Paul,

I don’t know whether its new york or just daily living or age. and with it a real sense of not feeling I’ve put “it” together as well as I thought I would have and what do I do about it, but I find that without really even realizing I’m not seeing much fun or joy or pizzazz in things. So I forget to look for it. I put on ‘ho-hum’ eyes. I’ll be honest, that in itself is the scariest thing I’ve ever felt in life. The thought that I might either entirely lose, or see greatly diminished,  my joi de vivre. That I’ll become cynical and bored and bitter and safe and secure in my criticalness. My rightness. 

But I gotta say there’s something about Killin’ It that wakes it up for me. I’ve started to play this game with my friends where we come up with a topic or a name (drive-thru restaurants, or Derek Jeter, or bottled water) and then we each have to say whether it’s Killin’ It or not.  The more I play the more my own sense of what I think is awesome comes into focus. And same for my friends, even though we might have totally different takes on the topic.

Just wanted to let you know about that and say thank you.

KI
Darren

Darren,

You’re welcome!  Playing the Killin’ It game always puts me on a high too.

I’ve even found I can play it by myself. If I get all caught up in the drudgery of life, when everything feels like one long list of to-do’s, I make myself go through the exercise of Killin’ It (how is this Killin It, what would be the Killin It way to get this done, etc) and I’ll be  damned if my energy and momentum don’t change. No matter how many times I experience that, there’s always part of me that’s surprised at how simple and strong it can be.

And fun.  One of the biggest challenges in promoting Killin It has been maintaining a commitment  to the silly and absurd. I’ve found that if I get consumed with perfection and rightness it suffocates my joi de vivre, and then my work and life suffer together. So another game I play with myself that you might get a kick out of is ‘the purposeful mistake’.

When you’re feeling stressed and losing you’re mojo, don’t try to calm down or let it go (that becomes one more layer of stress), instead force yourself to do something wrong. If you’re late and stuck in traffic, pull off for a coffee and be even more late.  If you’re golf round is sucking, aim 90 degrees right and smash it into the woods and count it.  As you play ‘the purposeful mistake’ you’ll find yourself searching for the exact wrong thing with creativity and pleasure. You’ll find your fun again. Also, the more specific you try to get in what to do ‘wrong’, the more clear it becomes what it is that you wish were more right.  So you stop wasting anxiety on a general feeling and become aware of exactly what you’re trying for.

KI
Paul