Making a small piece of art isn’t necessarily hard, especially if you’ve done it before. Making a small drawing might take a few hours. A first draft of a short story might take an afternoon. Creating an interesting guitar riff—a few minutes.
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I’ve often found myself pushing too far with a certain approach only to realise that my rigid consistency was actually damaging. Mindless consistency isn’t a good thing. The first John Glock short story touched on this idea. Mechanically repeating certain actions, just because you’re supposed to, isn’t a way to live.
Besides, it’s possible to be consistent in the wrong pursuits. It is possible to push too far with something that might have been good initially.
So, the question becomes, How do we know if we have moved too far with something? How do we know when to shift gears? Ho do we know when to slow down or when to try a different approach?
Continue reading “How To Know If Your Consistent Efforts Are Serving You”
The other day, I had a conversation with a person who told me that he tends to have less arguments in his head these days. Yet, throughout the entire conversation he attempted to argue with me. I wondered how accurate his self-assessment was.
Living in the moment beats striving. It feels better. When you’re striving, you are in a state that says, I need to be more, I need to become more, or I need to acquire more. All of this is simply a state of lack. It is not particularly fun to pursue goals when you’re driven by lack.
Also, striving can be surprisingly inefficient. If you’re always rushing about, trying to get things done, you might find yourself, not only exhausted, but quite unproductive as well. I find that it’s better to focus on the present moment, rather than rush towards goals. It’s better, not only for the process but often the outcome too.
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Some of the most life-changing insights that I’ve had over the last few years have come from my dreams. Dream interpretation is by far the most valuable skill one can cultivate. Advice coming from our dreams are personalised and exactly what we need in that moment of our life. I’ve often been flabbergasted at the depth of intelligence, wisdom and humour, of an everyday dream.
But I’ve recently realised that if one does not implement dream advice along with a heavy dosage of presence, things can go awry very quickly. This is because often when we try to “power through” something we end up doing things sloppily. Or less efficiently. Or just wrong. The just-get-this-done approach takes us off the optimal path.
Continue reading “Why It’s So Important To Be Present”
I roughly categorise people’s approach to work into two different categories: Trying to get and Trying to build. Most people will fall into the trying-to-get category. I classify them as hoarders. They are in an endless game of trying to accumulate stuff. Hoarders are always scared that they might not get enough and so they end up doing dubious things to get more. This trying-to-get approach to life and work is very limited and restricts one to only consider the narrow avenue of one’s own gains.
The trying-to-build approach is different. Builders usually make things better for many people around them, not just themselves. They recognise that there is a ripple effect in what they do. Builders understand that there are consequences to disloyalty, lies, short-cuts, corruption, sloppiness, and whatever else tends to be the standard for work these days.
Continue reading “Two fundamentally different approaches to work: Trying to get vs Trying to build”I don’t really have new years resolutions. My goals are always more or less the same: Focus on consistency in reading, writing, exercise and don’t fall into destructive patterns. But for 2024 I want to also add this to the list: Guard against cynicism against all cost.
2023 was a rough year not only for South Africa but globally. Consistent and lengthy loadshedding was but one of the discouraging features of incompetent South African governance. I won’t list all my frustrations here. I think it will have the opposite effect of what I’m trying to achieve with this post. I want this article to leave the reader with a sense of possibility.
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A better thing to shoot for on a moment to moment basis is presence, not the perfection of the end product. Perfection is a massive burden. In the past, I spent an inordinate amount of time aiming for perfection. This doesn’t work. You have to just be in the moment and try your best.
A trick that I often use when I feel that my mind is racing, is placing awareness on my feet. I might, for instance, pay very close attention to each step that I take while walking down the stairs of my house. I can usually feel an immediate relaxation of the mind. There is a sense of moving back into the body.
This sense of moving back into my body is pleasant but not without discomfort. When I do this, I also become more aware of the emotional discomfort that was hiding behind the mental loops. The trick is to not immediately run away from that feeling by retreating back into the mind. The trick is to investigate the feeling.
The one thing that I work on continuously is internal integrity. In simple terms, internal integrity is the ability stay on track no matter what is happening around us. It is our ability to stick to our own rules. These rules might pertain to health, work, relationships, career or whatever, but it is usually intentions that are important to us personally. These rules can be habits (exercise daily) or it can be a way of being (an intention to be mindful). Whatever the case, it is the small but important things that we do daily, weekly, monthly to lead a meaningful, good life. Internal integrity prevents us from constantly making excuses.
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