Fear and resistance arise when you don’t trust that where you are going is better than where you’ve been. What would you create right now if you knew you wouldn’t fail?

While there are a few of us who live a life of purpose and passion, most of us are not. And one of the few people that I know who says that he is, actually just lies to himself and everybody around him!

As I consider this sort of question, I feel it challenges you to look beyond the big idols of the modern world…

• What would you do if nobody was watching?
• What would you do if you couldn’t get the credit?
• What would you do if you didn’t need the money?
• How would you impact the world if you might die tomorrow?

Some suggest that we can only begin to live once we have faced death. This was part of the code of honour by which the samurai lived; part of many Mystery traditions in the East and in the West; and it remains, I believe, part of the cure to modern society’s materialism and affluenza.

For many, this relies upon listening to the voice within – as per the Daoist “not do” attitude, to surrender.

We each have our unique song to sing, and it’s not about having a bigger car or a bigger ring or more holidays, but rather it’s about living, loving, laughing and leaving a legacy.

For me, it’s making genius a choice rather than leaving it to chance… but what is it for you?

Daniel Smith

But the funny thing that I’m finding as I study more and more extreme achievers is that they’re not ‘in the game’ for the usual reasons. If you look at creative genius, you’ll find that they’re far more likely to be motivated by mastery over the domain than wealth, recognition or any other extrinsic reward. It’s not that they set out to achieve the honour and the acclaim and the wealth; those are just the things that follow when you go about your task with commitment, discipline and tenacity.

It was great to find Seth making the same observation about business people… how the greatest businesses often spring from some revolutionary freak who thinks that his or her idea is cool enough… not that it will make them a millionare, but that it is just a really cool idea!

I wonder… what if you had something that was really cool?

Daniel Smith