How will you spend your next 24 hours?

Honestly, sometimes I just watch the words that come out of my mouth, and the proceeding facial expressions of the person listening to me, and it makes me chuckle. If you’re reading this and you’ve fallen victim to one of my “talks” (or checked out Vish and I’s Socratic Gamers Podcast*), then you know the feeling all too well…

You were just idly sitting there, indulging me in polite conversation, only to be left thinking one of two potential things after I had said something “out of the ordinary”. Either (a) how the heck do you know all of this?! or (b) why the heck do you know all of this?!

It probably wouldn’t surprise you to find out about all of the books that I’ve read, interviews I’ve listened to, or brands that I’ve analyzed. Truth be told, I spend the majority of my day obsessively filling my mind with interesting facts and tidbits related to the one thing I’m truly passionate about: human nature. Essentially, the mind. It’s what had gotten me into martial arts in the first place; what has allowed me to dabble in both yoga and zen; as well as propelled my career in marketing. The three questions I’m constantly asking myself, are: “Why do people do what they do?” “How did they get to where they are?” and, most importantly, “How do I make people think, and ultimately do, what it is that I want them to?” I’m a creative storyteller at heart—a marketer by trade.

That being said, I know very little about what sports team is winning right now; who is in the political running and what their agendas are; or what happened on the latest episode of “How I Met Your Mother” (is that show even still going on?).

You see, from the opposite side of the spectrum, I, too, am asking myself the very same questions you probably asked about me: how the heck do you know all of this?! and why the heck do you know all of this?!

Life is all about interests. It’s all about passions. It’s all about what we spend our time filling our minds with. The only thing separating a person (at least, in our minds) from being any better than any other person out there is what they choose to spend their time doing; what they choose to fill their mind with; and what they choose to know.

Wiz Khalifa spent countless hours obsessing over making raps—all he knows is rap music.
Joey L. spent countless hours learning to shoot photos and edit them in Lightroom—all he knows is photography.
I spend my entire time analyzing “why?” and sharing that over social—all I know is marketing.

Now, tell me… what is it that you know all about, again?

We all don’t need to know everything, because we’re all geniuses at something. Collectively, we fill the gaps in each others’ deficits and that’s what makes our species so unique.

However, the topic you may be a genius in, may not be the thing you want to be a genius in in the first place. Remember that. The choice is entirely up to you.

You have 24 hours and counting.

-practice makes people.