Write the next chapter

This week has been a fun week to watch the people around me.

I have watched a couple people take the leap into the space that I call “what’s next” and the excitement that surrounds that move is such fun to watch and the energy it expends is contagious. Because normally we spend so much time pouring ourselves into other people’s projects, brands, bottom lines, corporate structures, or whatever, that we hardly take the time or the courage to do it for ourselves.

The interesting thing is that when you take the leap to create something for yourself and follow your passion, very quickly stop surrounding yourself with people that don’t fill or support that need. The key to success is zoning in on your passion and then turning off all of the distractions, permanently. I had coffee this morning and while there the person I was meeting with said something that I wrote down as soon as I got back to the office:

“I stay somewhere or do something for as long as it takes to make it the best I possibly can given the tools I have at the time, then I move on.”

Could you imagine that freedom? You work in an office, with a team, on a show and you do that until it is the best thing it can be and when you feel it has peaked because of whatever variable you will like to choose; money, time, skill, people, market, etc — you challenge yourself with the next chapter of your book.

In the past 14 days we have celebrated the life of Steve Jobs and Dr. Seuss, two of the most profound human beings, the likes of which we might not see again. Or could we? Both men worked in an interesting way creating interesting things but innovation is not unique to them, each of us has a voice in that space. The question is whether or not you are going to take the leap and use it.

Go write the next chapter of your book today, it could be a new podcast, a radio show, a play, a painting, a new restaurant, or actually a book. That choice is yours — but there is no better time to start.

Now go.