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Category: Archives

The full collection of explorations.

You’ve Been Hacked

My friend’s Instagram got hacked.

She had 27k followers.

Then, get this, the hackers messaged her on WhatsApp asking for a ransom.

There are people out there who actually do this.

This is simply to say:

  • Protect your accounts
  • Never give out passwords
  • Choose extra security options

Pretend like all of your accounts just got hacked and you lost everything you’ve built.

You lost all of your connections and you had no way of communicating with anyone on social media.

If you really want to feel that reality, delete all social media apps on your phone for the next week.

See how it feels.

Then, imagine you finally got them back after a ton of back-and-forth and pain-in-the-butt customer service interactions.

What steps would you take to prevent that from ever happening again?

Do that now.

Be On Purpose

What do all of the greats have in common?

They didn’t become great by accident—they became great on purpose.

From this point forward, don’t be accidental.

Be on purpose.

Hustle Without Mental Health

Hustle without mental health is self-hate.

Did that feel too aggressive?

If it did, then I’m speaking to you.

Because anyone who argues in favor of hustle at the expense of mental health is arguing for what exactly?

  • Inclined feelings of sadness, anxiety, and helplessness?
  • Confused thinking and reduced ability to concentrate?
  • Exasperated feelings of fear, shame, or guilt?
  • Constant exhaustion and low drive to get things done?
  • A sense to withdraw from family, friends, and loved ones?
  • Detachment from reality and inability to cope with problems/ stress?

And how exactly does any of that help with hustle?

It doesn’t.

More importantly, it doesn’t help anyone or anything that’s involved with that person’s life—least of all, the person themselves.

And by ignoring this—yes, they’re choosing to commit an act of self-hate. Because self-love doesn’t ignore signs/calls for help.

Take care of yourself, first. Spend time inspecting the state of your mental wellbeing. Listen to what your body is telling you—and respond.

Hustle can wait. Your mental health can’t.

The Real Billionaires

A million seconds is 11 days.

A billion seconds is slightly over 31 years.

Sure, a billion dollars is cool and all…

But, how cool is a billion seconds??

…WAY cooler.

Here’s the deal: most people trade their billion seconds for as much money as they can possibly collect—which rarely ever amounts to anything near a billion dollars.

Here’s what’s ironic: billionaires—the people who actually manage to collect that much—would trade back their billion dollars for a billion seconds in a heartbeat.

No hesitation.

The bottom line: Only trade time for money if you have to—out of necessity. Otherwise, spend your time doing what you love—there’s no better way to spend your time.

And that’s where the real billionaires are found.

3 Areas To Consider When Defining Success:

  1. Growth – Because if you’re not growing, you’re regressing—there is no maintaining. And success should never consist of regressing. You should always be learning—from tasks, projects, challenges, mistakes—of course. But, also from mentors, co-workers, and resources made available to you as part of the work. Ask yourself: Am I realizing my potential or regressing each day? Like the stock market, am I trending upward or downward? What can I do to improve the current trend of my graph?
  1. Contribution – Are you really successful if your success is only being celebrated, shared, and enjoyed by you and you alone? I’ll tell you what success alone is—it’s sad. Taking what you’ve gained and sharing it with others? Helping people who are struggling, similar to how you were struggling before, and seeing them overcome similar obstacles as a result of your efforts? Feeling like you’re making an impact on a scale that’s greater than just you? That isn’t sad at all. In fact, that’s quite admirable, impressive, and rewarding.
  1. Presence – Because, heck, if you aren’t enjoying the ride and are tirelessly just hoping to arrive, what kind of success is that? Success isn’t found at some arrival point. Success is found in the daily grind; in the hustle; in the how our days are being spent. Because if we don’t find meaning or joy in the work we’re doing—why are we doing it? Other than to provide for the needs of yourself or loved ones, your why should be inspected carefully. Years spent miserably aren’t offset by a day of arrival. In fact, it’s precisely how our years are spent where success (or not) will ultimately be defined.

The New Successful

The new successful isn’t busy, it’s unbusy.

Being the “busy executive” has been seen by too many as the epitome of success and it’s leading people to live wildly unbalanced lives.

There are 168 hours in the week. Minus 8 hours / night for sleeping = 112 hours. Minus 2 hours / day for eating and food prepping = 98 hours. Minus 1 hour / day for exercise and wellbeing = 105 hours.

Which leaves 15 hours / day for work, relationships, personal growth, and fun.

15 hours / day.

How is it that we’re too busy for family? For friends? For reading? For writing? For learning? For fun? How is it that we manage to fill so much of our days with busy-ness?

15 hours / day should be plenty.

Even on the days when you work 8 hours, that’s still 7 hours left for your other priorities!

It’s as if the equation for success is: busy = important = successful. And so if busy goes up, important goes up. And if important goes up, successful goes up. But, does it really?

If time is our most valuable asset—then how can we be rich if we’re time-poor?

If it’s true that time is our most valuable resource, then shouldn’t time-rich be the ultimate rich?