(In which I beat up Johnny B. Truant and run away scared from Charlie Gilkey.)
I am – or at least, I try to be – the epitome of niceness. I hold doors open for old ladies. I give up my seat to anyone who needs it more than me. I can play the harmonica, but don’t. The only reason I’m not the world champion of niceness is that I wasn’t prepared to go to the depths of skulduggery you need to win that thing – and let’s have a nice round of applause for the eventual champion!
However, I have a dark side. Let’s just say you won’t like me when I’m angry.
My most recent smashy-hulk episode came when I read Johnny B Truant’s beautifully-written and inspiring post on the universe not giving a flying fuck about me, at which point I ripped open my shirt, found JBT’s home address, drove there in the adorable geek-mobile (my green biceps barely fitting inside the car), and banged his head into the monitor while yelling, “Is this epic enough for you? Or shit enough? What – you want me to defecate for ages? You want me to get my Viking helmet on and slay Grendel?”
At least, I suspect that’s what happened. I woke up with a clump of blood-stained black hair in my fist and an apple, at least, and his post was on my screen when I came to. And I said to myself: “If I read one more post trying to inspire me to do epic shit without even hinting at what it is, I am going to… oh. Maybe I already did.”
I call epic bullshit.
In fairness, following the evolution of epic shit back to Charlie Gilkey*, he does define Epic Shit: it’s “doing big things in small steps.”
This doesn’t get mentioned anything like often enough.
Building your fortune is like building a skyscraper. You can’t just get hold of a load of bricks, breathe the magic incantation ‘epic shit’ and watch it assemble itself in front of your eyes. You have to build it brick by brick.
That’s what makes it epic. It goes on forever and it can be kinda boring. And it probably has dragons in.
You meet people as you’re doing it, though. You get to smile at the builders in the block next to you, and see them smile back. You get to learn their names, talk to them about what makes them tick, and you help them a little on their journey – even if it’s just by making it a bit more pleasant.
You talk with the people selling you the bricks. You talk with the people who are going to rent office space when you’re done. You talk with the people you hire to help you out. You build relationships, and you build a community.
One conversation at a time.
So, is Customer Love epic shit? Maybe. That’s up to you. Just… please don’t make me sneak up on you and try to bash your head into the monitor. I’d much rather be friends with you.
* Who is way tougher than smashy hulk… and everyone else on the internet except Naomi.
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Colin,
Dragons are not boring. Period. 🙂
This is a spot-on post, that I think so many people don’t think about. The nature of building anything with immensity is that it has to begin somwhere. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and al that.
But we get overwhelmed by the big idea, and the small step seems so… well, small… After all, what good will one little brick do?
One brick may not be a big deal, but even one well placed steon is enough to fell a giant, right? Just keep building. Eventually, there’ll be a big pile of bricks – and ultimately a pyramid or some other megalith that stands as a testament to all the effort you’ve put in.
Slow & steady wins the race. Love it. Thanks for the reminder.
Nicely put, Lisa!
I agree – dragons aren’t boring, but they’re not necessarily welcome excitement 😉
You had me at ‘I can play the harmonica but don’t’. LOL.
I think you are correct here – we can get really excited and geared up to do awesome things by calling it epic shit, but unless we KNOW what we are going to do, and we do it brick by brick, all we’ll end up with is disappointment in the non-epicness of the shit we have.
Or something along those lines. I don’t know, I haven’t finished this coffee yet.
Thanks, Rachael!
I have plenty of epics I’ve gotten a few pages into and then abandoned before I got to the good bits, both in terms of literature and projects. It’s all about persevering through the dull bits.
Oh Colin!
I so love that you got the apple. I’ve always HATED that damn apple.
Epic is yesterday’s awesome, awesomesauce, awesomer, awesomeness don’t you think?
So much goodness here – now I’m ready to take on the dull bits and get something accomplished!
It was quite tasty, thanks ;o)
Exactly right about the buzzword bingo – see also “be yourself”, “be authentic” and “kick ass” – good encouragement, certainly, but not much use as practical advice.
It’s that 1% idea again! We just don’t get how step by step, day after day adds up! The myth of the big breakthrough or epic ship is daunting, and can keep people stuck in paralysis and overwhelm. Epic is not sustainable anyway! Small actions, consistently over time IS!
Love the visuals Colin!! Now can we get a little tune on the harmonica please 😉
Thanks, Sandi!
I am far too nice to inflict my harmonica playing on anyone else – give me another year of gradual improvement ;o) I hadn’t thought of the 1% link, but you’re right, it’s the same thing. I’ll have to think of another theme if you keep calling me out on it!
OK, slightly off-topic, but can I say how excited I am with the +1 button? I want to +11 this post. Telling people to be epic and be awesome is in vogue in the blogosphere but no one is having a conversation around what that means. Or how to accomplish epic awesomosity.
The daily grind can be boring and it is a slog. There’s no big bang moment of epictastic awesomeness. I raise my coffee mug to everyone who sticks with it even when it seems like they’re talking into a void. I’m pouring a fresh mug for anyone who has been as epic as they know how to be and only had dragons respond.
Just so you know, I’m only 4 beers away from defending the harmonica…
Thanks Colin!
The thing is, if there are enough people looking out for dragons together, we can fend them off :o)
Thanks for the insightful comment, Deanna! (Except the bit about the harmonica ;o))
I love this, Colin. It ties in with my post yesterday, actually. I was trying to do what I thought was epic shit but I didn’t recognize that laying bricks one by one is how you do it. The funny thing is, I’d much rather lay bricks. It’s a lot less intimidating.
Yes! Sort of a choose-your-own-epic game :o)
In some ways, Customer Love is epic for me. But mostly it is seeing my dragons as something that needs understanding and love; ordinary courage, not epic. Thank you for the reminder and conversation about persistence and small bits.
Right! Ordinary courage is a lot less ordinary than you’d think. Go you!
Colin! Yes. Yes. Yes. Transformation is (are?) OK whatever – it consists of incremental changes. Lots of little steps go into building that skyscraper, lots of communication, collaboration, it’s the pre-production and the dreaming – that’s where the juice happens, and the dragons fly in.
The actual making of the thing goes fairly quick.
And…what if I’m already at “EPIC”? What if I just relax and move through life like that… ah, my shoulders are lowering already.
JBT’s post was meant to stir things up, it succeeds quite well at that.
It make me realize there are many types of spoons and whisks to stir the pots…. and how fast can we stir? Is the experience a vigorous agitation, gentle lazy circles, or more of a delicate folding of ingredients?
Thanks, Linda! Incremental changes is exactly it – one step at a time, at your own pace :o)
Thanks for the link, Colin, and adding to the “it’s the small steps, folks!” focus. You’re completely right that it’s not mentioned often enough, even though I’ve spend the last few years saying “it’s a marathon!”, “it’s the small steps!” and “one brick at a time!”
Of course, we know why it’s that way. Dragons?! That’s a story. A multitude of minutiae inspires yawns but little else. It also sounds like work. :p
Customer Love = Epic Shit.
I’m with Spock Elf in that you had me at “I can play the harmonica, but don’t.” Great work, Colin.
Thanks for your kind comment, Charlie, and for being the sole voice of reason in a maelstrom of epic vagueness!
“Customer Love = Epic Shit.” You know I’m gonna quote you on that, don’t
you? 🙂 Thanks for visiting and commenting, Charlie!
LaVonne Ellis
It’s all about the LUV, baby
CustomerLove , that is.
Love the post! 🙂
And actually, he does illuminate the steps in a way.
It’s called ‘The Badass Project’.
In defense of vagueness: PART of the reason for the vagueness is that, like every kind of success, how you get there is unique to you.
And many of us are still on the path, so, no, we DON’T yet know the whole Path,
But maybe that means more posts on where we are now and those Little Steps we’re taking to get there? :>
Colin – awesome post. What is epic to me (hanging out with my kids, working from home, growing my own tomatoes) may not be so epic for other people. When I apply the epic-in-tiny-steps approach to my business I feel as Linda says so well below like it is ” more of a delicate folding of ingredients” and I’m content to see what comes out when it is all mixed and baked.