While I agree with this assessment, I think its due to a more primal desire.  I think that the majority of individuals, American or otherwise would like to make a positive contribution to their community, country or the world and would like to be recognized and respected for that contribution.  This belief is supported by Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs established in 1943.  In his research he states that humans have different types of needs beginning with the physiological needs (breathing, food etc) and ending with self-actualization (morality, creativity, problem solving etc).  Although his work  has been criticized because of the absolute nature of his hierarchy, those criticisms do not detract from the concept of the being different types of needs that individuals must meet.  In his hierarchy, there is an esteem need that states that all human beings have the need for self-esteem, self-respect, respect by others and respect for others.  Perhaps President-elect Obama’s call for active citizenship is taping into that need.

I would argue that there are many people like me that are comfortable in their current occupation and miss the fire of their earlier idealistic years.  For many of us, we lost ourselves along the way to achieving financial security.  Perhaps you took a job that paid well, but was far from your heart or choose a career path that guaranteed a good living, but lacked camaraderie and shared sense of purpose.  Many of us have families, mortgages and other responsibilities that will make it too difficult to transition another career. Or at least that is what tell ourselves.  I don’t believe that any longer. The most important question is what to do rather than how can I do it.  If it is important you will find a way.

For those that are in school, unmarried and only responsible for yourself then the answer is pretty simple, find a cause or problem you think needs solving and find a way to contribute to the solution.  It may mean starting a non-profit or for profit company.  I could mean that you need to join a organization that is dedicated to your cause.  One caveat, if you are in school, I think it is worth while to stay. I am planning on going back to school for a Ph.D.

If you are responsible to and for others, I think your choices are the same, but the execution is different.  Unless you have significant savings, you probably can’t afford to just abruptly shift careers, but you can begin to take the necessary steps to switch.  First, you need to discover what you believe in.  In doing so, you need to let go of you current occupation and don’t be too concerned about whether or not you have the appropriate skill set.  Second, once you’ve identified a cause you want to get involved in you need to find other organizations that are addressing your cause and get involved.  Involvement may mean volunteering to do something small (e.g. answering phones or calling for donations) or it may involve you providing your skills to the organization for free.  No organization will turn down a volunteer whose willing to work in virtually any capacity.  Third, after you’re sure that this is the cause you want to be involved in you need to look for opportunities.  Opportunities are like leaves, they are everywhere as long as you’re willing to look at the world with a sharp eye.  While the organization that you are volunteering with may not have opening or the ability to pay for your services their may be another organization or another niche of the cause not being addressed that you could start a commercial entity to address.  There is nothing wrong with profit and service.  Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) argues that some of the most successful entrepreneurs are those who found a cause or problem that wasn’t being addressed and felt compelled to provide a solution.

I’ve always wanted to make a difference.  That was certainly a primary motivation for this site.  I’ve decided recently to scale up my activities and tackle a really hard problem, namely the lack of empowerment in ordinary people.  Every time I hear someone say that they could never do something that some famous person has done either in the present or the past, my first reaction is to ask why not?  Why couldn’t you do the same in  a similar circumstance. I think that too many people feel unempowered, that their contributions are too small to make a difference and that they lack the necessary qualities to be great.  I don’t believe any of that. I believe the potential for greatness is in us all and that the only limitations are those we place on ourselves.  We have been given too many wonderful gifts by our creator for it to be any different.

One of the ways that I will tackle this lack of empowerment is help ordinary people become entrepreneurs.  I believe that entrepreneurship is uniquely suited to helping people become more empowered and build self-confidence.  I am embracing entrepreneurship as my own vehicle to become more empowered.

I’m in the same boat as many other who have other responsibilities.  In order to make to time for activities like this blog, I have to stay up late and sleep less.  I know that in the end it will be worth it and that making sacrifices is important.  I try to live by the motto that if something is truly important you make the time.

This is not a rejection or an attempt to minimize my believe in Christ.  There will still be articles about faith and Christian teachings.  One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned is that to become a successful entrepreneur, you must first understand and accept yourself.  I have found that having a strong faith is essential to achieving self acceptance.  However, the larger mission of the site is to help people overcome fear and enable them to develop the personal skills necessary to become successful entrepreneurs.

Reason for the Changes

In my last post, I discussed how I came to accept President-elect Barack Obama as a role model.  One his traits that I admire is his willingness to take on obviously daunting challenges.  Following his example, I have decided to tackle a challenge that I’m really passionate about.

I’ve long felt that the traditional model of success of going to school to get a good job is outdated.  Like, Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, fame I think that entrepreneurship provides a viable road to financial freedom and opportunity.  I believe that during this current financial crisis establishing entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to the traditional model is now even more important.   In my opinion it’s time to change the model.

In order to effect this change, it’s necessary for individuals to develop themselves and learn entrepreneurial skills.  Although, I could attempt to address both of these challenges in a single site, I feel like it would dilute both messages too much.  Instead there will be different sites with different, but linked missions that are part of a larger initiative.   Also, having by making these efforts part of a company, I hope to make it easier to develop the resources to recruit like-minded individuals to my cause.

Before the end of the year, I hope to have several other announcements that will help make the reason for these changes clearer.

Before I get too far ahead of myself,  I need to spend a little time describing the evolution of my reaction to the election of Obama.  At first it was no different than many other Americans.  I was speechless.  As I stated in my earlier post, I didn’t think it was possible for Americans to elect a black president in my lifetime.  Later, I found that it had changed.  His election forced me to rethink many of my assumptions about race, self-imposed limitations and freedom.  I began subconsciously to compare myself to President-elect Obama, specifically his ability to transcend race and his apparent and deep understanding and acceptance of himself.  I doubt that I’ve seen someone so comfortable in their own skin as he is.

As has been my habit in the past, I got a little down on myself. I know it seems unreasonable, but like many people who grew up in a family where being perfect was the accepted norm and anything else was considered failure, I at times have difficulty cutting myself a little slack.  As much as I admired and respect President-elect Obama,  his achievements would seem to make whatever I did pale in comparison.  I know it seems ridiculous, but I couldn’t help but compare myself to the man and feel as though I had come up short.

In many ways, I was repeating my pattern of limiting myself.  Instead of being inspired by President-elect Obama, I was setting his accomplishments (fully acknowledging their historic nature) as the limits of what could be achieved.

It took me a little while to realize that rather than comparing myself to President-elect Obama, I should consider him as role model.  Someone to both admire and learn from.  This is something new for me. I grew up with few role models.

And, in the case of Obama there is much to admire. He has many admirable qualities that are worth emulating:

1. His sense of mission to help others
2. His sense of hope for the future
3. His cool demeanor especially in the face of crisis
4. His desire to leverage the best of everyone
5. His ability to inspire others
6. His nearly complete understanding of himself

It’s in many ways liberating to have a role model who will blaze a path that you can follow and hopefully surpass.  Whatever road that I choose to follow, I will be immeasurably better off because of President-elect Obama’s historic victory.  I am slowly learning that the only limits that exist are those that we put on ourselves.

Today however we enter a new period.  Today an African American has become the President of the United States which some consider the most important, most powerful man in the world.  More importantly, he has become the leader of all Americans, chosen freely and in a commanding way by Americans.  This doesn’t mean that racism is dead, but it does mean that the conversation about race changes fundamentally. It’s hard to argue that the glass ceiling is real when there are black CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies and a black President.

I know that for me it changes my whole life, as I am sure it will for many other African Americans.  I’m young, only 32, but I grew up in a time when racism went underground becoming a shifty and subtle piece of work that was hard to identify and navigate.  I’ve dealt with friend’s whose white parents didn’t want me playing with their kid’s because I was black, white teachers who didn’t want me to take advanced classes despite my having all of the prerequisites including the correct academic standing and peers who couldn’t understand a clean cut, black kid who did well in school and listened to U2 and Public Enemy.  Along the way, I learned to keep my guard up, I never knew who to trust completely who would look beyond my skin color to see me.  As you can imagine, I developed a chip on my shoulder that never quite went away, until today.

My experiences taught me that I would have to be better than others in order to have similar opportunities.  It taught me that there was such a thing as white privilege and that it would limit how far I could go.  Despite my faith, I still held on to that believe deep inside in that dark place that I don’t like to admit exists.  I didn’t believe that Obama would become President. I didn’t think a black person, man or woman could become President of the United States in my lifetime.  Thankfully, I have been proven wrong.

His election means that all the doors are open. Although crossing their thresholds may prove perilous, what was once cloudy and uncertain is clear and available to those willing to put in the effort.  It also means that as black people it is time for us to let go of the past, not to forget, but to make room for a future that is full of possibility. Isn’t that the promised land. A place where one is able to succeed or fail based on one’s efforts.  I am not suggesting that the playing field is level or that their are not systemic problems that need to be overcome. What I am suggesting is that we can free our spirits and let them soar. No longer to we have to limit our ambitions because of our skin color.  No longer are entertainment and sports the only ways to achieve success  Success comes in many flavors and today has proven that the doors are open.

I know that for many people, especially White American’s this may appear to be overkill, but it is hard to convey the importance of last nights events.  Jackie Robinson is a historic figure, but Obama’s election dwarf’s even his mighty accomplishments.  His election represents a future where anything and everything is possible.

Not only is the world denied, but they too lose something very valuable. I’m not sure how to describe it.  Writing is about creating.  There is a rush and power that comes from creating.  I’m sure that it must be true for other artists like painters and sculptors.  To take a blank canvas, stone or page (screen) and to shape it or fill it with your own views is heady stuff.  Now that I think about it, I’m sure that craftsman and others that work with their hands in some productive way must experience the same feeling.

I think that the act of creating requires you to involve your soul in your actions. I mean that the activity, whether it’s writing, painting, gardening, etc. touches the core of your being. At least this has been my experience.

I have found that when I write, particularly for this blog, but in general as well, that afterward I have a sense of calmness and relaxation that is hard to recreate with other means (e.g. working out).  It’s this sense of euphoria that is so amazing.  I used to run competitively when I was younger and often I would experience the infamous runner’s high”, which occurred after a tough run (usually referred to as a good run).  Although, I would be exhausted, I felt like I could run forever.

Writing is similar. When I’m writing, I often think much faster than I type, so even with my hands flying over the keyboard, I still miss words in some sentences because my hands can’t keep up with the speed of my thoughts.  I’ll be so charged that I won’t be able to contain my excitement.  Definitely, a danger if I get on a roll too late in the evening. As I am doing now

I think that any activity the allows your to express yourself in a way that engages the complete you (e.g head, heart and soul) in a genuine way becomes very personal.  I believe that the arts (e.g writing, painting, sculpting etc) fit this model, I’m not sure about the performing arts. I wonder if the act of performing because of the immediate feedback from the audience doesn’t spark a different, but perhaps similar feeling.

I’m sure that other activities such as tweaking or tuning machines, gardening etc are close enough in result to creating that you would obtain a similar sense of relaxation and euphoria.

Back to the title of the article.  Writing is a personal activity.  When writing is about creating something that you care about the work become spiritual.  It becomes an extension of you.  So go write, create put yourself out there in a meaningful way, I guarantee you’ll be better for it.