I need to read more

Writing has been a little bit of a struggle for me lately. I can’t even say that it takes a lot of time to write these short blog posts. I have been very, very busy working on a few big projects, but who doesn’t have ten minutes to spare?

I think the underlying problem is that I have not been reading at my normal level for almost two months. When I am reading, I am constantly playing with thoughts and ideas. I’ll read something in the morning that will dance in my mind all day. Writing is often the only way to get those thoughts clarified and off of my mind.

To write more, I need to read more.

Finding out who I am (I think)

I took a Clifton Strengths test the other day. I was very skeptical about whether this thing could accurately describe who I think I am. I’m aware that maybe my perception of myself might not be entirely accurate. But I have spent a good amount of time reflecting on who I am and why I do the things I do.

This test tells me that I am a strategic thinker with tendencies to execute the things I set about to do. According to the test I am not very good at influencing other people or building relationships.

My top ten traits are:

  1. Learner

  2. Input

  3. Context

  4. Intellection

  5. Responsibility

  6. Belief

  7. Achiever

  8. Connectedness

  9. Self-Assurance

  10. Developer

You don’t know what any of those things are? I didn’t either until I went and read up on them Check out this link to see the 34 different themes that you someday might find out about yourself, too.

Three simple rules of work

When we complete a task, we stop thinking about it. When we start a task and get interrupted before we finish, it remains active in our minds while it is in that undone state. Three simple rules of work are:

1.) If it takes less than five minutes, do it right now.

2.) When you start something, finish it. (If the task is too massive, break it into smaller tasks and do them.)

3.) Never ever, ever, ever multitask.

Harness all of your energy and focus on one task at a time and you’ll do more work at a higher quality than you ever thought possible.

From good to great

When everybody is good, how do you become great? You become great by perfecting the details. Greatness lies in the details and the little things. When you do those well, you differentiate yourself from the good and you enter into the realm of great.

Trying to catch up (you can't)

When you start falling behind, I think the best thing to do is let the missed days be missed days. When we try to make up for lost time we compromise our effectiveness. It has been nearly a month since I have written a blog post here because I missed a couple of days and thought I should probably write 2-3 blog posts to make up for it.

That turned into having to write 5-6 blog posts and before I knew it I hadn't written anything for nearly a month.

Missed days aren’t the end of the world and seasons in our life where we are not quite as effective or productive happen. They only become problematic if we destroy our ability to work by trying to make up for that lost time. You can never make up lost time. Either don’t lose the time or become comfortable losing some time every once in a while. You can’t be effective yesterday, so focus on being effective right now.

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Anyone with fast hands can be dangerous

In boxing, the saying is that anyone with fast hands can be dangerous. Just because you have weaknesses doesn’t mean you can’t become a champion. Focus on what you’re best at doing and do that better than anyone else. You’ll have some losses, but you’ll have many more wins than you would expect.

Treating winners like losers

Treat winners like losers and treat losers like winners when you’re leading and coaching them. Winners need to learn to return to the grind and keep getting better, while losers need to be given confidence so they have a chance.

However, not all of life is coaching. I would imagine that if you always treat winners like losers, they’ll eventually grow weary of your presence. Not all of life is coaching, but maybe much of it is.

Carve your name on hearts

Last week I went to a memorial for a dear friend of my father who passed away about a week ago. He died as, what I would characterize, a "young" 83-year-old. I knew him my entire life and he was one of these guys who never seemed to grow old.

I never saw him angry or heard him speak a bad word about others. He was also the first–and maybe only–person I ever met who would pause and think for a moment before responding to whatever you asked him. A remarkable trait.

I can’t say I knew him that well, but my experience and what I’ve heard of him remind me of an old Charles Spurgeon quote.

“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”

Always more suckers

 
“We may run out of chips; we may run out of toilet paper; we may run out of (simeticone) antiflatulent pills; we may run out of biodegradable nonstaining bicycle chain degreasers; we may run out of five point .5mm mechanical pencils; but we will never, never, run out of suckers.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
 

I love his irreverence and interesting choice of vocabulary throughout his writing. Taleb is a treasure.

Urgency cannot make the decision

If you allow the pressure to make the decision rather than your executive mind, the important tasks will be sacrificed. Because it’s easier to do less-important tasks that are urgent than spend time on the most-important tasks that are not urgent.

Live a more full life

Work doesn’t always have to be difficult. Work can flow forth from you smoothly and even be fun. Our work can be a way we express our artistic side, the way we express our joy, and the way we constantly show ourselves that we adhere to our standards (even when nobody is watching!)

We can all be better about the work we do, but we must start by being organized and practicing being more efficient at our work.

Add more work to your hours, rather than adding hours to your work. The happier and more efficient we can be, the more money we can make while still having time to live a full life.

Underestimating preparation

When time gets tight we fall into the trap of believing that we don’t need to take extra time to plan, because, of course, we’re REALLY busy.

Never forget that planning isn’t something we do as a leisurely pursuit. It is valuable and it acts as a force multiplier in the work we do.

When we have a good plan, we can attack our day and know exactly what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

This will help us manage our time and understand exactly what work needs to be done. When we know exactly what needs to be done, we procrastinate less and we stress out less.

Planning is important and it’s ALWAYS worth setting aside 10-15 minutes at the end of your day to lay out the next day of work.

You can’t flank forever

Trying to encircle your objective or remain one step ahead is often pointless if you’re not ready to take action and attack at some point.

Spending time and energy getting one step ahead will eventually lead you to making a mistake and losing any advantage you gain.

You must get ahead, gain your advantage, and take action.

Publish that thing

The most important part of your work is the last 1% where you publish it. If you can’t finish a product and ship something, who cares about the first 99% of your work?

Maybe it’s great in a vacuum or in some theoretical sphere, but it never comes into play in the world we all live in.

It takes courage and nerve to publish the things you create and to expose your artwork and ideas to the examination of other people. But this process makes you incredibly strong and resilient. I also believe it allows you to become truly at peace with yourself. When the compliments are ignored just as much as the insults, then you can be at peace with where you are and the work you create.

Failing, crashing, tiring

No matter how great a writer or artist you are, you are still imperfect and liable to failure. You will fail and, if you do not care for yourself, you will burn out.

The trick is understanding that it happens to all of us, even if right this moment you feel like you’re the strongest person in the world.

We all fail. We all crash. We all get tired.

The fallout of our decisions

One of the most difficult things in life is to make sound decisions. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that it is more important to be able to merely make a decision and not worry if it’s the right or wrong decision.

The more we focus on all the little details and try to squeeze more out of every decision, the more we paralyze ourselves. Making no decision is only choosing to fail.

We are incapable of computing the thousands of dynamics that go into every decision we make and the massive fallout that every decision will have.

There is an idea known as the butterfly effect which is the concept that the world is profoundly related, such that one slight happening can impact a much larger system. The effect is named after an allegory for chaos theory; it evokes the idea that a small butterfly flapping its wings could, hypothetically, cause a cyclone. Imagine that but with all of your decisions.

We just need to make decisions and figure out the details as life happens. Don’t worry about the results of your choices; just do good, do honestly, and work hard.

As Kierkegaard once said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

Computers vs. Brains

When computers take in information, the circumstances don’t matter. The computer writes the data and is never sick, tired, or worried about the weather.

The brain continues the process of information long after it receives the initial info. The quality of our memories depends on how the information is processed when we receive it.

Our memory changes as our bodies change and every time we recall a certain memory we, in a sense, re-write that memory to our consciousness. Long-term memories become short-term memories again when we recall them.

When that short-term memory is converted back into a long-term memory, we re-examine all the connections we have to that memory with all the new life experiences and wisdom we’ve gained.

Biological memory is a fascinating thing.