Skip to content

Tag: Tips and Tricks

So Good

Published on April 23, 2022

Working on your weaknesses will make you average (at best).

Working on your strengths gives you the best chance at becoming above average—maybe even excellent.

Spend little to no time working on your strengths, however, and you’ll quickly become average (or below average) and struggle to contribute to the world in powerful ways.

The trick is to align strength-building with the largest block(s) of available time you can afford each day and double/triple down on developing them compared to your weaknesses.

Because remember: your weaknesses are somebody else’s strengths. Let them own that skillset.

You focus on owning yours.

That is how you become so good that you can’t be ignored.

And that is the best aim to have in today’s hyper-competitive, hyper-connected world.

Nobody is desperately seeking to add average to their team/company/lifestyles.

Keep Refining

Published on April 18, 2022

New rule I’m toying with: no work past 10pm (not even side-hustle work).

Here’s why: nothing past that time (for me) seems to give a higher ROI than sleep.

By that point my focus, energy, and creativity has been generally depleted to the point where the time I invest produces diminished returns—at best.

I’m better off going to sleep and doing the work in the morning when I’m replenished.

This might only save me 5 – 20 minutes.

…But, multiply that by the number of days I have left in my life?

THAT is the power of refinement.

Just Add Mindfulness

Published on March 30, 2022

Want to improve everything in your life?

Add mindfulness to it.

This came to me while lifting weights.

When I’m mindless, I’m focused on vanity metrics (e.g. how heavy can I go).

When I’m mindful, I’m focused on real metrics (e.g. how clean can I perform the move).

And being focused on clean form will result in far more benefit than being focused on sheer weight. Because the problem with “heavy as possible” is that, in most cases, the result is “cheating the reps.”

Either range of motion is shortened, momentum is counterproductively used, or bodily adjustments are made to make the movement “easier” by incorporating more muscle groups (that aren’t designed to be involved in the lifts).

Mindfulness makes us aware of these cheating tactics and reminds us to use lighter weights so that we can use full range of motion that’s free of momentum and is focused exclusively on the muscle groups that are being specifically targeted.

So, too, are the benefits of mindfulness evident in every other area of life:

  • Mindless mouth-stuffing becomes savory eating.
  • Mindless busywork becomes focused task completion.
  • Mindless word-gabbing becomes curious conversation.
  • Mindless weight lifting becomes deliberate strengthening.
  • Mindless media-scrolling becomes intentional consuming.

Mindfulness brings full presence to each task. And if the task is worth doing, you might as well do it right. Otherwise, why do it at all?

Creation Renewed

Published on March 23, 2022

Creating is self-expression in its rawest form.

We take already expressed things from the world, mix and mash them up with our ideas, and end up with a never before expressed thing that we get to share.

Which is why, the ultimate win from a creation is a renewed desire to create.

Because self-expression isn’t something that’s ever done—it’s as living and as breathing as we are. And the more we create—the more we express ourselves—the better we get to know ourselves.

It’s also our creations that act as the very foundation of our legacies—what better way to be remembered than by referencing what we uniquely expressed?

With that in mind, here are some gentle reminders for you to keep in your back pocket as you continue to create:

  • Treat “success” cautiously—it leads to contentment and distractions.
  • Treat “failure” cautiously—it leads to frustration and disappointment.
  • Both success and failure can improve the creating process, but they often lead us astray.
  • With each experience, the ultimate goal should be to quickly discard what isn’t useful, carefully apply what is, and return to the work humbly and with a deeper understanding (of ourselves and our work) than before.
  • If the byproduct of what you’re creating is leading you further and further from creating—something is probably wrong.

Remember, the ultimate loss from a creation is an extinguished desire to create.

The 5 Languages of Love

Published on February 15, 2022

Falling in love is easy.

Staying in love—well, that’s the hard part.

This morning, I was introduced to The 5 Languages of Love and was deeply moved.

Understanding each of these languages will undoubtedly make staying in love—easier. They are:

I. Words of Affirmation: Language in its raw form, we have to genuinely express the things we love about our loved one. Love unexpressed isn’t love at all.

II. Quality Time: What we give the weight of our attention to is indicative of where our true priorities lie. Even if what’s being shared with us isn’t of interest to us. We have to learn how to make what’s important to them, as important to us, as they are to us.

III. Receiving Gifts: Being able to give a gift effectively shows that time was spent thinking and preparing something specifically for them while we weren’t with them. What’s important isn’t the price of the gift. What’s important is how much heart we put into preparing it. Which always shows.

IV. Acts of Service: Giving with the expectation of receiving in return isn’t giving at all—it’s a transaction. This is not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about giving for the sake of giving. We’re talking about committing random acts of service. Because doing a chore, task, or favor without being asked to and without any spite or expectation—is love in its purest form.

V. Physical Touch: Hugging, kissing, caressing, squeezing, holding, massaging, embracing, soothing, etc. These are all explicit demonstrations of our love. Which are just as important as each of the above mentioned implicit demonstrations.

Take time each day to feel your lover’s presence, too.

Modern Day Alchemy

Published on February 8, 2022

Somebody give you a dirty look? Give somebody else a smile.

Somebody cut you off in traffic? Let somebody else skip you in line at the store.

Somebody sent you a hateful message? Send somebody else a loving one.

In a world where “more of the same” can make things so much worse—choose to do modern day alchemy instead.

And become an alchemist of human emotion.

Lifetime Xed

Published on January 31, 2022

How many time commitments do you have that you don’t even realize you have?

  • The lines you’re forced to wait in
  • The long commutes
  • The time it takes to get ready

How might you creatively reclaim some of that time?

  • Do you have to wait in those lines? Or is there a way you can skip them altogether? i.e. Rather than buying coffee each morning, can you start making it from home?
  • Assuming you can’t opt out of the long commutes, is there a way you can improve how you spend that time? i.e. Long commutes are a perfect time to soak in audiobooks—which are great because they don’t always have to be nonfiction/ productive. They can be leisurely and entertainment oriented, too. Much better than yelling at stupid drivers.
  • Is there any way you can shorten the time it takes for you to get ready? i.e. Can you set clothes out the night before or get one step ahead of breakfast some how? Smooth starts are usually a byproduct of end-of-the-day preemptive thinking.

It might take you 10-15 minutes to thoroughly think through these ideas.

The benefit, of course, is that even if you can only manage to find a way to save 10-15 minutes throughout your entire day… you just LIFETIME Xed your investment.

In other words, if you hold true to this idea for 100 days—you just 100xed your invested time. If you hold true for 365 days—you just 365xed your invested time. And if you can keep it going for the rest of your life…?

That’s right—a lifetime xed investment.

Unbelievably worth it.