What I mean is that he’s a amazing athlete who is so above and beyond his competitors — his only real competition is himself (much like Lance Armstrong was). Frankly, after watching the replays on his flip turns — Phelps is a freakin’ dolphin if you ask me.

Every morning I wake up anxious to start my day more motivated than the next. Why?

The greatest possession you have is the 24-hours in front of you.

I can’t pinpoint exactly when or what — but at some point of my life a light switched on in my head that gave me perspective, motivation and more importantly the drive to want to be the difference in the world (yes, this is going to be one of those motivational blog posts, so strap in and hang on tight, cue motivational music).

Matt, a fellow consultant I work with, was speaking at our staff meeting about his previous life prior to working at our company. He described how he took an entire year off to travel/backpack the world after essentially “burning out” at his previous workplace (he worked there for 8 years). One quote changed his world perspective (and BLEW my mind). It was the following:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

- Mark Twain

[ca-ching!] The philosophy and motivation that is encapsulated in that quote is truly what it is all about. I want the most out of life and am looking to spend my time where it makes the most impact. Of course life doesn’t just hand things to you — YOU have to get out there and make things happen for yourself.

The keys to fulfill this hunger takes hard work. But it’s the little things in life that make all the difference. For what it’s worth, here’s my advice:

• Embrace what you are passionate about in life. Once you’ve done that — don’t just be good at it, strive to be the best at it. Want to take it a step further?…get paid to do it!

• Surround yourself with people who motivate you. Nobody likes hanging out with “debbie downer”. If your circle of friends don’t fill that void — constantly read the books or blogs of people that do, follow their presence online, subscribe to their podcasts.

• Do what works for you. Learn what works. Try out lots of things. Understand failure comes with the territory and you must persist.

• Get inspired. That moment of inspiration you get when your neurons “spark” you to do something or take action is what life is all about. Whatever it is that ignites that, do it. You can also never be to busy to search for inspiration. Make sure you are not only inspired, but inspired frequently. It can’t be every other month, strive to make it daily or at least weekly. Make post-it notes, put quotes on your bathroom mirror, send yourself reminders, setup alerts — you must foster an enviornment for inspiration. I personally have a fear of mediocricy and you should too.

• Make a “bucket list“. Toss in your bucket things that are personal and professional. Never mind how crazy the notion or idea, make sure you have a list. It’s only then after you’ve committed and identifyed these things, in which you then begin to step through and plan out how they can be achieved. Remind yourself instant gratification in completing your “bucket list” isn’t realistic… “We do what we have to do in order to do what we want to do.” The current tagline of my blog is very fitting to reference, “If at first the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it”.

I love to write, communicate/interact with people, share and explore. At my roots, I consider myself an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs understand the “now” but live in the future. My own personal view of entrepreneuralism is having an inherent drive and personality to thrive on innovation and achievement. While the city I live in, Kansas City, may not be thought of as a place that breeds successful entrepreneurs in the Internet space (an honor usually left to the coasts) — I’m determined to make my mark.

Every endeavor I’ve embarked upon; web consulting, video blogging, photography, lifecasting on Justin.TV — they all started with single thought and the notion I can do it.

I’m excited to be here.

You should be too. Now you get out there. Explore. Dream. Discover.

So like the rest of America, I went to see the new Batman movie this weekend anxiously anticipating “the hype” of the Oscar winning performance given by Maggie Gyllenhaal Heath Ledger.

Do yourself a favor and go see it.

While a highly critical person like myself could find minor flaws and make arguments against it, it’s an impressive motion picture that holistically is a masterpiece. Period. No matter what I do to describe the movie, regardless of your expectations and knowledge prior to seeing the movie — it will pale in comparison with what The Dark Knight is prepared to deliver. It’s full of surprises you don’t see coming.

Most comic book action movies are shallow at delivering substance. Why? Because most action movie story lines and acting suck. This movie brings a deeper dimension not only to the Batman series, but for action movies in general.

After you watch the movie consider this; the poetic delivery of the theme “evil” and “darkness” throughout the movie is ambivalent. I personally found myself drawn in to Ledgers’ morbid visceral creepy performance of the Joker so brilliant it was hard to swallow the fact I was falling in love with the villain of the movie — not the superhero.  Here’s a video comparing the performances of both Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger.  Who do you think was is better?

• Did you know… the orchestral score of the movie was done by Hans Zimmer and James Howard. Zimmer and Howard gave the director an iPod filled with 10 hours of music cues based on just the script, which Zimmer contends the director memorized on flights to and from Hong Kong.

• Did you know… IMAX technology was used to shoot some of the action scenes.

• Did you know… the caterers on the film provided intricately thought-out fruit plates for Christian Bale that were a bit more composed and deliberate, whereas the food for Heath Ledger was arranged in a more frazzled, chaotic, Joker-like fashion.

My favorite shot/scene from the entire movie is actually only a 5-second clip — the part with the Joker, when he has his head out of the cop car. What a beautiful shot.

I woke up to Will Smith promoting his new movie on the Today Show this morning (Hancock) and there’s a great quote cited by him (even if it is semi-sorta cheesy).  When asked about talent and hard work he says…

“I’ve never viewed myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is with a ridiculous, sickening work ethic. “While the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. While the other guy’s eating, I’m working. While the other guy’s making love, I mean, I’m making love, too, but I’m working really hard at it!”

“People want to deal with people …they trust human beings more than brands or institutions.”

I came across this great quote from Chris Baggott’s blog post — it really hit home in encapsulating where the shift of “trust” has moved to with people (specifically online).  Its amazing the power of word of mouth and more so the effect friends have on how we make decisions and assign credibility everyday.
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