I arrived at work that day in\nmy blue jeans, motorcycle boots, and a t-shirt \u2013 standard motorcycle gear for\nmy quick commute to work. Dressing however you wish to dress was the norm\nat Hyperglot Software. It was a classic small startup. They created\ncool software for learning new languages. I was an intern there while in\ngraduate school \u2013 employee 32! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I might have been comfortable\nthat day in my jeans and t-shirt, but months earlier when I showed up for my\ninterview, things were a bit different. I arrived for the interview in a\ncrisp clean Brooks Brothers suit, a hard white starchy shirt, and a simple red\ntie. I proudly reeked of \u201cbusiness student.\u201d I didn\u2019t know what to\nexpect, though I had read about software startups and was excited to gain\nfirst-hand knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The door opened and before me\nstood a young man with a long goatee, tank top, cammo shorts, and no\nshoes. I thought I was in the wrong place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan I help you?\u201d He\ninquired as he looked at me, worried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m here for an interview,\u201d\nI said. I asked if I was in the right place and explained that I was\nthere to interview with Phil, the president of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A look of clear understanding washed over his face. \u201cOh!\u201d He grimaced. \u201cYou\u2019re the MBA.\u201d It wasn\u2019t a question. It was just a somewhat condescending acknowledgment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I got the job that day but not before I met a host of Cammo Short\u2019s wonderfully eccentric colleagues. I met the COO, Scott, who politely suggested that I should remove my tie and never be seen wearing one onsite again, lest I harm all things creative. I met the firm\u2019s lead programmer, Sam \u2013 a delightful young man who loved wearing his multi-colored beanie cap with the propeller on the top. I met a fascinating language expert named Carine from Belgium, a Stanford Ph.D. who spoke seven languages and also served as the team\u2019s social coordinator. She made me go dancing with the team whether I wanted to or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two main owners of the company were Phil and Martin. The former was the business suit who focused mostly on finance, accounting, and sales and marketing. He was literally the only person who ever dressed up at work. The latter was a Ph.D. in languages, a university professor, and the company\u2019s chief language and technical officer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, there I am, at my desk working one morning when in walks Martin, aka Dr. Rice. I\u2019d been an employee for about one month and at work that day for maybe three hours. I was focused on work, but Dr. Rice had other plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d He\nsaid. \u201cWe\u2019re going to get a tattoo.\u201d He smiled and raised his\neyebrows, as if to say, \u201cAre you in?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He didn\u2019t actually ask if I\nwas interested. He didn\u2019t inquire if I had a plan for another\ntattoo. He only knew that I had a couple already, likely wanted more, and\nmost importantly, that he was in the mood to get his next piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Normally, I try to be\nthoughtful and plan things out. This amount of spontaneity would usually\nfrazzle me. I\u2019m not sure why, but I said yes without much\nhesitation. It was hard to say no to this congenial, odd, fellow. \nHis intelligence and wealth were a complete mismatch with his worn jeans and\nt-shirt, which I loved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments later, Martin hopped\non his Harley. I jumped on my Honda, and off we went, ready to play\nhooky. We arrived at our destination some thirty minutes later. A\nsmall, old tattoo shop in the hills outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. Two\ngrizzled looking old biker types were manning the shop. Martin spoke to\none. I worked with the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the fly, I just decided to share a fragment of an idea I had with the artist. I told him I had a motto of sorts floating around my head. It was the phrase, \u201cLive Hard.\u201d I told him it was a reminder to live fully, now, be bold, etc. It was half-formed, to say the least, but somehow, I didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNice.\u201d My artist\nresponded. \u201cWhat kind of images are you thinking about?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe a shield and a banner\nor something?\u201d I suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wasn\u2019t quite sure, so I looked at Martin. He sensed my hesitation, then spoke up. \u201cLook man, sometimes you have to think deeply, and sometimes you just need to let go and roll with it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow about I put a dragon on\nthe shield?\u201d my grizzled artist asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo it,\u201d I replied \u2013 and then\nI let go. Two hours later the motto was seared onto my left upper arm,\ncomplete with shield and dragon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That day changed me a\nlittle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was already in a growth state of mind. My graduate program at the University of Tennessee was fun and challenging, my interest in business was ever-widening. Working in such a progressive fun environment at Hyperglot pushed me to open up even more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought about my new motto\noften. It sounded too silly to share with others, but I thought about\nit. I wondered if others had used that phrase. I wondered if it\nmeshed well with any teachings from religion, philosophy, the world of\nself-help, or elsewhere \u2013 so I started to read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became something of a\nhobby. The more I read, and the more I thought about it, the more I\nstarted to believe I\u2019d stumbled upon a really useful phrase. I\u2019ve always\ntried to be a person who lives by some set of principles, and though I sampled\nvarious religions and philosophies, I\u2019d never really found what I was looking\nfor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unsatisfied, I turned to one of my favorite sources of wisdom \u2013 my mother. I showed her the tattoo. She was unimpressed, but was interested in the motto and my quest. Her advice: read the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I did. It was my\nsecond reading. There is a great deal of wisdom in those pages. \nThoughts about family, hard work, justice, kindness \u2013 you name it. \nThere\u2019s a lot to like: the gospels are interesting, the trippy sci-fi writing\nis interesting, the poetic beauty of Pslams is interesting too. Of\ncourse, there is also a lot of difficult violence and mayhem, and endless\namounts of begatting. Interesting, but I still wasn\u2019t satisfied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I dove into a little\nphilosophy and psychology as well, both of which I had enjoyed as an\nundergraduate student. I felt energized and emboldened to learn that\nVogel said discovery is the primary driver in life. Of course, I was also\nmoved by Freud who suggested the real driver was pleasure. I was\nheartened to realize that Confucius, Jesus, and many others, suggested that\nhelping people was among the highest of callings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few of the legends in the\nself-help world made an impact on me too. The great Zig Ziglar reminded\nme that your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. \nSounds silly, but the more you think about, the more you realize it\u2019s\ntrue! Thankfully, Wayne Dyer told me (paraphrasing) that you can be\nmiserable, or you can motivate yourself. Either way, it\u2019s your choice. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was very interested in the\nidea of improving myself, maxing out my potential \u2013 call it what you\u2019d\nlike. I had no idea I would eventually turn this interest into a career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I began to look for\npatterns or themes among all of these ideas, something obvious stood out. \nThere was plenty of talk about things to think, say, or do in order to be\ngood. There were rules and suggestions about things to avoid and how to\nstay out of trouble. Okay, that\u2019s useful, but it still felt really\nincomplete to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my reading, I noticed that\nthe idea of becoming more, taking risks as a principled choice, chasing goals,\nand being successful were all missing. Almost completely. Face your\nfears. Dream. Imagine. Be creative. Embrace change. \nIt seemed like such an obvious omission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, for at least a little\nwhile I felt like I had said something useful when I coined the phrase Live\nHard. Of course, as the years rolled on, I realize a couple things. \nFirst, the world of psychology and the social sciences, and a lot of the\nself-help world, did indeed address these topics \u2013 at length. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was everything from\nstudies of entrepreneurial personalities, a vibrant stream of research around\ngoal theory, not to mention one of my all-time favorites \u2013 Maslow\u2019s Hierarchy\nof Needs in the motivation literature. Sure, it turned out his theory\nwasn\u2019t exactly correct, but boy was it useful and popular. Almost\neveryone remembers the pyramid, and, what sat at the top: \nself-actualization!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By now, it was the 2000s and\nideas about failure being great and necessary, a true catalyst for learning, a\nbeautiful requirement for success, were common. Scholars were studying\nthese issues. Business leaders espoused many related platitudes. \nSelf-help gurus all had their own version of these ideas. Let\u2019s go! \nTry. Grow. Learn. Achieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, nobody had\ncrystalized this group of related ideas in a manner that was easy to remember\nand share. I caught a glimpse of my arm in a mirror one day and realized\nthat I already had the answer. Live Hard. By now, the tattoo was a\ndecade old, but the idea seemed fresher than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became a part of me the\nday I skipped work and got tattooed with Martin Rice. Way back then\nit just seemed like a fun indulgence. A light-hearted idea. Years\nlater, I realized it\u2019s so much more. It\u2019s a motto, a calling. It\u2019s\na profoundly important reminder that life is short, a reminder that life is to\nbe lived! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, I realized there\nare a few lessons here for anyone. My reflections on that day, and about\nwhat that phrase really means, became very clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, question everything!<\/strong> This will serve you in life and in your career. Question, search, and listen. Don\u2019t be like so many alphas who sometimes talk too much \u2013 think! I don\u2019t care about which specific paradigm, religion, or system works for you. The point is that they\u2019re only worth it if there is legitimate room to question, disagree, and apply your own perspective. Any philosophy centered on ideas like try, fail, learn, and growth isn\u2019t possible without room to make it your own. The more you question the wisdom that is presented to you, the more you\u2019ll eventually find wisdom that works for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, take action<\/strong>! Sure, thinking and questioning are sacred, but there is something even more sacred: action. Nothing stimulates thought like trying something. When you try things you know how they feel, for real, based on experience. On an individual level, this should remind you to get off of the sideline and get into the game. Life is not a spectator sport. Try! Win or lose, succeed or fail, so what. Learn something, try again, and improve. Over time, this is always the best strategy for gaining knowledge and success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, realize that success is a journey<\/strong>, not a destination. The dream is to enjoy the time you spend working because you love yourself, you enjoy those with whom you work, and you see some amount of purpose in your work. If you live hard, you\u2019ll end up winning more than losing, but just trying and learning and seeing progress is the real thrill. Taking your thoughts, abilities, and accomplishments forward to new levels \u2013 that\u2019s the real joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt emboldened by my time\nwith Dr. Martin Rice. He showed me that you can be professional and still\nbe you without a ton of compromise. We\u2019re still connected online all\nthese years later. He\u2019s now in his 80s. Recently, he saw one of my\nposts on LinkedIn, a draft of what became a chapter in Live Hard about how\nbusinesses today have to get serious about embracing young talent (i.e., Thank\nYou, Ferris). He dropped a comment and suggested to me that we better\nalso pay attention to how older people add value. He was right again. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isn\u2019t it interesting how change begins in your life? It\u2019s just about taking one small risk, one small action\u2026 Remembering to think, but then, occasionally, knowing you just have to let go. That starts the ball rolling. In my case, it then lead to a new tattoo, and eventually to a phrase on the license plate of my first Harley, then a book and the story you\u2019re reading. I honestly try to live by this idea, and now I\u2019m reminding you of the same opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It all started with a\nscratchy tattoo that I likely need to have redone or covered. However,\nthe truth is that no tattoo is ever as strong as the idea for which it\nstands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n