Building Something Meaningful

03/30/2016

There’s a lot of hype about how great it must be to “build” or “make” your own thing – companies, products, services, super-secret-dinner-gatherings-in-obscure-places. But like most things that get hype, it’s much easier said than done. Not because it’s actually that hard, but rather, it’s easy to get in your own way.

Doubt and fear are powerful enemies to creativity. They have a way of inflating what you’re making into something with much more weight than it really has or deflating it into something you think will be worthless. Both of those feelings lead straight to excuses. You find yourself saying you’re too busy, you don’t have enough resources, or you’re not talented enough.

Recently, Ei’s good friends and accomplices at Drink Tank – Annie Swank & Kate Garmey – asked me to share more about what it takes to build something meaningful. As part of their new company focused on innovation through collaboration, they’re creating a video/blog series that illustrates responses to various questions from makers and builders.

So two weeks ago, Annie stopped by Experience Institute. She turned on the recorder, and in just one take…this was my reply to her question:

Take a look.

And if you’re so inclined, think about the prompt and reply with how you would have answered Annie’s question.

Then, keep leaping.
Victor