I got a pocket full of nothin’

Don’t blame me
It’s not my fault
I can’t get away
I got a pocket full of nothin’
And a head full of dreams
That I never could explain

“The Yeah Song” -Stroke 9

First song that came across my iPod when I started the Jeep this morning in this awful tundra we’re calling Indiana.  I was on my way to a work meeting down at the City Market with one of my favorite Indianapolis organizations and one of my favorite counterparts here in town.  It’s rare to sit across from someone who is as genuinely excited about the vision of Indianapolis, the vision of partnerships and is not only talking the talk, but walking the walk, so a huge shout out to LD who does exactly that and pretty often challenges me to step up our game at work by finding new ways to innovate.

She said something to me this morning that resonated with me, “I don’t want to be viewed as favoring one part of town, I don’t want there to be this dividing line, what we’re all doing is for all of Indianapolis.”

The only appropriate reply was a huge “hell yes!” from me.

a large cup of coffee and some awesome ideas on vision and success got the morning started right (and this is more coffee than any single human needs)

Somebody commented on a Facebook post yesterday that I surround myself with great people, or as I say “awesome people doing awesome things” (hey PiC, I’m stealing your line, deal with it); I’m still at a bit of a loss for how I’m this damn lucky to be swimming in a sea of intelligent ideas, civil discussion and visionary leadership that is shaping both Indianapolis 3 months from now, 3 years from now and 10 years from now.  I continue to throw down the challenge, if you feel you can make an impact in Indianapolis, if you’ve got some random idea, if you have some crazy vision that you think will help this awesome city—find a way to make it happen, track me down and use me as a sounding board and continue to push the boundaries of what’s impossible and make it become reality.

Another favorite line from the song for today’s 9 Project is:

I wanna start a revolution
Can’t do it alone
Doin’ all I can
Could that help me make them understand?

Don’t be afraid to challenge the current status of things, there is always a better way to do something and always new ideas out there that shake things up.  Something I realized long ago was if I hadn’t thoroughly pissed somebody off in the last 10 days, I most likely wasn’t pushing boundaries enough to make change, make an impact or make enough waves that the world either learned to swim or sink with the new vision.

What have you done to shake things up recently?  What vision inspires you?  Who are you going to piss off for the progress of greater good?

Never settle, never go quietly, never be complacent and never settle for saying “one day I hope to…”; do it today.

-th