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Category: Experiential Living

Insist On Fresh

Published on May 8, 2023

No day should pass without fresh content for your mind to wrestle with.

And no, I don’t mean social media posts consisting of selfies and superficial intentions. I mean content that’s been carefully observed and documented within the pages of a book, scenes of a documentary, or bites of a podcast—starting, maybe, with the highest rated ones.

There is too much certified fresh content hidden with pages, scenes, and bites that’s just waiting to paint color inside the sometimes graying and dull walls of your mind. Not because we’re graying and dull, but because we prioritize too heavily comfort and oftentimes unknowingly submit to a type of color-draining redundancy.

We must insist on something fresh every day. Whether that comes from new experiences lived or past experiences shared carefully from others. Otherwise, gray becomes our reality.

P.s. I share fresh insights daily from the pages, scenes, and bites that I consume. To read those, you can bookmark and check-in regularly with this page.

Juicing Experiences

Published on May 22, 2022

You either win or you lose.

—Eh, we can do better…

You either win or you learn.

—Better. But, not as good as it could be…

You either learn or you don’t learn.

—That feels pretty solid.

Because if you don’t learn when you win you’re doing it wrong.

And learning from failures is talked about so much it’s essentially cliché at this point.

It’s worth remembering that what’s required to maximally squeeze the sweet learning juice from every experience isn’t what’s natural. Reacting emotionally to wins and losses is what’s natural.

Wins lead to celebration parties and losses lead to pity parties—and both tend to distract us from our work (and its improvement).

If maximally learning from every experience is important to us then we need to consistently prioritize a dedicated chunk of time to “juicing” each one.

Time when we can carefully reflect on what went well, what we could’ve done better, and how we can promptly implement our learnings into our lives.

Because the reality is this: experience is not the best teacher—learned from experience is.

If you’re winning and losing and not learning—you’re losing.

If you’re learning and learning and not letting winning and losing discourage or distract you from continuing to try—you’re winning.

Investing In Your Story

Published on May 20, 2022

Experiences are investments.

Don’t put them in the same category as material purchases.

Material items (that aren’t investments) should be purchased scarcely and with heed—for they often weigh us down and limit our ability to invest.

Experiential investments should be made generously and often—for they become the very foundation of the story of our lives.

Upgrading Judgment

Published on March 28, 2022

Don’t be scared of bad judgment.

It’s where all of your good judgment comes from.

Be scared of not exercising your judgment at all.

It’s where bad judgment remains unchanged.

Living Your Dream Life

Published on December 21, 2021

Living your dream life won’t happen accidentally, just like becoming a black belt won’t happen accidentally.

It won’t happen just because you want it to.

It won’t happen even if you beg it to.

Living a life of your dreams—becoming a black belt—only happens on purpose.

And not just after being on purpose for one day, one month, or even one year.

Trying to balance the entire weight of your lifetime on such a small foundation of purposeful action isn’t realistic. Solid foundations take time.

And unless there’s a solid foundation, a quickly-realized-life-of-your-dreams will quickly collapse.

So, rather than trying to hack your way to a six-figure passive income—commit to the long-term game you’re playing and learn how to love playing the game.

Because what you’ll eventually realize is that loving the game is more closely related to living the life of your dreams than “winning” the game ever will be.

Aligning With Your Life’s Task

Published on May 29, 2021

A good litmus test to gauge whether you’re in alignment with your life’s task or not:

If you retired today, with enough money to last you for the rest of your life, would you keep doing the work you’re doing?

If yes, you’re in alignment. And if you’re able to sustain a suitable life for yourself doing that work, then keep on keeping on! That’s an exciting place to be where the focus can simply be on growing your skills and expanding your impact.

If no, you’re out of alignment. Here’s the thing: maybe you’re doing crappy work for great money? Maybe you have dependents to support? Maybe the money is the means to a better end? Maybe you live an expensive lifestyle?

Here’s my warning: while some of the above mentioned situations might be true for you and your life, what’s also true is that your work is how you’re going to spend a heaping chunk of your life’s time. And if you’re not careful, you might end up retiring with a lifetime trail of unenthused, unimportant, unfulfilled work.

Maybe it’d be better to do great work for crappier money? Maybe you could start a side-hustle to experiment with other, more fulfilling work? Maybe it’s time to set a concrete date when you’re going to make the leap to fulfilling work—rather than leave it at some obscure point in the future? Maybe you could live a more modest lifestyle?

Maybe life isn’t best saved for retirement—maybe the retired life is best lived now?

Playing Versus Playing It Safe

Published on May 22, 2021

What’s more important, watching your back or watching your step?

If your goal is to avoid pain, then watching your back would be the priority. You’d pay close attention to your vulnerabilities. You’d caution yourself around people and take your time looking for their conniving sides. You wouldn’t give people anything they could later use to hurt you with. You’d constantly be looking for ways to build bigger and stronger walls. You’d play it safe.

If your goal is to keep moving forward, then you’d prioritize watching your step. You’d pay close attention to your strengths. You’d check the rooms you’re in for opportunities, paths, directions—and you’d take your time looking for the fun in people. You’d give people anything that might help them keep moving forward because it, in all likelihood, would help you keep moving forward, too. You’d play.

Here’s the thing: are you less likely to get hurt playing it safe? Of course. Playing it safe—watching your back—is like sitting on the bench while at the playground. It’s the place where you’re least likely to get hurt. You’re positioned ideally to keep everybody in front of you, your chances of accidental bumpings/ bruises/ or bangs are minimized, and you can focus your attention solely on safety. But, is that really your life goal? To sit on the bench while staring at a playground?

Here’s what I think: when there’s a playground in front of you—you go and play. Playing is exploration. It’s interaction. It’s experimentation. It’s conflict resolution. It’s problem solving. It’s getting bumped/ bruised/ and banged—and getting back up. It’s having fun. And so it is with life, too. The point isn’t to not get hurt; the point is to play. Not to play it safe looking backwards, but to play joyfully with eyes eagerly forward.