Off To Work We Go

There are a lot of varying factors that go into the accomplishments of every successful person.

Hard work is a constant across all of their stories.

Tiger Woods wasn’t born to be a great golfer, he worked his ass off.
Dave Chappelle wasn’t born to be a great comedian, he worked his ass off.
Taylor Swift wasn’t born to be a great musician, she worked her ass off.
Elon Musk wasn’t born to be a great entrepreneur, he worked his ass off.

We’re not born with anything.

We must put in the work.

That’s one of the few things we can control to live a better life.

Off To Work We Go2023-09-30T13:28:36-04:00

Compound Interest

When we’re working toward something and enjoying the journey then we’ve already obtained success. 

There isn’t some arbitrary fixed time when things should happen. 

It doesn’t work that way. 

Keep enjoying the process.

Consistency compounds over time. 

Compound Interest2023-06-25T13:39:24-04:00

Cutting Room Floor

I’ve published hundreds of blog articles over the past 2 years.

I’ve also written hundreds that have never been published.

The rough drafts are rough for a reason.
The prototypes are meant to be thrown out.
The sketches and scribbles don’t make the final cut.

Sometimes we create things that’ll never get used in order to create things that can be used by many.

We would have never gotten to that point without a tremendous amount of input that lay on the cutting room floor.

Be kind to yourself.

An excess of ideas gives you more to work with to create your masterpiece.

Cutting Room Floor2023-05-26T11:00:05-04:00

Behind The Scenes

The magic happens behind the scenes.

When we see a cool video, listen to a podcast, watch a movie, or read an interesting novel, 99.9% of it was created without an audience.

To get where we want to go we have to put in the work we never have.

It’s in the prep work, the imagination, the restless nights, the crumbled-up piles of paper, and the emotional roller coaster.

Like in school, we need to show our work to get credit.

It’s no different with bringing our creations to life.

Only this time nobody else is watching.

Behind The Scenes2023-05-20T20:29:22-04:00

Beginning To Balance

Knowing when to accelerate and when to break is just as important on the highway as it is on our journey in life.

We can’t go full speed ahead all day. We also can’t sit idle for too long and wait for things to happen.

Finding the balance takes time but if we don’t put the time into finding it we’ll never get it right.

How do we find it? Practice.

As a starter exercise, focus on how you get things done.

Do you get distracted easily?

Do you work better in short or long bursts?

Would you rather take a short or long break?

How do you transition from one thing to another?

Do you get more done in the mornings or evenings?

When you answer these questions it begins to shape a plan of action.

Then…

Carve out a fair amount of time to work on a task.

Take a break at a length of your choosing.

Start back on time without procrastination.

Eliminate distractions as best as possible

  • Turn off notifications
  • Turn on “Do not disturb”
  • Close browser tabs
  • Set a timer

Anything that has balance had to maneuver and wobble from side to side until they got their bearings.

Just like the first time you sat behind the wheel of a car, it takes practice to know the amount of pressure we have to put on each peddle to make it start and stop.

The more we practice the greater the opportunity for a balanced life.

Beginning To Balance2023-05-20T20:20:10-04:00

Maintenance Schedule

There’s a reason we call consistent maintenance on our vehicles “routine” or “preventive”. It’s so that we don’t go without checking in and understanding where it needs some work before it breaks down completely.

How honest are we with ourselves about our own “routine maintenance”?

Do we prioritize this at all?

If:

  • We are scattered each day with no consistent schedule
  • We prioritize others before prioritizing ourselves
  • Are always feeling like we are behind
  • Are never satisfied with the results.

Then it might be time for a check-in.

Asking ourselves questions like:

  • Why are we not holding ourselves accountable for specific scheduling of activity, sleep, etc?
  • Why are we unwilling to give ourselves time before we let others control it?
  • Why does this always get chopped in favor of other “priorities”?
  • Why do we do so much and feel it’s not enough?
  • Are most of these tasks even important to us?

We have to prioritize the “check-in” and it can’t be once a year like our annual physical.

It needs to be constant. It needs to become routine.

Otherwise, we have gotten so out of whack that we aren’t sure where to begin.

Start now.

Get ahead of it.

Make it a routine practice.

We’ll prevent a complete breakdown and save ourselves a lot of heartache in the process.

Maintenance Schedule2023-04-07T14:42:22-04:00

Exercise Discipline

It doesn’t matter your age, sex, economic status, ethnicity, GPA, IQ, or any other factor for that matter.

Discipline is a skill everyone has the opportunity to learn and utilize.

It doesn’t mean we won’t fight excuses or resistance, or never get stuck again.

Those things are inevitable.

But, discipline helps us:
Commit to change
Articulate our vision for the future.
Ignite our sheer determination and willpower.

It allows us to find focus and fulfillment where we were scattered and distracted before.

Discipline takes practice and patience to develop but it’s one of the most useful skills we’ll ever come to learn.

Exercise Discipline2022-12-29T10:37:29-04:00

We’re Talking About Practice

I want to talk about practice. Not the game, not the game we all love but practice.

Practice can be anything preparing us for the “game”. Thinking, reading, studying, and testing.

Getting uncomfortable.

Trying to imagine situations and getting ahead of them.

In practice, we break down a specific area and piece them together. We work on one aspect hard and then move on to another. There are also times when practice becomes a simulation of sorts. A run-through of an event that hasn’t taken place.

In the game, far too often we “wing it”. We show up unprepared for the conversations or the action we need to perform.

We think that just being there is enough. It’s not.

Being thoughtful about where we want to go can be the guidebook to prepare us for that journey. It can influence the things we do leading up to and during any situation.

But we have to be willing to put in the work. That’s how we make things feel fluid and easy. It’s all the hours of preparation prior to the game.

That preparation sets us up for success. That leads us to make better decisions at the moment.

Because we’ve already been preparing long before the moment arrived.

We’re Talking About Practice2022-10-16T17:00:38-04:00

Coin Flip

If we believe in something, we should express it, share it, and put it out into the universe.

Nothing may come of it or it might turn out to be the most glorious breakthrough ever.

We won’t know until we try.

Sometimes just knowing one way or another might be good enough motivation to get us started.

Coin Flip2022-06-28T19:31:49-04:00

Be On Your Game

Even the most accomplished athletes in the world stumble, drop passes, hit an errant tee shot, and look foolish from time to time.

We can’t expect to always “be on”.

It’s normally when our ego gets the best of us that the humble train rolls into the station.

Sure, we have moments of greatness but they shouldn’t be thought of as a given. We have to work and practice to keep our skills sharp and not get too cocky that we reached some pinnacle and are up there for good.

That’s never the case.

We have to be focused on continuing to do the little things. The blocking and tackling. The accessory work. The fundamentals. That keeps us fresh and in the “maintenance mode” to pull it out whenever we need it.

We can’t take a play off. We have to be on call and give each opportunity our best effort otherwise we’ll strike out badly. And not because we just failed with a great attempt but because we took our eye off the ball thinking we are already going to score.

Be On Your Game2021-10-11T15:02:31-04:00

Time Machine

The strange thing about time is that if you can get your brain invested in something for just a short time and spark interest, time evaporates. 

2 minutes becomes 20. 

If we believe this can be true for anything then we have a choice. We can use the time to create new, positive habits that enhance our lives or putter around in the “binge” vortex and waste it away. 

It’s actually a choice and one that is controlled by creating easy barriers to hop over at the beginning. 

If we’d rather read, don’t try to read for an hour and just carve out a couple of minutes. If we’re trying to improve our health and workout more then opt for a 5-minute jog versus running a 5k. 

Eventually, we’ll start to get in the rhythm of the new habit and might surprise ourselves that we decide to go at it for much longer. 

But putting that large goal out there on day one almost always makes us avoid it and find something easier to do. 

Next time, if we lower the hurdle and just start to inch forward we’ll have much more success in finding out what we are capable of accomplishing. 

Time Machine2021-09-30T21:36:46-04:00

Least Common Denominator

Changing the way our brain processes and learns things can be impactful on our growth and one of the best ways to get in this state is by being a beginner learner. It’s by getting well outside our comfort zone and having to rely on parts of the brain that we might not utilize as much. As we all know, most days we turn on “autopilot” and coast with our normal routines.

If we want to try and be a beginner learner again but don’t know where to start, try to do some things tomorrow with our least dominant hand. 

Brush our teeth, eat our food, tie our shoes. There is a myriad of things we do all day every day and don’t even consider the alternatives.

By trying this, we have to slow down and think about the process and steps to completion by using our opposite hand. It activates a different part of our brain and it shakes us a bit because it’s so foreign.

But, it allows us to see a different perspective and start to map out new ways to perform common tasks. 

Making what is normally easy for us hard can help trigger that part of the brain that we might have to use in situations down the road and it allows us to practice recognizing new patterns and getting more comfortable with situations that we don’t recognize.

That’s a good thing. That’s how we grow to think differently than we do today. 

That’s how we become a better version of ourselves tomorrow.

Least Common Denominator2021-09-26T09:01:14-04:00

Reppin’ It Out

As a beginner learner, it is highly important to focus on the number of repetitions (reps) you get versus making the motion perfect.

Far too often we try to critique the technique and that can limit us from trying and learning over and over and over again.

We are better off shooting 100 shots however we feel is best for us versus getting say our footwork perfect or the proper knee bend or extension of the arms through the shot, etc.

Sometimes, letting people use their natural ability to figure it out by themselves is much more effective in the long run than telling them exactly what they need to do.

Experience is the elixir that can set our success in rapid motion and put us on a path toward accelerated learning.

Reppin’ It Out2021-09-21T11:34:52-04:00

Telling Isn’t Teaching

Kids learn repeatable patterns through practice and experiences. Their characteristics, habits, skill development, and values are shaped by these experiences.

It’s done through reading and imagining, through play, through creating, and through testing.

One of the neat things as you observe this is there are minimal to no instructions. Kids correct course most of the time and in some cases learn the hard way when they don’t. Those life lessons stick with us forever and sometimes we even have the scars to remind us.

But rarely, if ever, do they learn by being told something. When it comes to deep learning, we need to let them experience it themselves, think openly, and be challenged.

The best teachers in the world do this not by giving the answers but by asking the right questions.

The next time your child asks a question you know the answer to don’t be in such a hurry to answer it. Instead, return serve with a simple question like “What do you think?” or “Why do you think it’s like that?” or anything around this questioning.

Although it may be simple to you, watch their brain rev up as they try to come up with an answer.

You’ll be amazed by the imagination they have through the answers they come up with and they might shock you with their perspective.

Who knows, It might open up additional questions and dialogue that might fuel their passion and spark their curiosity to explore more.

In the end, that’s the fun part of learning anyways.

Telling Isn’t Teaching2022-04-11T19:12:43-04:00
NAVIGATION
SUBSCRIBE

SOCIALS

I love engaging and meeting new people. Please reach out on these socials to connect (if that’s your jam).

Go to Top