Jeff Goins is a writer, blogger and podcaster who specializes in helping other writers and creatives succeed. Jeff defines story as being a tool to be used to make sense of the story we currently experience. He joins us on this episode to discuss the ins and outs of identifying your story and what that even means in discovering freedom. If you are interested in hearing more from him, listen to his podcast called Portfolio.
Living and being alive is more than just existing. The two ways to die are not really living or by killing yourself taking too many risks. There is a balance to living in the tension point between order and chaos. When you feel alive, that is when you find freedom.
Freedom is the actual experience of being alive and being untethered by concepts of reality. The path to freedom is to realize that there is something inside you advocating for freedom. It is your story.
For years, Jeff created chaos whenever he got too comfortable. For him, the ability to calm the chaos gave him control over his life. He felt an addiction to intensity in going from extreme order to extreme disorder. The way that Jeff overcame this was by seeking healthy ways to create memorable and meaningful experiences rather than deliberately creating chaos.
Jeff left the familiar whenever he started his adventure of building a personal brand around himself and his ideas. He categorizes an adventure as doing something different from normal actions or processes.
When you leave the familiar, you go into the unknown to discover something about yourself. There are many depictions of this in movies, but it occurs within our lives as well. Every time you try something different you are experiencing a moment to learn something new about yourself.
The gift is the thing that you learn or acquire as a result of struggle. The thing is, the gift is not for you. It is for those around you. The gift is a way to share and impart knowledge upon your community. Through sharing your story, you are able to share the transformation that occurred within your life.
[03:42] Jeff spent about 7 years telling other people's stories and ideas until realized he had a story of his own.
[04:46] Finding a means by which you not only tell success stories but also hard stories with struggles.
[05:42] The characteristics of a good story.
[06:17] Jeff's tendency to create chaos.
se e[07:36] The experience of being alive.
[08:00] Seeking healthy ways to create meaningful and memorable experiences because stories are just our recollection of those experiences.
[08:15] Everyday goal of living.
[08:48] When you can walk through life and actually perceive things, you're awake, you're alive, and you're there."
[09:11] When stories do their job, they help us make sense of the story we're living in right now.
[09:51] How do you stay awake and present in the midst of the narrative in which we are living?
[10:02] All humans crave a sense of liveliness.
[10:22] "The experience of feeling alive is freedom."
[13:13] What is the point of life?
[17:17] The two ways to die.
[17:45] Experience all that there is to experience.
[19:25] How do you live in the tension points between order and chaos?
[20:04] Addiction to Intensity and the aftermath of the intensity,
[21:37] Leaving the familiar.
[26:22] When we are isolated from community, what must we ask ourselves?
[27:32] You have to choose to leave comfort. It is a choice.
[27:41] Chaos is newness.
[29:22] "An adventure is just anytime you do something other than what you've normally done."
[29:56] The gift that comes from our experiences.
[30:53] What do we do with the gift?
[35:38] Path to freedom.
[38:26] Find a way to experience life free from all your thoughts around it.
[39:07] "My thoughts about reality are not reality."