Last thing before bed
Sometimes you’re about to fall asleep and you realise you haven’t done one of your daily habits.
It’s amazing the sudden rush of energy you feel to complete the habit for that day.
And sometimes you feel the opposite.
Either way- you still have to do it.
Urgency- now or later?
You know when you have a deadline coming up and things get more urgent the closer you get to it?
Yeah- well I think motivation is being able to bring that urgency forward to the present to let it act on you now.
The more we do that for things that are important to us, the more we’ll get done and quicker.
Give them some credit
Audiences are smart.
I wondered wether or not to add a joke in one of my daily films that indirectly quoted something Steve Jobs about the invention of the iPad. I considered editing it out because it was ‘too niche’.
But I’m glad I left it in.
For those who did get the joke, I’m sure the reference would have been appreciated. And for those who didn’t? I think the attitude around it was was filled with enough specificity that they didn’t need to know the reference- they got enough story from the playing.
I don’t want to water things down to try and cast the net wide for some unspecified generic person. I think it’s about following my actual interest or true chuckles.
Scratch your own itch, there’s probably people out there who are itchy in the same way.
Be making the next thing
Some advice I heard from Derek Sivers was to already be making the next thing when you release the first thing.
That way, you aren’t as precious about the reception and are less connected to it. It was a thing you made (past tense) and you’re on to the next thing now.
I think this is smart.
Always Produce
Just stubbled on a very cool idea from a guy called Paul Graham (find the original essay here)
He says that producing is a cure all. When in doubt make something.
I really like this idea (It’s kind of been what my whole year has been about with the blog and the daily films- SO I’m a bit biased..)
But I think there is some profound truth in it. Anyone who I admire or aspire to be like produces things of value that we all get to enjoy.
The thing I’m very excited about that he says is that producing things helps us to figure out what it is we want to make.
I experienced this with my daily films. I’m still not sure what I’m making but I’m a heck of a lot closer to knowing now than I was before I hit record.
Don’t know where to go? Make something. Not sure how to get the big dream to come true? Make something.
Make, make and make some more. Be generous, do your best and make something of value for a stranger.
It takes how long you let it
If I give myself all day to do something, I’ll probably take all day to do it.
If I only have an hour to do it- I’ll get it done in that much time.
Careful how you allocate your time, you may be accidentally limiting yourself.
What if what you wanted to achieve in a year you had to complete this month?
The Rubik’s cube doesn’t matter.
There’s the content of what you’re delivering and then there’s the way you deliver it.
I’d go as far as to say the content comes second to the delivery. You could teach a kid how to solve a Rubik’s cube and arguably that’s a pretty useless skill. It may or may not come in handy (as with much learning) or it might just become obsolete.
I think learning things is a bit like setting and achieving goals; it’s not getting the goal that’s the real prize, it’s who you become in the process.
The same is true for teaching and learning. It’s not really about the Rubik’s cube.
It’s about showing the kid they have the ability to learn. They have within them the power to learn something or create something or solve a problem.
If, through our teaching of anything, we can teach them that- then we have won the game.
Teach like you believe in them. Teach like anything is possible for them. Teach like they have infinite potential. Teach like they are at the doorstep to what ever life they want.
The rubiks cube doesn’t matter, but everything else is monumentally important.
Work on another thing
The other morning as I was getting ready for teaching and I realised I had more time than I needed before leaving.
That also meant that I could work a bit more on prepping the day- the only problem with that is that I didn’t need to do any prep. Sometimes in this situation I’d twiddle my thumbs and do that waiting thing that seems to drain energy.
Often worse if it’s an awkward amount of time. Like 25 minutes.
This time I decided to work on something else all together. 25 minutes, I decided, was enough to chip a little away at the job.
It transported my brain and focus away from what lay ahead- I was okay with this because I’d done all I needed to do.
I suppose it served as a useful distraction and utilisaion of time.
Reminders
I have a daily reminder alert at 10 am.
It asks me “are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?”
It’s so pointy. and so it’s very helpful.
What would you want you best self to remind you of every day?
Found a new limiting belief!
It’s great when you discover one. After a days teaching today I decided to go for a short run along the beach. I could hear some resistance in my thoughts and it was clear what they were saying: You’re too tired to go for a run! You’ve been teaching all day! Just sit at home and rest!
Sure, that’s possible BUT I decided to question that thought a little…
After some thought, I found out that I believed that exercise takes my energy. Of course to a certain extent this is true, but as with all beliefs I did a quick ecology check and found that it doesn’t serve me all that well.
Sure, there have probably been times where I truly did need the rest and exercise was not going to help.
But I’m willing to be there have been far more times where it was just the ticket.
Here’s a belief I’m trying on for size: exercise gives me energy- the more I do the more I get.
By the way I went for the run and it gave me energy. Cool