Work. Family. Self.

Imagine if you were asked by your boss to decide to choose two of the three in order to be really successful. Which two would you choose? Amy Jo Martin chose all three. She then proceeded to turn in her two-week notice and left her job deciding to be fearless and conquer all three. Let me ask a serious question: Are you automating your life? 

Think about the online+offline version of you. Using programs like Buffer are not the the only forms of automation. Routines become automation. How many of us check our Facebook on our phone before rolling out of bed? How many of us take a picture of our food and post it to Instagram or Oink before actually taking a bite? How many of us check-in on Foursquare before we actually look up to see if our friends are at the bar? We are beginning to automate our offline lives and we may not eve realize it. And the more automation grows, the more innovation dies.

As I was watching Amy’s TEDx Talk - Innovate your life, I couldn’t help but feel like she was talking to me. You know that time you feel like a song is being sung for you? When the episode of your favorite show is a dramatization of your yesterday? I had one of those moments. I’d lost my passion and purpose — and Amy was calling me out. I had stopped innovating my life and I was clearly automating it. Our parents will call it “going through the motions” — but they’d be wrong. We aren’t even going through the motions, we’re simply automating them.

After watching the video, I emailed Amy. I told her how awesome it was and how I’d long appreciated her since the ‘Random Acts of Shaqness’ days. Amidst all of the learning, don’t be short-sighted or afraid to tell those who you’ve learned from that you did. You’d be surprised the feedback you get. And after the email was sent (right before my U-8 basketball team practice, you can call me #CoachKnight), I made a decision. And you know who is holding me accountable for that decision (besides the Internet now)? My team, the Hornets. I am Innovating my life.

No more automation for me. I don’t care if I have to call you 100 times before you answer, I’m texting less. I don’t care how frugal I have to be, I’m getting out of student loan debt. And I don’t care how hard someone else thinks something is, I am going after what I want to do professionally, and I’ll be damn successful at it too. 

I’m only bound by the speed of my own actions. 

I’m going to inject more purpose into my business.

Amy said it best, “You CAN have it all, you just have to define what your all is.” I’ve defined my ALL. I’ve chosen I want to innovate my life — and innovate the hell out of it I will. Thanks for the push Amy.