#jon westenberg

[thepersonalwords]

Making something is HardMaking something you don't even CARE ABOUT isEVEN HARDER .

JON WESTENBERG

[tabarronauthor]

Storytelling is such an important part of my life, I can't imagine not being able to share it with all of you.

[snitnation]

Part of being able to create anything at all (and you can create anything at all) is being able to accept that what resonates with you could be hated by everyone else.

Jon Westenberg, 10 Hard Truths About Building Shit. – GROWTH MAFIA – Medium

[odetoanti-art]

Stop feeling guilty about your morning routine.

It’s not a litmus test for success.

Dear Jon,

It’s you again.

I wanted to talk about why you feel bad about your life. Don’t lie to me — I know that you wake up like that from time to time. Every now and then. You look at all the things you wanted to do with your life, or be, or try, or achieve, and you worry that maybe you’ll never get there.

And then you look at the people who seem to be living the life you want, with all the trappings of success, and the money, and the fame, and the friendships and everything else.

You look at it all, and you read about how they live. You read about their big morning routines and their mindfulness and how they wake up every fucking day at 5 AM and greet the sunrise with warm water and lemon juice and all this bullshit. You try to live like that — and it works sometimes, but not as well as it does in the blogs you read.

And you think hey, this must be why you’re not as successful as them. Because you can’t get up at 5 AM and no matter how much you try, you can’t keep a morning routine going for more than a few weeks without forgetting it a few times, no matter how many listicles you read.

You meditate. You do it often, but only because it keeps you from being kind of an asshole. It certainly doesn’t make you rich. Maybe it makes some people rich.

But you know that you’re just not that kind of person. You don’t live what some folks might call an optimized life. In fact, yours is closer to controlled chaos. You have goals that you work towards, you know what you want, you’ve got a big fucking plan, but you’re just not the kind of person who can live like a damned motivational robot.

Maybe if you could, you’d be happier. Maybe if you could, you wouldn’t struggle with depression as much as you do, from time to time. Maybe if you could, your highs wouldn’t be offset by massive lows. Maybe if you could, you’d be able to “build a passive income” and make “8 figures every month” and constantly feel “blessed” — instead of always feeling like you’re a work in progress who may wind up as an unfinished symphony.

But maybe you wouldn’t. Maybe this is as good as you get. Because you try, and you work, and you put the effort in, no matter how tough shit gets.

Feeling bad about who you are, and where you’re at, and what you’re achieving, and how and why and when and all this crap is something that we’ve just gotten used to. We’ve gotten used to hating ourselves. We’ve gotten used to feeling crummy, and comparing ourselves to The Greats and worrying that maybe we’ll never match up.

So much of society is based on that. There are whole industries that rely on that in order to function. Fashion, health, fitness, etc.

But here’s what I know. Life is hard. It’s really fucking hard, and a new morning routine won’t change that. It won’t make it all magically better. It won’t fix your problems. It might make you feel better — which is great — but at the end of the day, it’s okay to not feel invincible. Or thankful. Or positive.

Because it’s okay to be a human, and to struggle. That struggle, with all the hard work and the blood and the sweat and the tears that go with it…it makes whatever success you reach feel so much better.

Life is hard. Meditation and morning routines won’t change that. You’ve got to forgive yourself for not matching the picture of the perfect human. You’ve got to let yourself feel what you’re going to feel, and find a way to respond to it. You’ve got to let yourself live your own life.

You’ve got to get wired on too much coffee, eat a cheeseburger for lunch and not thank the universe sometimes. You’ve got to play Xbox and read comic books and drink beer in the bath sometimes. That’s how you live. Don’t feel bad about it.

So you’re not Elon Musk. So you’re not Steve Jobs. So who gives a fuck?

Sincerely,

You.

Ps. Don’t forget to pick up milk on the way home. Also some Mars Bars. And don’t feel bad about tonight’s pizza, it’s a damn Friday This is a post from https://medium.com/hi-my-name-is-jon/life-is-hard-meditation-and-morning-routines-wont-change-that-654f50a928a8

[wtbdiary-blog]

Make something. Don't just talk about it.

I'm starting to like a guy called Jon Westenberg. I read him on Medium. His latest article rocks. And if he lives in NYC, I’m really hoping Amanda gets to take him out. Coffee or cocktails Jon?

I like this quote,

Make something. Don't just talk about it.

He goes on to say,

If they really gave a shit about singing, they’d be out there every day and night, singing their fucking lungs out. Joining bands, finding gigs, recording music, filming YouTube videos, working their asses off to get in front of an audience. They’re waiting for someone to make them into Singers. With the lifestyle, and the glamour to boot. They don’t want to do something. They want to be the person who does something. You can see this behavior in a lot of other areas, with a lot of other people. They don’t want to found a company. They want to be founders. They don’t want to create art. They want to be artists. They don’t want to spend hours coding until their eyes ache. They want to be developers.

For anyone out there who says they're passionate about something but don't live that passion in any meaningful way, Jon's article is a Wake Up Call.

- Bev

[cultpopcult]

The Internet Is Allowed To Be Weird by Jon Westenberg

I’ve been on Tumblr for years now, and I love it. Out of every social network I’ve been a member of, it’s by far the most creative, strange, mind blowing place.

Anything can happen on Tumblr. There is no right way to communicate. It’s a crazy mess of people throwing crazy weird shit at each other.

Agree 100%

[koolinus]

If you want to make something that people really care about, that they actually give a hot shit about, you have to care about it yourself. Because if you don’t, then try as you might, it’ll come out in the final product. The reason for this? Making something is hard. Making something you don’t care about is even harder.

Jon Westenberg