand.