There isn’t one…
“There are no shortcuts to the creative process…the very impatience that drives you to desire shortcuts makes you unsuited for mastery.”
—Robert Greene, The Daily Laws p. 84
Do the work. Trust the process. It will be tough to master anything.
But it’s so worth it.
One of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes of all time…
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing… poorly!”
You will never be great when you’re learning something new. Take the time to suck at it on your way to getting better.
You’ve been told your entire life you should do things well.
Perfectly.
Like an expert.
And if you can’t do it well, you might as well not even bother to do it at all.
That’s wrong. You can’t instantly be great at doing ANYTHING.
The only place to start is at the level we currently are.
The always relevant, and sometimes irreverent, Zig Ziglar said one of my favorite quotes of all time:
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly.”
What did he mean?
Simple: anything worthwhile requires that we start as a beginner.
Golfing, tennis, writing, painting, jazz improv… It doesn’t matter what it is.
If it’s worth pursuing, you owe it to yourself to be bad at it. And then get better at it every single day.
He uses the example of someone learning to play golf: if everyone could join the PGA Masters tour after a couple of lessons with the local pro, there’s no reason to do it.
Give yourself time to do things badly…
On the way to doing them well.
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https://michaelhyatt.com/shave/
Michael Hyatt put together a crazy in-depth guide with four big parts. If you’re looking to up your productive and get more done while working less, I highly recommend you download this ebook.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-made-simple/id1569923210?i=1000526591946
Donald Miller’s “StoryBrand Framework” is the gold standard in effective marketing, especially for creatives, solopreneurs, and small business folks.
His team recently came out with a new podcast called “Marketing Made Simple” which I’m absolutely DEVOURING. Not only are the hosts incredibly engaging and funny, they give practical advice and step-by-step instructions on how to market your business from beginning to end.
There are five episodes so far, each with a call-to-action to fill out your very own StoryBrand Brandscript (which you can start for free right here).
https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2021/07/21/on-pace-and-productivity/
Last, but not least, this article from Cal Newport shows us that how much time we look at collectively has a big impact on whether or not we look productive.
Scientists like Galileo and Newton had seemingly slow, unproductive days when looked at individually. But when you look at their accomplishments over the span of years, it’s mind-boggling what they did…
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I heard the best description of what a coach does this week on Michael Hyatt’s podcast, “Lead to Win”:
“I love developing people and helping [them] to see the best potential in them and call it out. And that is what coaching is all about.”
That quote is from Michele Cushatt, Chief Coaching Officer at Michael Hyatt & Company. (You can check out the episode here.)
Her definition of coaching leapt out at me… I had to listen to it at least three times.
Most of us have an image in our head of a coach as a cheerleader… Maybe it’s someone who tells you “great job” when you finish a task or make a little progress.
Or maybe “coach” conjures images of someone putting you through drills or practices to help you develop a skill.
Coaches can and should do those things. But that’s not the essence of what coaching is…
A great coach sees the potential in another person and calls it out! That’s the key. They bring forth what’s already inside someone else.
They help someone become the best person they can be. The person they are destined to become.
Do you have someone in your life doing that for you? If not, can you find someone?
Or is there someone you know who’s got tons of potential but can’t see it? Or hasn’t developed it?
Why can’t you take the role of coach and call it out to them?
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Cherish your loved ones – they’ll be taken from you when you least expect it.
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I’ve lost three close family members in 18 months. My father-in-law dropped dead of heart failure in December 2019. He was in perfect health.
My uncle died of cancer 6 months later. I had just seen him at Thanksgiving the previous year, and he seemed to be doing just fine.
Then my dad died in May. I had just spoken with him on the phone a month before… He sounded just like his old self. By the time I got to see him, he couldn’t speak or see me. I was able to say goodbye, but I’ll never know if he heard me.
And I might be losing someone else soon.
Tell your family you love them after you finish reading this. Then do it every day from now on.
Serious illness—or even death—can strike you down no matter your age or health.
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My wife and I took the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. We quarantined, wore masks, and did all we were advised to do by the CDC. And both of us still managed to catch it.
My wife had a fever for eight days. I ended up in the ICU on forced oxygen for eight days gasping for breath. Wondering if this was what it felt like to die. The doctors told me had I not come in the night that I did, I would have died in my sleep.
I spent Christmas and New Year’s in a hospital room isolated and alone—except for the occasional nurse or technician. Eight days. And there were people around me even worse off than I was.
I was 30 years old and in perfect health. And I’m still recovering.
Never chase money – you’ll always end up miserable.
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I was in my sweet spot at a job I enjoyed—teaching classes all day and putting my creative skills to use on a daily basis. But I felt I wasn’t making enough money, so I took a promotion.
The money wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. And I wound up in a miserable role that stressed me out more than I could have ever imagined.
Then another offer came my way, a chance to escape that misery, and it came with a decent bump in pay. But I had an uneasy feeling about it during the interviews.
I took it anyway, and it left me just as miserable as I was before, but for different reasons.
It might be a cliche, but find something that makes you happy. Then find a way to make a living doing it. Don’t take jobs you know don’t fit you simply because they offer you more money.
Take any or all of these lessons to heart. Let them guide your actions for the last half of 2021 and beyond.
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“Know that wherever you are in your life right now is both temporary, and exactly where you are supposed to be. You have arrived at this moment to learn what you must learn, so you can become the person you need to be to create the life you truly want.”
—Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning, p. xxxi
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I hate getting feedback…
It hurts. It stings. It can crush your soul—especially if you think you’re already kicking butt.
But it’s also the best way to figure out where you can grow to hit your goals.
That’s why I actively seek it out in everything I do.
This practice came from my time in university. I was studying to be (and working as) a professional musician.
Every week, I had multiple lessons, rehearsals, and performances. And after each one, my teachers, bandmates, and mentors had feedback for me.
It was brutal (to put it mildly). But it made me a better musician.
These people were better than me, more experienced, and knew what needed to be done to succeed.
I’ve carried this practice with me into every job I’ve had. It’s made me a better leader, writer, and marketer.
“A mark of a competent adult is their ability to accept feedback. The mark of a child is their expectation of praise without merit.”
—Donald Miller, Business Made Simple, p. 15
Surround yourself with people who want you to improve and succeed in your roles. Actively seek out feedback.
The more you do it, the better you’ll get. But I can’t promise it won’t sting.
How do you feel about feedback? Are you actively seeking it out?
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What are you excited about for 2021? One of the things I’m really looking forward to is a study of Napoleon HIll’s Think and Grow Rich. I’ll be doing this with my 48 Days Eagles Community of entrepreneurs and its founder Dan Miller, author of the New York Times Bestseller 48 Days To the Work and Life You Love.
We’re kicking it off with a family movie night. We’ll all be watching the movie online together on January 19th. Then we’ll start our study on January 25th, focusing on one chapter a month. And we’ll be meeting the fourth Monday of each month to discuss our readings.
Join us! It will be life-changing for you and me.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN US (affiliate link)
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My upper back is tired. And the most strenuous thing I’ve done today is carry a few clothes to the washing machine.
Just walking around my home, trying to expand my lungs…it’s enough to leave me winded, short of breath in my dining room chair.
The simple act of chewing feels like I’m lifting a barbell with my neck. I imagine it’s the same strain I felt as an infant learning to lift my head.
Recovering from a major illness makes every little thing you take for granted feel like a Herculean effort.
Starting over with anything feels the same way. Getting laid off. Beginning a new career field. Learning a new physical skill. Getting back some modicum of physical strength and breathing normalcy…
It makes you feel inept…weak…almost helpless. “This shouldn’t be this hard,” you think. But it is.
“Should” doesn’t have any say in reality. All you can do is keep pushing, a little bit each day.
Relearn how to roll over, to crawl, to stand up, to walk…and eventually start running again.
(I was released from the hospital yesterday in case you missed my post.)
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