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August 2, 2010

blessed is she who gets to say, “i’m going to make this damn thing work, or die trying”.

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[“Die Trying”, which I sent out in the news­let­ter recently etc.]

Bles­sed is She who gets to say, “I’m going to make this damn thing work, or die trying”.

And ACTUALLY means it.

I get that fee­ling from a lot of the Cube Gre­nade com­pe­ti­tion peo­ple. Feels good to know that I’m not alone, that I’m not the only crazy per­son out there.

P.S. Today was MEANT to be the final day to sub­mit an idea, but I’m exten­ding it for another week, till next Mon­day, 9th August. The rea­son being that I’ve been tra­ve­ling so much the last cou­ple of weeks, I’ve not had time to tend to it pro­perly. So I’m giving myself some slack.

Re. Recent sub­mis­sions. Here are a cou­ple that made me smile. Hard.

1. Noah Fle­ming and his wife are expec­ting. So ins­tead of wan­ting a Cube Gre­nade for his busi­ness or wha­te­ver, he wants one for all the unborn chil­dren of the world. Wow. Hard to argue with that sentiment.

2. Some­body nomi­na­ted his wife, unfa­zed by the pos­si­bi­lity that this might be against the rules [it’s not, as it hap­pens]. “She’s now wor­king hard to blaze her own path with an arti­san pecan candy she calls Bla­zin Brittle, a spi­cey brittle she thinks per­fect for the Texas ton­gue.” Folksy tra­di­tio­nal Texas treats are very dear to my heart [Beef jerky, Anyone?],so that reso­na­ted with me. Of course it did.

3. Race Face gets the the Ups­cale Bicycle Gee­kery Award. Hurrah!

So what do these three ideas [and the others] all have in common?

That’s right. They all have a VERY strong “Purpose-Idea”. To quote Mark Earls for the second time today:

Put really simply, the Purpose-Idea is the “What For?” of a busi­ness, or any kind of com­mu­nity. What exists to change (or pro­tect) in the world, why emplo­yees get out of bed in the mor­ning, what dif­fe­rence the busi­ness seeks to make on behalf of cus­to­mers and emplo­yees and ever­yone else? BTW this is not “mis­sion, vision, values” terri­tory – it’s about real dri­ves, pas­sions and beliefs. The stuff that men in suits tend to get emba­rras­sed about because it’s per­so­nal. But it’s the stuff that makes the dif­fe­rence bet­ween suc­cess and fai­lure, because this kind of stuff brings folk together in all aspects of human life.

WHY we do something is ALWAYS a more inte­res­ting ques­tion than WHAT we do.

i.e. “Mea­ning Sca­les”. That’s what Cube Gre­na­des is all about. And I intend to get that point across to the world, even if it kills me.

I can think of worse ways to “Die Trying”. You?

Tags: Cube Grenades, Die Trying, Mark Earls

7 Responses to “blessed is she who gets to say, “i’m going to make this damn thing work, or die trying”.”

1. Noah Fleming says:

   August 3, 2010 at 6:54 AM

   I am very happy my sub­mis­sion made you smile. Your work makes me smile everyday.

   Thanks Hugh
   Noah

   Reply
2. Kiley says:

   August 3, 2010 at 5:01 PM

   Thanks for the ins­pi­ra­tion! I do work with vision, mis­sion, and values — but in an inner-centred way — to sup­port others in crea­ting their own pur­po­se­ful and mea­ning­ful work! Thus making their con­tri­bu­tion to the whole. I trust that what’s truly inside each of us is nee­ded in this world! My approach is way outside the “tra­di­tio­nal” edu­ca­tio­nal and busi­ness models and your art today sums up my jour­ney with this work!

   Reply
3. NOAH FLEMING says:

   August 3, 2010 at 5:09 PM

   Don’t mind the gram­ma­ti­cal error

   That should ready every day and not everyday.

   Reply
4. Caroline says:

   August 4, 2010 at 5:49 PM

   Love this. The what for is essen­tial. I think that peo­ple need to feel free not only to have one, but to have one that is really their own and that they really thought about.

   I’ve been con­sis­tently impres­sed and deligh­ted with yours… there aren’t any others with your medium out there.

   Thank you thank you!

   Reply
5. 7 inspiring articles from 7 amazing changemakers - Life Literacy Labs says:

   August 6, 2010 at 6:01 AM

   […] bles­sed is she who gets to say, “i’m going to make this damn thing work, or die trying” by Hugh MacLeod […]

   Reply
6. Jonathon Madden says:

   August 8, 2010 at 11:24 AM

   This is so true, fin­ding work that fires you up is a gift. When you have dif­fi­culty explai­ning how much your work means to you because you’re that pas­sio­nate about it, then I think you’re on the right track.

   Reply
7. Joaquin says:

   August 9, 2010 at 10:00 AM

   Hi all,
   Hugh’s last words “…even if it kills me” remin­ded me of a song.
   It’s called “Even if it kills me” too, by Motion City Sound­track, a band from Min­nea­po­lis with some of the most HONEST lyrics around. The sin­ger has gone through alcoho­lism and panic attacks (insert appro­priate medi­cal con­di­tion here)and so he wrote this song in a kind of a lucid moment. This whole idea of die trying remin­ded me of the pro­cess he talks about in the song. I think one way or the other we all go through it in a cer­tain aspect of our lives.
   Here’s how the song ends:

   “I’m not saying that I’ve given up
   I’m just trying not to think as much I used to
   ’Cause never is lonely little mes­sed up word
   Maybe I’ll get it right someday

   For the first time in a long time
   I can say that I want to try
   I feel hel­pless for the most part, but I’m lear­ning to open my eyes
   And the sad truth of the mat­ter is I’ll never get over it,
   But I’m gonna try
   To get bet­ter and over­come each moment
   In my own way…

   I so want to get back on track
   And I’ll do wha­te­ver it takes
   Even if it kills me…”

   Reply