I was lying in bed after a long day trying to fall asleep, but my mind wouldn’t let me. I had hit all my daily habits which tends to make me exhausted, but after attending an event put on by The American Happiness Project my body was still on a bit of a social high. The event was all about taking risks and how it relates to happiness, so naturally my mind was pondering the topic. As I was listening to Leon Bridges, I started to think... what really excites me?
This is something I’ve been struggling with for some time. I tend to be a stoic individual by nature - nothing gets me too down, but nothing really excites me all that much. I tried to think of the last time I was super excited. A moment of pure bliss. I’ve been thinking about this question for a long time and usually not much comes to mind instead of my typical hobbies like skiing, surfing, hanging out with friends, and stand up comedy to name a few. These are all things I enjoy… but by no means do I see myself devoting my life to them.
Last night was a different story though. I remembered exactly what excited me to no end at last - the Avicii Documentary. When I asked myself this question, my mind immediately darted to the scene when Tim and Aloe Blacc are working on Wake Me Up together before the songs release (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfrlHZrqSKQ).
The tinkering they do together, or the eb and flow as Aloe calls it, is so pure. No judgement, just two humans testing out new ideas and seeing what sticks. The act of tinkering and trying new ideas over and over again is how we stumble upon greatness no matter what field you are in. Watching one of the most influential songs of the last decade being discovered is endlessly inspiring. Seeing greatness before others recognize it. Creating something great with a group of people and deploying it to the world. Knowing with a group of people you tinkered and worked hard with that you’ve created something that can make an impact, but no one else knows yet. That excites me.
As Mike Einziger puts it in the film, “At like 4 AM I got an email being like it’s all together check it out and I remember opening it up and listening to it and being like fuck me, this is so awesome.” That fuck me this is awesome moment is what I live for. Whether it is finding a quote in a book, a piece of art, a joke by a friend, a new song, meeting a cool as fuck person, or an idea/business. That gets me fired up. Something new that no one else knows about and is on the brink of changing the world.
I think that’s why I subconsciously ended up in the realm of entrepreneurship. I naturally gravitated to a space where you work on really cool ideas with small groups of people in hopes that they’ll someday be impactful. I hope one day I’ll create something and have that feeling coarse through my veins as I exclaim like Mike, “fuck me, this is so awesome”.
What gets you excited?