What if you already had all the knowledge for every challenge you’re facing?
I just found and digitized an old VHS tape from 1997 of me appearing on Groove Radio 103.1 FM in Los Angeles to promote a new kind of music barely anyone had heard of called happy hardcore.
I wanted to challenge myself to not just use this video of nostalgia from a bygone era, but to help me with my ongoing mission of self-mastery. Instead of trying to recreate the past, ask myself how can I bridge the past and these experiences to something new?
And this 22-year-old version of me just called my bluff. Hard.
This 22-year-old was all action. He saw a void, and then filled it. He didn’t ask permission to lead, he stepped up, and became preeminent by default. He leapt before he looked, and took huge risks as he did. He had never been on radio before, and now he’s on a huge LA radio show. He had few gigs under his belt, and he’s mixing live for the thousands of listeners all over LA.
He had no media training. He had no idea of what he was doing.
He created evidence by the act of doing. Not planning it to death.
He found allies by putting his enthusiasm on display. People wanted to be a part of it. This video is historic in hindsight because it was a huge inflection point of everything changing immediately after.
He also learned the value of going hyper-specific. There was no vagueness here. No trying to please a crowd, he was letting the crowd come to him.
He wasn’t trying to monetize a passion; he was following a fire that couldn’t be contained. He was also risking huge failure while he did it.
The 22-year-old me says “Stop overthinking this. Create evidence that can’t be ignored – right now.”
The one thing 22-year-old Chris did not have was the collective evidence I’ve collected over the years since. The life I’ve lived. The evidence is there now. I have proof of having done the thing, many times over.
AND I have moved into “mastery”, taking years to study my own best methods, and I can share them with others. That’s what this article is. He was all instinct because that’s all he had.
That’s what a bridge is. Between that 22-year-old and me today. We both have something to offer – his fearless action and my accumulated wisdom. I needed the reminder of how powerful that younger me was, and now I can extract that wisdom and share it.
That’s called a legacy.
What does your 22-year-old have to share with you that would call you out?
