Originally posted on Facebook HERE
So, this is the 157th “Looking Out My Back Window” post. I’ve been doing them weekly since 2017. Last week finished three years of posts, this week starts year four. That’s just crazy to me. I publish all posts as a book annually, so watch for the third book in the series coming out soon. This week, right before I started writing I get an email from my friend Derek Sivers, who started a company called CD Baby years ago when I was in the band Road Trip. It’s an incredible story that he talks about in his book “Anything You Want” – one of my favorite books of all time. Basically, he figured out how to make a page on his band’s website where people could order their CD online using a credit card. Doesn’t sound like much, right? Not by today’s standards – but that was big stuff in the 90’s before the internet was as fast as it is now and things had gone mostly digital. So – he got approached by other local bands to make a page for them to sell their CDs, too. He started charging for his time – a setup fee and a portion of every cd sold. Eventually, he saw potential to do this for bands nationwide (maybe even worldwide). He ran the business out of his garage, and it became the most successful website for independent music on the internet. He sold it to CD Universe in the early 2000’s for something like $24 million dollars. He’s one of the most intelligent and interesting people I know. We’ve emailed back and forth through all of it. Even today, when he emailed me to give me the opportunity to get an advance copy of his new book “Hell Yeah or No”, and I had an issue with the download – he responded to my email within five minutes. He encourages people to email him, and says he responds to every email received – that certainly has been his track record with me. Very interesting person. Anyway, I got his new book. Derek is a fantastic writer. Very succinct, and almost always an “a-ha” moment. This is a collection of his blogs. I’ve probably already read all of them, as I try to read everything he posts, but still – you forget. I love “blog” books. Easy to read a chapter or two, put them down, come back anytime. It didn’t take me long before I sat there, jaw agape, thinking “damn, he’s so right on about this”. The chapter is called “actions, not words, reveal our real values”. It’s brutally honest. I’ve talked about it in the past, certainly in my book “Feed Your Angel” – but I called it “The Power of Will (somedays never come)”. We all have things we keep in the back of our minds that we’d like to do “someday”. Derek says in this chapter of his book that if we’re not actively working on making it happen, then we really don’t want to do it. That our actions show us what we really want. He goes on to say there are two smart reactions to this: 1. Stop lying to yourself, and admit your real priorities (this is a topic I also discuss in my book “Everybody Dies”) – 2. Start doing what you say you want to do, and see if it’s really true (what I call “the power of will” in Feed Your Angel). In my book, I talk about pulling those things we’ve kept in the back of our minds to do “someday” off the shelf, and set an “I will” goal. “I will” – write a book this year, record an album in the next twelve months, start taking piano lessons this month, etc… and see how it feels. Does it excite you? Will you move forward? If it doesn’t excite you, and you don’t move forward you really don’t want to do it then. Why hang onto “someday” goals you’re not willing to work on today? I look forward to reading the rest of Derek’s new book, and encourage you to read “Anything You Want” if you haven’t done so already, as well as following his blog. Super inspirational stuff.
