My Riffs

It’s hard to feel like we’re accomplishing something when we’re doing the same thing repeatedly. Accomplishment does mean going above and beyond, reaching a goal that stretches us. Accomplishment does involve a level of repetition. But in the repetition there has to be variety or else there will start being declining results. Repetition is a good thing as it provides a consistency. However, doing the exact same thing repeatedly will keep producing the same results. So to accomplish something new or big, add variety and reach for further goals while keeping the consistency of repetition. 

We success and people who have accomplished big things, and we're impressed.  We wonder, how did they do that? And we want to do big things too. That big thing though was only accomplished through many smaller things. They didn't just get up one day and do something big.  They got up many, many days and did lots of small things. If you get the small thing right, you will get the big things right.

Always the target but never attained. It’s the aim but never is completely attainable. If you don’t aim for an ideal though, your aim is too low.

We all probably have a huge stack of tasks that we should do, but are avoiding. The thing is, avoidance doesn’t seem to remove the task or issue. Generally, it makes them grow. Avoidance is a terrible tactic.

Those who master the small things have accomplished something large. Too often our goals are too lofty when we haven't mastered the small things. And the small things vary. It could be as simple as cleaning your room, or a simple daily habit. The only way to accomplish the big is through mastering the small things. You can't handle something larger than the sum of the small things you can handle.

Accomplishments are great things. But they're in the past. It matters more where you're going. The same way a changed persons past doesn't matter so much as their future, past accomplishments don't matter as much as future ones.

"Happiness is reality minus expectations" - Elon Musk There is probably a lot of truth to this. Elon said this in a discussion about social media and Instagram in particular. Social media and comparison can alter our expectations to the point where people have taken their own lives. When we base our expectations for life based on what people are posting and saying online, it almost always makes us feel worse, not better. I personally like social media, but we have to be very aware of the dangers of it, and teach the dangers to young people and children, both who are using social media younger and younger. Don't set your expectations based on what you see online and on social media. You are seeing something that is most likely not a full reality. It's a sanitized or filtered version of reality. Set your expectations based on your own abilities, not others.

Given time talent Earned skill success responsibility trust respect honour We are given a little, but can accomplish a lot if we use what we're given correctly.

What will you maintain, what will you let go of and what will you reach for?

Today calls for your complete attention. The problems and challenges of today are for real and require much of us. But if we only focus on the here and now, we may miss out on some big things later. If we focus on the immediate, then life, friends and family may slip past us. We may be stuck in the office as those things slip past. Or we may be stuck on today challenge or problem and allow the bigger things to go past us. Or we may just be in neutral as those things go past us. What do you want to be known for when your life is done? If you’re not focusing on those things today, what’s going to make you focus on them tomorrow? Life life back to front. See where you want to be, where you want to go, then begin today. Start with the end goal and work it backwards to today. What needs to be done today to reach that goal?Otherwise, we just get caught up in the day to day and never reach the bigger goals. Is what you’re chasing today truly worth it?

To beat something you gotta rise above it. But to rise above something, you kinda need to get to the bottom of it first. You have to understand what’s the base, what’s beneat it. Otherwise you don’t truly know what makes up the structure of what you’re trying to rise above. So get to the bottom of something, then you can rise above it.

Every measurement requires a standard unit. Generally we choose someone doing better than ourself as a standard unit. Of course being aware of those around you is a good thing. But the danger is when we spend our every resource trying to measure up to others. This often ends up producing the opposite of our attempts. We end up always falling short. The better way to race is to race against ourself. The end result of racing against ourself will put us much further ahead in contrast to racing against others. When we race and push to be better than ourself only, we will achieve much greater results. Racing against others wastes our resources and focus on being something other than ourself. Racing against ourself pushes us to be the best version of ourself, and that's where we can truly win. The more we focus on others, the less we focus on becoming what we need to be.

In an era of information overload, feedback has basically been reduced to a thumbs up or thumbs down. We need not take either too close to heart. A thumbs down doesn't provide any insight into what was disliked. It only begs more questions... Did they disagree, did something break for them, or were they just having a bad day? Dissproval without feedback isn't much of anything. The feedback to pay attention to is from the ones who are invested in you and what you're doing. Feedback from the ones who have followed your journey and know your story is what's valuable. A random thumbs down from a stranger or someone detached from your situation shouldn't capture your attention any more than what the person ate for breakfast. What people feel and think cannot be condensed to a thumbs up or thumbs down. So don't take either too seriously. And especially the thumbs down. If we allow our self esteem to be tied to the various methods of social approval/disprova...

What's your caffeine? Money, fame, position, bills, fear? We all have a caffeine. The thing that get's us up and motivated every day. The problem with caffeine is you need increasingly higher dosages. Is your caffeine sustainable? What if your caffeine become sustainable things? Significance, purpose, meaning and these types of things are sustainable. In fact, they get better the more you pursue them. Trade your unsustainable caffeine for a sustainable one.

To get what you’ve never had, to go where you’ve never gone and do do what you’ve never done you have to give something up. To get something new or different you have to give something up. What’s the extra’s we’re carrying that we could give up for a better more prefered future?

Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . What are you doing with yours?

Our actions are usually governed by a few principles. The principles closest to our heart. These principles will be revealed by our actions, moreso than our words. I propose that one of the highest principles to govern your actions is, doing the right thing. When that principle governs your actions, you will speak truth, you will build and contribute. When we let other principles take precedent we act out less than our capabilities. Principles such as, who can I impress to move forward, or what's the fastest way to get what I want or how do I make it seem like I am ______, and etc.... So evaluate your actions and that will lead you to understand your guiding principles that we hold closest to our hearts. If our actions are lining up to a "less than" principle, start changing your actions to line up with a higher aiming principle.

You can do work to get noticed or you can get noticed because of your good work. They’re two separate things and you can only do one or the other.

If you’ve gotten good at a certain task or skillset, it’s time to move on. You can’t rest in “being good” at something for too long. Your growth ceases and eventually what you’ve become good at will work against you. Often what you’ve mastered will eventually be what brings you down. Don’t abandon what you’ve become good at, just figure out what the next step or level is. Stagnation is merely the period of time between success and failure. So, once you’ve mastered or become comfortable with something, figure out something else to do with it. You don’t lose what you’ve learned or done, you build from it and go even further. Everything we learn is merely a step to the next thing. We never arrive. And if you accept that you’ve arrived, you’ve just signalled your end.

The ones who are behind the scenes making things happen are the biggest heroes. The moms, the workers, the ones not looking for public recognition, just the satisfaction of a job well done. These are the truest heroes. They are truly shaping tomorrow and not wasting time on their ego. Take time to recognize these heroes, because the world is a way worse place without them.