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Matt Hogan's Blog Posts

3 Areas To Consider When Defining Success:

Published on November 30, 2021
  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

Published on November 29, 2021

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?

My 2-Step Formula For Getting Deep Work Done

Published on November 28, 2021

Step 1) Force the first 10-20 minutes—because starting almost never comes easily. This entails: silencing my phone, wearing noise-cancelling headphones, and resolving to sit and stare until I get bored (and frustrated) enough to start. No phone-checking, tab-opening, house wandering, etc. Just me, my thoughts, and the medium through which I need to do my work. It’s uncomfortable, my mind begs for distractions, and it’s definitely forced.

Step 2) Flow for the next 1-2 hours—because once I surrender to the work, the momentum tends to take care of itself. This happens for me when I read, write, teach, train, and even talk with people. Once I enter this state, time tends to fade away. It’s completely absorbed, unconscious, deliberate and pointed—work. And it’s where most good, deep work gets done. But, until you force that first 10-20 minutes, this flow state will essentially be unaccessible.

A “Boring” Life

Published on November 27, 2021

A “boring” life isn’t a byproduct of doing the same tasks every day.

A “boring” life is a byproduct of thinking the same thoughts every day.

Boring is a state of mind—not a state of tasks.

Sure, adventurous lifestyles might beget an “exciting” life—but, that’s only because it forces new, “exciting” thoughts. It’s important to remember that this is not the only path to an “exciting” life.

If we can learn how to excite our state of mind, we can learn how to excite our lives—period.

And the prerequisite for this is not financial freedom, plane tickets across the globe, and #vanlife.

The path to an exciting mind (and life) is only limited by our curiosities and resourcefulness. Are we willing to invest the time required to identify our curiosities? How about explore those curiosities? How about write about/ talk about/ create stuff about those curiosities?

Don’t make an “exciting” life into something more than it is.

The “exciting” life is available to each of us, right where we are—now.

Discontent Is A Bad Guide

Published on November 26, 2021

The byproduct of desire is discontentment.

You cannot be discontent AND happy.

But, you CAN be content and focused on growth.

Don’t let discontent guide your life—it’s miserable.

Focus on what fills you up instead.

And let your curiosity, enthusiasm, and generosity lead the way.

Reverse Gratitude

Published on November 25, 2021

Gratitude is usually about appreciating all that we have.

What if, to take gratitude further, we appreciated all that we didn’t have, too?

Things like:

  • Sicknesses/diseases/disorders
  • Greed/envy/wrath
  • War/crime/hate

This exercise will at least 100x your gratitude list.

Not that it needed any extending in the first place.

Self-Awareness

Published on November 24, 2021

Without it, we could go years thinking we’re on track, only to realize we spend all that time moving in the wrong direction.

How to build self-awareness?

Well, let’s not complicate this—you simply have to spend time turning your awareness onto your self.

A good way to guide this practice is to work your way through some tough, meaningful questions. Some of which might include:

  • What are my most important priorities? Is how I’m spending my time reflective of what’s most/least important to me? Where am I spending too much/not enough time?
  • Am I enjoying the work that I’m doing? Or am I using work as a means to get to an end? How can I focus more on the means and less on the ends?
  • How can I simplify my life? How can I add more meaning to my life? How can I accelerate my personal growth? How can I remove desire and add presence?

A few minutes per day sure beats losing a few years in the wrong direction.