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Category: Thinking Clearly

Got Fruit?

Published on March 6, 2024

Plant seeds early and often.

Needing fruit today and not having planted any seeds for that fruit will bear you zero fruit.

And while today is the worst time to plant a seed for a fruit today, it’s simultaneously the best possible time to plant a seed for fruit in the future. In fact, there could be no better time than today to plant your seeds since, you know, there’s no planting seeds yesterday.

The life reality is: you get the fruit only after the seed has been planted, cared for, and nurtured to the point of being ripe—on its own timeline, not yours. And not every seed will take. And not every seed will bear perfectly ripe fruit. And not every seed will survive to adulthood/fruition.

But, if you plant seeds early and often… and you do so abundantly and carefully… and you keep investing time and energy into those seeds’ future… fruition will soon come. And you’ll get to enjoy your season of harvest after having endured many seasons of patience and hard work. This is true for relationships, career, finance, health, education, and so on.

Don’t wait until you need the fruit to start planting the seeds.

Seed planting and care should happen early and often, at each available moment, today and every day.

P.s. What I Learned From Losing In A Seed Growing Contest… And I tried really hard to win, too.

Teaching Humility

Published on February 28, 2024

A parent asked me the other day how he can make his child more humble.

His child was starting to do things like say how much better he was than his dad and ignore his dad’s advice because he thought he knew better—and it was starting to cross the line from confident to cocky.

Telling him to just “be humble,” in my experience, wouldn’t do much good.

The way I look at it is like this: if confidence is success remembered… then cockiness is a disproportionate amount of success remembered compared to failures.

What I told him to try… is exposing him to more failures. Which might not sound like something a father would ever want to do to their son… but it’s exactly what builds humility—particularly in cocky individuals.

I told him to try having him learn a brand new skill… or a complicated sports move… or an advanced martial arts kick. And to have him do it while he’s surrounded by a group of kids who are better than him.

…Let him not be the best one in the room for a while. Let him struggle in front of his peers. Let him learn how to ask the other kids for help. Let him remember what it’s like to be on the other side of the learning curve again. Let him do the things he had to do as a beginner again—the things that got him as good as he got in the first place that he was forgetting about and taking for granted.

Let him learn… how to learn again.

Writing Daily Is Thinking Done

Published on February 27, 2024

One of the beautiful things about writing daily what’s on your mind is that when you’re asked to share what’s on your mind—either in general or in regards to specific topics—the work is already done.

There’s no need to delay, no need to beat around the bush, no need to answer generically or mumbly or complicatedly so as to buy yourself some time to think…

Your thinking space has already been honored. The editing of your thinking via written word has already distilled your key thoughts. And the rest of it—the crap thinking—you’ve already released and has already begun to sink towards the bottom of your mind’s floor.

And because of it… you’re more ready to capitalize on potential opportunities.

…You’re more ready to make a good impression when you didn’t even know you were going to have to make one.

…You’re more ready to express yourself properly when you meet someone special—because you just never know when that might happen.

Because the last thing you want—when any of those moments arrive—is to feel like there’s a lot of work yet that needs to be done or like a delay needs to be made.

Writing daily is thinking done.

And thinking done is an excellent strategy for getting ahead in life.

What Are You Doing?

Published on February 23, 2024

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s completely OK to not be productive.

…And to just lay down or sit quietly or go for a casual walk or long car ride or dance to some bomb music.

…And just remember what it feels like—to be.

And since we’re on the topic, never forget: doing things that make you feel happy or free or help you calm down are always productive things.

…Things that you can even add to and check off your lists for the day.

Because if you’re not doing those things every day… I wonder… what are you doing?

Got Problems?

Published on February 18, 2024

…We all do.

And the ones who make it appear as though they don’t or like they don’t have nearly as many as others—still do. They just approach “problems” differently. Here’s how:

1. They solve them. It’s easier now more than ever to avoid, suppress, and distract yourself from problems… those who don’t—the ones who turn towards, confront, and attack their problems—get ahead. If you’re having relationship problems, for example, and a hard conversation is needed… the ones who bite the bullet and have it… get to move on.

2. They exchange them. Not all problems need to be solved. In fact, some problems are better off not being solved and are better off being exchanged for different problems. Why a stranger on the internet commented something nasty on your post, for example, might not be the best use of resources to try and solve. You may be better off dropping that problem altogether and exchanging it for another one… like what gift you can create and post next that’ll add a ton of value to a different internet stranger’s life.

3. They upgrade them. Too many people wait for the promotion in life before they start learning how to solve the next level of problems. When it’s often the case that learning how to solve the next level of problems is precisely how you get the promotion. Figuring out how much change to give someone all day doesn’t have to be it for you… you can start learning new/better skills—the ones your bosses have—and upgrade your way into higher and higher roles… the ones that have better, more interesting problems for you to solve.

Question Your Limitations

Published on February 16, 2024

If you don’t have time in your day to:

  • Exercise
  • Eat Right
  • Read and/or Write
  • Bond with Friends/Family
  • Enjoy Some Down Time / Just Be

…You’re too busy.

And while I’m sure you can argue your case for why you can’t do some or all of the above things… hold that thought and read the next line carefully:

Don’t argue for your limitations.

Put your argument energy to better use and ask yourself a better question:

“What can I eliminate, delegate, automate, or reduce… so that I CAN have time to do the above things every day?”

Because what I think you’ll find is that the more you argue for your limitations—the more of a reality they’ll continue to be… and the more you question your limitations, the less and less they’ll be.

P.s. I sip on coffee while I write these. If you enjoy these posts, you can support my future work by supplying me with one of my next cups of joe here.

Hunting For The Best In Life

Published on February 13, 2024

Each day, at some point, I go hunting for quotes.

I curate picture quotes, capture insights from books, and save ideas from emails.

I aim to upload five fresh insights per day to MoveMe Quotes.

What I was thinking about today was how my mental state affects my hunt.

When I’m groggy, anxious, distracted… I find myself skipping over a bunch more material than when I’m alert, calm, and focused.

…There have been times when I’ve hunted for upwards of an hour and couldn’t find a single quote worth uploading.

…And there have been times when after a few minutes I found myself uploading close to ten.

Generally speaking… the material I hunt through each day is equally saturated with insights.

What’s interesting for me is how lack of sleep, lack of screen discipline, lack of clarity in priorities can affect my ability to see and capture insights that are floating right by my face.

…And I suspect the same affects us all in many of the same ways as we go about our days and beauty, grace, opportunity, love, and yes, insight… floats right by our groggy, anxious, distracted face(s).

P.s. I finished uploading quotes from Freedom From The Known by J. Krishnamurti today. You can read my 32 captures here.