Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – The Inner Critic

Tags

Delaying, Fear, Get it done, Imperfection, Inner Critic, Little Steps, Procrastination, Take Action, Waiting

Have you ever woke up in a funk? You know that feeling that today is going to be one of those days? Everything you do is wrong, not good enough, etc. Say hello to your inner critic.

There are many articles and books that discuss procrastination. One of the biggest contributors to procrastination is the inner critic. It’s that small voice inside your head that wants everything to be perfect before you start something. It says, “Whoa. Slow down. You don’t know enough yet. The stars aren’t aligned yet. You’re not good enough. You’ll embarrass yourself.” This was, by far, the largest contributor to my procrastination.

What I’ve found out:

1. It will never be perfect
2. Do the best you can, it is better to do something, than nothing
3. By doing, you get better
4. By doing, you feel accomplished
5. By doing, you learn what not to do
6. You can always repaint, rewrite, or redo

I could go on and on with this list. The key point is that you will never be perfect. Getting something done is better than doing nothing and continuing to drive yourself crazy as you stare at your project day after day and doing nothing on it.

You’ll never be able to ignore your inner critic. You can quiet it down a bit. Just get to work. Even if it is just one little step in your project plan, you’ll feel great checking that off of the list. Over time, when you realize that you are making progress, that little critic will stop acting up. Doing something is better than doing nothing and thinking about it. Get it off your mind by doing something, anything to move your goals and projects forward. It is a great feeling when you can look at your to-do list at the end of the day and realize you’ve done a lot of work. And it all happens because you did the best you could, with what you had.

We can all improve. We can all get better at what we work at. The key is getting started and moving forward regardless of whether the stars are aligned, you know exactly what you want to accomplish, or the finished product is exactly what you wanted. Paintings are a work in progress, books are a work in progress, anything you set out to do that is unknown to you is a work in progress. You can always repaint, rewrite, or redo whatever you start. That’s how all the greats do it. So can you.

So if you are just like I was a few years back and staring at a to-do list, paralyzed by inaction, you can begin moving forward today. Break those scary projects down into even smaller steps. Do it. Check it off the list. It really is that simple. If you make a mistake, who cares? You learned what not to do. Don’t do that again and continue forward.

I hope all of you are having a great day!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Books

Tags

Adventure, Books, Excitement, Fiction, habits, Learning, Non-Fiction, Reading, Tomes, wisdom

For those of you that follow this blog, you know my love of reading. This week, because of my low energy (I’m still sick), I want to talk about why I love reading and why I set reading goals every year.

I have never been a big fan of fiction books.. I love a good story, but I love learning more. I’m constantly seeking new information with the hope of just finding one or more things I can do or use to make my life easier and more productive. Some books I read are philosophical, while others are more about hard science like physics, astronomy, or history. I also enjoy reading biographies. It is fascinating to see how others overcome great obstacles and win.

Whenever I get sick, I try to determine why or what I do that caused me to get sick. Colds and flus are just a nuisance. During the holidays I eat everything. I eat cakes, cookies, chocolate, junk food, you name it. When we have family visiting, you can also kick the sleep schedule, workout routine, and all the rest to the curb. Yeah, that’s why I’m sick. But there’s a silver lining. My sickness caused me to watch a few films and purchase a book about whole-food, plant-based diets. It really got me thinking, and I will make my transition to this lifestyle in February. I’m reading the Forks over Knives book now and will put that up in a review once I’m done. The book just makes great sense.

I also read a lot of books simultaneously. For example, I am reading 8 non-fiction books now and one fiction book. This is normally the ratio of non-fiction to fiction I read throughout the year. Of the 73 books I read last year, only 12 books were fiction books.

I enjoy reading books because you learn from other people. The people that take time to write a book about a particular topic are normally folks who have dedicated their lives to a specific area. They know the topic inside and out. They also know the pitfalls of trying to adopt the ideas in their book. I never try to adopt everything an author recommends. I look for one or two items that make sense regarding my life. For example, the very first thing I adopted out of the book: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free productivity, by David Allen was his 2-minute rule. This rule recommends that if we run across anything in our life that takes less than two minutes to complete, you do it–right now and be done with it. This was life-changing for me.

When I read The 7 habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, I learned about the 7th habit labeled “Sharpening the Saw”. Again, this was life-changing. Sharpening the Saw is about improving those things in your life that have the greatest impact on everything else, like physical exercise, reading broadly, and planning.

Finally, when I read Mini Habits, by Stephen Guise, the one thing I grasped from my first reading was building habits by establishing extremely small thresholds for each habit I wanted to adopt. Who can’t do one push-up a day? Another huge game changer.

My life improved by reading these books. Each day I look for more of these game changers. One little tweak to my daily life that can bring huge benefits.

If you are not a huge fan of reading, I challenge you to fix that–NOW! We can all learn so much from those that have struggled with the same things we do and have found solutions to these problems. All it takes is a few bucks and your time. Start small. Dedicate 10 minutes of your day to read a few pages (say 5 or 10). It doesn’t matter the amount you read, just make it a daily habit. Before long you’ll be knocking out a lot of books and will reap the benefits of doing so. Think about it. If you could learn one thing you could add to your life that would change it dramatically, wouldn’t that 10 minutes a day be worth it? I think so.

Well, that’s it for today. I’m heading back to my herbal tea and a nap, so I can be done with this stupid cold. Have a great day folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Minding Our Own Gardens

Tags

Autonomy, Cause and Effect, Independence, Law of Non-Interference, Learning from mistakes, Problems, Solving Problems

Most of our problems are self-made. When things go wrong, if we take responsibility and do something that gives us greater understanding, life becomes easier.

This is how it should be, rather than having someone always giving us spiritual, emotional, or physical healings.

The idea is not to hide from life: It is to live life, but without making the same mistakes we did before.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

This is a great quote. This quote applies to all of us. What I would like to talk about today is staying out of other people’s way.

All of us run across challenges in our lives. How do we deal with them? We just do. Our solutions may not be the best solution to a problem, but we solve the problem. Sometimes we learn something; sometimes we are just glad to fix the problem and get a breather. It is nice when someone comes along and helps us solve a problem, but what do we learn? Do we go back to that person each time this particular problem arises? No, we would run out of benefactors quickly if this is what we did. Even our families would get sick of hearing about the same problem repeatedly. It’s nice to get a helping hand from time to time, but it doesn’t help us solve a problem and avoid it again in the future.

When we get hit with a problem, we gain much more by solving the problem ourselves and learning what caused the problem in the first place. When we learn what caused a problem, we know how to avoid it. Hence, the problem and its precursor are no longer capable of causing us problems. When other people pitch in and bail us out, we fail to learn as much as we could have.

If you see your child struggling with something, what’s your first response? Dive in and help right? Your child is happy that their frustration is ended, but what did they learn? Sometimes you need to help. The child may be having a problem with something that is way over their head. Think about the day your child learned how to tie their shoes. Wasn’t it terrific? It was probably painful to watch them struggle with it, but when they finally get it, it’s such a rewarding experience for them. They feel great and you get to pile on the accolades. What if you keep jumping in to help them? They never learn how to tie their shoes and you have to continue to help them. Not a great solution right?

This is what I am talking about. We always want to jump in, but we have to hold back. We have to let other people learn from their mistakes. They can’t learn from them if we always solve their problems. Just like your kid learning to tie her shoes, they’ll be dependent on you forever, unless they learn how to solve the problem for themselves.

It’s alright to pitch in if someone asks for help. They’re a friend or colleague and we want to help when asked. It’s another thing to stick our noses where they don’t belong. What Harold Klemp is talking about is the Law of Non-interference. This law dictates that we do not interfere with other people’s lives unless we are asked. We allow our friends and family to figure things out for themselves. At least we should.

The same thing follows for us. Ask for help when you need it, but give a real effort to solving your own problems, particularly the puzzle of how you caused the problem to begin with. Most of our problems have roots in our own actions and decisions. We cause them. Learn what caused the problem and you’ll know how to avoid it forever.

I hope each of you has a great Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Harmony

Tags

Goals, Harmony, Integrity, Keeping promises, Lies, Marcus Aurelias, Truth

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.

Marcus Aurelius

What is Marcus Aurelius talking about? If you’ve ever read his book Meditations, it is easy to figure out. He is referring to aligning ourselves with our deepest values.

I read a few books each year in December. One of these books is called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book, the focus is on a principle-centered approach to life. This principle is about character.

To be integrated or in harmony with our true self is nothing more than keeping the promises we make with ourselves. If we commit to doing something, we do it. If we commit to doing something and we don’t do that thing we are no longer in harmony with ourselves. This is the primary cause of trouble in our lives.

I have a saying. It is: “The moment you cannot make yourself do something you have committed to doing, is the moment you lose faith in yourself.” No one can live with a liar. This includes living with yourself.

Each time you lie to yourself, you lose faith in your ability to accomplish things. You begin to distrust yourself and begin believing that you cannot do anything, because you cannot keep commitments you make to yourself and others. Keep doing this and you will end up in a place no one wants to be.

Is it hard to keep commitments? Of course. It is not impossible, however. Set a goal or make an agreement with yourself and keep the promise. The more you do this the more confidence you will build in yourself. The more confidence you have, the more you will agree to do. On one side of this equation we grow; on the other we recede or decrease. I think most of us are on a continuum of sorts. We keep a promise here; we lie to ourself there.

So what do we do? We can set small goals initially. Goals that we know we can accomplish. Then, as our confidence builds, we add to them. They get bigger and bigger as we build up a foundation of keeping promises.

What happens when we miss a goal? If we made a real effort, our center knows. We get into trouble when we don’t put an effort into something we committed to. So set a goal, give it your best shot, and do the very best you can. If you fail, learn from your failure, adjust, and continue. If you win, set another goal and repeat. Trying and failing is not a lie. A lie is when you commit to do something and you either don’t do it at all or give it less than you know you can. Get it?

As always, I wish all of you a terrific Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Follow Your Path

Tags

Adventure, Explore, Naysayers, Regrets, Social Pressure, Take Charge, Take risks, Unique

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do you succumb to social pressures? I think we all do sometimes.

The topic I wanted to talk about in this post is the ability to pursue your dreams without being influenced by others. You know the folks I’m talking about. The friendly naysayer, the practical parent or sibling, or even a trusted mentor. Sometimes you just have to follow your gut and go for it. What’s life worth if you are constantly towing the line with society, your friends, or social pressure in general?

It took me a long time to learn this. I used to always be concerned with the type of car I drove, the size of my house, the clothes I wore, the restaurants I went to, or how many likes I get on my recent Facebook post. Yeah, I was one of those guys. The guy who was always worried about the Smiths, the Jones, or whatever pseudonym you want to use. I was that guy.

I have nothing against making a lot of money and sucking life dry. What I do have a problem with is the pursuit of things because of what people will say. It’s not worth it. Trust me.

Pursue the life you want. Chase after the dreams that are important to you. Who cares if no one has done what you want to do? Do it. Don’t be the guy or gal on their deathbed, wishing they would have done that thing they always wanted to. Do it. The only way you are going to find out if the path you choose is right is by walking it. Get out there and have an adventure.

Be the person in your family who starts a business, who decides to travel the world living frugally and with only what you have in your backpack, or writes that book you’ve got inside you. Go out to eat on your own and enjoy the company of strangers, sit in that coffee shop and write, go to that craft event and interact with the people running the booths. Whatever you decide to do is yours. No one else’s.

Life is a grand adventure. Your life is yours. You will get all you need to while you’re here. Take a risk, forge a new way to do something, ask that girl or guy out, go to that concert, or ride that roller coaster. Try new foods, listen to new types of music, explore a new genre of books or movies, you have nothing to lose, but the great experiences waiting for you.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Happy Thanksgiving – Thank you Readers!

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Cakes, Cookies, Cranberry Sauce, Football, Holiday, Lincoln, Mashed Potatoes, Parades, Pies, Stuffing, Thanksgiving, Turkey

Well, it’s a day early, but I wanted to take the time to express my thanks for all of my readers. We have family coming up later today, and I won’t be posting until after the holiday.

For those of you outside the U.S., we celebrate Thanksgiving by giving thanks for all the blessings in our lives, like family, good fortune, and good health. Thanksgiving was a tradition brought to the United States by Europeans (Pilgrims and Puritans) and was declared a national holiday by President Lincoln in 1863 or thereabouts.

Although we call it Thanksgiving, there are many such holidays in most countries around the world. Each one celebrates the bounty of life and cherish one another.

So with that, I bid you a Happy Thanksgiving. Oh! And for those of you who are getting out there bright and early on Black Friday to take advantage of all the sales out there. Be safe. Thing tend to get crazy. I, for one, will take part in Cyber Monday. It’s much more safe and I get to sleep in.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Keep it Interesting

Tags

Consistency, Do Something, Exercise, healthy living, Interest, Showing up, Variety, wisdom, workout

We’ve all tried to bunk our gym session or dance class. A single routine can get monotonous. That’s why I have decided to make my fitness regime fun by incorporating different workouts into my schedule. From dancing to yoga, I plan to keep it as interesting as possible so I’m never bored of working out.

Disha Patani

I’ve read a few books recently that are about habits. The first was Atomic Habits by James Clear; the other was Elastic Habits by Stephen Guise.

I enjoy synthesizing information and coming up with uncommon connections between this data. In Atomic Habits a lot of attention is given to setting the prime conditions for habit formation. Elastic habits look to form a variety of lateral and vertical targets for daily habits. Both of these align well with today’s quote.

If you follow my workout routine every week, you can see the amount of variety that I apply to my workout routines each week. I do this because the variety is what keeps it interesting. My efforts in the gym are not about having a perfect body; my efforts are about feeling good and staying healthy. Some weeks are really intense and others are just going to the gym and knocking out the day’s workout.

The benefits we glean from exercise come with consistency. You won’t get any benefit from working out once a month. You’ve got to get in your exercise every day.

Besides consistency, we also have to keep in mind that we have lives outside of the gym. Some days you’ll be so busy that all you can do is get in a 10-minute walk. Some days you’ll be motivated to do your workout. On other days you’ll go through the motions.

The key to all of this is consistency. Let’s say you go to the gym every day for a month. Some of those days will be great workouts; others not so much. What would happen if you missed a few days? I would argue that you may miss one of those magical gym days when you are energized, focused, and just feel great. If you miss these days, you not only miss a workout, you miss a great workout. So keep going.

The gym is not the only route you can take. You can work out at home. You can take a long walk around a park or your housing area. You can lift weights. You can do cardio. You can do Yoga or Pilates. You can use dumbbells, barbells, machines, or cables. You can do supersets, compound sets, rest-pause sets, pyramids, or tri-sets. You can vary the body parts you exercise, you can vary the reps you push for, and you can vary the amount of rest you use. You can use a pre-designed workout routine, or even wing it. The point I’m making here is a workout done is better than nothing done, even if you only show up and do the minimal amount. Your consistency will build and slowly but surely, you’ll have a habit of exercising. Check that off your list!

Well, it’s time to say goodbye for now. I hope you have a great Wednesday.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – What do you want?

Tags

Bucket List, Dream, Excuses, Learning, Make time, Procrastinating, Pursue, Tired, Travel

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs

Take a moment and think about your life. Are you doing what you want to do? Are you happy? Are you fulfilled? Are you content?

Let’s dig a little further shall we? If you could do whatever you wanted in life, without fail, what would that be? Whatever you list out answering this question is where your passions are.

Here’s another question. What job would you do for free because you love the work?

You see there is some work we would all do for free if we had the ability to. The problem most of us have is that we can’t afford to work for free. So we choose a job because it pays and put up with it, so we can do what we really want when we’re off. Or at least that’s what we tell ourselves. In reality, the work we do and the responsibilities we have tire us out, leaving little energy to do anything else, other than take care of our responsibilities at home and hanging out with our families, before bed. Then we get up and start the whole thing all over.

Is there something you want to do, but don’t have time for? Think hard. There is something all of us want to do that we don’t have time for. This is the place to start if you want to change your life now, instead of later.

Make time for your passion. All of us have more time than we want to admit. If you want to do something else with your life, start today. Even if you only carve out 30 minutes a day, it’s better than doing nothing. That’s 210 minutes toward what you love each week that you are not doing now. Instead, you play games, watch TV, or pass the time. 30 minutes each day is nothing, compared to the time you spend watching TV or some other mindless thing. I get your tired. I get you’ve had a long day at work. I get you have to spend time with your wife/husband/significant other and your kids. I get you have chores around the house that are your responsibility. Get up early. Go to bed a little later. Carve out some time during your lunch break at work. There is time—make the time.

One of the first things I discovered when I retired in 2016 was even when I had nothing to do, I still wasted time. I still did things that would not help me take one more step closer to the life I wanted. I had to make time. So, I set out to re-create my day and pursue the things I wanted.

Where do you start? I would say the first thing you do is take an inventory of all the things you want to do in this lifetime. Write a book, learn a new language, learn to play an instrument, write a song, learn photography, how to draw or how to do woodworking. Maybe you want to travel. Cool! Make a list. Create a list of at least 100 bucket list items you’d like to accomplish before you push up daisies. The key is to isolate those things you want to do in this lifetime. List them out.

Once you have your list, choose one thing to work on. I don’t care what that one thing is. Make a choice. I have always wanted to write. I also wanted to learn how to code. I also want to have a money-making position that I can take with me anywhere in the world. Since I have a lot of time, I am pursuing a few of my bucket list items simultaneously.

If your time is limited, pick one.

Then, look at your schedule and make some time to pursue it. Do you have to learn something before you begin? Cool. Find some free courses or YouTube tutorials to watch. This is your first step. Iron out all the things you need to learn before you work on your bucket item. Don’t spend too much time, however. Learn what you think you need to know and get cracking. Trust me. If you’re an online course fanatic like me, you could literally keep going to school forever and never apply what you are learning. So learn what you need to know and dig in.

Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate. Don’t procrastinate. Get out there and get going. It’s your life and it can be a grand adventure if you put all you have into your dreams. No one will do it for you. No one will push you along. You’ve got to come up with all the things you want to do with your life and then–DO THEM.

I want everyone to live a fulfilling life. One that is filled with learning, love, excitement, and contentment. A life that leaves nothing on the playing field. Attack life. Relish it. Enjoy it. Push it. You cannot lose if you don’t quit.

I hope you have a terrific Wednesday.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Practical Work

Tags

Achievement, creativity, Embrace Fear, Fail often, Fail Quickly, Failure = Learning, Fear, Goals, The Wilds, Your Comfort Zone

“The cycle of creative action begins with a concept we carry in our minds of what we wish to do. The next step is to outline on paper some plan of how to accomplish this. The final step is action in carrying out the plan.” – Harold Klemp – The Language of Soul

Stephen Covey discusses the first and second creation in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He discusses this while covering the second habit: Begin with the End in Mind. The first creation is what we visualize in our mind. It is the pictures, sounds, feelings, and smells of our end product. This end product could be a goal, a destination, or a situation. The second creation is when we breathe life into the first creation by taking all the actions necessary to make our vision a reality.

If you examine Harold Klemp’s process, it is simple. Visualize. Plan. Act. If this were so simple, why do so many people fail to accomplish their goals? My guess is that they can visualize a better life, but ignore the planning and acting parts of this equation.

What’s the reason? Why do people dream about things to do, achieve, or accomplish, yet fail to do anything about these dreams? FEAR.

We fear trying new things. We fear failing. We fear we aren’t good enough. We fear we lack the skills, time, or money. We fear what our social network will think. We are so fearful of these things we continue to dream and hunger for change, but just don’t get around to it. We are so comfortable with our current situations that we prefer this comfort zone, rather than those scary “wilds” outside that comfort zone. These wilds are so scary we just can’t step into them to pursue something that could transform our lives for the better.

How do we overcome this? First, your desire has to be stronger than the fear that is holding you back. When your desire is stronger than fear, you’ll act. Second, your current circumstances are no longer comfortable. Here, your discomfort outweighs the fear you have of the wilds.

You are the only person who can make a decision to act. You are the only person that can risk venturing into the wilds to find your personal pot of gold.

One thing you can do, if you are still hesitant is to take small steps into the wild. If you have a good visual of what you want, start with a brainstorming session. Don’t commit to anything, just begin exploring what you would have to do if you ever got around to doing something. This is the first step. Once you begin brainstorming and thinking about potential solutions, the wilds will be less intimidating. They will be less scary because your brainstorming session will begin to show you what actions you could take to get where you are going. In other words, the wilds become more familiar because you are starting to chart a map through the wilds to your vision or goal (plan).

Once you have brainstormed, you can begin to evaluate and organize these steps into an action plan. Then all you have to do is the act. This action is like sticking your toes in the cold water. Commit to taking one action on your list. Once you’ve done this, take another, and another. Before you know it, you’ll be closer to your goal and those scary wilds will be less intimidating. You are acting and getting closer to your destination.

Eliminate fear by taking small steps. Brainstorm, plan, take small actions. You will bring that dream into reality. The first time you explore the wilds, it will be uncomfortable, but the more you do it, even if they are small excursions, the more this discomfort will dissipate. The territory you thought was scary is not so bad. In fact, it is less dangerous than the predictable, boring, and complacent comfort zone you now occupy.

The people that attain their dreams are not better than you. They just took a leap of faith before you did. They have failed more than you have been comfortable with. They have failed so many times, failure no longer has a hold on them. They’ve figured out what everyone figures out. Failure is part of the growth process. You’ll never learn or do something new without screwing up. So enjoy failure. Enjoy the process. Every time you fail you learn something–you learn what doesn’t work.

I hope you have a terrific Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Fear

Tags

Attachment, Detachment, Fear, Frozen, Ignore the Naysayers, Love, Paralysis, passion

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

Fear hits me from time-to-time. sometimes I’m fearful that my writing won’t be good enough when I begin publishing my work. Sometimes I fear that I won’t learn to be a good programmer so I can create applications people will want to part with their money to own or use. Sometimes I fear that this blog will go nowhere. I’ll write here and no one will care one way or another.

Fear only takes hold when you are attached to something you want or desire. Eliminate that want or desire and fear dissipates. It’s hard, but it makes sense right? When I look at my writing or blogging fears, I only care about what others think of my writing when I desire or want others to like what I’ve done here. When I write for me, the fear disappears. The same thing happens when I remember that I am doing all the things I do for me and me alone. If someone likes my book, they’ll purchase it. If they don’t they won’t. I have no control over who will like or dislike my book. I have no control over who follows my blog or who elects not to. I have no control over anyone other than myself.

 

It’s comforting when I realize that all I do is for me and me alone. If, by chance, another person enjoys my writing, my blog, or my future applications, awesome! If not, who cares?

I realize I am in a unique position. I am retired and financially secure. It’s easy for me to take this attitude when my livelihood isn’t at risk. For others, this may not be as easy as it is for me. I get that. However, you can still achieve the same thing for yourself. When you develop an attitude of detachment, you do the best you can with what you have, and leave it there. You’ll discover how great it is to stop worrying about your critics. The key is to do things for yourself.

 

If you have a job, you need to please your boss and do the best you can to keep your job. But if you are pursuing things on the side like writing, online teaching, writing a mobile app, or whatever, this is the time you give yourself a break. Do it for the love of doing it. I enjoy writing. I enjoy learning. I enjoy reading and learning. I enjoy keeping myself healthy. I enjoy spiritual pursuits. I only do what I love to do. You can do the same, outside your day job.

You may not have as much time as I do, but you can still get a lot done with the limited time you have.

One of the biggest discoveries I have made since retirement is the benefit of completing small actions toward my goals every day. For example, I set a goal of reading 48 books this year (4 books a month on average). I read one chapter a day. Sometimes, if I have more time than usual, I read more than one chapter. Currently, I am at 61 books so far this year. Just by consistently reading one chapter each day without fail. This compounding is powerful. You can do the same thing.

When I write, I goal myself to write 500 words a day in my book. I started in January and I’ll finish the first draft by the end of this year. Again, 500 words a day, which amounts to about 15 minutes of work. I also write articles for my blog every day, journal every day in the AM and PM, and write discussion board responses for the online course I am taking. None of these feels like work because I absolutely love everything I am doing. It is a joy to get up in the morning and begin my work.

Fear is a powerful emotion. It can stop you in your tracks or talk you into believing that any effort you make is a waste of time. It will tell you that your work is not good enough. It will paralyze you. Let fear go by letting go of any expectation of outside applause or approval. Do the work or side hustle you’ve committed to for the love of it. If you don’t love it–STOP. This is your time, not your boss’ time. This is what you choose to do when you are not on the clock. Love what you do, lose your need for approval. The folks who love what they do will always do better than those who do not love what they do.

I’ll stop here. I hope all of you have a terrific Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave