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Tomorrow’s Success

Published on September 20, 2024

I had a rough day playing basketball today.

I missed almost every shot I took.

But, you know what? I successfully executed a drive-to-the-basket-move for the first time in a live game that I’ve been practicing. And of that, I left feeling proud.

It’s important to remember that success is actually more of a lagging indicator that reflects the work you put in prior. And if you’re not finding success inside of a day, to focus less on forcing it and focus more on setting yourself up for tomorrow.

Because successfully learning and executing new moves in today’s game is precisely the kind of thing that’ll stay with us and lead to the types of successes that both you and I want in our games now—today.

…But we have to be willing to put in the work and suck before the today successes can come.

There’s No Love Twice

Published on September 19, 2024

You will never love the same person twice.

Why? …Because the person you love now won’t ever be that same person again.

Don’t take your love for granted. Don’t take their love for granted. And don’t assume “forever” based on a snapshot.

Always assume the opposite.

Look at people with fresh eyes. Nurture a healthy curiosity about their soul. Rediscover the love you have for others anew, each day.

Because not only have they changed… but so have you. And for love to last, both parties need to honor change and align with an energy that’s on the same trajectory.

P.s. I also published: 18 Kahlil Gibran Quotes from The Prophet and Insights For Fulfilled Living.

Awfully Busy

Published on September 18, 2024

This type of busy is meant to describe being so busy… that it’s awful.

Being busy is tough enough… it relentlessly sucks you out of the present moment (where life is lived), can fill you with anxiety (about how you’re going to get everything done), and makes it really hard to get important work done (because the urgent stuff keeps nagging for your attention).

But, there’s another perspective to busy.

…Being busy can also be a blessing.

It means you’ve filled your day with tasks and activities that you get to do—versus being left homeless on the street with no family, no connections, no resources, and no life options…

And rather than being awfully busy—eliciting a type of misery that follows you throughout your day into and out of every task… what if you tried being happily busy instead?

All those tasks you have to do for your family…? You get to do.

All those chores you have to do at home…? You get to do.

All those projects you have to finish at work…? You get to do.

All you have to do now is slow down, add a little deliberate to your day, and fill yourself with gratitude along the way.

Happily busy is an exponentially more beautiful place to be.

Stepping Into Our Higher Power

Published on September 17, 2024

One of the most exciting things about our path is that we can choose to change it at any given moment. It only takes one proper decision.

There’s an adult student in the martial arts school I teach at, for example, who just a few months ago was only that—a martial arts student.

Today, I just had a conversation with an associate of mine about potentially hiring this student to become an employee.

What caused this drastic shift in their (and our) path?

…A decision this student made to become a leader.

…Followed by another decision to come in early and stay late.

…Followed by another decision to ask to help other martial arts classes.

…Followed by another decision to ask for a job.

…Followed by another decision to earn it.

If it were up to our comfort zone, we would keep running back the same type of day over and over again. We would do the least we needed to do, we would settle for less, and we would rush to get it all done as fast as possible so we could get back to doing more settling and less.

But, if we can keep our highest version in mind… and we can channel the type of thinking that that version of ourself would hold… we can deliberately choose to take a different path… and step into our higher power instead.

When’s The Last Time You Felt A Deep Sense Of Accomplishment?

Published on September 16, 2024

…I got this question emailed to me a few days ago and I’ve been thinking about it on and off ever since.

I can tell you that I feel a general sense of accomplishment at the end of most of my days. I’ll usually have exercised, published one of these short articles, taught some martial arts classes, interacted with great people, and have read a little bit before bed… give or take.

…But, a deep sense of accomplishment?

At least for me, this doesn’t really come from the daily grind tasks… it comes from things that required more from me than I was used to giving. And as I reflected on it, the realization was that the more the thing required, the deeper the accompanying sense of accomplishment.

Which makes sense.

…And brings about an important realization for living life: if we want to feel a deep sense of accomplishment, we must do hard things. Things that require more from us than we’re used to giving… not all of the time (burnout city)… but certainly some of the time.

Because those occasional deep pushes become life highlight reels that you quickly share with people when they’re wondering about your life—when you’re wondering about your life.

And so when was it for you?

…When’s the last time you felt a deep sense of accomplishment?

And how can you get more of that from your life?

Smothering Passion(s) With Dollar Signs

Published on September 15, 2024

My aunt loves sewing.

She loves it so much that she bought a ~$10,000 sewing machine.

And she uses it for every penny she invested into it.

She’ll quilt. She’ll create apparel and gifts. She’ll even create quilted artwork.

When I asked her if she wanted to earn some side hustle money by helping sew patches onto students’ uniforms for the martial arts school I work at… she quickly (and graciously) turned the idea down.

“As soon as I start doing it as a job, I’m going to hate it.” She explained.

And so she doesn’t.

Instead, she follows her curiosities. She challenges herself with interesting projects. She even finds ways to use her unique set of skills to help better the world around her.

Just today, she gave me container with 20 hand made toiletry bags that she wants to fill with toiletries and give to those at local women’s shelters.

Here’s the thing: turning our skills and passion-projects into side hustles can be great… but it can also ruin the thing that lights you up.

Like my aunt, tread that line carefully and dutifully check in with yourself to ensure you’re always fanning the flames of your inner fire—never smothering them with dollar signs or anything else.

Lost Phone

Published on September 14, 2024

One of the parents from the Martial Arts school I teach at got rear ended today.

Everyone was okay, but in the midst of the crash, damage assessment, conversation, information exchange, and chaos from those stressful moments—she lost her phone.

And so she came to the school to use the school’s phone to contact loved ones and cancel all of her credit cards.

She commented, “It’s so sad that in today’s world I have to do this. Everything was on my phone. And if I don’t make these calls now, someone will probably find it and capture all of my sensitive information. It’s so sad.”

And just after she finished cancelling her last card… with the most mysterious / serendipitous timing… her husband called the school and said, “Hey! We found her phone. It was turned into the police station by a good samaritan.”

It was almost as though the universe was giving us a little nudge and was saying… there are a ton of great-intentioned people out there, too.

Category: Archives