A matter of doing

The difference between reading of examples and setting the example is a matter of doing.

It is not a matter of knowing. Knowing more, knowing more accurate information, knowing the right people, knowing how to get ahead, knowing all of the shortcuts and hacks.

It is not a matter of being. Being better, being more educated, being in the right circle, being on time, being perfect, being more capable.

It is not a matter of having. Having more resources, having the slack necessary to innovate, having the greatest talents, having all the degrees, having a flawless background.

All these things can help, and if you have them all the better.

But in the end what matters is putting up with the tediousness and repetitiveness of doing, and sticking to it even when something new knocks at your door, even when no one is holding you accountable, even when it hurts.

Sprinting

Most of us set a target and then sprint towards it.

The fact is, what matters it that you get to the target, and in most cases how fast you are has very little importance. Sprinting is a distraction, it can deplete resources, it is wasted focus. And it hinders experiencing the journey, depriving the target of most of its meaning.

Defuse

Caught in the heat of an argument, the challenge is to find the lucidity to defuse. Do that while you are in a position of power, and you will have made real progress.

Going head against head, second guessing, paying back, raising your voice, smashing and controlling. Those are short-lived strategies that will just feed into the next argument.

What is strength?

Sparkles and glitter

As long as you keep running from boring, repetitive, uninteresting, unrewarding, uneventful, average, your chances of actually mastering something are going to be very limited. There’s a wrong perception that success is equivalent to sparkles and glitter, but that only comes after (if at all), and it does not usually lasts for very long.

Find ways to get accustomed to the 99% of your life and suddenly you’ll be a much better human being, parent, partner, leader, or anything else you aim to be.

Burden

What good is a category if all it does is burdening our days with indignation, anger, resentment and negativity?

It’s positive to identify as this or that, use categories to make sense of the world around us, but let’s forgo their capacity of pitching us against the others. It is just another face of resistance, and it does not serve any of our purposes.