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Category: Thinking Clearly

Same Skills = Same Problems

Published on February 28, 2022

There’s no such thing as a problem-free life.

Life is merely a game of exchanging and/or upgrading problems.

If you want to ‘upgrade’ your problems, you have to upgrade your skills.

For example, investing money isn’t a problem you get to solve if you’re living paycheck to paycheck. You have to figure out how to make more than your lifestyle costs before you get to solve investing.

Running from problems and/or distracting yourself from building up higher level skills only keeps you stuck having to face the same problems because that’s what your lower level skills know how to face.

It’s those who build the most valuable/ interesting skills that get to solve the most valuable/ interesting problems in the world.

And the pathway there always starts with the problems that are right in front of you first.

Criticism Surgery

Published on February 21, 2022

Want to learn how to become shielded from the unsolicited, hateful, derogatory critiques of others? Stamp this onto your brain:

Don’t accept criticism from people you wouldn’t go to for advice.

  • Someone called you dumb? Would you ever ask this person for their honest opinion on your character? No? Then why listen to them when you didn’t ask?
  • Someone hated on your creation? Is this the type of person who actually understands this type of creation and can genuinely comment? No? Then why take their comment to heart?
  • Someone said something rude or hurtful? If I told you to list your top 5 favorite people to get advice from, would this person be on that list? No? Then why let them on that list now?

And if the answer is ever, “Yes”—you would go to this person for advice—then it’s important to reflect on the following:

(1) Is this the best person for you to be going to for advice? People who give advice in hateful, derogatory, negative ways may cause more harm to our path forward than benefit.

(2) If the answer is still yes, then, assuming there is anything constructive in their feedback, we must train our minds to surgically remove the gems from the emotional weight that burdens and collapses in on what’s said.

Because here’s the bottom line: feedback won’t always come in a pretty package.

And if we can learn how to accept what’s useful, how to disregard what (and who) is not, and how to keep ourselves in mentally healthy places so we can conduct criticism surgery with precision and poise at even a moment’s notice—our growth will become inevitable.

Unlocking Productivity

Published on February 18, 2022

Speeding up when you’re busy is like:

  • Flooring it on a car that’s overheating
  • Trying to push mudded pond sediments to the pond floor
  • Opening more applications on an overwhelmed computer

When you’re busy, unlocking productivity happens from slowing down.

Not the opposite.

Optimization Happens Last

Published on February 14, 2022

Optimization is the last step of any process.

Be it building a house, starting a business, creating a new habit etc.—the fine tuning should never happen first.

  • When it comes to building a house, who cares about auto-timed lighting as a means to optimizing the house’s energy efficiency—if there are no walls.
  • When it comes to starting a business, who cares about the color of the checkout button as a means to optimizing clicks—if there is no marketing plan in place to drive visitors to the business’ website.
  • When it comes to creating a new exercising habit, who cares about the exact rest time allowed in-between sets as a means to optimizing workout pace—if you don’t even have the habit of showing up to the gym.

In today’s world, optimization is an obsession.

Many of us are constantly on the hunt for (and are being bombarded with) optimization “hacks,” fine-tuning tricks, and hot trends that can produce any kind of measurable result.

But, without the foundation set—without the “big” things already in place—it’s ultimately just wasted time.

It’s like trying to optimize a lump of coal. You can try to clean, cut, and polish it all you want—it’ll still end up mostly as it started—coal.

If, however, you subjected that lump of coal to enough time under pressure, it’ll eventually transform into a diamond.

And diamond is what gets optimized.

Wants And Shoulds

Published on February 13, 2022

Sometimes you have to sacrifice doing what you want so you can do what you should.

Not making that sacrifice means prioritizing wants over shoulds.

If that’s you, don’t be surprised when the people who do make that sacrifice get ahead.

You can’t have it both ways.

Ego vs. Self

Published on February 12, 2022

Underneath all of the loud, invasive, and pushy mental chatter is a voice that’s quiet, subtle, and powerful beyond measure.

That quiet voice is our authentic, “capital S” Self.

The loud, obnoxious voice is our Ego.

The Ego is hyper-comparative, is easily manipulated by outside influences, and desperately seeks control over the mind.

The Self is comparison-resistant, requires a deep impression for change from an outside source, and (fundamentally speaking) is the mind underneath all of the noise from the Ego.

It is as though the Self is the news of the world and the Ego is the news network that reports primarily for ratings.

Let the Ego take control and you get never ending BREAKING NEWS cycles, short-lived (and quickly irrelevant) urgent stories, and “if it bleeds it leads.”

Let the Self guide you and you get deeply insightful stories, long-lived “evergreen” type content, and “the truth will set you free.”

The interplay between these two forces is ever-present and plays a significant role in how we experience daily life.

The Ego, when left unattended, will operate exclusively for ratings. And all ratings without a depth of content makes for a very superficial, flaky news network.

The Self, without the presence of an Ego, will operate exclusively for depth and truth. Which has its own drawbacks. Because all depth and no ratings (appeal to an audience) makes for a very small time news network.

The ideal is a type of harmonious relationship between the two.

We start by building a solid foundation of truth, identity, and understanding of the Self and then use the Ego (without letting it use us) to serve those truths in powerful, appealing ways.

Planting Dreams [Poem]

Published on February 9, 2022 
The day you plant the seed
Is not the day the seed grows

The month after you plant the seed
Is not the day the fruit shows

It isn't until many years later
That seed turns to tree
And tree bears its fruit

Which will never happen of course
If you fail to help that seed
Firmly take root

Water, soil, sun
Energy, attention, love
This is the way to fruition

Any attempt to manipulate
Nature's already perfect pace
Is to misunderstand the mission

Forcing fruit from seed
Removing essentials for growth
Is to put Mother herself, arrogantly underneath

Bring yourself down
To the level of your seeds
And commit to the process of helping them breathe

Otherwise why go through the trouble
Of rushing, yelling, planning
And doing the extreme

When all of that rash action
Forces holes into gravesites
Rather than the foundation of dreams.