My friend Crystal recently added an interesting post to her blog titled “Questions we should be asking”. It’s a very personal thing to answer questions about yourself and to look internally and be honest with yourself can be difficult. I personally like doing challenging things so I decided to take her advice and repost the questions, with my own answers.

11 questions we should be asking:

1. What is your dream job?

For me I interpret the question as “What do you dream of doing with your time on this earth?” For me that question has always been sports. I didn’t know to what capacity, or in what role that would evolve as but over the past few years it’s become quite clear – as a coach, as a teacher, as a mentor, as a competitor, as a performer and most importantly, as an active participant. The majority of my time I spend thinking about disc sports (ultimate frisbee, disc golf, dog disc, and there are others). I love frisbee. I love throwing. I love watching a frisbee fly through the air. I am always amazed how far a frisbee flies with my hand being its only source of energy. The frisbee is truly unique since it doesn’t follow a predictable flight path like a baseball or football does. The frisbee is not a slave to gravity – rather it flies through the air, and it’s flight can be controlled with the amount of force put on the frisbee and the amount of spin given to the frisbee.

I got off topic but to answer the question – my dream job involves a frisbee – teaching, competing, performing.

2. What fulfills you?

This one is easy. Learning. I learn through reading, through watching (movies, people), through practicing (sports) and through listening. I love knowledge and it drives me to be a better person everyday.

3. What’s your greatest fear?

I don’t have a greatest fear anymore. When I was 18, my mom died. Up to that point, that was my greatest fear. Since then, I live randomly, spontaneously, sometimes recklessly, but above all, passionately.

4. What do you want more of in life?

I want more freedom to do the things I love. Right now that means financial freedom although it frequently means more time as well.

5. What is your greatest accomplishment?

To date, I would consider my greatest accomplishment to be the fact that I DO. There are many people who talk, but I do. From that, I am a World Champion, I hold 2 World Records and I am also a Guinness World Record holder. The difference between me and many others is that I did. I’m not saying that to brag. I just did it. Anyone can.

6. What are you most ashamed of?

I’m not really ashamed of anything. I sometimes wish I had treated some people better in my past but I’ve realized why I treated them the way I did and I know we are both stronger because of it.

7. What makes you sad?

The number one thing that makes me sad is how ignorant and naive so many people are. There are so many things in this world that can be prevented and which shouldn’t happen – obesity, mental illness, poor education, debt. People are so complacent and don’t believe enough in themselves to stand up and be happy. That makes me sad.

8. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever experienced?

The hardest thing I’ve ever experienced was losing my mother. Nothing will ever compare to the pain that I went through. She was an incredible woman and she is a big reason I am who I am today.

9. What is great about you?

I really like how passionate I get for what I’m involved in and I like that I’m constantly looking for ways to improve myself and be better. It’s frustrated many people but that’s a big part of me and those who understand and appreciate that I think, like me for those reasons.

10. Who are you?

I’m a kind soul who cares too much, who over commits constantly and who is looking for real people and real experiences. I’m concerned that technology is taking much of the “realness” out of life and so I try to be aware of life around me to ensure I don’t lose sight of what matters.

11. What inspires you?

My passions. People who have pursued their passions. And the more I learn, the more my friends and family inspire me. How supportive they are. How much they love me. And how they are always there for me even when I think they’re not.

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Some would say there’s a fine line between passion and obsession. First of all, what is the difference?

I found a great explanation that I will use here to frame the rest of this post.

Passion – when people admire you for it

Obsession – when you do it too much and people think you’re weird

However, how does one truly impact an industry, a culture, a generation without people thinking they’re weird? Especially when what you choose to be passionate about/be obsessed with is different from what everyone else is doing.

What happens when you’re literally the only person doing what you’re doing? Do you keep going because you have such a strong belief in what you’re doing? Do you keep going because you know you have the ability and the opportunity to impact a lot of people in a very positive way? Do you keep going because you love what you’re doing and the more you do it, the more you see the potential?

How long do you keep at something before you decide it isn’t worth it? How often and how much do you listen to the opinions of others? Do you reach out for help from your friends and family? Do they believe in your journey?

I truly believe that the difference between passion and obsession is a fine line. I believe that it is defined differently by different people.

Why am I asking this question? I admit that people think I’m weird for what I do. I’ve been made fun of but through it all, I do what I do because I deeply love throwing a frisbee. It’s like meditation for me. I don’t just throw because it’s fun. I throw because I’m good at it, and because I want to be better at it.

Do people think I’m weird because I’m passionate about frisbee and they don’t understand frisbee? Or do they think I’m weird because I am obsessed with frisbee? I would think the first because I don’t consider what I’m doing as an obsession. I think obsession means that it impacts you and those around you in a negative and harmful way.

Sure my involvement in frisbee has cost me thousands of dollars. Sure it’s taken up a lot of my time that I could have spent developing friendships and relationships. I’ve no doubt lost relationships because of the time I spend doing what I love. Ideally I want to involve as many people in my life as possible in disc sports. For me, it’s a lifetime of living an active lifestyle. There’s a reason we joke “when a ball dreams, it dreams it’s a frisbee”. There truly is no other toy than a frisbee.

So I ask you, what do you think the difference between passion and obsession is?

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Last week I flew to Beijing, China to attempt a new Guinness World Record – “most targets hit in one minute with a flying disc (frisbee)“. Guinness set a minimum requirement of 20 targets hit and although I was close on my 2nd attempt with 16 targets, I was not successful in establishing a new Guinness World Record.

That happened on Saturday night and to say I was upset is expressing it lightly. I was crushed. I felt like my friends, my family and my fans were going to disappointed since I hadn’t set the record. I felt that everything I had done up to that point didn’t mean much since I wasn’t able to perform when it counted most.

But, as the seconds turned into minutes turned into hours turned into a few days, I’ve been able to look back and see the good in all of this.

First of all, I got a free trip to China (and was paid for my appearance) and my dad also had his trip paid for. How sweet is that? I also:

Got to spend the most time I’ve had with my dad in years

Got to spend a few hours on the Great Wall of China

Met Anthony Kelly, who holds many Guinness World Records and travels all over the world (such as Most Tennis Balls Caught in 1 Hour, and he has also caught an arrow while blindfolded!)

Met Peter Rosendahl, who also holds many Guinness World Records and has been to more than 55 countries (such as Fastest 100m on a Unicycle – 11 seconds, and Most Skips in 1 minute with a unicycle)

Met 2 guys from Storm Freerun team,  Tim “Livewire” Shieff and Jan ”Jashman” Barcikowski (they freerun with Damien Walters!!)

Met Liz and Rob, the 2 Guinness officials from the UK, who were awesome and super supportive

Met Cathy from CCTV, who set the whole thing up for me and flew my dad and I over

Went to the Hongqiao Pearl Market and bought some “good fakes” (a watch, headphones and a flash drive)

Got to see a new culture and experience history that is many times older than Canada

So, if you look at my trip to Beijing with the sole intention to set a Guinness World Record, then yes, I failed. However, to do so would be shortsighted because the opportunities and knowledge I gained from failing are worth more than had I achieved the record.

The setup of the world record was actually not done properly so I will be filming an attempt in the next few weeks – if successful, I will be submitting to the Guinness officials who will award me a World Record. I also didn’ t know there would be a minimum requirement so that was a surprise. I’m glad Guinness is giving me the opportunity to give it another attempt and I will not disappoint this time!

I am going to be working with Anthony and Peter and hope to do more Guinness shows in countries like Italy, India and possibly China again.

I had a very difficult time Saturday night trying to digest everything that comes with not being successful at achieving something. But I’ve realized that I will have many more attempts at World Records and not every attempt can be successful. All I can do is make sure that I’m as prepared as possible and that everything I can control is done properly (like the setup of the World Record, which I will make sure of next time).

I want to thank all of my friends, family and fans for your support these past few weeks and I look forward to sharing with you my Guinness World Record when I am successful. I will keep you posted on the progress of my attempt and will share videos and pictures with you from that event.

I look forward to going for coffee with my friends and telling you all about my trip. I have many more planned so I know this is just the beginning. It’s opened my eyes to what is truly possible when you do what you are passionate about.

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I love to write and I’m so excited to be in Queretaro, Mexico coaching + playing with Malaki UFC (Ultimate Frisbee Club) so I will be blogging about my trip. There will be lots of randomness – I’m very aware and pay attention to a lot so you might think some of it is weird but if it’s in there, I thought it was neat enough to mention.

Neat thing I saw on the ground: Baggage truck pulling a chuckwagon with wooden barrels on the runway at the Calgary airport.

Neat thing I saw in the air: The captain made an announcement when we were flying over the Grand Canyon so I got to see that from the plane.

Annoying thing: The flight attendant on US Airways giving a long speech about an air rewards credit card.

Nice little thing: Having an empty seat next to me on both flights.

Random thing: Watching other people try to sleep is entertaining – there really isn’t a comfortable position and you see people try everything.

Something I enjoyed: Reading “The Art of Learning” on the plane. The book arrived last week, generously sent to me by Michael Lawler, a former coach o Boston’s Brute Squad, a women’s ultimate frisbee team, as his way of thanking me for posting his videos on the Ultimate Rob website.

The first part of the book describes chess in such a brilliant manner that I immediately appreciate the complexity and skill involved. The second part, which I have just started, discusses Tai Chai and the practice of Push Hands, a competitive sport which incorporates a lot of the Tai Chai movements.

So far I’ve learned the difference between entity theorists and learning theorists which leads to understanding how we best learn and how that core approach to learning will determine how we perform under pressure of when faced with a new, difficult problem.

Something pretty cool: I was the only Canadian on the flight to Mexico from Phoenix.

Something gross: Airport fast food restaurants and the smell that lingers in the plane from everyone having just eaten it or eating it on the plane

Temperature thing: It is so hot in Phoenix and not a good hot either. It was around 115 degrees F when we landed. Makes me enjoy Calgary’s summer much more.

Something this trip has fueled so far: The desire to travel more! I’ve been all over Canada and the USA but this is my first trip outside of those 2 countries. It’s more than I could have ever imagined and I want to do more.

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Today I leave for Mexico. Specifically, Queretaro. But I’ll be flying into Mexico City. I’ve known for a while that Mexico City was huge population wise and it has always impressed me how big it is.

I’ve always been fascinated by numbers – I still remember how amazed I was in grade 6 when I found out the population of California. For Social Studies, we were each given a state and we had to research and prepare a report on the state. I got California and I was blown away when I learned that they had more people in the whole state than we did in our whole country. That opened a whole new world for me and really put a lot into perspective – about how many people there really was in the world. Up to that point, I hadn’t really traveled much other than crossing the border with my family once in a while, so I felt like California was some foreign land. When I was in grade 6, we definitely didn’t have the internet – and we actually used floppy disks that were floppy.

Anyway, fast forward to 2011 and 17 years later and today I will be flying into Mexico City, with a population of almost 9 million. Now, I grew up in a town of 6,000 and although I’ve lived Halifax and Calgary and spent time in big cities, this is a whole new experience for me.

I notice the little things and I can only imagine what it will be like flying into such a massive city. I’m excited, nervous, scared but mostly just incredibly grateful for this opportunity. That opportunity will be to coach + play with the Malaki Ultimate Frisbee Club (UFC). It’s because of Ultimate Rob that I was able to get to know their captain, Victor and it’s because of him that I have this amazing opportunity.

Have you experienced something similar? When you had a change in perspective? I’d love to hear your stories!

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For 2 years I’ve run a website called Ultimate Rob (www.ultimaterob.com). In that time, I’ve published roughly 50 articles and posted more than 60 videos. My goal when I started the website was for it to be the go to website for ultimate frisbee but very quickly I realized that it wasn’t feasible – both from a time perspective on my side and from a searching perspective from a user side. I decided to instead focus on writing articles and filming videos that would help people very simply “Play Ultimate Better”.

So far, I’ve seen my fan base grow consistently and that’s been done mostly through word of mouth. I haven’t spent money on advertising, although I know that would have helped me grow more quickly. I also haven’t spammed people like a lot of people do when they don’t understand marketing and so the fans who do follow me appreciate what I do and I can honestly say that I haven’t had 1 negative comment in 2 years on any of my videos or articles. I have had some great discussions with players from all over the world – Ireland, Australia, Mexico, Poland, China, Philippines to name a few – and have been lucky enough to meet some of those players in person. When I started, I had some general ideas about how to monetize Ultimate Rob because I have spent a few thousand dollars to get everything going. However, the more time I’ve spent on the website and the more I’ve connected with people, I’ve decided that I had more value to offer than charging for content. The approach I chose to take was to offer to run clinics for teams and have them pay for my expenses. This would allow me to travel, share my knowledge and meet some awesome people. Although I wasn’t charging for the clinic per se, I was hoping to sell some of my dvd’s (I created a dvd 2 summers ago and have sold roughly 50 copies). With that in mind, I have spoken to some ultimate players in different countries about running a clinic for them – and so far none have happened.

Until now.

On Monday, the captain of the Malaki UFC (Ultimate Frisbee Club) contacted me and asked if I would consider going to Mexico from June 24 – July 4 to coach them and play a tournament with them. It’s still hard to believe it’s happening because, although I knew I could do it, I didn’t think it would happen. Well now, it is.

Monday was a flurry of activity as I was sending messages back and forth with Victor trying to figure out all the logistics and when we both realized that it was going to work, I spoke with my boss, who gave me the thumbs up to book the time off. Victor promptly booked my flight and next Friday, June 24, I will be boarding a plane bound for Mexico City. I will be staying in Querétaro, which from all the research I’ve done so far looks like an amazing city. According to Victor, they have the world’s 3rd largest boulder, a pyramid built by the Chichimecas, it’s a colonial city established by the Otomis indians, then colonized by the Spaniards, they have a huge aquaduct with 72 arches, and the wine there is supposed to be amazing. I’m not sure if I’ll be close to any beaches but I’m pretty excited to see a part of Mexico that most people going to Mexico don’t (as many people visit the resorts on all inclusive deals). It will for sure be the experience of a lifetime and it opens the door for more opportunities like this.

I will be taking pictures and videos and will be blogging while I’m there. This is the first time I will be traveling outside of Canada + the USA so I’m beyond myself with excitement!

I wanted to thank everyone who has believed in me and supported me while I’ve built Ultimate Rob to where it is today. I have many more things planned and I am so excited to share the sport of ultimate (and disc sports) with more people!

Best,
Rob McLeod
aka Ultimate Rob

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One of my favourite quotes.

What it means to me:

There are things that you can do really well.

There are things that you cannot do very well.

Focus on those things that you can do really well and make it your goal to get ever better at those things.

The things that you can’t do very well – work to get better at them but your life will be much more rewarding if you are amazing at a few things instead of mediocre at many things.

Case in point – I would rather be amazing at 3 sports than pretty good at 6 sports. It lets my passion shine through more completely and I will achieve much more.

Think about those things you’re really good at – how much are you making them your focus?

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