blue sky shining
April 30, 2024
Slow It Down
Your work, whether on or through yourself, does not need to be done at full speed.
Your best work in making yourself valuable, in producing something magical, as your life could be, may be better served through a thoughtful and slower process.
The work of preparing yourself doesn’t need to be hurried and anxious, in fact I’d argue you may make matters worse by doing so. When we rush we miss things, not just details but other opportunities or risks or people.
Slow down.
The product of your self-work should show refinement and a commitment to mastery.
April 29, 2024
Microwaved Success
The work you do, whether on or through yourself, does not need to begin at full speed. I’d argue that your best work in making something magical, as our lives could be, may be better served through a thoughtful and slower process. The work of preparing yourself need not be anxious, but the product of that work should show refinement and a commitment to mastery.
That is not to say that growth is not work.
Because it very much is.
It’s early hours, and discomfort, and cold, and heat. It’s patience and willpower. It’s humble and sober mindfulness, and honest reflection, and experimenting and failing for the sake of making gradual improvements towards mastery, and a commitment to an undeterred steadiness to our purpose.
It’s work like it was meant to be, not this perverse microwaved success that is underwhelming, too expensive, bland, and unfulfilling. If that life were a dish you’d serve to people you love, they’d wonder what they did to deserve such treatment and why you allow yourself to be such a mediorcre cook.
Your life is a gift. That gift, with all its skills and knowledge, is intended for other people. That gift should be mind-blowingly awesome.
You’re putting the effort into making something incredible. Don’t rush it. Focus on the ingredients and process. Taste the results.
April 28, 2024
The Goal is Not the Goal
Imagine it’s halftime.
Your team is down by 20 points.
You’re in the locker room and the coach comes in.
“Alright, team,” he says. “I know it looks bad but I know what we have to do to get back in this game.”
You all lean in eager for any answers, and then he hits you with the big reveal:
“We’ve just gotta score more goals!”
Stupid, right?
And yet a lot of us look at goal setting like this.
We make the mistake of making the goal the goal.
Which is why we’re often so eager to get on to the next one.
It’s not because we’re so friggin’ efficient or smart or talented or whatever we want to tell ourselves.
It’s because we’re coming at work like a to-do list, and those are fun to check off one-by-one.
Until you get them all.
And then you need more.
The issue, however, is that there’s a good chance here that we’re just task-mastering.
We’re not actually growing. We’re not getting smarter. We’re not stretching ourselves. And we’re probably unfairly overconfident now.
We’re just scoring goals and cruising to the finals in a league of our choosing.
Which is why it’s soul-crushing when we don’t make the next goal.
Or why the frustration mounts quickly when we’re up against a bigger challenger with more talent, greater resources, and they’re kicking our ass.
Our answer to this situation was to do more work. Put in more hours.
But it’s not working.
We don’t have a plan for when we get knocked down and we’re bloodied and we’re scared and can’t think straight.
Professional athletes do not get better at putting points on the board by scoring more goals or baskets or touchdowns.
They master the process of knowing and working the game. They make it their primary goal to be better than who they were yesterday.
It’s good to have goals in life and in work. We need them. But not for the reason we tell ourselves we need them. Yes, we need the sense of achievement. But do you know what are greater motivators and indicators of future success?
A commitment to consistency. A process of gradual improvements. Gratitude for the game and your ability to play it.
Grit and determination and not buying the base things you tell yourself.
So have a goal.
But just don’t make it the goal.
Make your process of transformation the goal. Give it time. Put in the work. Be patient and consistent. Show up. And smile as you do it.
April 26, 2024
The First Step is Not Really a Doozy
Change is hard, but the start of your journey doesn’t have to be. The first step you take is really one over the threshold of fear.
It’s only scary because you’re looking at what you think is the problem.
As the Stoics say, you’re suffering more in imagination than in reality and you’re losing more through indecision than you are through wrong decision.
If that’s the case, apply some imagination and look at your vision for your life.
You’re not stepping into change - you’re off on an adventure.
You’re leaving the harbor for the sea. So pick a point on the horizon and go.