Jan 6 2010
So…I…just like most busy bloggers have a million and one blog ideas, some I actually start on…and others I actually write and finish. Going through my drafts I saw a bunch of topics that I’d like to touch on one day, but since they’re probably not going to get finished anytime soon, I might as well put them out there and get them out of my queue.
Most of these are just unfinished thoughts and ideas….but you should get the point.
WWRD
I’ve been reading Tim Ferris’ book “The Four Hour Work Week” and it posed an interesting question. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? If you knew you were 10x smarter than everyone else?
My kneejerk is of course to say, “Make a lot of money and do whatever I want” until I realized how empty a statement that is. Making a lot of money is great and all, but it’d make more sense to figure out what “Doing whatever I want” actually meant.
So here it is, my WWRD (What Would Rashid Do) list.
I’d:
Produce fun documentaries about performers everywhere. Local cats and big names.
Go to Brazil.
Travel the world, take pictures of everything I found interesting and make short films.
Make a comedy show
Put on HUGE cool Soul Aquaticsesque events
Make really cool websites and web concepts
Freerun
Learn a few instruments and the MPC and make music
Play in some deop concept bands
Start concept bands with my friends
Give lectures on doing cool stuff with your life
DJ huge parties with stuff I wanna hear
See the world
make really cool art all of the time and get all of my friends involved
Start interesting businessess ( I don’t know what kind)
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Douchebag
You have to be a douchebag to get things done. I’m sorry to have to say it, but this is the clear reality that I’ve been presented with time and time again. No one in the world has the same vision and goals that you have, no one in the world is going to do exactly what you want them to do, and no one in the world is going to have your best interests at heart. As much as I want to say that it’s sad…it isn’t actually. Because thats the way its supposed to be.
Ok, maybe douchebag is too strong a word. You can be a very well liked person, who does right by everyone and gets everything they want to accomplish done…but you can’t please everyone; and this can make you feel like a douchbag. I know that’s how it makes me feel sometimes. Everyone has needs and if you feel responsible for someone, then it becomes an automatic burden to you to take care of the person(s) you feel responsible for, whether you actually follow through or not.
I’ve noticed that I place a lot of value in how people feel about both me, and themselves, and while that’s important…it doesn’t make sense to judge yourself from what you perceive others’ perceptions of you are….
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Sponsitility
I have a really bad habit of taking responsibility for things that I’m not logically responsible for.
Naw.
I mean, I think theres a level of responsibility that I feel we have to each other as human beings. You have an ability to effect people around you and with that ability you should at the very least be aware of that. That’s whatever part of most of us that makes us hit a wall instead of another person. Pretty simple concept, right? We all understand the idea of not letting your actions effect someone more negatively than it effects you positively. You don’t hit the person in the face because for that one second of release, they have a hurt face for days or weeks…and that causes problems.
The question though, is how much do you allow that to control your decisions. On simple things it’s pretty easy. You don’t punch them. If you have to punch something you punch a wall. Other situations are a little more complicated. You may not say something you feel because you think that it’s going to hurt someones feelings and you don’t want to be the person responsible for hurting their feelings. (This particular situation is tricky, because sometimes honestly is in the persons best interests)
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It’s…Complicated
I believe you have to accept people for who they are, but challenge them to be better.
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Vulnerability and Submission
So, the title of that post makes it look like it’s some rated XXX post, but really it’s about the same conversation I’ve been having with everyone these last couple of weeks about happiness and enlightenment, and so much of those things to me come back to vulnerability and submission.
I’ve noticed something in the most talented people I know. I’m talking about concert violinists, math geniuses, professional (or cats that almost went pro) athletes and so on. The most common trait is they allow their craft to work on them. They allow it to be a back and forth with what they’ve learned and trained to do…and what they feel…
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Moses
So, I just found out a friend of mine passed away today. While Moses and I weren’t good friends, he was definitely someone who’s passing means something to a lot of people. He was the co-host of the gathering, a pretty visible person in the Philly hip-hop scene and a prominent person in what I consider the West Philly dope person conglomerate.
We never had the chance to get very close for a lot of reasons, and that made me think about what makes you prone to be close to anyone. I feel like with most people there is a emotional, mental, spiritual connection or a connection of mutual interests, and those are all things to be cherished.
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Maturity
I feel like the more honest I feel, and the more honest I allow myself to be, the more I’m seemingly unattached to things that seem to be unimportant. If anything, it feels more natural to disconnect from old ideas and what I feel like people seem to attach them to and connect to whats honest.
That’s not to say I feel some connection to any higher power, or anything like that, but what feels more natural to align myself with doesn’t seem to look right…or what seems to be a bit unconventional…
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Resolutions
I’ll be the first person to tell you that the idea of New Years resolutions is retarded. Why wait until the start of some new time to develop new habits, and believe that you’ll be a new person because of some date changing. I’ve personally never been good for them, so I resign to make my changes as I go…naturally.
But, there IS something to the new year for me. Since my birthday falls right after New Years (January 3rd…hint hint) it’s not just the year changing, but I get a little older too. What I’ve noticed too, is by choice or not…every year there’s a dramatic shift in something that happens in my life…and it always happens sometime between December and January. It’s either an internal or external shift, often not by my choosing, that pushes me into a new direction in thinking or whatever.
As I get older, I’m starting to notice the patterns that these shifts take…and it’s not just me. I see very similar patterns acting in the lives of people I’m close to as well. The gaps that we all seem to have in growth that life forces us to embrace. Some things notice and overcome them, and other things we struggle with for the rest of their life.
That’s just the nature of things I guess.
While I’m not big on New Years resolutions, I am very big on going into the new year fresh. Since, for me anyway, a new year immediately marks a new age, and often marks external changes, it makes sense to move into it with as little baggage as possible. I think as we get older we get more and more comfortable with the amount of baggage we let clutter our minds and hearts.
So it’s good to make a habit to constantly assess what’s clouding your judgment and informing your expectations.
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Social Networking
Social networking has become a large part of how my generation communicates with each other. In my humble opinion, it’s made and best used to both stimulate and facilitate real life connections. Twitter, facebook, myspace and so on are all amazing tools to meet people, converse and sometimes use to break the ice and get past that awkward initial meeting , “What the heck should we talk about” phase.
For a while I would get annoyed with people that not only have twitter on their phone, but insist on facebooking, tweeting, etc in a group setting. If it’s only to say…”Hanging out with @rashidzakat (follow me) or something absolutely hilarious, ok…but if it’s something not only annoying about sending a play by play of tweets to people, but it’s offensive…and I just figured out why.
To me, tweeting/facebooking is something that you use to stay connected to people, and to make new connections. I tweet to my friends if I feel like I’m filling them in on something…but it’s a partially conscious process…so I have to make the intent to send a message out to people.