Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
I purposely created this post because i want the process of attempting to achieve the seemingly “unrealistic” to be as transparent as possible. This way when you blast off on your own heart-felt, outta’ the universe, comfort-zone-cracking calling, you’ll have insight into what it’ll take to make it happen. I trust there is value in this.
Be warned: this challenge is not a full immersion into an eternity of elation. There is hard work and potential “heart-break” involved.
Although the purpose of this task is to exemplify to the world that you can follow your heart, and live your dream, i don’t want to mislead people and pretend everything is all shih-tzus and smiley faces.
First Four Fundays
So far all of the content that i’ve created surrounding this challenge has been based on the first four fun days. Those were all cool climactic moments, but the majority of my time involves being patient on the plateau while trusting the process and having faith in the universe.
There is the unsettling anxiousness knowing Gary could have called me at anytime and said “yo homeboy, get your hustling ass on down to my office, now!” That phone call never came. What did come was relentless anxiousness associated with the possibility of that potential not-coming call.
The mind-fog-funk of “fuck, what did i get myself into and at what point do i just drop this thing?” came too. I started to question myself. When does the challenge become looney-tooned, and at what point does it deserve being dropped?
Internally there’s a lot of catering to the lack of closure that accompanies this challenge. People have been made aware or my commitment to rock this. More importantly, i’m accountable to myself.
Day #FIVE
Friday morning dawned and i decided that it was time to hit that big ‘ol booty “send” button and spill my guts into cyberspace. Here we go Gary!
I was expecting to receive an auto-reply from our boy, but it never came. As the clock kept ticking, i supernaturally channeled into the collective wisdom of Einstein, Socrates, and Bill Gates. They encouraged me to check my spam filter. So i did…
Voilà! An email from my main man himself, Gary Vaynerchuk!
Gary’s Auto Response
Personalized reply or not, the more i learn about Gary, the bigger the fan i become. It sure feels like he cares – you gotta’ love it!
Day #SIX
Saturday strolls along and not much happens. No reply from Gary, no new insights, no new ideas.
It was just, kinda’, Saturday, which actually was a-okay with me.
Day #SEVEN
Sunday sits down, and now i’m like, okay, what the crack? What do i do next, it’s already been 48 hours, COME ON!
So i stumble onto twitter and start finger fumbling. I find Gary Vee’s twitter page and see that there’s some activity. So, i decided to join in on the fanatical fun and i hit him with this:
Later that night, i’m coolin’ in the kitchen, hangin’ with my girl when i decided to check my twitter account. Being that i’m the essential total “noob”, i don’t see any reply of his on my page.
I decided to dig deeper and go snooping onto his page. What i found was astonishing!
And out of my mouth rolls: “Holey shit! Holey shit! Holey shit! What do i do now? Yo, what do i do?!”
Since the email i sent to him Friday was probably sitting buried under 2500 other emails, i decided i would resend the email, and tweet him back too.
I gotta’ give Gary credit – 850,000 followers and he just replied to me! Next i grabbed the flip-cam to keep in integrity with my commitment to diligently document the process.
After the video, my girl and i made our way back to the kitchen to check on the sweet potato fries. If you learn only one thing from this entire story, please let it be that sweet potato fries are a must for any and every challenge!
Not even 10 minutes had moved on the clock and i decided to go pass a peak at my mailbox. All of a sudden, this popped in:
Now I’m Flippin’ The Funk Out
YOOO!!! YOOO!!! YOOO!!! I’m jumping on the couch. I’m dancing tango with my cats. I’m bat-style hanging upside down from my pullup bar. WOW!
I start thinking of whose car i can borrow when he tells me to come to his office tomorrow. I’m visualizing myself in his office giving him a big “shug” (shug = shake + hug).
The night rolls on and i never hear back for him. Not to worry, he said if not tonight he’d be hitting me back in the AM. So i cool it down and later on settle off to my bed sheets. I was so stoked that i could barely sleep that night.
Day #EIGHT
Patiently wait… Nothing.
No email. No office. No shug! Shit.
Day #ELEVEN
Still no nada. I gotta’ get back on my grind, so i shoot him the email again and throw him this tweet.
Day #SEVENTEEN
At this point it’s been 10 days since the last time that i’ve had any interaction with Gary. Something strange yet super simple had happened that i hadn’t prepared for: i entered the plateau and the honeymoon officially ended.
My rigorous, relentless, rational mind was back in business, busting moves and calling the shots. Consequently i had lost connection with my soul-style guidance system. This soul-system was the same one had that brought me tears and chills on the first day that i accepted the challenge. Those tears and chills were the fuel to my fire and without them, this challenge suddenly seemed stagnant.
I knew something was screwy so i decided that it was time to step back. What i realized was this: i was spreading myself too thin. I had to re-prioritize and get clarity over what was most important to me in my life.
And So I Asked
What are my values? What do i stand for? What is my vision? Am i in integrity with what i know to be true for myself?
Is sitting next to sir Gary Vaynerchuk at a Jets game really worth me letting my life enter a state of organized confusion?
It was time for the reoccurring weekly gathering with my mastermind group. I spoke with my homeys and they sang to me. The song went of such sorts: “even if it doesn’t happen, you followed your heart, you gave it what you got, and that’s what counts.”
I knew that they were right. I also knew i had more heart in me then to come this far just to cop out now. My second wind was making its way around the corner.
Closure For Clarity
I decided that i needed some closure. I was holding the idea of my desired outcome lightly but i needed to set a due date for this to be completed by. That way i could give it all i’ve got and if it doesn’t work out, i know i showed up fully.
I decided on one month. One month from the date that i received the challenge will also be the day that it comes to an end. Whether it was a two minute meeting, a 3 hour Jets game, or none of the above, one month was what i was willing to allocate for this.
At this point it’s been about three weeks so i have almost a week left to get this done.
Next Week on Sensophy
That kinda’ sounds like a soap-opera. Next week’s update will be the last one for this challenge. I can tell you now that things are looking up. I’m really excited to share what progress i’ve made while being patient and persistent on the plateau.
Thank You!
I have been receiving a ferocious amount of feedback from grandmas, shrinks, and even social networks. I am immensely grateful to you for spreading the news and would love it if you could let me know that you shared this with someone so that i can personally thank you!