“There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
First, I should explain what I mean by “the news.” I’m referring to traditional news from traditional media, reporting on stories which are predominantly disheartening or shocking; job losses, natural disasters, crime, celebrity scandals, etc. That’s the type of news you should stop watching, reading and listening to.
Why? I’ll give you several reasons:
A friend recently expressed concern that I’m too into personal development, and suggested I should dial it back a little and be more content with the person I already am. She saw my constant drive to improve as fear-based, as if I was constantly telling myself, “I don’t like who I am, I have to change!”
My friend was wrong. I very much like who I am right now. In fact, I consider myself to be pretty damn fantastic*. My drive comes from a place of excitement and curiosity, not fear. I love pushing myself, finding new challenges/experiences and learning from them. I love looking back every twelve months and saying “Wow, I’ve come so far in just one year!”
I’m glad my friend raised that concern though; she reminded me to check my motivation. I think that’s an important exercise for anyone involved in personal development. Every now and then, stop and ask yourself if your motivation comes from a place of fear or excitement.
I’m writing this after getting off the phone with my cousin. He was talking about joining a few writer’s groups, which I think is a great idea. I’ve recently been thinking a lot about the importance of such groups and surrounding yourself with like-minded people.
Equally important, is guarding yourself against people who dampen your creativity and passion and big thinking. I truly believe that I can make a significant, positive impact on many people’s lives as long as I’m here on Earth; I can help make the world a better place. I believe, that when I die, the world will be better off from my having been here.
That’s how I feel. That’s what I work towards.
Approximate reading time: 8 minutes (while eating an apple).
A friend recently asked me for advice on time-management, she having noticed that I seem to get quite a lot done in a typical week without killing myself. In this post I’ll share a few time-management tips and tricks that work for me. Many of these come from trying and testing different methods I’ve come across, most notably in books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 4-Hour Work Week; others are common sense approaches which most people fail to use consistently.
Before we get into it, I should note that the term “time-management” is a bit of a misnomer. You can’t manage time. It keeps on ticking no matter what you do. It’s a non-renewable resource which can be used either constructively or destructively. All you can hope to do is manage yourself to make the best use of your time. That is, you can decide to spend it productively on the things that are most important to you. You can invest your time wisely instead of letting it go to waste.
On to the tips…
There was never a better time to be in New Orleans than this past weekend, with Mardi Gras really kicking off and the Saints winning the Super Bowl for the first time in the franchise’s 43-year history. It has been a magical season for the Saints. Here are a few things we can all learn from them:
This was the mantra for the Saints all season. Quarterback Drew Brees gave each of his teammates a copy of Dan Green’s book of the same name last April, and they all took the words to heart.
From Green’s finishstrong.com website:
The Finish Strong attitude is about choice. Only you have the power to choose how to respond to the challenges before you. How will you choose to respond? Will you lie down or will you choose to fight? The choice is yours and I challenge you to always choose to Finish Strong. The great philosopher Epictetus said, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react that matters.”
Indeed. Everything is a choice. You can use what happens to you as an excuse to give up, or you can use it to get better, grow stronger. The Saints took all the setbacks from the past few years and learned from them. How they responded to those blows helped them triumph in the end.