Introduction

Your life is passing by. Are you actually participating?

Let me ask you a question.

If you could live your life over again, knowing everything you know today, would you make the same decisions?

Would you choose the same career?

Marry the same person?

Surround yourself with the same friends?

Spend your money the same way?

Would you invest your time in the same activities, worry about the same problems, and sacrifice the same opportunities?

Or would you change a few things?

Perhaps a great many things.

It is an interesting exercise because it forces us to confront something we generally prefer to ignore.

Much of what we call our lives is the accumulated result of decisions we made without fully understanding their consequences.

Some decisions were excellent.

Others were spectacularly foolish.

And many were not really decisions at all. We simply followed the path of least resistance because it happened to be the road directly in front of us.

That’s how people wake up at fifty years old wondering how they ended up living a life they never consciously chose.

The job became a career.

The relationship became a marriage.

The temporary home became the place they lived for thirty years.

And the dreams they once talked about became pleasant memories of things they were going to do.

Someday.

There is that dreadful word again.

The difference between being alive and living

Biologically speaking, remaining alive is a relatively straightforward business.

Your heart keeps beating, your lungs continue breathing, and your brain performs a collection of rather remarkable functions, many of which we barely notice until something goes wrong.

But living requires something more.

It requires curiosity.

Participation.

Adventure.

Purpose.

And occasionally the willingness to do something that makes absolutely no sense to the people around you.

Think about children.

A child will spend hours exploring a puddle, investigating an insect, building a ridiculous structure out of cardboard boxes, or asking questions that adults have long since stopped considering.

Why is the sky blue?

Where does the wind come from?

Why can’t we fly?

Why do people have to work?

Why can’t I have ice cream for breakfast?

Some questions are more profound than others.

But the important thing is that children are naturally curious.

They approach the world as an enormous collection of possibilities.

Then something happens.

We grow up.

And gradually, we begin exchanging possibilities for limitations.

We learn what is supposedly realistic.

What people like us are expected to accomplish.

What society considers acceptable.

What our parents approve of.

What our friends might laugh at.

Eventually, many of us become so concerned with avoiding embarrassment that we stop attempting anything interesting.

We stop asking why.

We stop asking why not.

And perhaps most tragically, we stop asking what else might be possible.

Finding your passions begins with recovering the curiosity you possessed before the world convinced you to become sensible.

What exactly is a passion?

People often imagine that discovering their passion will arrive as some magnificent revelation.

A flash of lightning.

A sudden moment of clarity.

A voice descending from the heavens announcing that their destiny is to become an architect, musician, entrepreneur, explorer, or professional collector of antique bottle caps.

Unfortunately, life seldom provides such convenient announcements.

Passion is usually discovered through experience.

You try something.

You become interested.

You learn more.

You improve.

And somewhere along the process, you realize that you are participating in an activity you would willingly pursue even when nobody is paying you to do it.

That is an important clue.

But passion is not necessarily something you are immediately good at.

Sometimes you become passionate about something precisely because you are terrible at it and want to improve.

Nor must every passion become a career.

You can love music without becoming a professional musician.

You can enjoy gardening without establishing an agricultural empire.

You can be fascinated by history without becoming a professor.

And you can pursue multiple passions over the course of your life.

In fact, I would encourage it.

Why limit yourself to one interest when the world offers millions of subjects worth exploring?

The idea that every person possesses one predetermined passion, which must somehow be discovered before life can begin, strikes me as unnecessarily restrictive.

Some passions are discovered.

Others are developed.

And a few may surprise you entirely.

The important thing is not to identify one perfect passion. It is to build a life in which curiosity, enthusiasm, and purpose have room to flourish.

The enemy of passion is often fear

Fear is an extraordinary emotion.

It has helped humanity survive for thousands of years.

Our ancestors who were sufficiently frightened of large predators generally lived longer than those who attempted to pet them.

Fear has its uses.

But the modern world has created a peculiar problem.

The same instinct that once protected us from being eaten by dangerous animals now prevents people from asking for a promotion, starting a business, traveling somewhere unfamiliar, or introducing themselves to someone attractive.

The circumstances have changed.

Our emotional machinery has not always kept pace.

We imagine failure.

We anticipate embarrassment.

We worry about criticism.

We become concerned about what people might think.

And before anything actually happens, we convince ourselves that the risk is too great.

The remarkable thing is that most of the terrible consequences we imagine never occur.

And even when failure does arrive, it is often considerably less catastrophic than we anticipated.

You start a business and it fails.

You lose some money.

You learn something.

You try again.

You ask someone out and they decline.

Congratulations. You have survived rejection.

The world continues rotating.

The birds continue singing.

And somewhere, somebody is still arguing about politics on the internet.

Life goes on.

Now, I am not suggesting that you abandon common sense and pursue every reckless impulse that crosses your mind.

There is a substantial difference between courage and stupidity.

The objective is to recognize when fear is protecting you from genuine danger and when it is merely preventing you from living.

Happiness is not the same as comfort

One of the great misunderstandings of modern society is the belief that happiness comes from eliminating discomfort.

We want everything to be convenient.

Our homes comfortable.

Our employment secure.

Our relationships predictable.

Our finances stable.

And our daily routines free of unnecessary complications.

These are perfectly reasonable desires.

But comfort is not the same as fulfillment.

Consider the satisfaction of accomplishing something difficult.

Learning a new skill.

Completing a challenging project.

Building a successful business.

Improving your physical condition.

Raising children.

Developing a meaningful relationship.

None of these pursuits is entirely comfortable.

They require work, patience, frustration, compromise, and occasional disappointment.

Yet they can provide some of the greatest satisfaction life has to offer.

Why?

Because human beings need more than pleasure.

We need progress.

We need challenges.

We need evidence that our efforts matter.

A person who spends his entire life avoiding difficulty may succeed in remaining comfortable, but he risks discovering that comfort has become a beautifully furnished prison.

The objective is not to make life easy. It is to make life worth the effort.

Your future is not obligated to resemble your past

One of the most destructive beliefs a person can develop is that his past determines his future.

I hear versions of this argument constantly.

I’m too old.

I’m too young.

I don’t have enough education.

I don’t have enough money.

I wasn’t born into the right family.

I don’t know the right people.

I’ve already made too many mistakes.

Perhaps some of these circumstances are genuinely difficult.

It would be foolish to pretend that everyone begins life with identical opportunities.

They don’t.

Some people inherit wealth and connections.

Others inherit debt and complications.

Some are blessed with excellent health.

Others face challenges they never asked for and cannot simply wish away.

Life is not fair.

It never has been.

And I see little evidence that the universe has established a department responsible for correcting every injustice.

But acknowledging that circumstances matter is not the same as surrendering to them.

You may not control where you started.

You may not control everything that happens along the way.

But in many situations, you possess considerably more influence over your next decision than you realize.

And that is where progress begins.

Not with a perfect plan.

Not with unlimited resources.

Not with universal approval.

With a decision.

Followed by action.

And then another decision.

And another.

Over time, those decisions accumulate into something remarkably powerful.

A different life.

Why sixty days can make a difference

This book includes a sixty-day journey designed to examine the most important elements of personal development.

Not because sixty days is some mystical period ordained by the universe.

It isn’t.

Sixty days is simply long enough to begin building momentum and short enough to feel achievable.

Each day introduces a principle worth considering.

Some focus on discipline and personal responsibility.

Others examine money, relationships, emotional intelligence, physical health, communication, reputation, confidence, and the value of time.

You will encounter lessons about choosing your friends carefully, understanding financial responsibility, overcoming fear, accepting failure, developing consistency, managing emotions, and learning to appreciate the life you are building.

Some lessons may seem obvious.

That does not make them unimportant.

People know they should exercise, save money, keep their promises, and avoid destructive relationships.

Knowing is easy.

Doing is considerably more difficult.

And doing something consistently is where the real challenge begins.

You do not become physically fit by reading about exercise.

You do not develop financial security by admiring wealthy people.

You do not become knowledgeable by collecting books you never open.

And you certainly do not discover your passions by sitting around waiting for inspiration to knock on your door.

You have to participate.

How to use this book

I suggest approaching the material as an experiment.

Your life is the laboratory.

Your decisions are the variables.

And the results are yours to examine.

Read the opening chapters to begin exploring your interests, ambitions, fears, and assumptions.

Then work through the sixty-day program.

One day at a time.

Read the lesson.

Think about it.

Consider where the principle applies to your life.

And most importantly, do something with what you learn.

If the chapter discusses money, examine your finances.

If it discusses relationships, consider the people around you.

If it addresses discipline, identify a habit worth improving.

If it explores fear, think about something you’ve avoided attempting.

If the subject is time, ask yourself whether you’re spending yours on activities that genuinely matter.

Don’t worry about becoming perfect.

Perfection is a rather exhausting ambition, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who has achieved it.

Focus instead on progress.

Small improvements, consistently applied, can produce remarkable changes.

And if you miss a day, resume the following day.

There’s no need to turn a small interruption into a grand personal tragedy.

Learn to disagree intelligently

I want you to understand something important before continuing.

This book is not a collection of commandments.

It is a collection of ideas.

Some are based on personal observations.

Others reflect lessons from business, relationships, history, and the accumulated experiences of people who have lived before us.

They are intended to stimulate thinking, not replace it.

You are free to disagree.

In fact, I encourage you to question what you read.

But disagreement should require more than simply disliking a conclusion.

Ask yourself why you disagree.

What evidence supports your position?

What assumptions are you making?

Could another perspective be valid?

And what would it take to change your mind?

One of the most valuable abilities a person can develop is the capacity to consider an unfamiliar idea without immediately accepting or rejecting it.

The world contains billions of people, each carrying a slightly different collection of experiences, beliefs, and prejudices.

Surely we can learn something from one another.

Even from people who are spectacularly wrong.

Occasionally, they provide the most memorable lessons.

The world is changing. Are you?

We are living through one of the most extraordinary periods in human history.

Artificial intelligence is transforming industries.

Technology is changing how we communicate, learn, create, and work.

Entire professions are evolving.

New opportunities are emerging while familiar ways of earning a living become less dependable.

The skills that once guaranteed a comfortable career may no longer provide the same security.

And the pace of change is unlikely to slow simply because some people find it inconvenient.

I’ve lived through a remarkable technological transformation.

I remember when calculators were considered revolutionary.

When computers were enormous, expensive machines that few ordinary people had the opportunity to use.

When the internet was something most people had never heard of.

Now we carry devices in our pockets possessing capabilities that earlier generations could scarcely imagine.

And we are entering an era in which machines can assist with reasoning, writing, designing, programming, and solving increasingly complicated problems.

This creates an extraordinary opportunity for curious people.

You can learn skills that once required years of formal education to begin exploring.

You can access information that once existed only in expensive libraries.

You can create businesses with resources that would have been unimaginable a generation ago.

You can pursue interests without waiting for permission from traditional institutions.

But these opportunities mean very little if you refuse to adapt.

The greatest danger of the future may not be that technology becomes too intelligent, but that human beings become too comfortable to continue learning.

Curiosity is no longer merely an attractive personality trait.

It is becoming an essential survival skill.

And passion provides the motivation to keep learning long after other people have decided that the effort is no longer worthwhile.

The questions that matter

Before beginning your journey, consider a few questions.

What genuinely makes you happy?

Not what impresses other people.

Not what society considers successful.

Not what your friends would admire.

What actually makes you happy?

What would you attempt if you were less afraid of failure?

What skills would you develop if you stopped worrying about whether you were naturally talented?

What relationships would you strengthen?

What habits would you abandon?

What opportunities have you postponed because the timing never seemed right?

And perhaps the most important question of all:

If nothing about your life changed over the next ten years, would you be satisfied with the result?

If the answer is yes, wonderful.

You may already have discovered something that millions of people spend their lives searching for.

But if the answer is no, then why are you waiting?

Ten years will pass regardless of what you decide.

So will five.

So will one.

Time is remarkably indifferent to our intentions.

The only question is whether you intend to do something meaningful with it.

The adventure begins

I cannot promise that following the ideas in this book will make you wealthy.

I cannot guarantee that you will discover your perfect career, meet the love of your life, achieve magnificent success, or develop the wisdom of an ancient philosopher.

But I can offer something more practical.

An opportunity to examine the way you think.

An opportunity to question the assumptions that guide your decisions.

An opportunity to develop habits that may improve your circumstances.

And perhaps, most importantly, an opportunity to rediscover the curiosity and enthusiasm that make life interesting.

Remember, you do not need to become somebody else.

You need to discover what you are capable of becoming.

And that discovery does not require permission, approval, or a perfectly organized plan.

It requires participation.

So read.

Think.

Question.

Experiment.

Fail occasionally.

Laugh frequently.

Learn continuously.

And for heaven’s sake, don’t take yourself so seriously that you forget to enjoy the experience.

After all, this is your life.

You only get one opportunity to live it.

Make it interesting.

Make it meaningful.

And above all, make it yours.

— YNOT

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