If I Could Be Anyone, Who Would I Be?

When I was in the sixth grade, I went to school with a boy whose brother was two years older than us. He was a big, strong wrestler and his name was Phil.

I admired Phil. He was like a hero to me. In fact, I liked him so much that I went home from school and told my parents I wished they would have named me Phil. Better still, I asked if it would still be possible to change my name.

My parents were great. They didn’t belittle my request and they actually agreed to call me Phil for the next two weeks as a test to see if I really wanted to change my name.

That was 38 years ago and I remember as if it was yesterday. Thankfully, I changed my mind after two weeks and my inner Phil quietly faded away (until my younger sister told her kids about the story – you can guess what they sometimes call me to this day).

What’s the point? The point is that I don’t have to change my name to become who I really want to be in life.

Which leads me to Natalie’s second question for Day 2 (question 1 is coming):

Who would you be if you could do anything with your life?

The answer to that question (about the “who”), at least for me, is the title of James Altucher’s newest book. It’s called Choose Yourself.  If I could be anyone I wanted to be, I would be me.

One of my favorite quotes on this topic is from Oscar Wilde, who said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”  Love that.

Back to question 1 . . .

If you woke up tomorrow and were free to do anything you wanted with your life, what would you do?

Before answering this question, I had to answer question 2. That’s why I moved it ahead of question 1 for this discussion.

Without first knowing who I want to be, it is nearly impossible to determine what I want to do. So, what would I do?

Here is the perfect weekday for this chapter in my life:

1. Arise at 5 a.m. (I love to get up early because I can get so much more done)

2. Read, Write and Reflect for 1 hour.

3. Wake up my son at 6 a.m. for school, make breakfast and take him to school.

4. Arrive back home by 7:15 a.m. and take Dad to the gym (he lives next door – very cool)

5. Return home from the gym by 8:30 a.m., shower and dress.

6. From 9 a.m. – Noon, write (blog, other websites, brainstorming and ideation, etc.)

7. At 12:30 p.m., take my wife to lunch.

8. From 2 p.m. – 5 p.m., write or create “How-To” Videos for skills I am learning and those I have already learned. Videos are posted on my YouTube channels and on my websites.

9. Evenings include dinner with my family, if we are home, or going to my son’s sporting events. Other evening events may include visiting with friends and family, going to see my daughter and her husband’s band play somewhere in the Portland area, etc.

10. Later evenings include helping my son with homework, practicing or playing music, or doing some physical activity like shooting hoops, riding bikes, going for walks, etc.

11. In bed by 10 p.m. to finish the day with at least 20 minutes of reading.

If that doesn’t seem like freedom to you, it’s good that I chose me and not you in question 2. That kind of day gets me really excited.

No more J.O.B. No more commute to work. More time to pursue the activities I really enjoy. And more time with family and friends. Ahhh.

One problem: What’s my elevator pitch?

Since the preceding explanation might be a little more than I would have time to explain in an elevator, here’s my elevator pitch:

Stranger in the elevator: “What do you do?”

Me: “I’m an entrepreneur.”

Stranger: “What, exactly, is an entrepreneur?”

Me (quoting a definition from Breakthrough Entrepreneurship by Jon Burgstone and Bill Murphy, Jr.): “Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.”

Stranger: “And what do you DO as an entrepreneur?”

Me: “I write, produce videos and teach others to do the same.”

Yep, that’s what I would do . . . right after I sold my house and gave away all of the crap I have accumulated over the last 25 years.