My Riffs

The pressure can cause you to crumble. The pressure can make you hard. The pressure can cause you to crack. The pressure can make you strong. The pressure can make you succeed. We need the pressure. We need to use the pressure. We need use the pressure to make things better.

A loss can hit you hard. It can knock one right off their feet. Sometimes it takes a long, long time to recover from a loss. But a loss is not a defeat. A loss is a setback, but not defeat. When we take a loss we can feel defeated, but a defeat is a final state. And the thing to remember about defeat is, it's something we usually concede, it's not usually forced on us. So make sure losses don't become defeats, by not accepting them as defeats. A loss is only a setback. A loss isn't a defeat.

How often do you blindly stumble onto something profound or important? If you don't look for something, chances are you won't find it. When you look for something, you're chances of finding it drastically improve from almost zero. What we search for is often what we find. Look for what you want or need. It can be found.

What constraints do you have? Because, those who have been successful worked through the same or similar contrasts and barriers. The difference for them is, they didn’t give up. Successful people were never given what they have. They overcame the same obstacles, constraints and barriers you are facing. There's a way though, find it.

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 milestones of life usually pass with little or no fanfare, and very often without us even recognizing it. This is why doing the right thing, always, is so important. Because it moves us forward step by step, which is how life works. We don't take very many giant steps in life, it's usually small footsteps until one day we look back and realize were much further along and learned to much more than we realized. We rarely pass a big milestone of life and feel like we've changed or learned something. It's usually in retrospect we learn this. So always do the right thing. One day you will realize you've grown more than you though. You will realize you're further ahead than you realized. Life is gradual, daily and incremental. Do the small things well and the milestones will be in your rearview mirror. Which is better than stopping and admiring the milestones. That just slows us down.

It is our limitations that define our existence. Some of the very things we dislike in life are in fact the very things that make our existence possible. Things like discomfort, sickness and suffering are the very things that make our existence. If we didn't have such limitations, we wouldn't be human beings. Like everything in life, our existence is held in a balance between the "good" things and the "bad" things. It takes one extreme to produce the other. If we want good things, there has to be the opposite. So if we can accept that our limitations are what define us, we can ride the ups and downs of life a little more smoothly. Accepting that the downs of life are what allow for the ups makes for an easier ride.

Inspiration comes in waves. But its the down times of inspiration where true inspiration usually comes from. Without the lessons and experience in the down times, the inspiration in the up times wouldn't be there. Inspiration comes in waves, it's okay. Learning to ride the waves and use the down times to fuel the up times is what makes for a healthy balance.

"In times of peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace." - Sun Tzu, from "The Art of War". This quote shows the cyclic nature of life. Sometimes we get so caught up in the current season that when the next season comes, we're caught off guard. To facilitate smoother seasonal transitions, it's important to prepare for the next season. If you're in a time of peace, war is coming. If you're in a time of war, peace is coming. Be prepared. Don't be caught off guard. It also helps in seasons of war knowing that peace is coming. Maybe not knowing when, but planning for it and working toward it will help get through the war.

The day to day and the here and now is what often consumes us. The bumps and pebbles so often what causes us grief. A big picture view is what is needed though. To step back and see, "am I heading in the right overall direction"? The big picture is important to keep in mind as we wade through the day to day. The big picture helps us wade and navigate through the day to day. The bumps and pebbles of everyday life are smoothed out by the big picture. What direction are you trending?

Let's not downplay struggle. If someone is struggling, they're trying. Struggle builds. If you're in the thick of it don't run from it. Struggle and get stronger. You'll come out wiser, better and more mature.