Being a Big Deal Isn’t Such a Big Deal

November 13, 2010 By 7 Comments

When I talk to my family, friends, colleagues or community and ask them how they’re doing, usually they respond with some variation on being too busy, tired and in need of a vacation. This is because we have been trained to run as hard as possible to stay competitive. For many of us, we live our lives online which exacerbates this because of the never ending firehouse of information and feeling that we need to keep up. We’re taught to focus on achieving our next accomplishment. We’re taught to never be satisfied and to just keep going.

When you step back though, you realize that being a big deal (however that is defined for you) might not be such a big deal. Is becoming the top expert in your industry worth it if you end up divorced because of it? Is being a Twitter celebrity as cool as it seems if you lose your day job because you spend so much time on Twitter? How about if you end up in the hospital because you haven’t focused on your health while pursuing becoming a big deal?

In this incredibly powerful TEDx speech, Scott Stratten uses personal life experiences to explore this in-depth. This is a “must-watch” speech and one that I have shared with anyone that will listen.

What are your thoughts?  How do you create a balance in your life?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Filed Under: Hustle, Motivation, Personal, Videos Tagged With: , , ,
  • Chris

    Awesome video.. All I can say is WOW..guilty as charged

  • http://kommein.com Deb Ng

    I saw this a couple of weeks ago and it moved me to tears. It really puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

  • Sarah Wallace

    Thanks for the post Justin. I recently came down with shingles and tried to attribute it to the time of year, etc. and my doctor said, “You realize it’s most likely due to stress.” A good wake up call to try to find balance.

  • http://coachradio.tv/ Justin Lukasavige

    I’ve been trying hard to take 24 hours each week and unplug. 6 pm Saturday to 6 pm Sunday. It’s awesome when it works.

    There are so many conflicting messages out there telling us to keep going. It’s tough to figure out what’s best for us. But only we know the answer.

  • http://www.kevingainey.com Kevin Gainey

    Thanks for sharing the video Justin. Great to hear Scott’s story after seeing him on the book tour. The best thing I’ve done as a stay-at-home dad was deciding that when I’m with the kids, I’m with the kids. Not on Twitter, not on Facebook, not writing code, not with my face in a laptop. Just with them. It actually took them longer to adjust to it than for me. When your 5 year old asks “Aren’t you going to work?”, you know you need to readjust some things. Thanks again!

  • http://www.twitter.com/jennalyns Jennalyns

    I’ve been wanting so desperately to stop, but I never do because I keep saying, “I can’t.” I can.

  • http://twitter.com/philcampbell Philip ‘dm’ Campbell

    fantastic. you go.