Permission to Play

Do you fear leading a boring adult life, settling for a conventional job with no real happiness? Joe Fingerhut feared the same thing, but he did something others don’t do: He made his life extraordinary. He followed his heart, despite his parents’ objections, and pursued his own dreams. And he ultimately got his parents’ blessing! Thirty countries. Six continents. Eight Years. One dream life. That’s Joe’s story. This book is required reading for any teen who feels uncertain about their future and is about to embark on “the rest of their life.” Joe shows you how your next steps can launch you on the path to build an adult life that is far better than you can imagine, while respecting your parents and their points of view. Joe not only provides a blueprint for following your dreams, he also injects you with powerful fuel, so you can blast through the excuses that hold you back and build a life that is fun, fulfilling, and promising. Intro by Patrick Combs: You know what’s really hard? Making yourself into who you want to be. Making your life into what you want it to be. These things are really hard because you have to start with where you’re at and where you’re at is never the easy starting place. Starting takes guts. It takes courage. It takes nerve. It takes real audacity to declare to the world you’re going to become what you dream and then go for it. Real audacity. And a touch of crazy. The good kind of crazy. The kind of crazy that shapes amazing lives. Joe Fingerhut is that kind of person. He’s done it. He’s been though it. He’s gotten the T-shirt. He’s learned the power of dreaming. The magic of starting. The necessity of falling down. The all-importance of getting back up again and forging on. But no need to be impressed with Joe’s accomplishments. They’re not why you should trust him on the pages of this book. Who cares what Joe’s accomplished? Joe accomplished his dreams not yours. Instead, give applause to how many times Joe has fallen, failed, crashed, burned, wiped out, screwed up, suffered, persisted and overcome all in pursuit of his biggest dreams, because that’s what gives Joe the depth to share real wisdom with you. Joe speaks around the world not because people invite him to. He speaks around the world because he dreamed of doing so and then gutted it out for years, at his desk mostly, doing whatever he could to become an international speaker. What makes Joe tick is something important for you and every human being to value. Joe values his family and Joe values his dreams, his life is a reflection of these two values for sure. But underneath both of those values is something even more fundamental to Joe. Joe values life. There is always something that drives each of us do what we do in life. Regrettably too many people are driven by desires to be comfortable, safe or rich and these people are chained to very boring lives. Joe doesn’t place a lot of value on safety, comfort or money like most people. At the heart of Joe’s life is a value for life itself because as you’ll read in this book, Joe learned a young age, through a very painful loss, that life is precious and can be extinguished at any moment. You hold in your hand an excellent manual on how to really live while you’re alive, how to fill the pages of your own life story with play, joy, love, adventure, friendship, excitement, achievement, excellence and fulfillment. Read every page of this book. But more importantly, do as Joe did, be so crazy as to make yourself into who you want to be. Be so audacious as to make your life into how you dream it. Why? Because you can. Because your life depends on it.