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Category: Thinking Clearly

Follow Your Passion Is Bad Advice

Published on July 13, 2021

“Your purpose comes from doing what you love. Your meaning comes from sharing it.”

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Worth elaborating on: “Doing what you love.”

I love watching Netflix, eating junk food, playing games, and surfing through social media. But, generally speaking, you and I both know that’s not where purpose comes from.

So, what kind of love are we talking about? We’re talking about the kind of love that leads to skill-building tasks. Skills are the currency of careers. And finding a career that properly utilizes your skills is what leads to a fulfilling sense of purpose.

This is why “follow your passion” can be bad advice.

Being passionate about something is, in-and-of-itself, worthless in the business world. Pay attention to your passions, sure! But, focus primarily on building skills in those areas of passion. That is how you’ll elevate yourself to a purposeful opportunity you can be proud of.

Take martial arts for example. Being passionate about martial arts is great. You can watch the movies, read the books, collect the posters, etc. But, until you learn how properly execute martial arts techniques, how to teach students of all ability levels, how to run the business side of the martial arts school, etc.—your passions are of little to no value.

Build skills in accordance to your passions. Elevate yourself to a purposeful position. Then, share it with the world.

The Antithesis Of Freedom

Published on July 8, 2021

Our busyness is often our enemy; it is the antithesis of freedom.

Freedom is the feeling we get when we’re not busy.

And most of what we spend our days being busy about (e.g. acquiring wealth) is really supposed to be a means for acquiring freedom. The freedom to live life on our own terms.

But, what if the means was in direct opposition to the end goal? What if our work kept us from living on our own terms at all?

Here’s the thing, this is not a call to quit your job and/or shed all of your responsibilities that keep you busy. Rather, it’s a call to carefully reevaluate what it is exactly that you’re so busy with and how it connects to your freedom.

  • If family came to visit from out of town during your work week, would you be able see them? Or would you be too busy?
  • If a good friend was in trouble and asked you for coffee, would you be able to meet them? Or would you be too busy?
  • If your favorite band was playing a concert near you, but it was during a work weekend, would you have the freedom to go see them? Or would you be too busy?

Sometimes we sacrifice doing what we want to do with work because we know it will lead to more future freedom. But, what are you securing future freedom for if you’re sacrificing all of your top priorities now?

We Fear What We Don’t Understand

Published on July 3, 2021

My dog will BARK and YELL and RAGE and fearlessly advance towards even the most vicious looking dogs.

But, pops, cracks, and whizzes from the fridge?

Terrified. Whimpers. Needs to be held.

These noises, of course, don’t scare us because we understand them.

But, failure, aloneness, suffering?

Leaves most of us terrified, whimpering, and feeling like we need to be held.

Maybe it’s the case that these things aren’t inherently scary, but we’re just scared of them because we don’t fully understand them.

Maybe if we spent more time learning how to fail forward, enjoy aloneness, and channel our suffering—we wouldn’t be so scared?

Things become less scary once we understand them.

This post became the introduction for: 13 Rousing Delia Owens Quotes from Where The Crawdads Sing on Abandonment, Love, and Self-Reliance

New, Better Ideas

Published on July 1, 2021

New and better doesn’t come until there’s room.

If our minds are filled with old, redundant ideas then maybe it’s time to clear some space.

How?

Write more of your ideas down. Even (especially) the old, redundant ones.

The key here is that remembering takes up thinking space, thus consuming the exact space you need to generate new, better ideas.

Furthermore, it’s often the case that ideas piggyback on each other.

So, whatever time you spend trying to remember initial ideas, is in turn stifling the ideas that want to piggyback off those initial ideas.

Don’t rely on memory.

In paper and pens; thumbs and screens—we must trust.

Keep your headspace clean and clear and ready for whatever you might think of next.

Out With The Old

Published on June 30, 2021

Like a dresser filled with old clothes, you have to let go of the old in order to make room for the new. If you feel like you have no time or space to do new things—things of interest to you—maybe it’s because your dressers are full.

This doesn’t mean you need to be done with something just because it’s old. Just that you should carefully inspect everything old—as you would if you were clearing out your belongings.

But, don’t let your possessive side take over.

  • That shirt you haven’t worn in over a year? It’s probably time to part ways.
  • Those jeans you had forgotten all about? Obviously weren’t missed when they were gone.
  • Your favorite button-up that you haven’t worn since it got stained? Yup, time to move on.

Being possessive is instinctual. We want to hold on closely to all that we’ve acquired. But, the more we hold on to, the more we become held down. The more we stuff our drawers will the old, the less space we’ll have for anything new. And the more stubborn we are with our current lifestyle, the harder it will be to upgrade to any kind of a new one.

Close The Loop

Published on June 29, 2021

Satisfied people are far more thoughtful than unsatisfied people.

Worth pointing out: by thoughtful I mean someone who has shown careful consideration or attention.

What I don’t mean: someone who gets overwhelmed with impeding thoughts.

The benefit of being thoughtful up front, is that once you’ve paid the appropriate dues (in careful consideration or attention), then the thought becomes a closed loop.

In other words, once you understand what satisfies a person (you), you can be done thinking about it.

Otherwise, if you don’t know, only think you know, or outsource your thinking (to others who don’t know, only think they know or, even worse, to multi-million dollar media brainwashing campaigns)—the loop will stay open. And unsatisfied will remain the reality.

If you’re unsatisfied, rather than chasing forever fleeting desires, maybe spend more time in careful, reflective, reasoned thought.

Close the loop.

Holding On Vs Letting Go

Published on June 28, 2021

The more you try to control something, the more it controls you.

The more you try to control someone, the more they control you.

The more you try to control in life, the more it all will control you.

The road to freedom has less to do with control and more to do with letting go.

If you want more freedom, rather than holding tightly to more, unclasp your grip and think about how you can hold on to less.