🌱 3 ways to feel AWEsome

Greetings from Austin,

The word “awesome” is overused to the point where it’s lost its meaning (of causing or inducing awe).

New rule: only use the word awesome if we actually FEEL awe. 

Here’s 3 ways to feel awesome. 

⭐ Understanding Awe

Years ago I had a blog called “weekly perspective.” The idea was to zoom out once a week to wrap my mind around something bigger than me. 

I didn’t realize it at the time, but what I was seeking was sources of awe. 

“Awe is the feeling we get in the presence of something vast that challenges our understanding of the world, like looking up at millions of stars in the night sky or marveling at the birth of a child” per Greater Good Science Center at Berkley.

The book Awestruck explains why it’s important: 

🔍 Following Awe

Walt Disney moved from Kansas City to Hollywood after failing to make it as a cartoonist in the Midwest.

Bob Dylan moved from Minnesota to NYC following his inspiration of folk music and Woody Guthrie.

Ernest Hemingway moved from Chicago to Paris to be surrounded by culture and creativity. 

Each of them felt “something” and went as close as possible to figure out what it was. They followed their awe. 

Now, does that mean you have to pack up and move? No, not necessary (although changing locations certainly helps spark awe). Use this framework instead. 

First magnitude, then latitude. Here’s what I mean. 

Magnitude is the intensity of awe that we feel. It can be sparked in small ways (new route to work, new coffee shop, etc), but ultimately we want to feel it so deeply that we can’t NOT do it. Think Bob Dylan’s connection and curiosity to folk music before moving to NYC. 

Latitude is figuring out the location to increase our magnitude of awe. This can be a temporary or long-term location. Or maybe it’s finding your people online. 

Here is a quick example from my life. I continue to feel the magnitude of awe writing and creating online. Even back in the days of writing the “weekly perspective” blog, I felt something different inside of me. Then, moving to Austin (and traveling South America and coming back), it became more and more clear this was the place (latitude) and people that most increased my sensations of awe. 

Not all sensations of awe will be career-oriented, and they shouldn’t be. That’s not the only point. The idea is to get used to FEELING the connection to others and the world around us. It’s this feeling that causes happiness and improved performance.

A smaller example was yesterday volunteering on a small farm outside of Austin, digging up and relocating a tree and playing with “goldie” the farm’s dramatic white goose. Small sparks of awe. 

Of course, awe comes and goes. Like gardening a plant, we must tend it. But starting off with the right soil makes a world of a difference.

🔦Awe Principle  

Craig Hatkoff co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival (with his wife and Robert DeNiro).

Hatkoff is a former investment banker who also started the Disruptor Foundation and now writes bestselling books with his daughters.

His approach to life is unconventional.

He’s also the only person I’ve heard disagree with the famous Steve Jobs “connecting the dots” by looking backward concept.

Hatkoff says, “I disagree. I believe that if you simply have enough dots to connect, you can begin to connect them looking forward. With enough dots in your network of experiences the dots actually begin to connect themselves.” 

This is how Hatkoff navigated from banking, book publishing, the film festival, and others. He calls it the “awe principle.”

I can’t tell you exactly how to find your awe, wonder, or enchantment. But I can tell you a sure way how NOT to find it. That is by not looking for it at all.

Where will you look for awe this week? 

Salud, 
Mitchell

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