Everyone wants to live an effective and purposeful life, there is a certain sense of satisfaction one achieves when you know you’ve made important contributions around you.
In the end what kind of person did you want people to remember you as? The asshole that everybody hated, the guy everyone loved or the person that most people looked up to?
This is not even debatable, who would want to be remembered as a piece of turd? Although highly subjective everyone has their own goals and chosen purpose, therefore there isn’t a cookie cutter answer, but how do you and I actually translate that into fruition? I most certainly do not have the answer, I’m still finding ways to be better and there are a lot of things that I still do not know, but here are some of my thoughts so please take this with a grain of salt.
Never waste your time, however take it slow.
I am not old but at I am not young either, looking back, I realized I have wasted a lot of my time with things that are not important, ironically I also did not spend enough time for and with the things that are important to me.
“Do nothing which is of no use” a quote from Miyamoto Musashi, a philosopher and considered to be the greatest samurai in history.
There were a lot of times I spent playing video games and or just lying in bed, I learned that I was spending around 4-6 hours doing this where I could have finished a workout, my laundry or both. But because I did something of no use, I sacrificed something of use. Your life is made up of simple everyday tasks like brushing your teeth, cooking or making your bed, these simple tasks eventually will make up major events in your life. Your health in particular is simply affected by the way you treat your body on a daily basis, smoking ones might not be bad but smoking every day for 10 years is definitely detrimental, why would you do that your body.
Marcus Aurelius, an emperor, philosopher, writer, commander, husband and a father. He was basically what you would call today a multi tasker amidst all of this and his duties as a head of the glorious empire of Rome he never forgot to perform his most important duty, to be his children’s father he would always take time to tuck them in bed and take everything in because he knew that in his position no days are guaranteed.
Learn how to be effective by eliminating unnecessary habits and focus more on the things that are supposedly important for your mission in creating a great legacy, but always remember to not take the important things for granted even on your path towards greatness.
Seek mentorship, because not everybody does.
“Remember that what you do not know is more important that what you already know” – Jordan Peterson
When you are trying to achieve something amazing, it actually takes a lot of work, nothing worthwhile just falls on your lap, relative success in life is never a coincidence nor driven by luck. Imagine how much easier it would be for a person to attain a specific goal if he met or reached out to someone who is an expert of your field, if that someone will somewhat walk you through what it takes to reach a goal and develop you towards an aligned purpose, there is no better way to learn than to learn from them. Additionally, by seeking advice or mentorship there is a much deeper message that one would associate with it, it’s the dismantling of ego, by admitting that you do not know enough or that you are willing to learn more, you put importance in the process of learning from someone who is more skilled, more experienced or more educated with what you are trying to achieve.
Just like in sports, every great teams have great coaches. Phil Jackson author of the 11 Rings also known as the Zen master and he who popularized the so called triangle offense coached the legendary Chicago Bulls during their reign from 1991-1998, after that the all-time Lakers from 2000-2002, these teams ultimately won multiple championships not only because of the great players on the roster but largely in part of Jackson’s leadership.
Jackson, not only is a great mentor himself but also seek others’ wisdom. He implemented in his winning formula what the Dalai Lama calls the enemy’s gift, he wanted his teams to visualize the enemy as a gift because an opponent can bring out the best within you. He also imparted within his team that wins and losses must be treated the same, that neither outcome will define you as an individual, and that neither should alter you too much for too long. Rather than being the alpha dog in the huddle he cultivated every player’s inner leadership to nurture valuable skills not only within the court but also after leaving the court because good leaders also create great leaders. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were not only great basketball players from the teams Jackson led, after retiring from the sport these individuals became so much more to the community by being great examples for the next generation.
Believe in the compound effect
To put it simply, believe that one percent of consistent smart choices everyday over a period of time will create massive changes and will reap you huge rewards without you noticing it.
When you’re trying to get better the typical approach is to set a large goal, whether that is translated into weightlifting or weight loss, reading or writing books, sprinting or even business. For it to make sense and be called effective, results must come in gigantic numerical fashions. Tiny improvements go unnoticed, it’s not as attractive compared to massive transformations or the small victories we achieve daily.
On 2008, the Olympic record for the 100-meter dash is 9.69 seconds, impressive. Usain Bolt one of the most decorated Olympian of all time trained many years to achieve this number. Four years and many trainings later on 2012, Usain Bolt beat his own record, this time at 9.63 seconds. A mere 0.03 second improvement. A man at the peak of his athletic powers trains for four years to improve in mere increment and just to run for 9 seconds.
What I’m trying to say here is that we often set a goal so big that it creates its own problems, people think that if they fail to lose 10 pounds in 1 month the whole journey is a failure. Learn how to improve one percent at a time and stay consistent, if you do this for 10 days you will be 10 percent better and that’s a guarantee, every decision you make, take baby steps towards 100 percent one day at a time.
You can also relate the compound effect when it comes to reading or writing a book, one page a day is not as daunting as 10 pages a day, but because the task of reading or writing a page a day is so easy it’s more likely that you do it consistently, with this there is a better chance for you to complete a task without you noticing, because it’s now part of a routine, rather than burning out after 3 days trying to accomplish a 10-page endeavor. A page a day is better than no pages at all.
A lot more can be said about the compound effect, find out more about it in Darren Hardy’s book called The Compound Effect.
These are just some of the rules I try to live by, I am still trying to learn every day and still trying to find out what works for me. There is a plethora of great principles to live by but these are ones that so far worked for me, I am excited to learn more with you.
More Cheat codes to come…
XERGIUS 