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Kevin Clash is a big kid.

“When I was nine years old, it was just a dream that I had — wow, I wish that I could work with the Muppets.“

He also happens to be the voice, soul, and heart of the Elmo. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is a documentary about the international icon and his brilliant creator.

The film, created by Constance Marks, follows Kevin’s improbable journey from his parents’ tiny house in Baltimore — where, at age 9 he knew that he wanted to make Muppets and work on Sesame Street — to New York City, where he was mentored by and worked with such luminaries as Frank Oz, Kermit Love, and the legendary Jim Henson.

It’s a moving story of love, passion, and how a singular focus on your dreams can alter the course of your life (and the lives of countless others).

“If everybody else your age is doing something very different than what you’re doing, there’s always gonna be someone saying that you might not succeed…you might not make any money with that…and all of those things will go away if you really focus on what makes you happy.”

See if the film is playing in your area.

One of the things that separates those who “do big things” from those who just cruise life on autopilot is the level of discomfort to which each is regularly exposed.

The best things happen at the exit ramp of your comfort zone.
-Karen Salmansohn

On the two projects with which I have been involved this year, the most intense periods of personal growth have come during the times in which I regularly engaged in behaviors that pushed me away from what I was naturally inclined to do.

Examples: giving visibility to my inefficiencies, making public (internal to the project(s)) my areas for improvement, insisting on public accountability, setting my own goals, and not relying on guidance or oversight for my next moves.

It’s an unnatural, uncomfortable, and fitful adventure, and the payoff is so massively rewarding that I can’t imagine doing things any other way.

I made a small contribution to a post over at Art of Blog on the topic of uncertainty the other day. The post is to promote the upcoming book by Jonathan Fields called, unsurprisingly, Uncertainty: Turning Fear & Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance. It’s a topic deeply personal to Jonathan, as you can see in his book trailer.

You can check out the first link for my riffs on the topic, and you’ll definitely want to preorder the book if you have even a remote interest in the topic. I’ve had a few conversations with Jonathan about the book as it was coming together, and it will be exciting to see the leadership he’s able to provide in this space.

With a background involving law, entrepreneurship, and writing, we will all benefit from some illuminating insight on how Jonathan’s life (particularly in the years following 9/11) has been impacted by uncertainty.

J. Cole.

The buzz surrounding Cole’s first studio album following his deal with ROC Nation is growing by the minute. Having tantalized fans with a series of mixtapes (most notably, Friday Night Lights) which were easily on par with most commercial rap albums today, expectations are high.

This is one of the hottest freestyles (whether his bars were memorized or not is immaterial) I’ve seen in a while.

Inspired by the work of Naz Hamid, I created a personal page recently: http://wlj2.com

Naz has since converted his to a Tumblr photoblog, but you can see what his page looked like before the switch. In other news, I’m looking forward to the long-awaited redesign of this site.

Coming soon.

We complicate a lot of decisions unnecessarily. I see a lot of very smart people sabotaging their future by inventing things to be concerned about. It would appear as though highly actualized humans have a very good sense of what needs to be done; they (we) simply battle Resistance in executing.

Just go.

Over at Domino HQ, we’ve been settling into the roles that we’ll be having for the next few months. As things are firming up, I’m having to learn a new way of accomplishing my goals.

I’m used to a metric-driven approach to web marketing: driving signups, conversions, decreasing page load times, etc. With this project, everything is idea and purpose-driven. And without fully grasping the idea and purpose driving the project, I’m doomed to miss my target.

I’m out of my element and loving it.

Seth just published some thoughts on why we’re rejecting the New York Times Bestseller List. It sheds some insight into the broken system and why we’re intentionally disregarding the list for the purposes of this venture.

Let the movement begin.

My buddy Nick Reese interviewed me right before I moved to NYC. We talked about freelancing, doing work that matters, living a live of purpose, and all the other stuff I should write about more.

Nick is a good friend of mine and one of the most influential humans I’ve ever met. He’s an affiliate marketer, tea drinker, and world traveler who posesses an infectiously positive outlook on life.

Anyway, check out the post and if you have some questions for me, leave them in the comments!

Follow Nick’s world traveling updates on Twitter, tips on running a better blog, and pictures of life on the road!

Glad to know you, Nick.