We want to scream a very important Jolt at you. But first, we need to tell you a secret about another scream: The Wilhelm Scream.
The Wilhelm scream was first recorded in 1951 by an actor, playing a character called Private Wilhelm. In the movie, The Charge At Feather River, Private Wilhelm gets shot in the thigh with an arrow. And, on cue, he lets out his actor scream.
And that very specific, blood curdling actors scream, found its way into the bowels of the Warner Bros stock audio library. Which then went on to be used by movie and TV productions all over the world…and, well, the rest is history.
From Toy Story, to Pirates Of The Caribbean, Reservoir Dogs, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, video games and countless TV shows, that snippet of audio has become the go-to stock scream of directors and producers ever since. It’s the biggest inside death-joke ever created.
Just listen for it when anyone gets shot, hit, injured, stabbed, or falls off a building in virtually any movie or show you watch.
You can hear it below -
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The dictionary tells us that a scream is a long, loud piercing cry expressing extreme emotion or pain. If you’ve ever stubbed a toe, trapped a finger in a door, or not saved a presentation you worked on for 3 days solid, you’ll know it well.
Or perhaps you’ve actually been shot in the thigh by an arrow, stabbed in a big fight, or pushed out of the window of a building.
We hope not, but we’ve been thinking a lot about our own mortality recently.
Heavy shit we know, but at some point, hopefully later rather than sooner, we know we’re going to shuffle off this mortal coil.
Which has made the pursuit of a purposeful life and a career worth living, suddenly more focused, urgent and burning.
We’ve written a lot about pursuing your true purpose at The Jolt. And we are as guilty as anyone in knowingly nodding in approval, then going back to our daily grind of emails, meetings, bills and BS.
So we thought there was no better time than right now to scream a big Wilhelm Jolt into your lovely receptive ears.
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Let’s start with that Daily Grind of emails, meetings, bills and BS.
All that urgent stuff you don’t want to do, but have to do, which takes you away from all the important stuff that you want to do, but don’t seem to have time to do.
Or put another way, it’s the Prioritization Principle. Which simply states:
You must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important.
You must do what is important first.
Life. Love. Career. Ambition. Self-realization. Meaning. Starting a business. Writing a book. Painting a picture. Running a 10K. Losing weight. Stopping drugs. Learning a musical instrument. You name it.
Everything important we want in life requires us to go out and hunt it. Not waiting for others to distract us with their urgent meetings, calls, bills, emails or demands.
Urgent doesn't require the hunt. It hunts you.
Importance requires us to wake before dawn. Walk out into the rain alone with just our desire in our hearts. It laces our shoes with ice-cold hands on the morning we didn’t want to get up and run. Makes us climb the mountain that looked too big. Pushes us to face the music we don’t want to face but know we have to if we want to move forward.
Important doesn’t wait for the perfect day. The right weather. Important doesn’t ask others if we’re good enough, or wait for validation.
Important is the Jolt for us all.
For our friend Andrew, who discovered his purpose was to teach nutrition, so he gave up his cushy London job to open a wellness retreat on a mountain in Portugal.
Or our friend Kirsten, a former Scottish nurse, who knew her passion was interior design, and whose business has become so big, she recently opened her first retail shop in LA.
Important is about anyone who’s ever written a book, published or not.
Launched a business, successful or not.
Went traveling.
Took a project that shit-scared them to death.
Stood in front of a room of 50 people and made a presentation that made them want to throw up 5 minutes before, but they did it anyway.
Everyday you wake up, you have a choice - to let the lockjaw bite of urgent throttle you, or sit down and craft what’s eating at your soul.
And here’s the secret: what’s important to you, is impossible for others to stop. It connects so deep to your desire, your innate calling and your purpose, that urgent doesn’t stand a chuffin’ chance.
You are the ONLY one who know’s what’s important to you. No-one else can hear your Wilhelm Scream. The stock snippet of soul-waking audio that comes to you at oddly clarifying moments on Zoom calls, or when you’re caught at a loose moment on a Saturday, thinking about everything urgent waiting for you on Monday, and you end up thinking about it all weekend.
Urgent is a malevolent beast that will convince you of its worth, every second of every day. It’s the masked singer with the ear-worm tune you can’t get out of your head.
So here’s our Jolt.
Start now on what’s important.
Drop everything.
Write it down.
And pursue it with extreme desire.
You’re going to die at some point, and urgent doesn’t give a shit. Tell it to fuck off, and get back in line.