Bouncing along the cobblestones of Paris at 3:47 A.M., I started to become slightly annoyed with the day’s events.
These things can happen after you spend $350 on train tickets from Paris to London for a day, only to spend 4 hours delayed in transit. One of those hours was spent underneath the English channel. I tried to imagine manatees and dolphins swimming by, instead of splintered glass windows and water lapping around my neck.
At long last, I exited the Uber Pool, rode up an endless elevator, and crashed onto my hotel bed. The clock now read 4:12 A.M. My “real” job would start in a few hours.
Follow Ladders on Flipboard!
Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!
Wet clothes still clinging to my back, I had one thought:
“Worth it.”
Now comes the part of the post where I take imaginary questions from the audience in my brain:
“But Todd, what in the world were you doing out in Paris at 3 in the morning??”
(Wow, that voice sounded a lot like my mother).
Want to know the truth?
A book brought me there.
See, in the middle of the tortuous travel was one conversation with a friend. A friend who sent me a tweet 3 years ago. At first, I thought he was a robot. Now, he is tucked away in my inner circle.
Ash saw my book and wanted help writing his.
“Todd, you’re a storyteller,” he said. “I know you can help me get these ideas out of my head and into the book. Let’s see what we can do together.”
If you had told me writing a book would make me more than a few dollars on Amazon, I would be pretty pleased. If you told me writing a book would get me better treatment at work, I would have been surprised. If you’d told me that book would have put me in consistent contact with an Olympic athlete, I would have been stunned.
But if you told me it would take me around the world, slurping down oysters with a millionaire, I would have flat out called you a liar.
When you bring an idea into reality, you have no idea what will happen next.
For me, it’s been mostly good things. I couldn’t be more grateful.
This week, I’m going to ask you a question:
Where could a book take you?
We’re not talking theoretical daydreaming here. I want you to actually get out pen and paper to write at least ten places you could go if you wrote a book. These could be physical (Like my journeys abroad) or literal (like success on a certain platform).
It’s time to shake off your rational mind and imagine what is possible. You have been in chains for too long.
Much love as always ❤
— Todd B
This article originally appeared on Medium.
You might also enjoy…
- New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy
- Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds
- 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity
- The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs
- 10 habits of mentally strong people