As you live your life, imagine that you are the hero of your own movie. Pretend that a documentary film crew is following you around every minute of the day. If that were true, what would you be doing right now? Getting it done, or slouching on the couch? If you were a fly on the wall of your hero, what would that person be doing? Get after it!
Be a professional in everything you do. Show up and do the work. It doesn’t matter how you feel, if you do or don’t feel like doing it. Do it anyway. It doesn’t matter if your performance sucked yesterday. Or blew the roof off yesterday. Show up and get it done. Day after day, week after week, year after year. This is what a pro does, and what you have to do if you want to be world class.
Good advice from Joe Rogan. Some other advice from him:
It is much easier to take risks when you are young, before you have a ton of responsibilities piled on. If you have dreams, go for it. Don’t get stuck doing what everyone else is doing (like getting a job just for the sake of getting a job). You have to take a path that is risky and dangerous. Most people want to take the safe path.
A good question to ask yourself, especially when you are young, is who do you look up to and want to be like when you get older? Ideally you have at least a few people who can be good role models for you. It’s even better if you know these people personally and meet with them on a regular basis.
Once you have your short list of who you want to be like, the key then is to “act as if.” Ask yourself how this person would act in a given situation? What would she do with her free time? How would she treat other people? What kind of education would she receive? How would she dress? How disciplined and committed is she? You can model every aspect of your life around what this person or group of people would do.
And the interesting thing is time passes quickly and before you know it you are a peer among this group that you looked up to. It is a self-fulfilling prophesy. In the beginning you are aspiring to be like her and “acting” the part. In the end, you become that person.
Psychologists have turned their attention to the science of happiness. They have made some interesting discoveries. I am paraphrasing here, but here’s a summary of the literature – or The Secrets to Happiness:
You are not your performance or result or test score. You should not measure your worth by how you perform or how other people see you. This will make you unhappy and anxious, and you are much more than that. If you identify with your backhand, you will judge and evaluate yourself that much more.
This came from The Inner Game a Tennis. Highly recommended reading!
A successful, well-lived life requires a lot of hard work. I have noticed there are generally two approaches to this hard work. You can work hard early on in your life and benefit from the fruit of this hard work. Or you can choose to not work hard early in life, in which case you will work hard later in life. This usually means working later in your life or trying to play catchup to those around you who have been working hard over many more years.
You will have to work hard. You choose when you want to put in the work. My opinion is it’s best to work hard early in life so you can slow down later and enjoy the benefits. Of course, if you’re still having fun, you can continue to work hard later in life as well. And you’ll have that much more of an advantage compared to those who haven’t been working as hard…
Distractions are ubiquitous, subtle and insidious. They have a way of stealing your attention without you realizing it, for weeks, months, or even years at a time. I am not trying to be hyperbolic.
Any time you are distracted, your thinking is unconsciously shallow and limited. Distractions can be obvious, like being fully engrossed in a video game or movie. Or they can be subtle like having the radio on in the background.
I find that any time I have any kind of distraction, I can’t be fully creative and strategic in my thinking.
This became blindingly obvious to me on my commutes to work when I lived in Newport and drove to Los Angeles every day. Sometimes I would listen to audio books on the drive, and sometimes I would not listen to anything. When I had the radio or audio books playing in the background, I would rarely have a deep insight or creative thought. Conversely, almost every time I turned off all of the distractions interesting thoughts or ideas would bubble up. This deep thinking has enabled me to become much more effective in my life.
Any time you have to make an important decision or you want to think strategically, I would highly recommend you eliminate every distraction. Put away the cell phone. Turn off the TV and radio. Sit in a quiet room with nobody and nothing around except you, a desk, and a blank piece of paper for capturing your thoughts.
This is going to feel so uncomfortable when you do it that your mind will scream for entertainment and distraction. Resist the urge to give in if you don’t have an insight right away. Sit there and wait. The vision or strategy or next move will come to you.
Structure, framework, rules are good and necessary for society. But most people don’t realize that most of this is optional and you can opt out.
It’s like someone who was born at sea on a sailboat, and spent the first 15 years of her life on the water. Imagine what this person would be like. Imagine the completely different norms, values, rules, and expectations she would have. The current situation you are in determines your perspective and framework for living your life. But it’s not the only possible framework and you have to decide for yourself what life you want to live.
Dare to be different.
Don’t be a sheep.
