📖 Current Read; 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living — Ryan Holiday
The Daily Stoic Meditation for May 3rd outlines the importance of showing your changes, developments and growth, rather than simply speaking about it.
Those who receive the bare theories immediately want to spew them, as an upset stomach does its food. First digest your theories and you won’t throw them up. Otherwise they will be raw, spoiled, and not nourishing. After you’ve digested them, show us the changes in your reasoned choices, just like the shoulders of gymnasts display their diet and training, and as the craft of artisans show in what they’ve learned.
— Epictetus, 3.21.1–3
Tell.
Where We Go Wrong
Too many of us speak, but do not act.
Many of us outline to our friends and families our big ideas, perhaps we make business pitches or talk about our gym goals.
However, how many of us actually act on those intentions? How many of us actually take action?
We go wrong by, for the most part, being all talk.
Be True To Your Word
If you are going to speak about your intentions, and if you are going to speak about your knowledge, stay true to it.
Be a firm believer. Take the action you say you’ll take.
There’s nothing worse than an empty promise or a word not followed up on.
Show.
What?
Showing, rather than telling, is incredibly important.
Telling regards words, perhaps in an argument or discussion. It requires lots of work from you.
Showing, on the other hand, is less work from you, and more work from them.
Showing is when people observe you, your changes and your developments.
When you show somebody, the changes have already taken place!
They cannot argue against it, and you have stayed true to your word.
The Power Of Show, Not Tell
It is evident that showing somebody what you know, and showing them your growth, is infinitely more powerful than telling them.
A great deal of things happen when you show somebody what you’re capable of
- They cannot disagree or argue against it, for the evidence is plain and simple
- They may support and believe in you
- They may praise you
Prioritise showing, not telling.
It saves your time, energy and words.
Idea of the Week. 💭
100 Rules For A Better Life — Ryan Holiday
In a blog post, Holiday outlines 100 short and simple rules that have enabled him to live his life to the fullest, inspired by Seneca, who makes an extended list of rules for living a good life, in his essay On the Happy Life.
Here are 22 rules that seem most pivotal to me in my current life, and may help you too.
- Wake up early.
- Say no (a lot)
- Read something every day
- Forget about outcomes — focus on making a little progress each day
- Strenuous exercise every single day.
- Practice the law of action, not attraction. Instead of envisioning the future you want, create it.
- If you want to be good and feel good, you have to do good. There is no escaping this.
- Deliberately think about death. Every day.
- The present is enough.
- You are what you repeatedly do.
- Stop looking for shortcuts. Do the work.
- When evaluating an opportunity, ask yourself: What will teach me the most?
- Know why you do what you do.
- Be strict with yourself and forgiving of others.
- Don’t wait until later. Do the thing now.
- Never go a day without some deep work.
- See what you can learn from every person you meet — even people you don’t like.
- “Always say less than necessary.” — Robert Greene
- Make commitments: short, regular deadlines that you have to meet.
- Amor fati. Love your fate. To me, that means taking control over the way you see the world.
- Remember: Nobody is thinking about you. They’re too busy thinking about themselves.
- Try to see opportunities where others see obstacles.
Quote of the Week. 🗣
Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, on the 2 choices we always have.
“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.”
Tweet of the Week. ✍🏻
If You’re Ambitious But Feeling Overwhelmed…
A thread from @TheRossHarkness outlining multiple steps to take if you have great ambition, but are feeling bogged down and overwhelmed.
Many more steps were outlined, however, here are 3 key steps that seemed most important.
Go Back To Your Goal
Your Why
In other words, this first step of going back to your goal simply means reminding yourself of your why.
Your why is the reason behind why you do what you do.
It acts as your higher good, your full potential.
Your purpose is the thing that keeps you going when you don’t see results. It keeps you going when you want to give it all up and quit.
Your purpose keeps you going. This is why it is so essential.
There will be times of turmoil. When you’re ambitious, it will never be easy.
This is expected but also necessary: there will be no true growth without a struggle.
In these difficult times, your purpose becomes absolutely essential. Do not let yourself slip into the tempting darkness.
Instead, make a conscious effort to remind yourself of your purpose, your why.
Remind yourself why you started, why you invest so much time and energy, why you’ll be better off if you keep going.
When you take this conscious time to remind yourself of your purpose, you often let go of the insatiable desire to give up.
It may even provoke the opposite; you’ll likely get back up and keep going.
Cut Down The Noise
What?
The noise simply regards anything, or anyone, that may pose a distraction.
The most common distraction that plagues us is our mobile phones. Many of us have them, yet they can be incredibly detrimental and harmful.
Rather than us controlling the phone, it is often the other way around: we fall victims to our devices.
However, the noise can also regard people, disruptive coworkers or stressful situations.
Whatever the noise, it is your responsibility to cut it down.
Why?
With noise, distraction and clutter, how can you expect to achieve those exceptional results?
It is close to impossible to become the person you want to be if you are constantly being distracted by notifications, emails and calls.
Rather than engaging in any deep work, you will simply be pulled away, lured into the world of social media and mindless entertainment.
If you want to achieve your goals, you need to cut down on the noise.
You need to remove all distractions and prioritise deep, focused work.
Without focus work, and with constant distractions, it’s unlikely you’ll make much progress.
Cut down the noise and the clarity becomes immense.
Stop Being A Perfectionist
Perfectionism
Perfectionism itself is the act of always striving for perfection.
Rather than accepting when something is good, it is the act of always trying to make it that little bit better.
It is when you refuse to accept anything under your standard of perfection.
Perfectionism becomes an issue when it gets in the way of your progress and development, and this happens far too frequently.
The Risks
There are many great risks attached with being a perfectionists, risks that people overlook, ignore, or are even totally unaware of!
Risks such as:
- Never making progress
- Missing out on great opportunities
- Feeling overwhelmed, angsty or stressed
- Risk of burnout
Strive For Progress
With perfectionists, they rarely ever publish their work, share their ideas or grow, for they do not deem it good enough.
This type of life is not one you want to aim for.
Rather than progress, there is restriction and turmoil.
If you want true development, you’ll have to let go of the urge to perfect everything.
Rather than always striving for things to be perfect, you should strive for progress, instead.
Your work does not have to be perfect, it simply has to be better than before.
You must work to prioritise a cycle of continuous improvement, not a cycle of unworldly standards that will never be reached!
When you return to your why, you will move forward.
When you cut down the noise, you will move forward.
When you strive for progress, you will move forward.
To end, here’s a question from me! ⚡️
How can you prioritise finding & working in your zone of expertise?
Your zone of expertise is an area in which you have natural talent and interest, yet you are also willing to work to improve your knowledge & skills.
This is an area where you have passion, but also a desire to improve.
Figure out where your zone of expertise is, and work in it continuously.
Until next week,
Sam. 😆
