When someone says “I live a balanced and healthy life”, that means something like “I don’t spend all my time and energy doing income-related activities. In addition to working hard at my job, I also work hard at staying fit, eating healthy, spending time with family, making room for my hobbies, attending birthday parties, and other things that are important to me.” That’s not the opposite of hard work. That’s the definition of smart work.
Category: Broaden Your Horizons
Internal versus External Boredom
The primary joy of life is to live out your own idea of fulfillment. Being seen as “the person who really knows how to have a good time” is optional. In your quest to follow your dreams, don’t get distracted by the need to convince everyone else that you’re a legitimate dreamer.
Be the Star, But also the Sidekick
Dale Carnegie wrote: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” The same is true for your customers and clients.
You’re Always Speaking Up (Even When You’re Silent)
At all times, you’re taking a stand for or against something. There’s no such thing as a neutral place in ideological space. No matter what you choose to do or refuse to do, your underlying worldview will bleed through.
Give Your Mind a Lunch Break
A steady diet of substantial concepts is necessary for supplying your body of work with the fuel that makes it grow and go. If working, hustling, and creating is how you exercise, then reflecting, meditating, and reading is how you need to eat.
Fall in Love with the Lesson
If people know you have well-meaning intentions, that’s a good thing because it proves you’re open-minded, willing to learn, and empathetic towards others. But that’s about as far as good intentions can take you. Focusing on “this is what I intended to achieve” is only useful if it improves your ability to get the kinds of results that make you say “I created what I intended to create.”
Start Here
Everything “unimportant” that you want to study is connected to something “important” that you need to study. The stuff you’re interested in is the gateway drug for other forms of knowledge.
You Don’t Need to Make a Career out of Everything You Love
The people who tell you to “do what you love” have always been right. After all, what’s the alternative? Refusing to do what you love? Where you’ll go wrong, however, is if you make the mistake of equating “do what you love” with “find a way to get paid for every single thing you love or else you’re wasting your time.” Whatever you do, don’t do that.
Lesson from the NBA Playoffs: You Can’t Help Out by Holding Back
Don’t confuse “giving back” with “holding back” and don’t equate “helping out” with “sitting out.” You can’t truly be generous if you suppress your talents and stifle your potential because of misdirected pity towards those who have bad luck. Helping people who are losing the game isn’t the same thing as mentally checking yourself out of the game.
There’s Always a Spark of Curiosity to be Found
Effective teaching begins with students, not subjects. Instead of trying to make subjects interesting, find where students’ interests are already kindled.