Drawing future success from the past...

I had the awesome opportunity to catch up with 3 friends from college this past week. It was so cool to see how far we've all traveled in life whether that be literally or figuratively. Sometimes I worry that my life isn't progressing, that I'm missing something. So many of my friends are doing really incredible things with their lives. They've been to places in the world I don't even have a concept of, they've learned volumes beyond what any normal person would know about one particular subject, they've grabbed on to their lives.

I have to remember that my journey is also exciting. So often, I'm overwhelmed by the day-to-day that I forget to look at the whole picture. My friends didn't just go to Africa or law school. They gave up a ton. They invested themselves in it completely. They didn't just make a record. They put in hundreds of hours at the studio and thousands before to even get there.

That reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell’s book "Outliers" which theorizes that in order to become successful at something, you need to spend at least 1000 hours doing it. He examines other things that contribute to success as well.

It's a really interesting book, but what it brings me back to is that everyone has their own path to a successful life. And who's to say that a successful life isn't anything more than living it your own way.