I’ve stated before that I have been a big fan of Seth Godin’s books and blog for a long time. (Sign up for his mailing list, the daily post will come right to your inbox. No thought required.)
And, over the years, I have gained way more from Seth’s books and blogs than he has gotten from me through the purchase of his books….and so it goes.
Last week when Seth posted his newest manifesto Stop Stealing Dreamsabout the topic of education in America, it really struck a chord with me. When I noticed that someone asked for an audio version and Seth mentioned that he wasn’t going to do one, but someone else was welcome to record one, I took that nudge as a reason to act.
Or, to use something that Seth has been found of saying in many of his manifestos lately:
I picked myself.
What I want to share is a lesson that Seth has been trying to beat his readers over the head with and that’s that you can do a lot of very cool things with technology and initiative now. You don’t need to always wait for someone to tell you that its cool if you record an audio book, podcast, book, album, or art….you can create it yourself and send it out into the world.
Maybe it finds an audience and maybe it doesn’t, but you did something great….you did work and sent it out into the world. The beauty is that even if your first attempt sucks, you can try again.
For me, I always thought it would be super awesome to work with Seth Godin on something.
Come to find out, I didn’t even need Seth’s permission to work with him.
Here’s what it took:
An Internet connection
My iPad
The GarageBand app for the iPad
4 hours to read the book out loud
1 hour to find a suitable free host for the extremely large file that I created
That’s it!
How freakin’ awesome is that. 4 hours + $4.99 and I got to work with Seth Godin on starting a conversation about the course of education in America.
Pick yourself!
Absolutely. I did it, proving that it can be done. Now, I want you to pick yourself too. Because its easier than you think.