Make Your Own Lunch TV: Episode 004 from Ryan Porter on Vimeo.

There are a ton of people out there who completely live for the weekend. They spend the first half of their week talking about last weekend and the rest of the week talking about next weekend… and that’s because most people don’t love what they’re doing.

They are working in jobs that they aren’t passionate about or are studying programs at school that they have no interest in whatsoever.

One of the things that every person I have interviewed has in common is that they all love what they do. It’s hard work, a lot of hard work but they don’t mind working their butts off because it’s doing stuff that they love.

Find what you love and then find a way to do THAT.

I am not trying to make it sound easy. It’s not. It takes hard work, heart break, setbacks, failure and more hard work but the payoff is better than you can imagine.

This week I hung out with one of Canada’s fastest rising photographers Jaime Hogge. He is completely passionate about his work and shared some insight into how he became a photographer and what he thinks about doing something you love.

“That’s how you know when you are really doing something you should be doing… when you want to do it all of the time.” – Jaime Hogge

For more on Jaime, visit www.jaimehogge.com

Join the Make Your Own Lunch Facebook fan page here and follow me on Twitter here.

Make Your Own Lunch TV: Episode 003 from Ryan Porter on Vimeo.

So what do you want to be when you grow up???

I hate that question!

I had no idea how to answer that question when I was younger… Actually in elementary school I thought it was a real possibility for me to be a cartoon when I grew up. I thought at age 18 I would jut magically become a character in The Flinstones or GI Joe. Just hand in a resume, fill out an application then, BOOM. You’re a cartoon.

The possibilities seem so limited when you sit down and try to answer this question.

In high school, I was shown a chart with the possibilities for my future. If you co to Community College you can do these 10 jobs. If you get a 4 year degree from University you can do these 15 things etc.

The typical jobs on these types of charts are; doctor, lawyer, teacher, plumber, electrician, retail associate, car sales, real estate, graphic design, accountant, and travel agent. There was nothing on here that said founder of the largest DIY skateboarding company in North America or Entertainment Entrepreneur. You wouldn’t be able to find Youth Speaker or Youth Media Expert. I am positive that “guy who trades a red paperclip for a house” wouldn’t ever make the chart.

There are so many opportunities out there and so many more to be created. But here’s the catch: it’s up to you to create them!

You create them by taking chances, by talking to people, by surrounding yourself with people who can help you. You uncover these opportunities by asking questions, traveling, volunteering, reading and living just outside of your comfort zone.

In Episode 003, I speak with Norah and Ted to hear how they are creating their dream careers one skateboard at a time.

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Make Your Own Lunch TV: Episode 002 from Ryan Porter on Vimeo.

This week I got to sit down with Abby Tobias from Sole Power Productions, a mega-entertainment company based in Toronto, Canada, to talk about how he got from high school to where is now. Which is borderline world domination.

He had some amazing stories and awesome insight but the thing that stuck with me the most from talk with Abby was when he said, “I walked into a place for something and got something totally different.”

He didn’t have all the answers from the beginning. He knew where he was and he had an idea of where he wanted to end up, so he started moving in that direction. Now he is living the life he wants to be living and having a bunch of ridiculous experiences along the way.

You know where you are. Figure out where you want to be and start heading in that direction. As I learned from Abby, you don’t always have to know every step, you just need to keep moving.

Join the Facebook Make Your Own Lunch Fan page by clicking here.

Starting from today, I will be uploading a new episode almost every Sunday.

There will be funny episodes, awkward episodes, serious episodes and episodes that will make you wonder why my mom allows me out in public.

Make sure to leave your comments on the video and share it!

PS If you want to make my dad as happy as he gets when he sees the free samples at Costco on a Saturday afternoon, join the MYOL Facebook group here -> www.facebook.com/makeyourownlunch

PPS Make sure to send these videos to your advisors/teachers/principals and World of Warcraft Guild

So I cleaned out my travel folder and found my airplane boarding passes from my 2009 travels and this picture is what happened when I dumped it out.  BAM!! (PS That’s a bout a third of them)

ANYWAYS…

The death threats and hate mail can stop. I am here to offer the reason of my recent absence.

Make Your Own Lunch TV. That’s right. I said it.

Beginning in February, this blog will be the new home of my video blog, Make Your Own Lunch TV. I am so stoked about this. MYOL TV is going to be a series of awesome, hilarious and insightful interviews with people who are making their own lunch. People who are living by their own set of rules and doing what they are passionate about.

Think graffiti artists, photographers, fashion designers, bloggers, skateboarders, and Leprechauns (I may or may not be lying about the Leprechauns). It’s going to be awesome.

A little more patience please and we will be good to go shortly.

In the meantime, browse the blog and catch up on any posts you might have missed like one of my personal favorites here or the one that caused Chuck Norris to quit his job and become a spoken word poet here.

Two of my favorite people in history were brothers with a crazy dream. Their names were Orville and Wilbur. (Kind of unfortunate names if you ask me) Their last name was Wright. That’s right, the guys who invented the airplane.

On the morning of December 17, 1903, the brothers decided to give their flying machine a test run. They called up a bunch newspapers ahead of time so that everyone would be able to read of their accomplishment but only ONE reporter showed up and it was only cause he thought they would crash and die.

After a coin-toss to decide who would pilot the first attempt, Orville jumped in the seat of the machine. He fired up the engine started off down the track they had made to help launch the plane into the sky. Can you imagine what the people watching would’ve been thinking? If it was 2009 they for sure would have been recording it on their Flip cams to send it to TMZ.com.

Then the miracle happened! The plane reached the end of the track and it actually left the ground! Orville was flying! To everyone’s disbelief the flyer was actually using an engine to fly.

Imagine what that was like.

Orville hardly had time to be excited because after a lightning fast 12 seconds in the air, the plane crashed to the ground smashing the rudder and breaking a lever off of the engine.

Orville had only managed to travel a distance of 120 ft

They had 12 seconds, 120 feet and a broken airplane to their names.

All the people watching were disappointed. Some people laughed at the weak attempt at flight. They chalked it up as another failure for these two brothers. The crash proved to people that the brothers were in fact, crazy and that real flight was mpossible.

Do you know what the brothers did?

They celebrated! High fives and chest bumps. They were so excited that they had flown 12 seconds, 120 feet! Next step: fly higher, longer and greater distances! After a quick repair, brother Wilbur jumped in the airplane and had a try at flying.

Their final attempt for the day produced a 59 second flight covering the distance of 852 feet!

These brothers had a vision and there were many who told them it was crazy, people who even took action to stop them from achieving flight and many who were certain it would never be accomplished. The brothers never released their vision, their dream and their goal.

Even after what some would have called a failure of their first attempt, when onlookers were shaking their heads and calling the brothers crazy, the brothers celebrated their small victory, fixed the plane and started down the runway again and again until they had perfected it.

The Wright Brothers changed history because of their persistence and vision.

Many of us have things we dream about and a vision for our future but give in and give up at the first sign of opposition and adversity.

Are you focused on your vision? Are you taking the time to celebrate your small victories along the way? Your 12 seconds and 120 feet in the air?

It’s easy to be wrapped up by a vision for bigger, better and more but we all need to take time to look at what we have already done and see the signs that we are that much closer to flight. Without a doubt, there will be times when you will crash after barely leaving the ground, leaving your plane in need of repair but celebrate the fact you left the ground. Never let go of your vision.

Make the decision to do things the ‘Wright’ way. Decide to celebrate every small accomplishment along the way to your dreams. Celebrate every second you spend off of the ground! Even if it’s only for 12 seconds!

So you’ve seen the presentation. You’ve heard the stories. You’ve laughed at my travels and mishaps. It’s now time for you to Make Your Own Lunch!

“But Ryan, I don’t know where to start!”

or

“But Ryan, I could hardly understand you with that strange Canadian accent.”

Well looky here, I just might have some help!

GET HUNGRY

The hungrier you are, the more likely it is that you will want to eat. The more you see what you want to have, what you want to do, where you want to go, and the person you want to become, the more your mouth starts to water.

Look at the menu! Start exploring the possibilities for you and your future. Anything goes! Remember you decide what’s realistic for you. Is it travelling? Is it going to school? Is it volunteering near your hometown or another country?

Start by cutting pictures out of magazines, bookmarking websites, “Photoshop-ing” your face on Brad Pitt’s body (or Angelina’s, or both * weird *) or create a collage or video with music that represents the vision you have for your future.

Start creating your personal menu! The things you want to choose from. Just like a menu include some appetizers, or smaller things you want, like a picture of a fishing rod because you want to enjoy the outdoors more. Also, put some of the bigger things on there, like a picture of the Eiffel tower to represent the trip to Paris you want to take.

It’s your personal menu. You can add to it and take away from it whenever you want.

Start looking at it everyday. Every time you look at it, feel what it would be like being in that place, living that life, being that person or having those things.

Get ready to actually start having those things.

BITE-SIZED PIECES

“OK Ryan. I have been looking at my menu everyday and nothing is happening! This thing doesn’t work! You suck!”

Whoa! Take it easy junior!

It doesn’t work? Or you haven’t been working?

Sitting there daydreaming doesn’t work at all! There’s no magic to this stuff. It will require you to actually logout of Facebook and sign-out of Windows Messenger and remove your butt from the chair you have been sitting in.

Start deciding what needs to be done. Then tackle those things one-by-one.

If it’s a trip to Paris you want, what are some things you could do today to bring you closer to being there? It may help you to take your picture of the Eiffel tower and draw dots around the outline of it. Have each dot represent something you can do to get you on your way.

The dots could be things like, “start saving $20/week in a separate savings account” or “go to a bookstore for an afternoon, read about Paris and find some places that interest me.” Or it could be, “learn how to say, ‘Ryan Porter’s jokes are lame’ in French” You could even have “talk to someone who has been there before and get their experience and advice”.

List everything and anything you could do to help you get to Paris, then step by step, piece by piece, dot by dot, start putting it together!

Things will happen a lot quicker than you think because you will constantly be crossing things off of the “to-do” list!

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT

The best part of Make Your Own Lunch is that you aren’t actually dealing with a lunchbox!

You have just stepped into an all-you-can-eat buffet. And I am not even talking about one of those dark and dodgy “everything-kind-of-tastes-like-chicken-even-the-vegetables” buffets. I am talking about one of those Las Vegas, award-winning all-you-can-eat buffets and you just showed up with an empty plate and an empty stomach.

You get to fill your plate sky-high of the things you like. You get to try all types of new things. You get to stay away from the thing that you don’t like and best of all, you get to go back for seconds, thirds, fourths and as many times as it takes for you to get stuffed!

Make Your Own Lunch is about creating your own experiences. It’s not about trying to duplicate things I have done or doing exactly what people are telling you to do. It’s about jumping in the driver’s seat and controlling where you go. It’s about saying “I can’t take this peanut butter anymore” and making something you actually like!

There are so many experiences waiting for you. You don’t have to hold on to firecrackers or move to Japan either, you can start having the experiences you want today.

Make Your Own Lunch is not about me, it’s not about your parents, it’s not about your teachers, it’s about you and what you want.

Bon appetit!

Do you have a girlfriend? Did your mom really slam a revolving door? Did you eat the shirako? How can I travel around the world? How can I teach English in Japan? Are you sure you weren’t dropped on your head or exposed to heightened levels of radiation as a child?

These are typical questions I get asked after presenting to audiences across the continent. There’s one question though, that I should take some time and answer.

How do I get started?

After a conference or assembly you leave pumped up and ready to take over the globe with your ideas. You get home and then sit down at your computer to get started with your plan for conquering the world.

Then you log on to Facebook.

Oh what’s this? Somebody answered a question about me on a quiz? Of course I want to check it out!

3 hours later, you try to remember why you got on the computer in the first place. You can’t remember. You shut it down, go watch The Hills then go to sleep.

—

There once was a group of turkeys. They spent their days doing turkey stuff. You know, hanging out, looking ugly, dreading Thanksgiving and NOT FLYING.

Then one day one of the turkeys announced that they were invited to a conference where there would meet a flying turkey. They were so stoked because this flying turkey was going to teach them how to fly! They couldn’t believe it. They got their stuff together and walked to the conference – hoping it would be the last time they would have to walk.

They stood around in a group waiting.

Then all of a sudden, one of the turkeys noticed something in the sky coming towards them. As it got closer, they saw it was a FLYING TURKEY!

He swooped down and landed in the middle of the group. It was incredible!

For the next few hours, the flying turkey taught them all about flying. He showed them how to use their wings and the wind to fly.

Later that day, he brought them to a cliff and one-by-one each turkey jumped off and flew. It was amazing. The turkeys couldn’t believe it. They soared through the air. They went above the clouds. They did flips and dive bombs, they did things they never could have imagined.

It was the greatest experience of their lives. They now knew how to fly. They were so excited. They would never have to touch the ground again! They felt amazing. This was so much better and quicker than walking. Why didn’t they learn this before?

The conference ended and they all landed back at the main conference area. The turkey’s waved good-bye as their flying instructor took off and flew to another turkey conference.

The group of turkeys then, picked up their stuff and walked home.

—-

At conferences and assemblies, you learn a ton of new stuff. You learn how to fly. The problem is that most people return back to their regular lives and forget all about the things they learned.

They walk home.

So how do you continue flying?

Decide to change. Decide to take steps to stay in touch with the people you met. Decide to use the ideas you learned to change your routines the world you live in.

If you learned something new about leadership, try using it in your next student council meeting. If you learned how to fly in your relationship, try it. If you learned something that inspired you to get involved, get involved. If you were inspired to build a school in Africa, don’t wait. Start the planning now.

You continue flying by deciding not to land.

Don’t be a turkey. Fly already.

Ok ok, so I haven’t posted in a while. My bad!

I have been working on some awesome things for YOU! So don’t get too crazy.

Here’s what I want to get off of my chest:

Everybody deserves to do exactly what they want to do for work.

Imagine this: A job where you get to travel to some of the most amazing places on Earth. On your days off you can go scuba diving or snowboarding. You can volunteer in local communities or learn how to speak another language. You could go whale watching or paragliding. Basically, you get paid to be on vacation.

Sound too good to be true?

It’s not.

It’s time I introduce you to a little job known as a Club Med Gracious Employee. (Kind of a corny name, I know).

In case you don’t know, Club Med is a company that has vacation resorts all over the world. Usually in exotic locations like Brazil, the Caribbean, French Polynesia and Australia.

Club Med hires all kinds of people for the resorts. They hire DJ’s, scuba instructors, snowboard instructors, lifeguards, and archery instructors.

Honestly? Archery instructors?

Yup. Archery instructors.

They hire butchers, bakers, nurses, plumbers, excursion guides and many more.

Of course there’s a lot of work involved for these jobs and things can be tough working, living and spending all of your free time on the same resort but it can also be a lot of fun.

One of my closest friends worked for a Club Med in the Northern part of Japan. She worked as an organizer of Children Events. She got paid to organize tea parties and costume-themed days. She finger painted and played dress-up… Did I mention she was getting PAID for this stuff?

On her days off, she took snowboarding lessons and made friends from around the world.

How cool is that?

This post isn’t meant to be a giant advertisement for Club Med. It’s meant to open your eyes to the possibilities that are out there.

There is NO REASON why any of us should ever work jobs that we hate. There’s always a way to do what we love and a way to get paid doing it.

It takes hard work, a lot of focus, a lot of drive and a ton of dedication but it’s so worth it.

Of course there will be parts you don’t love. I mean, I love the work I do but sometimes the late-night flights and different time zones, rental cars and haunted hotels can suck (see pic). But getting on stage and speaking in front of thousands of students, reading their emails and getting to hear their stories makes everything worth it.

I am 100% in love with the work I do and everybody else should feel the same way about their work, their school and their life.

So if Archery is what you love, do THAT. Shoot those arrows straighter than anyone else. And teach others how to do the same and get paid doing it.

Bullseye.

For more info about working from Club Med, check this out