Effort
10 Apr 2021Let it never be true that you did not achieve what you want or need through lack of effort. There are too many other reasons for it to come down to something that you can control.
Let it never be true that you did not achieve what you want or need through lack of effort. There are too many other reasons for it to come down to something that you can control.
I used to finish every book I started reading, but I’m not sure that’s the way to do it.
I think it makes more sense to put it down once you realize you haven’t enjoyed it for longer than you have. For example, if you loved the first 50 pages but hated the next 140, it might just not be the book for you.
Learn what to stick with and learn what to put down, I think overall across your life you will enjoy reading much more.
Is it strange to admit that I’m writing this post in the last couple minutes of the day just to keep my daily blogging streak going?
Overall this post isn’t receiving a ton of my attention and very little preparation, so it’s clearly not going to add a ton of value to my brand or any future readers. But it’s still important for me to write.
I’m not sure if writing this particular post will have any direct value, but it will definitely help me write the next one. As long as I can keep writing, posts like this one will fall down into the list because they will simply be outranked by better posts.
So I’ll let this one be bad, or rushed, or unprepared. That’s okay. Better ones are on the way.
Try and remember the boring parts of the things you work on. They usually fall through the cracks as memories are built and things get romanticized.
These tedious details represent all the achievements throughout your endeavors. Each project isn’t just the sum of it parts, but a long list of individually worthy accomplishments.
Also, these tedious moments will reappear, so the better you can remember them, the better you can overcome them in the future.
It bothers me when people say, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
I understand the merit, but it’s just wrong. More people would do it, sure, but not everyone.
There are plenty of things now that everyone could do to improve not only their overall lives but their relationships, finances, physical fitness, education, sleep, understanding, relaxation… (The list kind of keeps going.)
The problem isn’t that people are only avoiding hard things, and it’s dangerous to make people feel like they need to do “hard” things in order to obtain any progress.
Writing a novel is hard. Writing a single word isn’t. Start with the easy task, recognize that most people won’t even do that, and take it from there.
The hard things are just big bundles of easy ones anyway.
It’s time to stop apologizing.
You shouldn’t feel an obligation to convince anyone around you that your ideas and goals are valid. There comes a time that you will need to convince users, or customers, but at the start, when you just have an idea and you’re excited about it, don’t apologize for it.
It’s fun to have others get excited, but what’s even more fun is to be able to present an idea alongside work that supports the idea and brings it to fruition.
You don’t need to apologize or defend your ideas at that first stage. Just let people know what you’re going to be working on.
Having an idea by itself does not make you a creative person, but any idea that comes you has power and importance. Whether it is the stepping block to another idea or simply something to help you steer clear of poor decisions, it deserves your respect.
Don’t dismiss your ideas with any of the common excuses, calling the idea either unoriginal, or too difficult, or too unreasonable, or too off brand.
On the other hand, don’t treat your ideas as these rare monoliths of inspiration that must be revered above all else.
The ideas will continue to come to you in an endless stream of suffocating potential as long as you create the environment necessary for them to appear.
The first part is to respect your ideas. They represent you. Write them down, preserve them, think them over.
The second part is to let your ideas find you working. The stream of ideas is endless, but if you only let them come and never act on any of them, even in the smallest of ways (writing them down), then they might try the house next door.