The sweet spot between passion and profit is something I think everyone is looking for.
Good luck to the both of us.
September 2008
If imperfection is not welcome then you will not be stable when perfection fails.
When I read the post about perfectionism from Shihan Doug Wilson, I thought about all the times I’d messed up a technique in the dojo. And then I realized, I’d done more messed up techniques in my 10 years learning Bujinkan Taijutsu than perfect ones.
But Doug made me think that the golden moments weren’t those shining rarities where I pulled off perfect techniques. They were probably those moments when I didn’t do a technique properly, but still recovered from it and kept myself safe.
Since real life is messy, maybe learning how to do a perfect technique isn’t as important as learning how to recover from an imperfect one.
Or, to extrapolate into a Zen moment: seek not perfection, but the ability to bounce from your imperfections and do it anyway.
As a coronary to my 9 Keys to Building a Blog You Can Be Proud Of post, I thought I’d write this tongue-in-cheek contrast (this blog post itself is worth $37, so read up!).
9 Keys to Build a Rock-Solid Turnkey Blog That Will Make a Trillion Dollars For You While You Sleep – Even If You Have One Hand Tied Behind Your Back & No Fucking Clue
1. It’s All About the Money
Keep your eyes on the prize, honey.
It’s not building a blog you can be proud of, it’s not writing because you enjoy writing, it’s not posting intelligent, carefully crafted articles that make people think. It’s especially not about sharing your passion with other people in an authentic voice that doesn’t make you cringe.
It’s making a trillion dollars while the authentic people hug trees and snort wheatgrass.
2. Get Rich or Blog Trying
While hippy tree-huggers are talking about following your bliss, I’m talking about following the cold hard cash. If it’s something you’re passionate about but it won’t make the bucks, drop it like it’s hot. A hot dead dog, that is. While we hold the cash, because it’s cold and you can hold cold stuff like that.
3. It’s Not Copying – It’s Inspired
There are millions of people out there saying the same thing over and over again – so you’re lucky you won’t have to make up anything new. Just copy, copy, copy, paste and change a couple of words – it’s not unoriginal, it’s inspired.
It’s going to be asked, so I’m going to answer it here.
Is it some mystical reference to some secret tantric yoga killer kung-fu move?
Not really.
The answer is really simple.
1. 21 is the date of my birthday and one of my favorite numbers.
2. Dragons are cool.
The Longer Story Behind the Name
It’s really hard to find cool internet names nowadays that make complete sense. Hence, one of the easiest ways I’ve found to create unique user names is simply to combine two random words together.
(That’s why I’ve had email addresses like ‘Jazzuppercut’ and ‘Pyroszen’. I know they sound silly now but they seemed like a good idea at the time.)
The thing is, compared to other animals real or mystical, like griffons or cats, I don’t even really like dragons. I tried variations like LionGround.com and 21Griffons.com but 21Dragons.com stuck with me.
I also tried variations on the theme, like 3 Dragons, 7 Dragons or 9 Dragons – all favorite numbers of mine – but nothing sounded as right as 21 Dragons. I wanted something unique, memorable, something that could become my own personal microbrand, and 21 Dragons sounded like it had a good shot at becoming that as any.
I also like the sheer numbers of the name, the ridiculous overkill of having so many of something as regal as a dragon. It makes me feel like I have a thousand Jedi by my side as I face down a handful of cavemen.
Because a friend said she missed my writing. It gets more complicated than that, but that was the start.
Because I got tired of writing bullshit.
Because I ached to write for myself again.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Life, the Universe and Blogging
I started my other blog with nothing but a vague idea of what to do and an optimistic hope that it could make me enough money to work for myself, and give me the time to read and to learn – 2 of my favorite things on the planet.
It feels like a lifetime ago now, even though Life Coaches Blog has only been around for a short 3 years. It feels like I was a lot younger then. And a lot dumber.
A lot can happen in 3 years. In my case, I could fumble through three careers in three wildly different fields, get broke, make it back, get my balls busted by an ex-girlfriend before learning what I really wanted in a relationship, take a stab at getting a job doing what I loved (writing), actually getting that job, get busted on by my new colleagues, which led me to finding the only girl in my life I could imagine spending my life with, all the while harboring a secret hope at getting back into coaching, traveling more in the last 2 years than in my entire 29, which included meditating in a Thai forest monastery, nearly slipping off the back of an elephant which was ambling down a very steep, very tall mountain, training with ninjas, and walking a very big, very lovable German Shepard.