Being a poser is one of life’s great temptations. I should know. I’m so well versed in its siren song that I deserve a Grammy.

We want other people to like us and spend a lot of time, money, and effort trying to be what we think others want. Others who don’t really think about us as much as we think they do. Others whose affection is conditional. Others whose true commitment comes with a price tag and expiration date, which is no commitment at all.

The best we can do, the best we should do, is be authentically us. I was reminded of this as I was looking through Brad Meltzer’s website this week. In the Q&A Section, there’s a photo of him sitting for a photo that ended up in Entertainment Weekly. Here’s the caption:

“Entertainment Weekly took one look at me and said, ‘Want to look like yourself, or you want us to make you look cool?’ I said, “Myself.” They gave me the trenchcoat and said to put it on even though it was 102 degrees in Washington.”

Ask yourself: What would my day look like if, for a full 24 hours, I was 100% me? A lesson (and a dare, really) from Brad Meltzer for all of us, folks.

Do not resist chances. Take them like vitamins.

Let go of the brakes. See what happens if you go five more miles.

Foot bridges be damned, find your own way across.

Don’t worry about the bumps and bruises. Your body can take them.

Don’t steer around the bits that scare you. Go over them. Go through them.

Do something the guys in the bowling league would be terrified of.

You will feel your chin rise up from your chest. And you’ll be able to see what’s around you. What’s ahead of you.

And there will be one less thing you cannot do.

-A Nike ad from the early nineties. It has inspired me ever since I saw it in an issue of Outside magazine.

One of my favorite online personalities is Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and host of Wine Library TV. Now, you have to understand, Gary is a hustling New Jersey businessman. But he knows how to get it done and he knows how to live fully. I’ve learned a lot about wine (and business, BTW) by watching him and I was happy to see him mentioned in Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s new book, Trust Agents.

Now, Gary has three simple rules for “crushing it,” as he calls it. Three simple rules for living the life you want. I want to share those with you because I think they apply to us no matter if we’re trying to be an artist, a marketer, a hot dog vendor, whatever. Thanks Gary. Keep it coming.

“I sit. I type. [Writing] is an act of faith that requires one step, one page, at a time.”

-NY Times best-selling author Eric Wilson

“Writing a novel is marathon running. That  sort of weird process where it seems for a long time you’re not making any progress at all. It’s like trying to build a wall or dig a ditch across miles and miles, and you just do it, one word at a time.”

-NY Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman

I’ve mentioned Blaine Hogan a couple times already in the past week, but for good reason. A few things he’s shared with me have really set my wheels turning. This video is one of them. Lean in close, take it in, and see what happens.

BEHOLD THE DREAMER COMETH from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

“No” rarely kills anyone’s dreams. Very few people actually get to the point of commitment and execution only to be run into a wall (or a mountain) of true impossibility.

“Not yet,” on the other hand, is a serial killer of what could be. And it kills with our full consent, but subtly so that we realize it far too late sometimes.

“The circumstances aren’t quite right for me to do that.” Not yet.

“I’m busy. I mean, I work a full time job and have kids and really want to write a book. Eh…not yet.”

“I’m not _____ enough yet. Once I’ve got that figured out then…” Not yet.

Ever notice how the circumstances are never quite right? How you never have enough time, money, or energy to do whatever it is that your heart is screaming (or, for some of you, whispering) at you to do? Here’s a secret you already know: nothing happens until something happens. And only one person can take the initiative. You.

So when you have the opportunity to procrastinate, choose the easy thing, or just do nothing today…do the opposite. Make whatever it is you feel created for happen. Do. It. You’ll be amazed at what really isn’t all that impossible.