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This is my attempt at realizing how much I have to be thankful for. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but instead just a start of the nouns I’ve been so richly blessed by.

1. Waking up every morning knowing I am accepted and forgiven as a child of God [which will forever be a mystery]
2. A family that loves me and encourages me [and blows me away with their support]
3. A wonderful woman I don’t deserve [and who loves me despite my flaws]
4. Clean water [and the opportunity to bring it to others]
5. Living in the best country in the world [and objectively knowing it]
6. The opportunity to attend college [and all that the experience has brought me]
7. Hilarious roommates [and the log cabin we live in]
8. Friends that inspire me to do great things [and their decisions to run alongside me]
9. Christmas Blend [and all that is a coffee shop between Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially]
10. Books [especially Seth's and the impact they've had on me]
11. Blogging [and the opportunities this outlet has brought me]
12. Football [and the way Cleveland sports has made me tougher]
13. Viral Videos [and the way they help people move out of the ghetto]
14. Free shipping [and the joys of getting packages in the mail for much cheaper than you get the same item unpackaged at the store]
15. Fitness [and all that it's helped me achieve]
16. My job [and colleagues who make it a joy to come to work]
17. Cookies [because they taste so good]

Today, let’s not just say what we’re thankful for. Let’s do something about it.

• Tell the people in your life that you’re grateful for their impact and influence
• Thank the Lord through prayers
• Write a note [with your hand!] to someone you appreciate
• Donate to someone who isn’t as fortunate as you
• Volunteer to ring a bell or dish out soup to help those in need
• Let someone know you love them
• Buy coffee for a stranger
• At thanksgiving dinner, ask everyone to share what they appreciate about the person next to them
• Help someone anonymously
• Share what you have
• Do something difficult with the platform and opportunities you have

Let’s make this the most thankful year yet.

When I was growing up, I hated pushing candy bars. I hated book orders. I hated “selling” anything in fundraising form.

I could never quite nail the approach of the sale…

“Would you like to buy a [fill in the blank with crappy product] for only [an unreasonable price] so our school doesn’t shut down?”

It’s impossible to sell something you don’t believe in.

You might be able to fight it for a while. You might be able to trick yourself into believing what you’re hocking is a good product. At some point, however, the house of cards is going to fall, and you’re going to lose hope.

I’ve tried it before. I’ve been scammed into selling things I don’t believe in. It didn’t work. I gave up.

What I’m selling here is something I believe in. I’m selling one day for the lives of 250 people.

What I’m selling is more than my birthday. More than an As Seen on TV product you’re going to be sorely disappointed with.

I’m selling a chance to save lives.

A chance to impact people on the other side of the world. A chance to bring a basic need to people who will die without it.

This birthday isn’t about me. This sale isn’t for a Snuggie or a Shamwow.

It’s about helping your fellow human beings.

It’s about giving generously because you’ve been blessed to live in the world’s most prosperous nation.

I could give you a list of 22 reasons why you should donate. Or 22 things I’ll do if we break $5,000. Or give testimonials of 22 people who have already donated.

I could tell you, “It’s ok if you don’t want to give.” I could tell you water isn’t that big of a deal. I could apologize for my tone, or my bombardment of your inboxes and feeds.

Instead, I’m going to tell it like it is.

45,000 people died last week. Another 45,000 are going to die this week. A child dies every 20 seconds. 1 billion people are thirsty.

All because of water.

I’m asking you to save lives. I’d be a fool to pass up presenting this opportunity to you. This isn’t a plea for money. This is a chance for you to make a profound difference in someone else’s life today.

No matter what you’ve done or didn’t do. No matter how many Salvation Army bell ringers you’ve passed up or people in need you’ve failed to help, now is your chance to do something. I‘ve missed the same opportunities. I’ve left people out in the cold, failed to help those in need, failed to support people who are dying because I was too selfish.

I just decided enough is enough.

Will you do the same?

Click here to donate clean water and save lives.

It’s especially interesting because I am.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng/digital_a

The Big You Problem

I always turn around when I hear my name. It’s a reflex I’ll never shake.

But I rarely  respond when someone says, “Hey, you!”

That’s what spam does. The same is true for telemarketing. And when the professor asks an open question to the class.

All of those channels throw out a massive plea for action and pray at least one person will respond.

In those cases, you don’t take have to take action. You could be anybody. The word you is rationalized and reasoned away from being you [that is, the human reading this].

If I called you by name, you would probably listen. Unfortunately, I can’t.

That’s the problem with blogs. The channel is impersonal. People respond don’t respond because they don’t have to.

In a face-to-face, one-on-one conversation with you, it’s hard to ignore me when I ask you a question. But when the question is posed to the world [or blogosphere, or class, or group, or individuals numbering more than 1], you think, “He isn’t talking to me. Someone else will respond. I don’t have to take action.”

Right now, though, I’m talking to you.

Setting You Straight

I’m asking you to take action. You. The Reader. The one with your eyes on the page right this second. I wish I could call you by name, but blogs limit personal greetings.

Don’t be another person in the crowd that ignores the call. Don’t pretend you aren’t responsible.

It reminds me of the situations when someone passes out and a crowd of people gather around. One person yells out,

“Somebody call 9-1-1!”

But no one does.

You think,

“It’s not me she’s asking to call. It’s the guy next to me. Or the girl on the other side of the circle. She’ll call. She’s a good citizen. I see her on her iPhone right now.”

And everyone else proceeds with the same thought. The ambulance doesn’t come because you have rationalized away the call to you.

Few people comment on blogs. I’d guess even fewer take action after reading a post [but they'll probably tweet it to their friends and post it to their Facebook].

Start taking action. Stop ignoring the call to you.

You have a chance to respond. To take action. To make a difference. You are the one I’m talking to.

What I’m Asking of You

As of Tuesday, November 16 at 8:12am, 39 people have donated to bring clean water to a developing nation. They knew I was talking to them when I said “you”.

Now I’m asking you. The reader. Not someone else. Not the next person to read this or the person before you. I’m. Asking. You.

To those of you who have donated already and shared the link with your friends and family, thank you. I’m incredibly grateful for your response.

To those of you still reading, still waiting for a personal invitation: here it is.

Will you help save lives?

[For more information about donating to help people dying every day due to a lack of clean water, check out the posts here and here and donate here.]

Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.
- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Albert and I are on the same page. I think water is incredibly important. More than just being the precursor to the “ice” of an ice breaker, water is life. I’ve identified three key dimensions in my life that revolve around water. Drinking water helps me complete my daily activities. Living water, my faith in God that guides me, and charity: water, an organization that has inspired me to help people gain access to clean water on the other side of the globe.

I drink water often enough that I have to go to the bathroom constantly. No seriously, there’s a good chance I’d wet myself if I had class for more than two hours in a row.

I love water. I consume upwards of a gallon of the stuff every single day. I enjoy running and working out, and it’s essential to be hydrated if I want to participate in those activities without passing out.

Water is a thread that “runs” through my day. I wake up and drink a cold glass of water. I go to the gym and bring my infamous Yellowstone Park water bottle that my mom snagged for me on a trip out west.

[Speaking of that bottle, I take it with me everywhere, and it's a miracle I haven't lost it. In fact, it's been left in a restaurant in Slovenia, in more classrooms than I can count, and in darn near every single Athens coffee shop. I've tried my best to lose the thing, but it's like a boomerang--I throw it around and it comes right back.]

But alas, I digress. Back to water. As I go through my day, I’m always drinking water. It keeps me refreshed, keeps me focused, and keeps me going. And what’s convenient about water in the United States is that it’s free. We’ll, someone somewhere along the way is paying for the water that magically comes out of the shiny silver pipes we toss our bottles under, but unless we’re in our own homes, it’s not our bill to pay.

Earlier I mentioned I left my water bottle in a restaurant in Slovenia. I went to that little gem of a country in Eastern Europe this past summer on a missions trip with Campus Crusade for Christ. Which brings me to the second part of water in my life: Living Water.

I consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ, who claimed to be the Son of God who died for the sins of humans and rose again to conquer death. He is also known as the “Living Water.”

This might seem a bit crazy and forward to you, and it did to me too, but early in my college career I found the party lifestyle unfulfilling. I found that booze was no substitute for the eternal spring of life and that my actions were acts of rebellion against God.

During my sophomore year, I truly placed my faith in God through a personal relationship with Jesus.

It’s been far and away the best decision I’ve ever made.

Each day I know that I serve a God that loves me and gives me life through the truth of the living water. I could spend the rest of this speech talking about my faith, but I think it’s much better as a conversation than a monologue.

As a result of following the Living Water, I’ve been compelled to help those who are in need. To be completely honest, I’m ridiculously selfish. I wish I could say I do things out of the kindness of my heart, but any good that’s in me is a result of God working through me. With that being said, for my 22nd birthday on November 22nd, I’ve decided to sell my birthday to raise money to build wells in developing nations where people don’t have clean water through an organization called charity: water–the third piece of water in my life.

You already know how important water is to me. I couldn’t go a single day without it, but there are people who are drinking dirty water every day that’s killing them.

In fact, 45,000 people will die this week because they’re drinking dirty water. Every twenty seconds a child dies from a lack of clean water, which means nine have died since the beginning of this speech and another three will die before it’s over.

Dirty water kills more people than cancer and aids combined every single year. People don’t have clean water. People don’t have something we turn a knob for. Something we take for granted. Something we waste.

That doesn’t sit right with me. As a result of that unsettledness, I’ve asked friends, family and strangers to donate $22 for my 22nd birthday to my campaign in an effort to raise $5,000–enough to build a well in a developing nation.

If I raise $5,000 by the end of the year I told the world I’d run another marathon, which is by no means something I would do on my own will. For a lot of people running a marathon isn’t a big deal. For someone who hasn’t run more than a mile in months, I’d call it a pretty big deal.

Oh, and if by some stroke of pure generosity I raise $10,000, I’ll run the marathon barefoot, which is latin for “with no shoes on“.

Is that crazy? Maybe a little. But what’s truly crazy is that people are dying. every. day because they don’t have access to the most basic need on the planet.

My friends, that’s me. That’s my life. That’s how water affects me every single day. Now that the ice is broken, let’s talk about water, because as our boy Arnold says, there is no life without it.

As I scribbled down notes from Scott Harrison’s life story and events leading to the founding of charity: water, I somehow felt isolated from the other 13,000 people in Gwinnett Arena. It seemed as if the spotlights on the center of the stage had slowly, simultaneously spun outward, focusing on me.

I sat still with a pen in my south paw and journal spread wide on my lap, figuratively blinded by the lights, reflecting on the need to do something. I spun through the Rolodex of 21 years of memories in my life and definitively found a section completely empty: helping the helpless.

I was proud of the things I’d accomplished over the years, but I was ashamed at my complete and utter inability to make an impact on people who desperately needed help. It was then, at that moment on October 7 at 11:23am that I decided it was time to fill in the gap in my life. It was time to make a difference for people, to be a voice for those whose voices are drowned out by consumerism in a country with more money than it knows what to do with.

Stories are captivating. They’re in need of telling. They are the only way to get your message through in a world of clutter. Tell stories, bring change. Tell stories, break through.

Here are the five reasons why you must tell stories [or run the risk of not being heard at all]

1. To Engage

A good story captivates an audience. It brings them in. They are no longer outsiders, they are a part of the story. A regular presentation can be is easily forgotten, but a story touches hearts and lives.

Powerpoint slides are easy to ignore. Stories are difficult to resist.

2. To Empathize

It’s tough for people to relate to statistics.

It’s overwhelming when you hear 1 billion people in the world don’t have access to clean water.

What’s a billion of anything even look like?

Statistics like that give us a chance to say, “There’s nothing I can do.“

When you tell a story about one of those people behind the statistics, everything changes.

When you hear about a 15-year-old boy like Jean Bosco who spent nearly every hour every single day making four to five trips to fetch water in a murky, stagnant pond your eyes are opened. He carries a 20-gallon container on his head for miles to get water.

We complain about getting up from the couch to go to the faucet for water.

It’s impossible to imagine what people are going through for water. But a story helps us connect.

3. To Emphasize

There are needs and opportunities all around. There are more products to buy outside of yours, more people to hire other than you, more causes than the one you support.
Many of those products and needs aren’t telling stories.

You have an opportunity to emphasize the need through your story.

Don’t rely on statistics. Real ‘em in with a story.

4. To Elaborate

It’s tough to convey the depth of a need, the truth of a story, the real size of an issue without a story.

Stories take problems and show how far they truly extend.

Clean water isn’t a tiny issue. It’s a far-reaching epidemic that only a story can capture.

5. To Excite

Everyone wants to be a part of a story with a happy ending [Why do you think Disney is so successful?].

When you tell a devastating story, people are hurt. They’re moved. They’re touched.

When you tell them they can be a part of changing the ending, they get excited.

Be a part of the story for clean water across the globe. Get excited. Your donation will change lives.

[Photo provided by charity: water]

First, thanks for asking. I’m blessed to know you care. Here are the questions. If you have more, I’d love to answer them.

Why?

I’d love to be a hipster and just say “Why not?”, but that’d leave us both feeling a little empty.

The truth is that I feel called to impact the world because of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are needy people, Jesus said we should help those in need, and I saw a non sequitur in my life–I say I want to help people, I’m called to help the least of these, but I haven’t been doing a thing about it. I needed to rectify that. This is my first step in that direction.

I’m blessed to be living in the most prosperous nation in the world. I drink the recommended 8-10 glasses of clean water a day, and before last month, I rarely thought about people who are drinking water that’s killing them. Why am I doing something? Because something needs to be done.

Why charity: water?

When I attended the Catalyst Conference last month, I heard the charity: water CEO Scott Harrison speak. I’ve been burdened with the need to provide clean water before, [through organizations like ClearBlue] but I’ve never taken action. Scott presented the idea of donating/selling your birthday to give to charity.

Scott talked about the importance of telling a story when inspiring people to take part in a charity. His passion inspired me, and I decided it was my turn to pass on the story. [And for my devoted blog followers, I gave you a heads up in my Catalyst post: "I’ve got big plans (that most certainly involve you) for my birthday..." Consider charity: water that big plan involving you.]

At any rate, I realized that I know a whole lot of fantastic, generous, giving people and saw an opportunity to tell a story to them. This is that story.

I also chose charity: water because they’ve made giving easy and accessible. Even people with good intentions won’t give if it’s too complicated. Donating is easy–charity: water has made giving life easy.

Is it legit?

The short answer: absolutely.

I don’t think non-profits get more legitimate than helping developing nations and giving 100% of the proceeds to charity. That’s just nuts. If you want to dig around for yourself, here’s all the information and background on charity: water you could ever want [and a direct link to the financials]

Are you doing this to prove something?

The only thing I hope to prove is that there are people with giant hearts who are willing to give until it hurts not for my birthday, not to make me run a marathon, not to get their names on a donor page or a t-shirt, but to prove that helping people who can’t help themselves isn’t just a good idea, it’s a responsibility.

So you’re running a marathon?

That’s the deal. We raise $5,000, and I’ll go 26.2 [the specific marathon is still to be determined based on scheduling conflicts, but I promise it'll be before the end of June 2011].

And how’s this for upping the ante: if we break $10,000, I’ll run the marathon barefoot.

Does a suburban kid from Akron, Ohio who hasn’t run more than a mile in months often go barefoot in marathons?

Considering I’m not a masochist, my normal response would be no. That is, unless, the kid mentioned above is raising money for something really important. Unbelievably important. More important than darn near anything else I’ve ever done. In that case, it looks like the answer yes.

The least I can do is run a race so people can drink clean water.

Why should I care?

I hope I’ve answered that already in this post, but more than anything I hope you care because human beings, people just like you and me, people who live on the other side of the world don’t have something we take for granted. They don’t have something we waste. Their water is killing them. That’s not right. And we can do something about it. Let’s do it.

Here are

22 ways

you can save money over the next 58 days and give to this incredible cause.

1. Rent a movie instead of going to the theatre. Movie tickets are outrageous, normally hovering between $8 and $9 a piece. And don’t tell me you go to the movies and without snagging a bag of popcorn that you need a wheelbarrow to move and a 92 oz. Coke you need an IV to get down. If you have a  family of three [or two friends] find a Redbox and get a $1 rental instead of going out.
2. Donate the money you “saved” from grocery reward programs. There are few things more thrilling in the life of a soccer mom/college student than looking at how much money you saved at the bottom of your receipt after you hit the grocery store. Next time you’re at the store, see how much you saved and donate that amount.
3. Go to Starbucks 1.5 times less a week. I’m no math major but if we assume you skip your $3.75 venti half skim/half whole, [with fat-free sugar-free hazelnut syrup] frappa-mocha-chino 1.5 times a week for a whole month, you’ll save $22.5. Boom. Clean water.
4. Drive 40 miles less a week. Stock up at the grocery store and make one trip for the whole month. Carpool to work. Walk to the corner store. Bike to soccer practice. Whatever it takes, just drive less. If you can cut out 40 miles a week and you average 20 MPG and gas is approximately $2.90 a gallon, in a month you’ll have $23.20. More. Clean. Water.
5. Get takeout instead of eating out. Four words: Applebee’s Carside To Go. No tax on takeout. No tip at the table. Eat out IN YOUR HOUSE! Save that cash.

6. Buy off brand.

   Who needs Frosted Mini Wheats when there are delights likeFrosted Mini Spooners? Think you want Count Chocula? You’re wrong. What you really want is Chocolate Marshmallow Mateys. I can’t make this stuff up. Snag the off-brand stuff, and I promise the mateys and spooners will equally satisfy you.

7. Work more hours. I know it’s not an option for everyone, but even if you make the Ohio state minimum of $7.30 an hour, an extra four hours for the month will get you over $22.
8. Listen to the music you have and stop downloading fart apps. If you actually buy your music [which I encourage, "Hey, RIAA!"], don’t buy any for a month. And you don’t need your 65th worthless iPod or iPhone application. Save your money, turn jams into water.
9. Sell something. By hocking my birthday I believe I’ve illustrated that you can sell anything. That antique hanging lamp that doesn’t work. Poker chips you haven’t used since it was cool to play poker in 2003. A designer sweater still hanging up with the tags on it. Sell it. Have a garage sale. Sell it online. You can do it. Part with it so people can drink clean water.
10. Ask 22 friends for $1. The average person on Facebook has 130 friends on the site [but to be honest, probably less in real life]. Hit up 22 of those “friends” from high school that you never talk to for a dollar a piece. 22 friends x $1 = {crunching numbers….calculating…carrying the one…} $22

11. Trade gift cards online for cash.

    There are a number of sites online where you can sell gift cards to weird restaurants that you’ll probably never use for COLD. HARD. CASH. Do it. I haven’t tried it personally, but from what I’ve seen, Plastic Jungle is legit. Yes, dust off those gift cards from Christmas 2005 and swap ‘em for some Hamiltons.

12. Lower your cell phone plan. NOOOOO! Yes. Do it. Extroverts, cut your unlimited texting for a month and only call people. Introverts, lower your monthly minutes and only text people. Solutions all around. Either way, you can certainly save $22. Or just call your carrier and threaten to leave and see what they say [tell them you'll stick around if they donate for clean water].
13. Sell your textbooks. College students, if you have a book you can’t sell at the bookstore, try hustling it online. I’ve used Half.com a number of times and had tons of success selling there. Don’t let that Sociology of Apes in 3010 textbook sit lonely at the bottom of your dirty clothes pile any more. Move it online and get some cash.
14. Stop buying bottled water. If you buy bottled water at the store or from a vending machine, stop. Snag a cheap refillable bottle and use that for the month. You drink tap water = kids in Africa drink clean water.
15. Collect and count change. You know those shiny coins with dead presidents? If you get a bunch of them they are worth some paper money. Ask your friends for change. Flip the couch over. Pick up every penny you see on the street. Then count it and take it to the bank [and don't you dare take it to Coinstar or you'll have to find 8.9% more of it. It costs a lot to pay that little guy inside the machine who counts the coins].

16. Donate in the name of someone.

    The holidays are coming up, and what better gift can you give then donating water in someone’s name? Birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza–give a gift that keeps on giving in the form of pure H20. Shoot, if you do that, I’ll even make up a certificate and MAIL IT TO YOU in honor of the person you’re donating for.

17. Recycle 440 aluminum cans. That’s a lot of cans, you say? Maybe contact one of your friends whose having a big “soda” party, snag the empty vessels and then take them to the nearest recycling center for 5 cents a “pop.”
18. Get thrifty. Don’t buy a new outfit for the holidays at full price. Hit up your local Goodwill or Salvation Army and get one of those stylish Christmas sweaters. Money in the bank [and bonus points for being the most fashionable one at your family gatherings].
19. Use the library instead of buying books. I understand that the average American buys one book for pleasure reading a year. If you’re one of those Americans [or if you're a book-buying Canadian] hit up the library instead of Amazon for your next book need. Free books = cash for water.
20. Get crafty. Knit something, sew something, bake something. Use random things you have around the house, sell it on Etsy.com and give the proceeds to be a part of changing the world.

21. Live in the dark and take less showers.

    Lots of benefits in this one. Cut your electric and water consumption to save some money. Not only that, but your friends might ask if you’ve been living in a cave. If they do, tell them if they donate you’ll take a shower, making hanging out more enjoyable for everyone.

I promised 22, so I need your help. In the comments, let us know: What will you do to bring clean water to people who desperately need it?

To make a long-story short:

I’m asking you to donate $22 for my birthday to save lives by providing clean water. If we raise $5,000 by the end of the year, I’ll run a marathon (and you’ll get a shout out on my shirt). 

To make a short-story long:

On November 22, I turn 22, but this year, I’m giving up my birthday.

No gifts. No cards. No cakes, pies, or presents.

All so that some of the 1 billion people in the world who don’t have access to clean water can have another chance to live.

And I need your help.

I’ve created a campaign at mycharitywater.org/jshirk. Will you donate $22 [or really, as much as you want to change lives and give people clean water to drink] to make this the best birthday ever?

And to sweeten the pot, I’ll run another marathon [which is pretty much the last thing on the planet I want to do] if we raise $5,000 by December 31, and you’ll get your name on the shirt I wear.

Here’s why:

In the United States, water is an afterthought. It’s everywhere. It’s clean. We can buy it by the ounce or by the gallon.

Our water isn’t contaminated. It’s available. It’s clean. It’s the purest of pure. Heck, some of us pay to import our water from Fiji because “it tastes better.”

In other parts of the world, people die every day because they have no clean water.

As in no clean water to drink, to cook, to shower. No clean water because their toilet is next to the watering hole. No plumbing, no flushing, no turning the tap on when you’re feeling parched. There is no clean water.
This isn’t hypothetical. This is real. This is not just statistics.

Scholastica in Kenya can’t go to school because she’s too sick to walk from the water she’s’ drinking.

Wilgens in Haiti probably won’t make it to his next birthday because of the cholera outbreak and lack of clean water.

And there are billions, yes billions, of others who need our help.

People are dying because they don’t have clean water. WATER.

They’re not dying because they don’t have iPads.

They’re not dying because they have to wait in the drive through line of McDonald’s.

They are dying because they don’t have something that we waste by the gallon.

Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease. Every. 20. Seconds. [As in five kids have died since you've been read this post.]

These statistics make me weep. I refuse to let people die because they don’t have something we take for granted.

If you…

• love me, donate.
• read this blog, donate.
• were going to send me a card, give the money to kids who need water instead of Hallmark and the Postal Service and donate.
• disagree with me on all levels and want to make me run a marathon that I don’t want to run to inflict pain on me, donate
• want to change lives, donate.

Will you donate?
WIll you join me?
Will you share this post?
Will you help me save lives?
Will you give up your birthday?
Will you skip Starbucks to give?
WIll you change the world with me?

If you want to get involved at a deeper level than donating [say be running with me], or help me sweeten the pot in some other way, shoot me an email at jshirkman [at] gmail [dot] com.

It wasn’t easy. But I did it (and when it questioned me, I asked “Did I stutter?“)

You see, The Resistance is a deceiver. It distracts and deters and diminishes and defiles.

It tells you lies.

Lies like:

You can put off that project until next quarter.
You don’t need to reach out to people.
The status quo is all that can be expected.

It’s the voice in the back of your head that all too often wins out.

The one that reasons you out of doing meaningful work.
The one that keeps you from having a tough conversation.
The one that tells you that failure is imminent.
The one that tells you to check your post views to validate your work

I was scared.

I was scared to write my first non-recap related blog post in weeks.

I was scared that I had no value to add, no thoughts to convey, no meaning to transmit in a world with too much content.

So I knew I had to do it.

I knew I had to tell you (yes you, on Facebook, checking your email) that today is the day you can shut up The Resistance to.

Don’t go to another website. Don’t tweet another link. Don’t walk to the water cooler to see if the Dixie cups need replaced.

Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. – Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Today, do something you’re scared to do. It won’t be easy, but few things that are worth doing ever are.