Mark McClung is the creator of My Daily Mark, a blog dedicated to helping people, especially high school students, take action in their lives. In this episode Mark talks about the lessons he has learned, why you need to find your passion, and leveraging projects to your advantage.
Here are three important lessons you can learn from Mark:
One of the most important lessons Mark has learned is the importance of taking action. Every success he has seen was the result of taking action on the ideas he has.
One thing Mark said really stood out to me. He says that inspiration alone is not enough to get you where you need to go. "Without action, inspiration is nothing more than entertainment." I can't agree with him more.
Anyone can watch inspiring talks or read inspirational books. Only people that take action on that inspiration actually achieve something great.
It doesn't require much to take action. All you need to do is break down your goal into individual action steps. Once you break things down into small, actionable parts, it becomes much easier to accomplish them.
Another thing that Mark advocates is finding your passion. Once you find your passion, it becomes much easier to move forward with your idea.
Just because you don't know what your passion is doesn't mean you won't be able to discover it. When you pursue things you enjoy, you may discover your passion.
This quote perfectly describes passion and taking action, "You don't have to know what your passion is. You just have to take passionate action."
The most important thing is to take actionable steps. It doesn't matter how big or small those steps are, just as long as you are taking them.
Mark is a huge advocate of starting projects through your passion. He has used these projects to make himself stand out from his peers and get new job opportunities.
In college, he started his own advertising company which lowed him to learn many aspects of business. He was able to turn a $100 budget into a company with 20 clients. This separated himself from other recent college graduates when he went to get a job.
Mark and his wife also started a social network for teachers. Although he eventually moved on from the project, it taught him valuable lessons and allowed him to start his next project.
These projects have allowed him to rise the ranks of his career ladder, they have taught him lessons that he might not have learned otherwise, and they have allowed him to experiment and find things he was passionate about.
Stephen Pirie is the director of many companies including Nurture Change, Unleash Travel, and Spirit of Sharing. Through these companies, Stephen is creating retreats for business leaders, building a safe travel experience for youths from New Zealand and Australia, and giving back to the youths of Fiji.
Dan Galperin is the man behind the Man Power Project, the Fight Club for the Soul. Through one on one coaching and group calls, he helps men discover what it means to live well. In this episode Dan talks about his travels around the world, why you need to love yourself, and how you can become more confident.
Here are three important lessons you can learn from Dan:
One of the most common limiting beliefs he found in people is not believing in themselves. When he was younger, Dan used to get so angry that he would punch himself in the face. He realized this was a self-destructive practice and changed the way he viewed the world.
He now regularly says “I love you” to himself. This is a reminder that he is good enough. He wants to take this lesson and share it with others. In order to become confident, you must first love yourself.
After talking to many people, Dan has come to the realization that we are all the same. We all have the same doubts and fears.
Even the most famous celebrities and self-help gurus have these doubts and insecurities. It doesn’t matter how much success you have, we all feel these things because we are human.
This fact is quite liberating. When you are going through times of doubt, just remember, everyone has those same doubts. We are not alone in this journey.
One thing that holds many people back is the fact that we are always comparing ourselves to others. We look at other people’s lives and are jealous of what they have.
We never compare ourselves to people who we think are lower than us. We are always comparing ourselves to people who we think are above us.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, we must be comfortable with who we are. There’s no point in comparing your journey to anyone else’s. We must fight this internal battle and realize we are the only thing holding us back.
When we compare ourselves to others we are holding ourselves back. Dan believes everyone has a greatness inside them, and I can’t help but agree.
Dorie Clark is a marketing strategy consultant, speaker and contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Time, and Entrepreneur. She authored the books Reinventing You and Stand Out, and is also an adjunct professor of business at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. In this episode, Dorie talks about how she went from working on Howard Dean’s political campaign to being a business consultant, how you can reinvent yourself, and what you can do to stand out.
Here are three important lessons you can learn from Dorie:
Dorie did not start her career as a marketing strategist. She worked her way there. Before she ever started advising businesses and teaching business courses at Duke, she was a journalist, political campaign strategist, documentary film maker, and head of a non-profit.
It was only after going through this journey that she found her calling. Instead of accepting the fact that you can’t change your status in life, figure out how you can change it instead.
The way to do this is through experimentation. While making the documentary, Dorie discovered she was much more comfortable with words than she was making videos. The only way she could have discovered this was by trying it first.
By experimenting, you can discover what resonates with you. Try things until you find the thing that lights you up inside.
Through her journey, Dorie was able to reinvent herself multiple times until she found what she wanted to do. If you want to make a career change or you want to change how people perceive you, you must first discover your brand.
The problem is, it is hard for most people to know what their brand is. We know far too much about ourselves to know what our brand is. Dorie advocates asking half a dozen people close to you “If you only had three words to describe me, what would they be?”
This will give you a good idea of how others perceive you. If they chose words you don’t want to describe you, you must determine how to close the gap between those words and the words you do want to describe you.
In this noisy and competitive world, the only way to become successful is to stand out. Dorie wanted to systematize a process for talented people to be recognized and heard.
For Stand Out, she spoke to thought leaders such as Seth Godin, David Allen, Robert Cialdini, Daniel Pink, and Tom Peters. She also spoke to regular professionals in a variety of fields. Through this process she discovered the three things people can do to stand out.
This starts with building one one one connections with trusted people. This allows you to gain feedback from people you respect.
Once you have a network of trusted people, you can build an audience. You can only get so far communicating one on one, so you must communicate your ideas publicly.
If you have ideas that people resonate with, you can leverage it through a community. Ambassadors of your idea are the most powerful asset you can have in order to stand out. When your ideas are bigger than yourself, you will stand out.