Have been reading Robert Greene’s ‘Mastery’. It’s a very interesting and insightful book. Uses a system to categorise the steps involved in becoming a master of anything.
Definitely goes onto the ‘highly recommended’ list.
It’s easy to whinge and moan about not having enough.
Money, time, friends, skills. These things don’t turn up by accident.
A plan will get you on the path to making good things happen.
They are never set in stone. They can change as life takes you in different directions. Reviewing plans is a part of the process of staying on the right track.
But you’ve gotta have one. Avoid it and the weeds will overtake the flowers in your metaphorical garden.
Your direction and purpose will be unclear.
Spend a few minutes working out what you’re going to do today and write it down. This is where it starts.
This applies to many things, however, the core of this premise is its applicability to your work, no matter what it is.
Be so good that your colleagues, clients and bosses have to take notice of the work you do.
It might be the way you do it. The level of quality that you are reaching every time you send an email, for example. The style of your communications. The way you listen.
Or it could be a technical proficiency. Something you’ve honed over many years of practice and repetition.
Whatever it is, work as hard as you can on making it a little better every day.
It is not wasted time. The effort will stand up under pressure.
Sometimes this stuff is drowned out by the policiticans that inhabit every workplace. The game-players. The ones who will burn anyone to get what they feel they deserve.
In general – and I have seen this play out over time – those with the skills become dependable, reliable, and essential to leaders when they’re making their picks.
I know which camp I’d rather be in.
What do I like when I deal with other people?
How do I get this from other people? Do ALL OF THE ABOVE for them first.
It helps to know the things you’re not so good at. The things you should work on. The things you know you should deal with.
They have a tendency to get ‘lost in the fog.’ Piles of paper cover those lists of once important and urgent tasks you wanted to get done but never got around to.
It may not feel comfortable to write these things down. Seeing your weaknesses, your blind-spots, on the page can be challenging.
It’s in this type of awareness that opportunities for growth live.
They could be learning opportunities. Skills you could brush-up on, or new ways to pass the time.
But they be complete attitude shifts, or changes to ways of working. The recognition that you talk too much at certain times could, for example, open up a new line of thinking and action.
The benefits on a daily basis may not be immediately visible or measurable. Be consistent and they soon will be.
Find one thing to do today that might improve your life, and then go do it.
I’ve been mulling over a lot of stuff. The lists are overwhelming.
What one thing could I do today to make my life better? This is the question that I need to ask.
And it’s then all about the action. The motion, mentally or physically, of doing something about the answer.
Small is ok. We have to start somewhere.
Then do it everyday.
The journey to a better life starts on a road of consistent improvement.
Showing up at a well-put-together conference and participating with a plan can be one of the best investments you can make in yourself.
You meet the right kind of people.
You learn something new.
You could make friends with like-minded people, who share the same interests as you.
I went to one this week with a plan to push the boundaries of introversion a little.
I thought about how I was going to approach the day and it worked out well.
I started a few conversations I would have ordinarily shied away from.
I stayed upbeat, enthusiastic, and open to anyone who wanted a chat.
I slowed down. Rather than tearing through the expo, I wandered around.
I saw more. I took it all in.
I’ve never been a conference fan. This experience, plus my attitude towards it, may have changed that.
So Trump and the republicans regain power.
Lots to ponder – and not all of it upbeat.
In the face of such a result for the world, it’s important to do what YOU need to do.
How can you help your community? Support those in your life who may be struggling, before or after the election.
What happened yesterday doesn’t have to change your ways. You have not changed fundamentally as a person because of this result.
You still have to do your thing, whatever that is.
Trump and his goons will lick their lips and make life a bit more tricky for those who oppose them.
But it’s worth remembering that the effect this will have on most of us right now is only a feeling.
Take action based on that feeling. Use it as a force for good.
If ever there was a time to prepare your own plans for the next few years, this is it.
Reset, set goals, and take action.
A quote from Kevin Garnett, ex-Celtics basketball leader, stood out in the Netflix show ‘Starting 5’:
“Stay humble, stay confident, stay on your craft.”
The humility keeps us grounded. We always move faster with our feet on the floor.
Confidence is the fuel our ambition needs to keep pushing forwards, no matter what we face.
I think the work on your craft, whatever that craft is, with the other two sprinkled into the mix, can be the difference between average and overachievement.
Ran past a guy this morning who wanted to race. It only lasted a couple of hundred metres, but that was plenty. It got my heart racing. He wouldn’t let me pass without coming back at me, and credit to him for that. I’d be the same.
The pedal was pushed to the floor but I searched for another gear. After a few seconds of worry – that’s gonna hurt, have you got it in you? – I hit the red button as he tried to overtake again. It was all or nothing with about 600 metres left to the finish.
I looked around after 10-15 seconds to see if he was hanging on. All I could see were his eyes fixated on the ground. His posture was broken. His cadence wasn’t as steady or rapid as it had been. I knew he was done.
The hard stuff you don’t want to do is the stuff you have to do.
I don’t know if there’s science to back this up. It tends to always be the case that when you break the back of the hard thing, other things topple over like dominos.
The comfort zone lures us in. The fear of failing that hard thing, being shown up for not achieving, leads to avoidance.
Or we just get lazy.
The benefits come when you take the task on.
You’ll grow. You’ll surprise yourself. Inner strength you didn’t know you have will turn up and say ‘Hi!’.
It can be simple stuff like starting conversations with strangers or hitting the gym.
Signing up for a college course can freak us out, and they are hard to fit into a busy life, but why not give yourself a chance to find some of that growth you’ve heard about?
Break the big task down, set some milestones, and put a red circle on your calendar on the end date – party time!
Friends are important.
Alone, broke, no prospects, and the world will swallow you up faster than you can call for another pizza.
The size of your brain is not equal to the way your life goes.
It’s how you use that brain. It’s about who you hang around. What plans you make. The actions you take.
The people you lift up along the way are a sizeable part of it, too. It ALL matters.
A couple of bad steps can bring this lonely place closer than we would like.
Don’t be this person. Take the skills you have and develop them.
Use your brain, put a plan together, focus on making it work.
Stick to the course. Watch out for the luck we all need (that seems to pop up when you least expect it), get your squad around you, take the chances you get, put the pieces together, and deliver on the plan.
Get help if you need it, but most importantly, do the work. There’s no replacement for that.
Pick your one thing as early as you can and become an expert at it.
There’s an example I heard of a top tax lawyer being very happy with the way their life has worked out after a couple of decades or more working in a narrow, perceivably dull, area.
Go deep and narrow. There will always be good things going on there the longer you stay in the space, learning and evolving.
The tax lawyer will be satisfied at the end of their working days once they retire, financially secure, with a legacy earned from a raft of loyal clients.
They may have built their own practice or just be a well-known expert in the space in high demand.
Assume you can do this for yourself and work hard to achieve it in your space.
Work on hard things. The payback for doing them is massive.
You’ll develop mental calluses.
Your brain will recognise what you’re doing and throw everything at you to put you off course.
The challenge is to fight the resistance and do it anyway.
Stay on the path you’ve set for yourself. Suffer a little.
You’ll gain strength and confidence from knowing you can do hard things.
Test your levels of courage, bravery, strength, or whatever you find hard right now.
Prove you can change. The benefits will flow.
Stop dreaming, start doing.
Completing those things that suck will always make you stronger.
Do you talk to yourself like someone you like, or someone you despise?
Do you cheerlead for yourself?
Are you constantly looking at the things you think and do like they’re the worst or the best?
Be nice in what you say, think, and do for yourself.
Don’t crap on yourself over and over again. Be nice.
Give yourself a chance to win, to grow.
Don’t hold yourself back by telling yourself that you’re bad at this, awful at that, a terrible person, a bad parent, and so on. This isn’t helping.
If you’re not OK, you’re not going to be of use to those around you.
The temptation is there within us to jump in and fix other people who we think need fixing, but this is not required, especially if we are struggling ourselves.
On an aeroplane, we are told to put our own oxygen mask on first before helping anyone else. It’s for the same reason.
This principle is easy to read but can be difficult to put into practice.
Set your life plans up to fix the things that you find difficult, then see if you can help others through your learnings.
It doesn’t have to be Oprah or any shining light with a life nailed down.
It can be someone who works closely to you and does work that you admire.
It can be someone you spend time with, and the way they communicate is a skill you’d like to emulate.
It can be a relationship that works formally or informally.
The person leading can be in a position of power, but can just as easily be a peer.
If the example they set suits the path you want to take, there’s some value there.
Was at a cafe this morning with my wife and the dog. A guy who works in the same industry as my wife showed up, and he began talking about their ‘shared’ challenges.
He complained of a lack of time, about having too many things to do, and that he doesn’t see an end to this in his business. He was complaining about how busy he is while also mentioning his upcoming three week vacation (how fabulous?!) that was stressing him out…
I asked if he has a target to aim for, an end point for his business, and he shrugged his shoulders to express that he doesn’t, while looking at my wife to join him in agreeing this is always the way in their world.
It was a sixty second encounter but it spoke volumes.
Unless he begins to think differently, it will never end. His first world problems were not uncommon to ‘busy professionals’, but his level of relative misery was crying out for company. I’m sure he finds it often.
Surround yourself with people who hold you to a plan. Who lift you rather than drain you. Who you aspire to learn from and spend time with. Who help you get the best out of your life each day and cheerlead for you constantly.
The rest? Move on from them. Don’t get dragged down to their level.
They’re looking for people who agree with their outlook on life. People who validate their way of operating and share the same perceived challenges as they do.
If you’re on a down day, maybe you’ll feel like agreeing with them. Assume this isn’t going to work out well for you over the long term.
You’ll be keeping misery company soon enough, like two alcoholics propping up a bar, and it’ll become harder and harder to show it the door.
“If not me, who?
If not now, when?
If not here, where?”
I didn’t make these lines up, and I don’t know who did, but they are amazing.
Get out of your head and into your body by walking or doing some other kind of movement, and process these words as you go.
Write a few lines of your own when you’re done. See what pops up.
Surround yourself with positive people and the right kind of influences.
The ones that take you somewhere new, to a different level.
The ones who lift you when you’re feeling down.
Loneliness can be a powerful force, dampening many dreams.
It takes effort on your part to join a group, especially if you’re an introvert, but the more groups that you’re part of, the lower the likelihood you’ll find yourself alone.
Book groups, study groups, sports teams and clubs, school groups, work social committees – there are plenty to choose from.
Get involved.
From these groups long-lasting friendships will form and develop over time.
You’ll go further, faster, surrounded by the right people.
Ian Mountford 