Part Six: Surround Yourself with Passionate People

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."

Nelson Mandela.

The sixth and final part of Exploring the Intersection of Endurance and Creativity.

Being around passionate people is infectious. It doesn't matter what their passion is for, it's the level of passion that counts. It is also important to let people into what you are doing. It provides not only encouragement but the opportunity for constructive criticism and feedback.

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Back To The Future.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and amid a lot of laughter and discussion, my buddy invited one of our guests to watch a Back To The Future marathon on October 21st. “Why that particular date?” I asked. Before he opened his mouth I knew the answer. In the second movie it's the date the DeLorean lands in the future and Marty has to save his son from making a bad decision. The conversation then led to how accurately it portrayed the future back when the movie was released in 1989.

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Powering Down.

Annoyed, impatient, anxious, envious. That was pretty much my mood at the beginning of the week. I had said to my wife in the middle of March that April would be a reset month for me. No book launch, no ultra-marathon, no promotional work to do. I anticipated time away from the Internet and more time outdoors with the good weather arriving, and yet, there I sat on Monday afternoon wanting to throw my iPhone at the wall and just step out of the world for a while.

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Ruminations.

I once read a really humorous book based on observations of the French. It said that the beginning of the year here is in September, when the kids restart the school year and the French have all come back from vacation. It struck me the first year I was here just how many businesses and shops completely shut their doors in August and take the month off. Bakeries, flower shops, estate agents and the like are all closed for a solid month. Forget about capitalism, vives les vacances!

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Two Weeks To Go!

These past two weeks have been busy, mainly because I am trying to self-promote the book. Ugh, it really is tiring and not fun. I mean, who wants to talk about themselves a lot? This morning we had some talented friends over to film a short snippet that will go out around the time of the official book launch on Amazon (March 11th, stick it in your diary!).

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