Tag: lessons

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Artful Dodger

The Little Stuff Gets You Caught

As great as you are at whatever you do, don’t get cocky. My brain tends to start forgetting the basics once things go well.

“Who needs to stretch, look, you are getting stronger anyway, and you have so much stuff to do.”

Next thing you know, BAM, you’re sore and lose a few days because you felt cocky.

Jams happen fast, especially when we aren’t paying attention. When we rush, we head right for it with reckless abandon, daring fate to test us.

Trust me, she wins. She wins every time.

Ego drags us down, keeps us stuck in a time loop of our past victories, and as a result, we lose a visual on the road ahead.

Next thing you know, your inattention makes trouble and then boom, we crash.

 

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Old Lessons

The past is the past

Learn from the past lest you repeat it.

The lessons are there, and the universe provides if you are open to receiving them.

Memories are at once the cheapest and most expensive teacher we have.

 

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Perspective?

The NYC Subway system during rush hour is a madhouse.

Consider this: People passively aggressively fighting for space all the while trying to ignore the distractions that come with the territory. Most are on the way to work, but that doesn’t stop the crying child or the Bible-thumping “pastor” from distracting us.

When people fight for space, they rely on one move, the nudge and stare.  You’ll nudge someone and glare at an open spot on the train. This movement transcends all languages. In fact, one could call it a part of the natural language of NYC.

We nudge and glare to get things done.

This morning, I almost nudged and glared at a kid that was lingering in the middle of the train.  I assumed that there was a space next to him because when I looked, I saw space.

What I didn’t see was the older gentleman sitting with a walker in front of him, blocking the kid from moving in.

 

After I got over my initial shame, I thought about the reminder the universe just gave me. It was a reminder that our snap judgments are often based on snapshots at any given moment.

Perspective is valuable, but we have to fight against our assumption that it is the reality.

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Priorities Matter – Lessons From Feburary 2017

Set, and then reset your direction

We have an impulse to “go.”

I think it is important to build the muscles to “ship.” Far too many people talk about doing things and don’t ever make it happen.

However, if you are reading this, that may not be a problem for you. The big problem is,”how do I make sure I’m doing the right thing.”

That’s hard.  Setting the right priority is hard. No one tells you how to do it in school. It’s a skill that you have to gain through experience.

The good news is, once you get good, a ton of doors open for you because you keep your sword sharp. You stop your inner critic from treating you so bad. It’s easier to forgive yourself.

Being able to breathe and not let that impulse win opens a lot of doors.

So, take a moment, and set your priorities.

It will make everything else easier.

Books – My Goodreads Account

  • Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
  • The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy
  • SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient – Powered by the Science of Games
  • The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
  • The Chomsky Reader
  • All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
  • The Knowledge: A Too Close To True Novel

Newsletter – Subscribe Here

Did you know I send a newsletter out every Sunday? It is more personal than the blog, combining my personal stories with an overarching theme.  I also throw in some great links that I’ve found on the internet.

Life As Usual Video Blog

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function onYtEvent(payload) {
if (payload.eventType == ‘subscribe’) {
// Add code to handle subscribe event.
} else if (payload.eventType == ‘unsubscribe’) {
// Add code to handle unsubscribe event.
}
if (window.console) { // for debugging only
window.console.log(‘YT event: ‘, payload);
}
}

I created a video blog that delivers these lessons in a visual medium. Curious? Subscribe above and get a notification as soon as they come out.

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Learning is a War of Attrition 

Show up every day

Decide your day with intention.

Once you have, show up.

Everyday.

Our biggest war is with our ego.

And we fight. We fight against the expectations that we “obviously deserve.”

And the minute you decide to show up, it is a war you fight.

Be careful.

We think it’s “easier said than done.”

This war is one of attrition. Each day wears on you, and ego wins when you quit.

Don’t beat yourself up. You’ll often lose this war. You won’t, however, become a prisoner of the ego unless you completely submit.

So, do your best to sustain your energy. The longer you hang in there, the more territory (lessons) you acquire that prepare you for the next “war.”

The goal is growth.

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Life As Usual Vlog #4 – Lessons and Message

Every week I do a video blog (of VLOG). This week I talked about rest.

When I started this,  I was very scared of putting myself on video, so I got the courage and put myself in the arena, killing a lot of bad self talk.This gives me the chance to work on my communication skills, start a new medium, and experiment!

Once a week, after I have thought about them, I will give them a day here on the blog.

These aren’t just promotion posts (although they are, please watch and share 🙂 ) I want to take the time to break them down and try to clarify what I want to communicate and the tactical things I learned through doing.

If you enjoyed the video, and if you want to get on the ride, please, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and join the Facebook page where they post every Sunday night.

What I Wanted To Communicate About Rest

Rest is important. We often put it off, relying on the idea that “you sleep when your dead”. This puts us at a serious disadvantage. Our minds don’t grow when we don’t let them recharge.

I hit on three bullet points

  • Slowing down at work to give yourself the mental room to deal with new, different types of stress
  • Volunteering, allows you to rest some of the other muscles you train often (through work).
  • Sleep. We often don’t get enough of it.

What I Learned Doing This Video

  • Don’t use auto focus, it makes the picture jarring (Thanks Wale!)
  • I can use editing software on my phone to learn the basics.
  • It’s ok to cut things up, and make mistakes. Better to go long then to go short.

If you enjoyed the video, and if you want to get on the ride, please, subscribe to the YouTube Channel, and join the Facebook page where they post every Sunday night.

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Vulnerability – Put Some Skin In The Game

[bctt tweet=”This is painful, and continues as a painful lesson to learn.”]

Being vulnerable is hard work.

My dance with vulnerability is a constant fight. It is a UFC fight designed like the WWE Royal Rumble, no holds barred action as I try to survive a barrage of fists and submission moves from blame,fear,anger and anything else that wants to jump in.

I found myself about to engage on this level a few days ago when I started thinking about how other people had wronged me. You know this feeling, when every slight rings in your head. For me, it comes with a scoreboard, and I start ranking each person on a “jerk” level. My boss, my room-mate, my co-worker my ex girlfriend, everyone gets a turn!

This is a taletell sign of depression for me. After I get everyone ranked, I sit alone and start the metamorphosis into a hermit that can find anything wrong with everyone. Everything becomes phony, almost immediately. If I say hello, either I am adding a tinge of fake happiness or fake anger. I get passive aggressive.  It turns into a game, one where I only make myself mad by hiding how I feel and no one else is playing.

I found a remedy –  and it is extremely counterintuitive.

Put some skin in the game and make yourself accountable immediately.

This doesn’t mean blame – blame doesn’t help or change anything around you. All the energy that I have spent blaming people who have wronged me, or even worse – myself, has done nothing for me.  The only thing blame and its cousin shame has done for me is make things worse.

[bctt tweet=”Being vulnerable is hard work. “]

One of my favorite things to do while I am in this mode is give up power to spite.  I can’t count how many times I gave up my power in a show ( a show that only I can watch) to show the people around me that I was the man, and that they were going to miss my opinions. It is a notoriously silly thing to do in retrospect, and one of the big reasons I do it was simple. It was just fear.

When you hold yourself accountable,time starts getting faster. There is less boredom. When you are honest with fear, it has nowhere to hide.

I always thought this was the wrong way to go. I thought that standing out in front is the easiest way to get killed.  WIth that said, I always neglected that by standing in front, I always felt alive.

It is hard work. I often fail and retreat back to the default of fear. In fact, I’ve failed lately.This morning I woke up and decided to swallow it and start on the idea that I need accountability, and I am not trying as hard as I can to make my life work.

This is painful, and continues as a painful lesson to learn.

[bctt tweet=”Put some skin in the game and make yourself accountable immediately. “]

 

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