We've Moved!

After two years and over 200 posts, I am moving my blog to its new home at:

www.randystuart.com

I hope you'll come join me there. I would love to keep our conversation going.

To the thousands of visitors to this site, I offer my most sincere and humble 'Thank You.' I appreciate so much all of you who have stuck by me and have continued to return week after week. I am truly grateful and consistently blown away.

I pray I have been of useful service to you . It has been my pleasure to inspire, uplift, or help you in whatever small way I could. And I look forward to continuing our journey together.

Much love,
Randy

Blog Milestone: My 200th Post!

Today marks another big milestone on this blog: my 200th post. Achieving this mark has been an internal goal of mine since this blog began.

I am grateful for all I have learned and felt in this year since my 100th post. My wish is that in some way I was able to help, inspire, and uplift. To add light and positivity to the world.

I won't lie, when I first began there was something in my mind that believed two-hundred articles was some kind of magical gateway to credibility. A number that, however arbitrary, signified legitimacy and social proof—at least to me. Two hundred posts meant I was not an amateur or a poser or a flake. It meant I could go the distance, that I could see a project through. I was legit.

But in truth there were times it felt like I was writing simply to keep the streak going; to "not break the chain" as Jerry Seinfeld puts it. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. For a writer, darkening the page—even when it is only with half-hearted words—is good medicine. It's being a pro and doing the work.

And like all artists, we mature and evolve over time. Despite appearances, we are literally not the person we were a year ago, or five, or ten. And in that evolution, something deep inside beckons us to grow again, to crack open the cocoon and fly.

So what does that mean for me and this blog?

My gut and heart and soul are telling me it is time to grow and expand. To go deeper. Perhaps even into other mediums like video or podcasting. Honestly, I'm not quite sure where things will lead. The exact path is not yet clear, but I trust it will reveal itself with each new step so long as I remain true to my inner compass. Faith and action have gotten me this far. I have no reason to doubt it will not continue to serve me and, thereby, you.

Time to lace up the boots, light a torch, and head into the dark forest of the unknown. Are you coming with me?

Come Out Of The Shadows

A lot of aspiring artists and would-be entrepreneurs spend years, even decades, lurking in the shadows, toiling away at their beautiful craft in obscurity and darkness. They hide in their cave, desperate to release their beauty upon the world, yet plagued with doubt and uncertainty, the walls echoing with cries of, "I'm not ready."

How will my work be received? Will I be loved, or will I be a laughing stock? Will I soar like an eagle or fall flat on my face?

My plea to all creators everywhere: Please stop hiding!

You will never be ready. There will never be an idyllic time or setting. Conditions will never be perfect. You might not be able to turn your passion into a career—perhaps ever. But it doesn't matter. We need your gifts, however small.

Stop waiting to be smart enough, expert enough, thin enough, rich enough, credentialed enough.

There is never enough "enough."

Come out of the shadows already. Step into the light, face the sun and run straight at it. Stop playing small. Do it now.

Be willing to be seen. Go public. Invite the world in. Share your gifts. Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Welcome the haters and doubters, and quiet them with your generosity.

Avoid suffering the three-headed dragon of misery, shame, and regret. Act now.

Fortune Friday: Comes To A Close

After over two years and nearly a hundred fortunes, Fortune Friday is coming to a close. What started out as a exercise designed to improve my writing skills, Fortune Friday has become something dear to my heart. It has pushed me to get really clear about who I am, what I think, how I feel, and why I am ultimately here in this world.

When I began FF, I gave myself three simple guidelines:

1. Write honestly.

2. No cherry picking. I had to write them as I received them, in order.

3. No repeats. However, I was allowed to open a new cookie if I got a fortune I had already written about. Note: I did repeat once, as an experiment. The same fortune was received roughly one year apart and I thought it would be cool to compare my responses, as well as how my mindset (may) have changed.

That said, it has been a wonderful experience and the results are—at least to me—evident. Nothing will improve your writing skills faster or better than writing. A lot. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes. Just words on a page and plenty of them.

Another positive (possibly the best) side effect is your writing "voice" that will reveal itself over time. Patterns will emerge, from the words you choose to the sentence structures you favor, etc. Things will come into focus artistically.

After a while, you will begin to sound like, well, you—and on a much more consistent basis.

While there are elements of my writing style I recognize in my earlier articles, overall they feel like they were written by someone else. As I am not the same writer I was two years ago, in essence, they were. It is exciting and reassuring to see that change and growth.

Overall, it has been a fun and rewarding experiment which I highly recommend trying. But more important, I hope you enjoyed reading my interpretations and that my words brightened your day—even a little—or moved, inspired, or uplifted you in some way. Thank you again.

To your good fortune!

Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain

In my teen years I was involved in the martial arts. I studied in a very traditional Okinawan Goju-ryu school in New Jersey. It was glorious. I loved the discipline and the ceremony of it all. My teacher tolerated no backtalk, complaining, or hazing. A wrinkled gi was not tolerated. You were expected to wash and press your uniform prior to each class. Silence, bowing, and kneeling were mandatory. Tardiness was the ultimate display of rudeness and was strictly forbidden.

He was very strict. And if you didn't like it, you were welcome to go elsewhere. He had no shortage of students. Something about the call to excellence drew eager pupils to the door.

That school was worlds apart from so many of the contemporary karate schools that dot the land and bookend mini-malls today. Institutions that tolerate sloppiness, where you address your instructor as "Steve."

But that is a discussion for another time.

At the end of every class, my teacher—as he was like to do—would slowly pace up and down the neat rows of students as we knelt in complete silence. Before dismissing us, he would pose a question and then open up the class for discussion. His questions were always poignant, but one in particular has stayed with me all these years.

He asked, "What is the worst kind of opponent to face?"

We raised our hands—as shouting out was not allowed and always met with reproof—eager to please and impress our beloved sensei. He listened patiently as we rattled off our answers which included things like, "someone with a gun" or "a crazy dude on drugs."

He nodded approvingly, as if taking our responses into consideration, then replied, "No, the worst opponent is someone who has nothing to lose."

When a person has nothing to lose, they are free to gain everything. No course of action is absurd or ridiculous. Every avenue is a viable option. One is so naked they become bullet-proof. In a fight, this level of mental freedom can be very powerful.

This is why the samurai would practice "dying" before going into combat. Die in your mind ahead of time, then you won't have that worry hanging over you on the battlefield.

We have many sacred cows in our lives. Things which, like the irresponsible banking institutions of Wall Street, we deem too big to fail. Our homes and possessions, our income and careers. For others it is their spouse or their relationships—even the dysfunctional ones.

We become so terrified of losing what we have, that we tighten our grip on our personal worlds, closing off the ability to receive something new or even better.

To be clear, I am not saying you need to quit your job or leave your family or sell off your possessions in order to pursue your dreams. Then again, you might.

What I am asking is how would your world change if you truly had nothing to lose?

Fortune Friday: "Do not hesitate to look for help, an extra hand should always be welcomed.

Let's break this fortune down into its two parts.

Part 1: Do not hesitate to look for help.

Trying to succeed purely on your own is not only unnecessarily prideful, it's downright foolish. Practically nothing in the history of the world was created in isolation. Everybody gets help somewhere, whether it be a shared idea, divine inspiration, or a helping hand. Big dreams are built by big groups.

Author and thought leader, Byron Katie says, "You can have anything you want in this world if you are willing to ask a thousand people."

A thousand people. But nobody does that. They ask a few close friends or family members. Maybe even their social media circle or a couple of coworkers. And then they stop, not coming even close to a thousand requests. My mother always told me, "It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is 'No'." Keep asking. And then ask some more.

Part 2: An extra hand should always be welcomed.

A local religious leader and neighbor of mine once remarked, "Never criticize a volunteer." When someone offers you an extra hand—literally or figuratively—accept it graciously. It's good for them and better for you.

To your good fortune!

The Ten Percent Solution

So many creatives and would-be entrepreneurs are on a seemingly endless quest to create something the world has never seen. And this can be a worthy pursuit. The downside, however, is this can create enormous pressure to deliver, resulting in performance anxiety and often, paradoxically, the opposite result of what we seek. Instead of innovating, we do nothing. The wall looming before us feels too high to get over. So we don't even bother trying.

But do we really need to reinvent the wheel?

My brother-in-law is a commercial real estate developer who works with hundreds of subcontractors every year. He once remarked that, "If I had a sub where the only difference was that he showed up at the time he said he would, I would give him all my business for eternity."

If you've ever sat around waiting for the cable guy to show up "sometime between 10am and 4pm," you can relate.

This led to a discussion about the little differences that make all the difference professionally—and in life. He continued, "Ten percent better or ten percent different, that's really all you need."

Let's say you are a freelance wedding photographer looking to build your business. What are one or two small differences—just ten percent—that would give you an edge and set you apart from your competition?

The most common path is to be ten percent cheaper. But that can be a slippery slope leading to a race to the bottom. After all, there will always be someone who can (and will) do the job for less.

But don't settle there. Get creative, brainstorm. What else could you do to up-level your services?

Could you return calls quicker? Provide chilled bottled water at sittings? Could you be the photographer who meets in person while your competitors prefer to hide out in cyberspace?

I don't know the solution that will work for you, but I do know there is a ten percent solution that will set you at the head of the pack.