Aaron McHugh
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Stop Waiting. Just Go For It.

M Field center stage at Quiksilver launch

A lack of action guarantees 100% probability that absolutely nothing new has a chance of happening.

None of us, not a single one of us, can predict what will or won’t happen tomorrow.

You have to risk the next unknown step.

No one knows if they’re going to become the next

  • Steve Jobs
  • ProBlogger
  • TED speaker
  • Entrepreneur on the cover of Wired Magazine
  • NY Times Best Selling Author
  • Grammy winning Musician
  • Surf wear designer

We should go for it anyway.

We don’t have to:

  • Know where it is going to finish
  • Have a five-year plan
  • Know what shape it is going to take
  • Wait for permission
  • Have a budget
  • Know how to do it
  • Know all the right people

We do need to:

  • Swing for the fence not for a single
  • Risk embarrassment and rejection
  • Tune out negative people
  • Believe in ourselves
  • Try something different when we get stuck

We are guaranteed to:

  • Meet interesting people
  • Feel alive again
  • Have new experiences that will stretch you
  • Never regret that you tried
  • Learn a lot about yourself

They are just like us

They too faced doubt, challenges, discouragement, slim moments of hope, but they went for it anyway.

Get out your pom-poms and your list of excuses.

You’re going to want to cheer, cry tears of joy and cross off every excuse you’ve entertained.

Leading the way to simplicity

Mike Field

Artist, Waterman, after 15+ years as a painter and designer M. Field was announced last week as Quiksilver’s newest beach wear clothing line.

Ask Mike what he knew about apparel design 18 months ago?

Ask Mike how confident he was that he was going to be on the big stage with brands like DC, Hawk and Roxy?

Tweet this to @Quiksilver and congratulate them.

Listen to our Podcast interview last year when this was just kicking off.

He’s just like us.

Corporate Escapee

Pam Slim

Author, Blogger, Career Coach

Just published her second book, Body of Work (book review coming soon) after she escaped corporate consulting to go out on her own.

Ask Pam if she knew Guy Kawasaki was going to promote her now famous letter to CEO’s, COO’s and CIO’s?

Tweet this to @PamSlim.

Ask her if she thought that the blog she created in a computer class would be read by hundred’s of thousands of readers each year?

Her adventurous story Podcast.

She’s just like us.

Finding remarkable again

Tess Vigeland

Broadcaster, Author, Finance guru.

Jumped without a net after 11 years as a leading host of National Public Radio weekly show-Marketplace.

Ask Tess how easy it’s been some days getting up each day embracing the unknown?

Ask her if she ever thought a fifteen-minute speech to 3000 people would have changed her life forever?

Tweet this to @TessVigeland.

Ask her if she believed she’d get a book deal two weeks later?

More on Tess’s journey.

She’s just like us.

Finding new rhythms

Jackopierce

Jack O’Neill & Cary Pierce

Dads, Musicians, Entrepreneurs.

Started rocking together in 1988 in central Texas.

Two decades later, ask these two musicians if they thought they’d get a second shot at the big show?

Tweet this to @Jackopierce.

How about a recording contract in Nashville?

Give a listen to some of their tunes.

They are just like us.

On stage TED2013

Nilofer Merchant

Author, Speaker, Corporate Director

After her long tech career at silicon valley giants like Apple, Nilofer earned her spot next to U2’s Bono at this year’s TED2013.

Ask her if she thought she’d be featured in the Harvard Business Review after writing a break-out article about how sitting is killing us?

Tweet this to @Nilofer.

Now (among many things) she’s the messenger of Walking Meetings.

Podcast interview from a cafe in the valley.

She’s just like us.

Bringing big ideas to light

Mario Schultzke

Founder of IdeaMensch

After a 50 state road tour on a shoestring budget, armed with only a MacBook Pro, and a US map; IdeaMensch has now helped bring over 2000 entrepreneurs ideas to light.

Ask Mario how confident he felt when tomorrow night’s next Meet Up had zero tickets sold?

Tweet this to @IdeaMensch

Ask him how easy it’s been doing his now day job at the University of Montana and running IdeaMensch?

Listen to Mario’s nine lessons that every entrepreneur should know.

He’s just like us.

Author of Accidental Creative

Todd Henry

Author, Podcaster, Consultant, Creative.

Ask Todd about how he accidentally became one of iTunes top business podcasts by faithfully recording his ideas every week since 2007?

Tweet this to @ToddHenry.

Ask him how much caution he received over his latest best-selling business book title “Die Empty”  Who wants to read about death Todd? 

Listen to his story.

He’s just like us.

Zero to on top in two years

Jeff Goins

Tribe Leader, Author, Mega Blogger

Ask @JeffGoins if he thought he’d be speaking side-by-side with Michael Hyatt at his Platform conferences when he cold called him to have coffee?

Tweet this to @JeffGoins.

Ask him if while he was leading mission trips he thought he’d build a Mega Blog in less than two years time?

Podcast early in the upward trend.

He’s just like us.

What are you not doing today that you wish you were?

Come on…tell us.

Keep going.

Kill the Giant Squids & Dominate the World

WORLD DOMINATION SUMMIT 2013

When I told Leith, my wife, about the event a few months ago her reaction was “What in the world is that?”

It is an event focused on living a life you want to live vs. accidentally living a life you think you should.

Chris Guillebeau author, world traveler, adventurer and entrepreneur was the gracious host of 3000 fellow world changers.  The WDS team curated an unbelievable lineup of speakers, break out sessions, a mobile app for keeping track of people you met, opening party with a marching band at the Portland Zoo, and on and on.

One ingredient to change the world

If you’ve ever had an idea, a dream, a vision or hope of making something, sharing something, creating something, organizing something then you my friend should have a seat at next year’s WDS 2014.

Changing the world we live in only takes one ingredient,
offering our full self.

I’ve spent many years hiding myself, taking the back seat, waiting for permission, editing the full story and the world was only receiving a faint glimmer of the whole me.

Invitation to offer yourself

Being around 2999 other people who share a similar desire releases an invitation within me.  When you witness another human being offer their truest self it unlocks something in each of us and we are invited to do the same.

The world was flat

I met a guy named Bo that is going to sail around the world by himself.

  • He’s not a record holding sailor.
  • He’s not independently wealthy.
  • Until a few months ago he didn’t even own a sailboat.

There was a time when people would have told Bo,

“Even if you make it past the man-eating squid,
you’re going to sail off the edge of the world and die”
.

Today, the only real obstacles to sailing around the world or dominating your little swatch of the planet are:

The thoughts in our head

I can’t do this.  It’s not going to work.  What will people think?

We all entertain these voices that keep us believing that there is a man-eating squid ready to devour us if we continue down this ridiculous path that we dream about following.

The daring and barely brave go ahead anyway.

Consistently showing up and doing the work

80% is simply showing up faithfully and chipping away at the project, task, or dream.

Bo’s going for it. He bought his sailboat, untied the bow and is shoving off towards the sunset.

What’s our excuse for not leaving the dock?

I need your help!

I’m attempting to expand my patch of world domination to ChangeThis.com.

This is a Manifesto network that distributes ideas that change minds.

My eBook, Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your boss is being voted on for acceptance to their network and I have three days left.

Would you be willing to take three seconds to click on the button (bottom of the page) that says “Yes Write this Manifesto”-click here.

Resumes are Analog. Create a Digital Portfolio Instead.

In this digital age a black and white resume in Microsoft Word is an analog solution to explaining your career.

A digital portfolio is the modern solution for career professionals who desire to distinguish themselves from the herd.

With this approach I have been able to significantly improve my career options and increase my total compensation by 50%.

If you’re not in the middle of a career change, forward it to a friend who you know is.

Better yet, forward this to a friend that you know should be changing careers.

Raising money and your career change

You should approach your career change like you were raising money from investors.

If I was trying to raise money from investors what is their bottom line question?

“If I invest my money in you, will you give me a better return than if I invested in someone else?’

Let’s start with these questions

  • What have you done before?
  • Are you better than everyone else?
  • How do we know you can do it again?
  • What kinds of results can you provide?
  • What do other people have to say about you?

This is not a shortcut

This approach is guaranteed to be the long and narrow road.

Creating a career portfolio will take longer, more effort and more risk.

Most people will never put in the work to differentiate themselves from the herd.

I’ve never enjoyed the herd.

They seem to like words like predictable, normal, steady and reliable.

Their results usually seem to be congruent with those terms.

Making the decision to leave

Two years ago I realized I needed a career change.

After exhausting my wife from listening to my woes for years, I started putting plans into action to leave my job.

I was running a small software division for a product and team that I helped take from a whiteboard idea to a market ready product.

We were experiencing success and arguably things were about to get easier.

But I was loosing heart.

I really enjoyed the job and the challenges in the marketplace.  The environment was tough.

I started to dream of what “better” really would look like.

The shift begins to be unavoidable

I used to become very agitated with myself.

Why can’t I just settle in like everyone else?

Why can’t I be agreeable and compliant like those other people?

Why do I always have to make a ruckus?

Now, I have made friends with this recurring pattern in my life.

Every time I have changed jobs I get to where I can’t swallow the pill anymore.

What I used to be willing to accept or tolerate, I can’t anymore.

I don’t wake up on a particular Monday and say, “I’m not willing to do this”.

It is more of a gradual internal shift over many months or years.

My guess is that my story is a lot like yours.

  • Your daily passion gets easily deflated
  • You see warts where you previously pretended they were “beauty marks”
  • You heart is not in the mission anymore.

Each time I’ve arrived here, I realize that the best resolution was to remove myself from the story instead of continuing to try and change it.

I don’t like what resumes have become

I hadn’t created a resume in years.

It felt a bit overwhelming to get started.

By not having a current resume, I realized I was using it as an excuse for why I needed to stay compliant to the dysfunction.

“I need this job and I’m not prepared to make a move.  Suck it up.”

Over the years, I have read hundreds of resumes and most are predictably and painfully dull.

Most are full of alleged accomplishments, amazing feats and bulleted job duties.

I wanted to revolt.

Imagine that, me wanting to revolt.  I know it’s hard to believe.

So instead of adhering to the perceived standards, I was going to break the rules.

Anyone can create a one-page bullet list of job duties.

I wanted to create a portfolio instead 

Professional trades like Architects, Artists, Graphic Designers, Journalists and Software Developers all have professional portfolios.

A few years ago my brother the architect, started looking for a new job.

He spent weeks preparing an exquisite leather bound professional portfolio that looked ready for your living room coffee table. The contents documenting his accomplishments would have made Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright feel nervous to compete with these design chops.

It was so much more engaging than a black and white bulleted lists.

It told such a better story.

It was visual.

It offered concrete proof of what he had delivered, designed and created.

I was ruined.

Never again could I follow the norms of job hunting and schlep some drab 8 ½” x 11” text file.

Ideas are hard to put on display

My working career has been about the creation of ideas that translate into business value.

What the hell does that mean?

In Sales you don’t sell products (well some people do) you sell an idea of how a product can solve a business problem.

I offer ideas for a living.

As one of my favorite podcasters and authors, Todd Henry, calls it, Translating ideas into value at a moments notice.

Provide specific examples of accomplishments

Documentable accomplishments are obviously ideal proof of your career performance.

Point to a specific news article, press release or external reference source.

You offer your ideas in plain view.

Original thought is brilliant evidence of what business and organizational value you will actually bring.

I never intended to write publicly or keep up a blog.

Instead it was my version of a digital portfolio.

I believed it would provide a competitive differentiation between me and every other candidate in the CEO’s office.

Why a blog is a great start?

A blog (WordPress site) will enable you to provide a much more robust body of evidence of your career storyline.

In a traditional resume you are generally limited to a maximum of two pages in total.

With an electronic portfolio you have the luxury of progressively disclosing your career story through a series of small chunks of content with embedded links that are wired up to display your thoughts, ideas, pictures of projects, and documents.

The density of content that you can provide with an electronic portfolio would never create an effective stand-alone resume.

Don’t know how to get started?  Here is a link to Jeff Goins step-by-step setup guide.

Endorsements

LinkedIn has brilliantly capitalized on this premise of offering an aggregated collection of other people’s advocacy or endorsements of your work.

Other people's words about you hold more weight than your own.

Even better is what they are willing to write on your behalf.

If you have not pursued this age-old tactic, you better get started.

I utilized endorsements in my first sales job selling Radio advertising in the mid-90’s.  I was really young, and looked even younger.  My competitors had more experience than me, had better products to sell and were arguably better at sales than I was.

I needed help.

I started asking for endorsements from my customers.  In those days they actually pulled out a piece of company letterhead and typed a full letter.  I carried them around in a three-ring binder in clear covers.

When a prospective customer would ask “Why should I do business with you?”  I’d pull out the letters and flip through them and say, “Mr. Smith says you are in good hands with me”.

In essence the letters promised, Aaron does not lie, cheat or steal.  He is really smart and works hard.  Give him a shot.

Examples for you to steal

Now it is your turn to get started.

See my digital portfolio:

  • Bio
  • About
  • Endorsements

I am happy to provide you document templates to get you started.

If you need advice on how to ask for them, shoot me an email. Am@aaronmchugh.com

Free eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

Download Your FREE copy
This is an invitation to unravel what the world has taught you.

Early praise for Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

“This absolutely beautiful book is a true whack of the truth on the side of your career.”

Seth Godin, Author The Icarus Deception


“I loved this book. Reader beware: this book will call you out and into your best work.”

Jeff Goins, Author, Wrecked


“This brave book helps you cast aside the unwritten contract of compliance and take control to start living the life you really want.”

Clay Hebert, co-founder WorkHacks


“Revolutionary. McHugh pulls the string that unravels a person and leaves them only with hope.”

Morgan Snyder, Author, Become Good Soil


Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss. is for you if…

1. You want to enjoy going to work each day.

2. You feel confident that your career is too important to approach with apathy.

3. You want to gain greater influence at work.

4. You’re ready to explore new alternatives for finding recognition for your work.

After reading, you’ll be able to:

1. Establish a unique strategy for firing your boss.

2. Know how to obtain the freedom to offer your best in any job.

3. Understand why quitting your job won’t help you.

The Free offer

I am giving this book away for free.

No strings attached.

Yes, absolutely free. That means:

  • No email address required.
  • No hoops to jump through.
  • You can forward it to anyone you’d like.

And yes, I know this is a bad way (in theory) to “build a platform.”

If you want more, you’ll come back.

CLICK HERE

What if No One Likes What You Create (Creative Process)?

The Creative Process is full of reasons to quit

When I sit down to work on new creative projects, I often hear this question before I even start. How much time do you spend thinking about why you shouldn’t start creating something new instead of just doing it?

How many statements of disqualification do you listen to everyday?

Do you ever hear questions in your head like these?

The truth is I hear this list a lot.

Sometimes I even yield to its taunting voice. I want to share with you the struggle that I face to make it make it to the finish line. I’m writing this post for myself as much as for you. I need the help in silencing my lizard brain that wants me to stop risking and play it safe.

The “What If’s” that try to stop me from doing great work

  • What if my next projects, my next presentation, my new curriculum, my new software app stinks?
  • What if no one uses it?
  • What if no one likes it?
  • What if no one leaves a comment on my next blog post?
  • What if I don’t finish the Marathon I am training for?
  • What if my manifesto doesn’t get read?
  • What if no one buys my new product idea?
  • What if your book manuscript doesn’t get published?
  • What if no one listens to my new podcast?

I waste time listening instead of doing

How much time do we spend churning through these questions instead of just doing the work?

I am going to wager a guess.

Some days, I spend almost 75% of my time
entertaining these whispers of doubt instead of
courageously doing the work regardless of outcomes.

How many incomplete projects or ideas do you have in your cue?

Steven Pressfield describes these enemies of the creative process in his book, The War of Art. He names the tension, calls out the culprits, exposes our fears and throws a lifeline to the reader to stop listening and start doing great work.

I have a series of projects that I have been loosing the war to what Steven calls “The Resistance”.  Watch his video here on how to overcome Resistance.

Take an Inventory

  1. Would you be willing to take an inventory of the number of projects, ideas, initiatives
    that you have started in the last six months, but not completed?
  2. Now take a similar inventory of the number of projects that you have completed?
  3. How many of the completed projects, ideas, products, inventions, books, stories, speeches, stood up against the above list of fears?

Do The Work Anyway

Once you answer the questions above with the answer I am going to do it anyway.

Then you are free to do the work you love regardless of people’s responses. Jeff Goins published a great ebook that speaks to this kind of thinking, Your Are a Writer, so start acting like one.

Instead of doubting, I want to act like the person I want to become.

  • You are a writer.
  • You are a designer.
  • You are an author.
  • You fill in the blank. “I am a…….”

What will you do today that yesterday you dismissed because you thought
no one will like what you create?

You might also enjoy the podcast interview with Jeff Goins.  Listen here.  

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Copyright © 2025 Aaron McHugh

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