21: Mark McClung on Taking Action, Finding Your Passion, and Leveraging Side Projects
Mark McClung is the creator of My Daily Mark, a blog dedicated to helping people, especially high school students, take action in their lives. In this episode Mark talks about the lessons he has learned, why you need to find your passion, and leveraging projects to your advantage.
Here are three important lessons you can learn from Mark:
Taking Action is EssentialOne of the most important lessons Mark has learned is the importance of taking action. Every success he has seen was the result of taking action on the ideas he has.
One thing Mark said really stood out to me. He says that inspiration alone is not enough to get you where you need to go. "Without action, inspiration is nothing more than entertainment." I can't agree with him more.
Anyone can watch inspiring talks or read inspirational books. Only people that take action on that inspiration actually achieve something great.
It doesn't require much to take action. All you need to do is break down your goal into individual action steps. Once you break things down into small, actionable parts, it becomes much easier to accomplish them.
Find Your PassionAnother thing that Mark advocates is finding your passion. Once you find your passion, it becomes much easier to move forward with your idea.Just because you don't know what your passion is doesn't mean you won't be able to discover it. When you pursue things you enjoy, you may discover your passion.
This quote perfectly describes passion and taking action, "You don't have to know what your passion is. You just have to take passionate action."
The most important thing is to take actionable steps. It doesn't matter how big or small those steps are, just as long as you are taking them.
Leverage Your ProjectsMark is a huge advocate of starting projects through your passion. He has used these projects to make himself stand out from his peers and get new job opportunities.In college, he started his own advertising company which lowed him to learn many aspects of business. He was able to turn a $100 budget into a company with 20 clients. This separated himself from other recent college graduates when he went to get a job.
Mark and his wife also started a social network for teachers. Although he eventually moved on from the project, it taught him valuable lessons and allowed him to start his next project.
These projects have allowed him to rise the ranks of his career ladder, they have taught him lessons that he might not have learned otherwise, and they have allowed him to experiment and find things he was passionate about.
