Zach Swee

I thought I would take some time and list my life mottos and explain a little bit about why I follow them.  I currently have five life mottos, but that number always has the potential to increase.  Here’s what they are and a brief description of what they mean to me:

1. Go big or go home

This is my number one life motto and the most important of them all.  In every decision we make, we can decide how we behave.  I want to live a life on purpose and with intentionality.  “Going big” means not taking the safe route, but the exciting one, the route that’s got risk but also greater reward.  I don’t want to do something halfway, but rather have big goals and big accomplishments.  “Go big or go home” is the reason I moved down to Florida.  It was an adventure and a stepping out of what was safe and easy.  Something else I love about this motto is that there is no judgment in whether you “go big or go home.”  Sometimes it’s time to go home, and that’s ok too.

2. Be the change you want to see

Ghandi said this first and I’ve just kind of stolen it from him.  Basically what it means is that if you look around you and notice a problem, don’t just complain about the problem, fix it.  Don’t look around the room and say to yourself, “Wow, no one here is talking to anyone else” and then leave because of how unfriendly everyone is.  Go and talk to people.  Help create the positive change you want to see, because the only responsibility you can control is your own.

3. You gotta dance with the girl that brought ya

This is a very important one to me.  I often find myself not wanting to say no to people or opportunities.  If someone wants to hang out or needs help with something, I’m most likely to say yes.  Unfortunately, if different people all ask you to do something, saying yes to all of them will often end in disaster, and the people you didn’t want to disappoint end up very disappointed.  This motto for me means that once you commit to something, you must stand by your commitment, no matter what other opportunities come up.  If you ask a girl to the prom and she says yes, then you need to go with her to the dance.  If later a prettier,  more popular girl asks you to go with her instead, you simply have to tell her that you already have a commitment, and you stand by your commitments.  In the end, you and the people around you will be happier if you stick to your commitments and “dance with the girl that brought ya.”

4. It can’t all be wedding cake

This comes from a song by Spoon called “The Underdog.”  Here’s what I take from it: There are many different types of cake in the world, but if you’re just looking and hoping for wedding cake every time, you’re going to be very disappointed.  Sometimes life’s going to give you birthday cake instead.  Or coffee cake.  If you only care about wedding cake, then you’re going to be upset.  But coffee cake is delicious, and there’s a time and a place for it.  If you can understand that it’s not always going to be wedding cake but that’s ok, and sometimes other cake is better, you’ll be much happier.  In fact, wedding cake isn’t really all that good all the time.  Sometimes a nice angel food cake will be even better, and you’d miss out if all you’re looking for is wedding cake.  Don’t get me wrong, sometime it will be wedding cake, and it’ll be delicious and there will be celebrating and that’ll be great, but “it can’t all be wedding cake,” and that’s ok.

5. You can’t wing a button

Where I got this motto from is a little sillier, but the lesson is important.  There have been a couple times in my life where a button has fallen off of my shirt and I’ve had to sew it back on.  Easy right?  That’s what I thought.  I’d take thread and make the most convoluted knots, convinced that it would then stay on.  Inevitably, at the slightest gust of wind, my button would fall off again.  What I learned was that there are things, like buttons, that I personally could not wing.  I couldn’t just go into that situation and say to myself, “I don’t need to prepare for this, I don’t need to give this any thought, it’s just a button, and I can wing it, and it’ll be fine.”  It turned out that I couldn’t wing a button.  To properly sew a button back on, I was going to have to pay attention and take my time and do it intelligently, maybe even ask someone for help.  And that’s ok.  There’s going to be things in your life, like buttons for me, that you have to work for and will take patience and time and energy and will not come easily.  Now that’s not to say there isn’t anything you can wing.  Somethings will come naturally to you and you can wing it.  But other things you will not be able to, and like buttons, you will have to work at.