Something Missing? 6

Life is a challenging and wonderful adventure.

I’m so curious about what the possibilities are and so eager to learn whatever truth there is.

I admit – just as Solomon said long ago –  “This is chasing the wind.”

Life is beyond my comprehension and I know it, but it doesn’t keep me from trying.

I think about the vastness of space or the tiny universes that we are made up of, how atoms connect or electrons or quarks.

Life is infinitely big and infinitely small and I can’t comprehend either extreme.

And so in my adventure, my life is always full to the bursting point.

There is never room for one more thing until I kick something else out, because I’ve packed my life as full as it will bear.

The universe is so large and I am so small and I have so much I want to explore.

Every moment of every day, I am forced to decide where my time and focus will be spent, because there is not enough time in history to contain the things that I want to know or the adventures I want to experience.

It’s not a quest for the adoration of the masses driving me.

Crowds are fickle and quickly leave their heroes. Today’s heroes are easily forgotten and torn down.

It’s not the truth that drives me.

There is no final answer that I’m looking for.  Wisdom is fleeting and knowledge is ever changing.

So what is the purpose of this adventure?

What will make my life fulfilled?

I’ve looked at what makes people happy and have come to the conclusion, we are most blessed, most fulfilled and most satisfied when we are giving freely without guilt, duty, expectation or obligation.

In giving, we have value.

So what do I have to give of real value?

Every person has real value.

In my life I’ve been a singer, composer, recording engineer, writer, speaker, teacher, programmer, salesperson,  marketer, entrepreneur, coach, volunteer…

The labels for my life could go on for hours.

  • I’ve had jobs that were menial  and I’ve been in positions to inspire thousands.
  • I’ve been thought worthless and I’ve been praised by many.
  • I’ve been ignorant and I’ve taught and coached Harvard PhDs, millionaires and “household names.”

But none of that is my real value.

My real value is the same value that every person has – certainly that YOU have – to make someone’s life a little better.

It doesn’t always take something big.  In fact it usually takes something small.

Small actions change the world.

So what about small actions changing my life?

I’ve had so many wonderful adventures in my life, where did that all go?

What about all of the things that I’m missing?

People spend a lot time thinking about what they are missing.

Doesn’t it make me sad to know how much I’ve lost?

Not really.

Sure I miss some of the things that I’ve done, the people I’ve lost touch with, the places I’ve been.

But …

My life isn’t devoid of things I’ve had before, it’s crammed with new things I’m living in this instant.

  • If I don’t spend my time with music, it’s only because there is so much more out there to experience.
  • If my love life not what it used to be, there is no lack of excitement to come in the future.

Life is not sad at all — It’s a choice.

Should I fill my life with regrets, lost opportunities and fears?

Not for me …

Because there is enough adventure in the world to last a thousand lifetimes and I have no more space to fit everything wonderful in.

All the best,

Ken McArthur

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About Ken McArthur

Ken McArthur is the founder of ConnectLab.live, an AI relationship-intelligence and warm-intro platform that helps founders who are raising find the funds that fit and the people who can introduce them, and helps fund managers connect with the founders they back. He was recently accepted into Harvard Business School Foundry. He also writes Raise Smarter, a daily newsletter on what's really moving in early-stage fundraising. Ken challenges us to realize we ALL have an impact, whether we want to or not, on thousands of people we touch in our day-to-day lives, and he shows that simple things make a HUGE difference. ConnectLab.live grew out of that belief. Connection is the currency of the 21st Century, and the right introduction can change a company's future. Long before ConnectLab, Ken was the popular host of live events that brought together top-level marketers, entrepreneurs, business owners, corporations and non-profit organizations to build multi-million dollar joint venture relationships. He has managed product launches ranked in the top 400 sites on the Internet and is regularly asked to speak at leading marketing events. He created AffiliateShowcase.com, a pioneering affiliate program search engine and directory. He also founded the MBS Internet Research Center, which conducted the world's largest survey ever attempted on creating and launching successful information products. Ken was the official mentor for Sterling Valentine as he took his launch from zero to over $100,000 in less than 8 days, a proof of concept documented in Info Product Blueprint. Today he puts that same skill for connecting people and launching ideas to work for founders and the investors who back them.

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6 thoughts on “Something Missing?”

  • Lucille

    Hello Ken,
    I know exactly how you feel. At times I feel that something is missing in my Life.
    Although, I have had a Llife filled with A lot of very
    Wonderful Things and some not so Wonderful Things.
    I take one day at a time and wonder what the Future holds for me for the rest of my time on Earth.
    I hope and Pray that the rest of my life will continue to
    be full of Love and New Things to experience
    I also Pray the same for you too.
    Lucille

  • Jeanette

    Hi Ken,

    It’s an honor and a privilege to know you.

    This is beautiful: I’ve looked at what makes people happy and have come to the conclusion, we are most blessed, most fulfilled and most satisfied when we are giving freely without guilt, duty, expectation or obligation.”

    I’m going to quote you in my new book on happiness.

    Enjoy your adventure!

    Jeanette

  • Richard

    Thanks, Ken. Very insightful – Life isn’t really about what we might no longer have, or what we are no longer physically able to do, or where we can no longer go – all of those can be treasured memories. There is today during which we can use the wisdom gained from those many past years to make someone else’s life brighter, and enrich our own.

  • Shel Horowitz - Green/Ethical Marketing Expert

    Great stuff! I too could make a list like that. I can’t claim that I make every minute matter, but I do make every day matter–and have a good time doing most of it.

    I’ve done my share of menial jobs (crossing guard, busing tables in a restaurant, counting rocks into bags of a dozen, typing corrections into congressional transcripts)–but each of those experiences has allowed me to grow in some way. I always say I became a writer because I’m interested in almost everything.

    And sometimes it all integrates and makes sense. My eighth book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson) , once again brings together the two most important streams in my professional life: as a marketer, but also as an environmental and social justice activist. I’ve been working on integrating these streams for the last ten years, at least, including a campaign that used everything I know about both marketing and organizing to save a local mountain range (involving thousands of people along the way).

    And now, I’ve actually created a mainstream business book that demonstrates a business case to go sustainable, and I’m really proud of this.