So I pulled some strings… Tapped into my network… Hollered at some of my people and was able to get in touch with 4 historically significant people to give some graduation advice. Watch the video to see what I mean.

Ok ok ok, so maybe I played all of the parts in the video. I know right? I am a master of disguises. And accents.

Anyway…

You’re graduating. Congratulations! Do realize what that means? It means from here, right now, you must decide. Nobody else can do it for you. What will you have? Where will you go? What will you do? Who will you be?

I have seen it happen too many times. Students who are getting ready to graduate. They have all of these amazing ideas about what they will do, how they will conquer the world and do something that has never been done before but then something happens. They spend their first summer doing the same things they’ve done every summer before that. That slowly becomes the fall, where they do the same ting they’ve done every other fall. Eventually, they forget about the things they used to want to have and the places they used to want to go.

You are standing at the beginning of an incredible adventure where you get decide every part. Are you going to stand around and do the same things you’ve always done? or are you going to carve your own path? Find your own way? and Make Your Own Lunch?

Nobody else can decide this for you.

I hope that you take some time and plan what your future will look like. Decide that it’s realistic for you to have and then decide to get it, no exceptions.

You have spent the past few years to make it here, for this moment where you get to decide, for yourself, what you will do with your life.

Decide. Decide to Make Your Own Lunch.

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Make Your Own Lunch TV: Episode 005 from Ryan Porter on Vimeo.

Destiny. Do you believe in it?

There are too many people who leave their lives up to destiny. They say things like, “it will happened if it’s destined to be.” or when they don’t get something they wanted they make themselves feel better by saying “I guess it wasn’t my destiny.”

The people who have what they want have it because they decided to. The people who live the lives they dream about are living that way because they took action. They didn’t wait for destiny to give them what they wanted.

Make Your Own Lunch is all about carving your own path, living life on your terms and creating your own destiny.

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Kestin Cornwall, Owner and Founder of eLLIPTIC Clothing and we talked about creating your own destiny.

Follow me on Twitter or join the Facebook fan page OR head here to learn more about me.

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

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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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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!

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

Find your passion and you’ll be just fine.

Are you serious Yoda? This morning I couldn’t find my left sock or my right pant leg.

Ok, some people know what their passion is, others, have no idea. Some have found it and some never will. You are one of those people who have found it or who will find it. Trust me.

Here’s a shocker, it’s possible to have more than one passion.

Here’s the advice, don’t try to shove it all in one box or choose just one.

People feel the need to either; package all of their passions together or choose between them. “I like working with people BUT I also really like bottle-feeding Sea Elephants so I don’t know what to do.”

Most people already know what their passion(s) are. They just don’t know it yet.

Umm, Ryan… That didn’t make sense… Are you taking advice from that garden gnome again?

Let me explain. Most people do. I mean don’t. I mean…

Your passion is that stuff you get so excited about and when you are involved with it, time flies. It’s that stuff that you are good at but more importantly it’s that stuff that when you’re not good at it, you are stoked to learn how to be good. It’s that stuff you love doing, talking about, reading about, teaching to others or writing about.

And guess what? You can have more than one.

I am passionate about music. I am passionate about business. I am passionate about crayons. I am passionate about speaking to students. I am passionate about teaching people. I am passionate about helping our generation live their dreams. I am passionate about puppies, traveling, Japanese, technology, being healthy, sleeping, dreaming, finances, and so much more.

Great Ryan, that doesn’t help me figure out what I wanna do with my life?

Here you go. I am a huge fan of lists. Start by making a list of the stuff you love. Then figure out what stuff from that list could be combined in the same school/career path. Which of those passions are career/education related and which are more of a personal-life thing?

Once you get a good list of stuff you would love to have in your education or career path, start figuring out which paths or jobs would let you do that stuff.

Example time. Everybody sit down in a circle.

Ok, so you like working with people but enjoy technology and art. You love ideas and talking about those ideas but also love personal space and “me time”.

Maybe you would love to be an art teacher? Or web designer? Or art-dealer? Maybe you would love to design skateboards or snowboards? Maybe a clothing designer? Maybe something that doesn’t even exist yet?

Take your list and match it up to careers or University/college/training courses. Then, find someone who’s already doing that, email them or call them and ask some questions about it. Let them know where you are at and what you are thinking.

That’s what these guys did, www.roadtripnation.com and you’ll be amazed by the advice they were given and the stuff they found.

Finding your passion(s) is important but I bet you already have an idea of what they are. Find out how to do that stuff everyday and you’ll be just fine my young friends. You’ll be just fine.