“You did what dad?”

Our lives are a culmination of our choices. It’s a cliche, but one I believe to be true, perhaps not for the reasons you might guess. Like any good millennial, I quit my job to pursue something I was truly passionate about. But more on that in bit.

When I was a child, I was terrified to make a mistake for fear it would end up on my permanent record. SPOILER ALERT: there is no permanent record. But, it’s true we are destined to become a product of our decisions.

Flashback to Sunday night — following the conclusion of an epic Fantasy Football draft party, unlike the majority who elected to go home, I decided it was worth the time to banter and debate the most arbitrary of rules until 2:30am.

1/3 was the fun of hanging out with friends until the wee hours of the morning.

1/3 was for the fun of debating — I love competing with my brain.

1/3 was about the actual argument.

On the drive home, I realized that despite individual differences around decision making, it all boils down to the same thing: an individual’s tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty.

As a nation, I believe we hate uncertainty.

That’s why we sign up for the stable government job with a pension plan. Or with a Fortune 500 company with maximum health benefits and a matching 401k.

Few of us decide that it is worth the risk and unpredictability to start a business of our own, or build a product without knowing how much it may be worth. Life is full of challenges we’re unable to control, and many avoid adding to the uncertainty.

In the lives we built around certainty, we seek outlets, because everyone needs some ambiguity. Maybe this county elected President Trump because we wanted to avoid the certainty of another politician. Maybe Bernie would have offered the same outlet.

Since we can’t wait every four years to have an appropriate stress relieving outlet, we find different hobbies and vices to fill those voids: a little extra time in the gym, a glass of wine.

We all need to look inside and ask:

Would it serve us well to learn what we, individually, are uncertain about, and why? And most importantly, what can we do to change it?

When push comes to shove, we are left with are our choices. Whether you choose to tell your boss to go fly a kite or make the conscious effort to go home and smile while appreciating where you are and what you have. Either way, we’re responsible for the choices we make, and should be content with those choices. If we’re unhappy, we owe it to ourselves to make a change.

RIP walo

Four years ago I made the choice to quit my job in the name of starting a company, earning exactly zero dollars doing so. Eighteen months later I made another choice: to halt that dream and join a fun new team serving a wide ranging group of people. A year later, I choose to be a part of a team that produced a feature film, My Name is Myeisha. We’re screening that film on September 16th.

As millennials, we have the unique opportunity to make choices that dictate where we live, work, eat, and play.

Growing up in an age of information, we learned at a young age (thanks Internet!) that we have the opportunity to make a greater impact with a greater variety of choices than any generation before us.

Tomorrow, I vow to make a choice: to wake up each day with a smile (even Mondays), to remember that my time is a non-renewable resource, and to take seriously my decisions around who I will spend that time with and what I will spend that time doing.

What will you choose to do tomorrow?

Original Designs and Logos by Andre Loftis

Learn. Explore. Share.

WHAT I’M LEARNING — I‘ve been taking video production classes through Lynda.com and if you need to dive into anything from a Quickbooks tutorial to animation graphics, this is a great place to start.

WHAT I’M USING — Apple’s new AirPods! They work better than advertised and I take them with me everywhere I go.

WHAT I’M THANKFUL FOR — Modern Medicine! As my wife continues with her fight against RA, we are thankful to have finally found an outstanding doctor…twelfth time is the charm they say.