⏱️ Reduce the friction
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💡 THOUGHTS FROM ME
I. One of the biggest reasons we give up on a goal, idea, or developing a new habit is friction.
Friction is the amount of effort needed to start a task. And it only takes a little bit of friction to stop us unless it is already something we really want to do.
The drive time to the gym is friction. The amount of prep required to start cooking is friction. The amount of steps it takes you to get ready for bed is friction.
So if you’re struggling to continue doing something you’d like to do, reduce the friction.
And be okay with spending some money to make that happen.
Maybe you need to find a closer gym or invest in a home workout setup. Maybe you need to organize your pantry in a way that makes it easier to locate your most used items. Maybe you should get ready for bed after dinner so when it is time for bed it’s much quicker.
Reduce the friction.
So ask yourself, what friction is causing me not to do the thing, and what steps can I take to reduce the friction?
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II. “Follow your passion” is terrible advice. Even more so for young people, as it can be decades into your life until you find what you are passionate about.
Here is better advice: become good at something. Develop a skill.
Because mastery leads to passion.
Humans enjoy doing things they are good at. We like to be complimented for our skills. We like the feeling of accomplishment and improvement. We like to look back and say I did that.
And so, focus on mastery. Along the way, you’ll develop passion.
Because passion isn’t something you find, it’s something you become.
Become a master, and you’ll have found your passion.
💬 1 HELPFUL QUOTE
Charles Bukowski on making things happen:
“I was waiting for something extraordinary to happen but as the years wasted on nothing ever did unless I caused it.”
📖 1 BRIEF BOOK REVIEW
A classic fable told from the perspective of a young shepherd. While the fable itself was somewhat interesting, once I got to the end my first thought was "so that's it?"
The ideology of the book is not something at all I would agree with (it's very much in the vein of "follow your heart and trust the universe"). And so I found myself often thinking "this is not how life really works," I can see from a secular perspective why the book is popular.
More than that though, I just felt like the ending/moral of the story fell flat.
The story was interesting so it's not a bad read, but there was no real takeaway from the book for me.
6/10
