Live ALL Your Life.

Part 1 : I get the most out of life by teaching others how to get the most out of life.

I’m not perfect.

I don’t have all my shit together.

I don’t have it all figured out.

I don’t know what’s best for you.

I don’t often know what’s best for my future self either.

I should eat less junk.

I don’t know where we’re all headed.

I don’t know how we’ll get there.

I’m not an expert.

I’m not a genius.

I’m not a polymath.

I’m not a guru.

I should floss more.

I’m not old and wise.

I’m not young and tireless.

I’m not always consistent.

I don’t often make my bed.

Aristotle had a lot to say about what many philosophers label as “the good life”. Though each philosopher has defined the good life differently, I think Aristotle summed up the goal pretty well: happiness.

I won’t get deep into this blog post, but he lines out excellence as being a cornerstone of the good life. So what is excellence?

Good question. One thing it’s not: perfection.

Good thing. It would suck to find out we have to be perfect to live a good life.

So why should you follow my work?

Because...

I’m passionate about a lot of things, but the common thread is that I love to teach.

I am striving for excellence.

I’m always curious.

I’m learning.

I share my mistakes for you to learn from without having to make the same ones.

If you do make the same ones, at least we can be in good company.

I share my victories.

I have learned a few things. I share those too.

I’m happier now than I’ve ever been.

I see no reason why I won’t be even happier in the future based on my current trajectory.

I’ve helped hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people improve their lives.

I want to help thousands (maybe millions?) more.

There is a tremendous multiplier effect from learning from each other.

I’ve spent most of my life really working on one thing: How to take ownership of my life.

Hello! My name is Cody Limbaugh.

 

Part 2: POVI

Do you feel like you’ve been punished for having too many interests? The specialists get all the praise while people who are vastly curious get pushed into two categories:

1, the dismissive “Jack-of-all-trades”, and

2, the possibly unattainable “genius polymath”. We are taught that for a skill to be useful, we must strive for mastery.

While I have nothing against mastery, I aim to demonstrate that the generalists, the POVI’s- People Of Varying Interests, have tremendous value in a world that is both flooded with information and is practically worshiping the specialists. Gaining competence in several disciplines can have unique benefits over the dedication of focus needed to master a singular pursuit.

LiveAllYourLife.com @layl is a community of POVI’s where we can feed our curiosities and display our value as unique individuals with an ever expanding breadth of knowledge.

I write about the following, but as a POVI myself, I hate being boxed into narrow paths, so nothing is really off the table.

• Personal Development
• Money and Business
• Fitness
• Art
• Future Tech and Science
• And Philosophy

Have you experienced this stifling expectation? Do you ever feel boxed-in, like you have to decide on one or two knowledge-sets to develop when you know deep down that you would be happiest having the freedom to explore ideas and learn skills from many different disciplines? Are you a POVI?

Then join me here on Steemit and LiveAllYourLife.com

I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I look forward to our discussions and learning!

Part 3: My Story

I’ve found that long format writing on Steemit tends to not do too well, but for those of you interested, I thought I would share a bit of history and what I’m doing now. So this will be the Reader’s Digest version. Perhaps I’ll share more later.

Entrepreneurs aren’t born, but perhaps I was built with the business gene. One of my earliest memories was as a pre-school aged little kid, pulling a little Radio Flyer Red Wagon full of obsidian around the neighborhood. I had collected the rocks, washed them off so they would shine, and attempted to sell them door-to-door. The attractive teenaged girls next door bought a couple and I was hooked. Business is the life for me!

I sold my first cartoon when I was about 9 or 10. I sold my first serious pencil drawing when I was 16. I started my first “legit” business at 15 or 16.

Although I’ve never made a living from my more creative pursuits, I have been paid as an actor and a musician.

As strange as it sounds though, when I had the urge to go to college, my plan was to attend the University of Hawaii to study Astrophysics. I never made it to the Islands. In fact, I (thankfully) dropped out of school with about a 9th-grade education. Of course, that’s when the learning really began! (I’m sure this influenced our decision to unschool our children.)

For the past 13 years or so I’ve owned and operated a fitness training company. Earlier this year I sold majority interest, and I’ve begun to step back from my role of coaching to focus more on mentorship and writing. You see, I have a book inside of me. I think it was Hemingway who said that everyone has a book inside of them, and for most people, that’s where it should stay. But mine is coming out. Several of them actually.

The working title of the main project is called “Self Taught”. It stems from my frustration of being pigeonholed into a specific category of pursuit. From the earliest questions of, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”, to the more adult version; advice from business gurus who say, “you must find your niche, focus in on it, and be better at that narrow thing than everyone else.”

Well, I’ve finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up: I love to teach.

I’ve found my niche: Not having a niche. (sort of)

My niche is actually to help people who are like me. People who feel stifled if they are stuck in a single discipline. People who what to explore a wide range of topics. Deep knowledge is great, but what about the breadth? My niche is my fellow POVI’s: People Of Varying Interests.

In order to get any satisfaction from learning, one must get enough of a foothold on a topic to feel like they have a grasp. So I have been focussing on better ways to learn. Not just knowledge, but skills as well. I have come up with systems that are so enjoyable, so rewarding, that they are almost self-propagating. I’ve discovered the joy of learning without the drudgery of relentless time commitments. Methods that I am developing which allow me to explore many different subjects and skill sets at once. And freedom from the guilt associated with traditional goal-setting techniques.

As I develop these ideas and methods, I’ll be sharing with you in real-time as I learn new skills. By following my writing, you’ll be able to easily apply these methods to your own interests and can perhaps even help me to hone in on what works and what doesn’t so we can help each other grow.

I hope you’ll join me as we figure out how to Live All Your Life.