Changing the World and a Big Announcement

This week, I gave one of my favorite talks - How to Fail at Changing the World - to an audience of English-speaking expats and Colombians learning English.

Because I knew some of the audience wouldn't be fluent English speakers, I had to rethink how I gave the talk, moving away from my usual pattern of pure rhetorical power, honed in the years I performed slam poetry.

I started again, from scratch. I pulled apart each one of my attempts at changing the world, looked at why it didn't work, how I could explain that clearly, and then put it all back together again.

In the process, I re-learned all those hard lessons over again. After I'd finished the slides, and gone through my fouth practice run, I suddenly realized I was looking at a cohesive picture of almost two decades worth of trying to change the world. I was stunned.

See, to me, my life always seemed haphazard, a loose collection of amazing chances and terrible mistakes.

But something strange happened when I saw the story like that, strung out.

A pattern emerged from the chances and the failures and that pattern - well, that pattern was me.

It turned out that I don't just ramble to strangers at bars about changing the world (though that too.) It's actually the only consistent theme of what I've done with my life.

It's the reason I turned down a job at facebook, and started Ink and Feet. It's the reason I've taken on crazy big moonshot after crazy moonshot. And it's the reason, years later, why I actually know quite a bit about how to change the world - in an utterly concrete and applicable way.

Understanding that shifted something big.

See, I've been doing one-on-one coaching on the down-low for a while, using the same principles, techniques, and research that I used to create the Change Monsters.

It's gone pretty well, and I knew at some point it would be time to take it to the next level. But until this week, I wasn't quite sure when, how, or what that would look like.

Now, that's changed - and that brings us to the promised big announcement.

Starting today, I'm officially offering one-on-one coaching - but with one catch.

I'll only be working with people who are taking on the world's biggest problems. Those crazy firebrands who genuinely believe they can change the world.

If you're one of them - or know someone who is, learn more here, and please get in touch. I'd love to hear from you.

And regardless of if that's you or not, try taking a couple minutes this week to write out the story of your life, as if you had to tell it to strangers who don't fully speak your language.

Then, give it a read. You might be surprised by what you find.

You, me, and the world,

-Steven

p.s. The best thing I saw all week were these wonderful, heart-tugging comics about the heart, the brain, and their adventures. It gave me the feels, the thinks, and a big case of the awwwws. Make sure to scroll down to see 'em all. :)