*Typing*

At the age of four, Fred Smith's old man dropped dead of a massive heart attack, leaving the young boy to grow up fatherless. Worst yet, Smith suffered from calcium deficiency disease. This weakened his bones, preventing him from playing sports, rough housing and enjoying physical activities. Longing for freedom, Smith developed an obsession with aviation. At the age of fifteen, he learned how to fly.

Later on, while in college, Smith had an idea for an overnight delivery system that relied heavily on airplanes. He wrote up a term paper. Turned it into his professor. His idea was dismissed as being impossible. Upon graduation, Smith joined the Marines, where he served two tours in Vietnam as a pilot. Smith probably didn’t realize it at the time but the Marines would provide him a masterclass in supply chains, transportation and logistics.

After the war, he decided to give the “impossible” business idea he outlined on his term paper a whirl. He invested his $4 million inheritance in starting FedEx. Eventually, Smith found himself with just $5,000 of that inheritance left. He went to Las Vegas, sat down at the Black Jack table and turned that $5,000 into $27,000. It was just enough dough to keep FedEx alive and breathing until Smith could go out and raise more capital.

Today, FedEx has a market cap of about $65 Billion. It’s where you go if ‘it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight’. Smiths life is worthy of a motion picture.

Don’t find problems. Solve them. Problem finders might appear smart in the short term for being the first person to point out the mustard on the proverbial shirt. However, with time, they become associated with bad news, spinning tires, long hours and additional revisions. You want to be the problem solver. You want to be the person who points out the mustard on the proverbial shirt and then immediately pulls out the Tide Pen. By gaining a reputation for being the kind of person that “handles shit”, you will be the one that is called in when shit hits the fan. At the organizational level, this comes down to creating a solution-oriented culture. When someone comes to you with a problem, immediately ask them what their solution is. If they don’t have a solution, ask them to find one. At the individual level, we need to challenge ourselves to never air a problem without also presenting a possible solution.We aren’t short on problems. The world is full of them. What we are lacking are people courageous enough to solve them.

If you feel overwhelmed, it’s a good thing. Overwhelm is where growth happens. It doesn’t mean you have to exist in a constant state of overwhelm. Every season certainly shouldn’t feel overwhelming. But, if you aren’t feeling overwhelmed some of the time, it means you aren’t challenging yourself to be all that you can be.

If you want to live a life of complete serenity—where not a trace of overwhelm can be felt or found—retreat to a hilltop somewhere and become a monk. Give up family. Give up friends. Give up obligations. Give up ambitions. Otherwise, lean into the overwhelm. Be thankful for the overwhelm. Embrace the overwhelm. Normalize the overwhelm.

Keep going. Day after day, keep going. When you get kicked in the teeth, keep going. When the muse looks the other way, keep going. When you don't get the applause you deserve, keep going. When the hacks speed by in their wax cars peddling an easier way, keep going. When the clowns fatten their wallets dancing for the algorithm, keep going. When the critics spew venom from the safety of the stands, keep going. When the books you write go unread, keep going. When the albums you cut fall on deaf ears, keep going. When life takes you out at the knees, keep going. When depression descends like lucifer, keep going. When misfortune strikes like a knife in the dark, keep going. When you rub your fingers raw searching for a light on the wall, keep going. Remember you are a flame. Remember you are a bolt of lightning. Remember you are a jar full of fireflies dancing atop a tree stump. Keep going. When you find greys in your beard let it remind you of wolves, keep going. When the sins and shortcomings of your past haunt you like Nosferatu, fetch an iron stake and keep going. When the worries of your future envelop you like a parade of fog marching at dawn, go slowly but keep going. When the possibility of quitting is as tempting as pair of lips pressed against your ear, recall those words by Joan Didion. You have to pick the places you don't walk away from. Keep going. When you have gone as far as you can go and you fear your can go no further, recite those lines by Robert Frost. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. Keep going. If not for any other reason than to have the privilege to say at the foot of your grave that all your life you never let up, keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Please, keep going.

When you’re happy, you’re focusing on what you have. When you’re sad, you’re focusing on what you don’t. When you’re collected, you’re focusing on what you can control. When you’re anxious, you’re focusing on what you can’t. Your emotional state is reflective of your focus so be very aware of what you’re choosing to focus on.