by Oto | Feb 7, 2022 | Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Musings, Personal Development, Productivity
At the time of writing this, it is February, we already just over a month into the new year. And if you are reading this, you are probably the type of person to have made goals and set targets for this year.
How are you doing on those by the way? Are you still excited and eagerly chasing after them or have you fallen off yet?
Most probably the cracks have started to show. Most people approach goals with the intention of making these vast sweeping changes at once, like they suddenly developed a new personality once the calendar flipped over a new year. Unless you have a ridiculous amount of will power, this is typically an exercise in failure.
To stay consistent and actually stand a chance of reaching your goals, you need to focus on tactics that make the changes a bit more subtle, consistent and lasting. Things like focusing on building the right habits, starting small, building new routines and feeding your motivation.
But there is one simple reason we tend to fall off our pursuit.
As stupid as it sounds, many times we lose track of a goal because we literally forget about it.
Every day is a struggle, with multitude of stimuli, questions, requests, demands, and distractions. It is very easy to start off the year with good intentions and then have things just trail off. I know, it happened to me many times.
We get busy, we get distracted, sometimes we even distract ourselves with ‘good’ things. It is often easier for me to just bury myself in work than face something I don’t want to yet. But we must fight to be aware of this tendency, and to take steps to mitigate it.
We do this by keeping the goal in front of us. Having a totem, a reminder, something physical, tangible or otherwise always in front of us that reminds us of what is important, of what we are moving towards.
In this way, when the demands come at us, when the distractions come, we are able to glance over quickly, and have our goals firmly at the front of our minds and thus we can respond appropriately.
My personal experience
2018 was the year I started blogging consistently, and by the end I was able to point to a full year of almost weekly updates. It was the year I really pushed my personal brand forward and made many strides in my life and work. I even released two books in that time. It was a year of incredible focus and consistency.
Up on to this point, I had struggled with pursuing some of my goals. I would start the year eager to get certain things done, and look up months later to see that although I was very busy doing many things, I had completely lost track of what was most important to me.
So what changed in the pivotal year of 2018? Many things, but one of the most powerful things I stumbled upon was changing my diary for the year into a totem. In the front and back inside covers, I had printed out and stuck sheets that highlighted my new personal brand, life philosophy and the multiple projects I wanted to get done.
Every time I opened that book, to take notes in a meeting, to plan, to keep track of tasks, I was reminded of the person I wanted to be, and the goals I was pursuing. It was inescapable. Having that constant reminder changed my life.
Here are 3 ways keeping your goals visible can change yours.
They serve as a constant reminder
Like I mentioned earlier, we often lose track of our goals because we just forget about them. Keeping your goals visible and close by serves as a near constant reminder of where we are going and what we are trying to get done. If we then choose not to pursue them, it is a more conscious decision as opposed to it just getting buried under the pile of other things vying for our attention.
They stimulate our minds
When our goals are perpetually in front of us, reminding us, our brains are constantly thinking about them, churning up ideas in the background, working on ways to achieve them, or build our lives around their pursuit. And if we enhance this by designing your environment in such a way that orients us towards our goals, it all combines us to move us steadily and automatically towards those ends.
Having your goals always in front of you also keeps you primed and sensitive. So that when opportunities come up, or chances for synchrony happen, you are ready to recognise and take advantage of them.
They build motivation
Seeing the vision constantly helps to cultivate burning desire. Something that is essential to helping you stick it out over the long run. Sometimes we set the goal we want, but we don’t want it enough to do whatever it takes. Keeping your goals in front of you stimulate the visions of it in your mind. They help you visualise having it and becoming the sort of person that achieves it. They also help fan the flames of desire until you are going after it with all you got.
Keeping your goals front and centre in your daily life is a small thing, but can have outsized effects. You can do this in many ways. You could keep a vision board close by, in your office, in your room. You could do as I did and dedicate pages of your daily planner to it. You could make it your phone or computer wallpaper, or place post-its all over your apartment. Whatever works for you.
Keep your goals in front of you, and they becomes that much easier to follow through.
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Thank you for your attention and reading this to the end. If you enjoyed this post, please share with someone who you think might benefit greatly from it.
by Oto | Nov 2, 2021 | Musings, Personal, Personal Development, Productivity
So, it's been a while.
I inadvertently took a bit of a hiatus over the past month. It was certainly unexpected, but as the persistent fatigue onset out of nowhere, I knew I needed to take some time off, and luckily, I'm generally able to scale things back on a dime.
So what's been going on while I've been off in the metaphorical wilderness? What's been on my mind? What have I felt? What have I discovered?
Maybe, let's start with what happened.
So the month started, and the last post I wrote was about work and the negative returns curve. And the general thesis of that piece was not letting work take over life so much that nothing is left over.
Ironic that as I wrote that, I was almost immediately hit with a deep sense of fatigue. I think for about a week, I wasn't physically really able to work. I'd work one day, and be completely wiped out the next. So, I pulled back from most projects to focus on finishing open projects and keeping the workload on to a fair minimum.
I don't like being fatigued and unable to work, but it was nice to be able to switch off and not be too stressed about work or productivity. I did just what I was able to do, and didn't overthink things, or put too much pressure on myself. I just did stuff and chilled.
Funny enough I was still productive. Things got done. I worked on the websites, I designed logos. I designed documents. But I also spent a lot of time watching movies, or chilling, or seeing friends.
That felt great.
I would like to work more like that.
How did I feel?
Well, at first, there was fatigue. Just pure tiredness. Then the feeling of burnout. Then a slight bout of depression. Waking up everyday and just not feeling up to the task of being on the ball. Not feeling like working or creating or doing anything. I didn't want to try. I just wanted to 'be' for a while. So I just existed. Without needing to prove my existence by making content, or being productive, or being seen. I just existed.
Which was good. I think I needed that. I think we all need that.
In all this time, I thought about different things, and over the next few weeks, I will be exploring them a bit deeper.
The dark side of success
I had been burning exceptionally hot for the past few months. I had been working my ass off, making content, upgrading my environment, unlocking new levels of productivity. Which I did, and got things to a nice place, got things I've been wanting for a while. Things were objectively great, better than they have ever been.
But as I got it, and as I set up things up and updated my space, I suddenly felt...empty.
It's not the first time I've had this feeling. I experienced it at the end of 2018, after a massively productive and personally transformative year, I just felt empty at the end of it. I even wanted to write a piece about how when you get what you want, it won't make you happy. I probably still will.
All this to highlight the fact that achievement and success will not always mean happiness. many successful people at the peak of their careers end it all by suicide.
So why does this happen? What does this mean? How can we find joy in our achievements or how do we optimise for happiness or at least contentment?
Even though the feeling does dissipate eventually, sometimes success comes with a deep profound sense of emptiness. Sometimes great highs must be accompanied by a low.
Hacking your success thermostat
There is a concept I first discovered about 10 years ago in a book whose title I cannot for the life of me remember right now.
This is idea of your success thermostat and how everyone has a hot trigger point and a cold trigger point. When you succeed and are doing well, you invariable get to a place where you automatically dial things back, where you work less, push less, spend more, maybe even self sabotage to get yourself back to a level of success or productivity that you are comfortable with.
And then when things get low enough or you get broke enough, then you kick back into high gear, and do all you need to do to get things done and get back up to a level of success you are comfortable with.
The common factor here is that there is a level that is your comfort zone.
How do you expand that upwards? How do you get more comfortable with greater levels of success so you can naturally achieve more?
Re-evaluating our relationship to work
This is an interesting one. My perception and attitude towards work has been evolving lately.
I am familiar with hustle culture, with the Gary Vee's, Tai Lopez's, Grant Cardone's. All the gurus and evangelists who repeatedly pontificate on the importance of a solid work ethic. To always be pushing, to always be working, to hustle and get rich or get successful. This is an attitude sold to us so much it might as well be the air we breathe.
However, is this the right approach? To be completely devoted to work, to conflate our identity and worth with our productivity?
Work is good. Work is important. Work is what helps us reach our potential. It makes demands of us and puts good stress on our bodies and our minds. With good work, we can be productive, we can be truly human, we can express and explore our talents, abilities and interests.
But bad work, work as an end to itself, as being trapped in a system, of being of service to an exploitative socio-economic system, can start to be very problematic.
Most of us have to work so we can consume more. We want to make more money so we can buy more things, fancier things, have more experiences etc. We are continually sold things to want. And once we feed the beast, we keep wanting more and more. But are we just made to consume? To work to buy and throw away and buy again?
Why does so much of our work tend to move us away from anything that is soul enriching. A man ought to be able to put in a day's work and have enough time and energy to pursue a hobby or write poetry or do whatever the heck he wants to do for the sake of it.
We have to find a better balance with work.
What brought you here, won't take you there
The other day i was chilling with a friend and catching up, and he was mentioning how principles are helping him. Like being focused, having a positive attitude, working hard, all that stuff was helping him be better. And best of all, he was seeing results.
And I thought that was all great. But I also felt jaded by it all.
But I understood we were at different parts of the journey. He's at the start of his, things are still pretty and flashy.
That part is important, it's why getting into self help can be very useful. You do need a solid foundation of discipline and work ethic to get results. But when you start getting results, continuing those things can start to backfire, and then your strategy needs to change.
You need to approach things differently to get into a new level of consciousness, of being, of doing.
So yeah that's been me and my thoughts for the past few weeks. Looking forward to unpacking all of that more. Hope you have been well. Chat soon 🙂.
by Oto | Oct 4, 2021 | Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Productivity
Work is an interesting thing. For most of us, it takes up most of our lives. At least 60% of our time is spent at work, either at an office, or more so these days, working from home. And depending on how engaged you are with what you do, how much you love or tolerate it, you might be looking for ways to make work more effective and efficient. Ways to squeeze more out of the time you spend working, etc.
This is the essence of productivity. Finding ways to produce more.
If you work for a company or business, you might be able to skirt away by doing the least amount of work you can get away with. Since your labour is paid for on a fixed monthly basis, that might make sense. Or you might want to push harder to get noticed and promoted. If you work on commission or you work for yourself, then your income is probably tied more directly to your labour. So the more you work, the more you earn.
At this point, it gets very tempting to maximise the amount of time you spend working. After all, if you can work more, you can make more. But the human body is not a machine, and the amount of energy and attention we have is finite. We still have to do pesky things like eat and sleep.
If you push and try to work as many hours as possible, you will quickly come against your upper limits. And that is a limit you need to get very familiar with, and respect accordingly.
In the early days of my career, as a whip-smart youngling, I would work almost all the time. From the moment I woke up, to the moment I went to bed, every day of the week. Understandably I burnt out often. Sure I was much younger and able to put in insane hours without too much of a strain. Also, I love what I do, still do. But overtime, I have come to respect the productivity decimating power of a burnout, and I've changed the way I think about work.
It is not use burning the candle at both ends for weeks on end to be completely wiped out and unable to work for days or even a month at a time. The better way is to find your rhythm and optimise it at both ends - your work, and your play.
The case against overwork
Because human energy and attention is finite, putting in more hours at work than you need to actually starts to become detrimental. The work you do 4 days into a work stretch will not be as good as the work you do right at the start or midway through. Plus, bad work can lead to even more work down the line, where you have to backtrack and make changes or fix the bad work you did.
You probably don't need to work as much or as long as you think.
Especially in the creative space. It might do you better to focus on writing for 2 hours every day, than to try bang out an entire book in 9hour daily sessions. But everyone is different, the point is to find the rhythm that works for you.
Personally I am able to give about 3-4 solid days to my design work in a week. On day one, I can do an easy 12 hour stretch. On day 3, I can average out at 8hrs of work. By the 5th day, I am barely functional. If I push further than that, which I certainly could, I would definitely pay for it by the next week. In this state, no matter what I do, I simply cannot work. My brain and body are far too tired to do anything creative or productive.
Find your balance
As I've grown and refined the way I work, I have learned to institute a couple of things like respecting the weekend, respecting how long tasks actually take, and communicating clearly to people when I'm available and when I'm not.
These days I am able to strike a balance, knowing that once Monday rolls in, I am completely focused on the grind, and by Thursday, Friday, I am easing off, and when it's the weekend, I do not think about work at all. Whether I am at work or leisure, I am able to give my all to it, knowing that I am doing the right thing at the right time. I rest and bum out when I need to, and I get on the grind when I need to.
Make your work time more efficient
Striking a balance also helps us do one other important thing, which is focus on the efficacy of the time we actually spend working. If I can only work for a limited time, then I have to make sure that it is time well spent. I have to ensure that I am working on the right things - the things that actually move me forward, on the projects that excite and teach me, on the ideas that could give exponential return.
By respecting the time off, we can become even more deliberate and intentional about the work we do.
Which is why if you are someone who works for yourself, you have to be strict with your hours and your time. It is far too easy for something to come in to encroach on that. Clients need things last minute. People are disorganised, everything is urgent. It is okay to throw on the cape and save the day from time to time. But acquiescing constantly to such demands will just throw you off course and into chaos.
And that isn't what we want.
We want a life by design. A life where everything is at the appropriate level at the appropriate time.
It is okay to go all out and have hectic head-down work sessions. Some seasons call for it. But it is also doubly important to make sure you get some down time, that you take care of yourself, that you have other things in your life other than work. The chance to pursue curiosity, the time to rest and relax and play, the time to have experiences, the time to nurture relationships.
The time to live.
That is paradoxically, how we become more productive in the long run.
by Oto | Sep 20, 2021 | Creativity, Inspiration, Musings, Productivity
I picked up this lovely little yellow book the other day - Brief Lessons in Creativity by Frances Ambler. And it is quite the gem, helping to inspire and nudge me deeper down a path that has been on my mind on-and-off for years now.
See, I work in the creative industry. I genuinely create something almost every single day whether it is content, or client work, whatever. I am always making something. However, it can become quite mechanical. You have your set of tools, your set of trusty techniques and ways of doing things. You can competently create on demand. But it is also very easy to stagnate and get stuck doing the same things over and over again.
It is difficult to grow and break ruts, to grow new skills and ways of looking at the world, and yet we must. To keep fresh, to honour the muse, to have longevity in the game. It is important to keep exercising the muscle of creativity and stretching it to new places.
I've always wanted to live a more artistic existence, and I suppose this has always been an underlying reasoning behind my life path. Working for yourself gives you control of your time. It then becomes up to you to optimise that time and be able to spend it how you want to. But it is very easy to get stuck in the day to day business of commerce, and not having enough time or energy to explore the possibilities.
Yet, if you want it, if you want to become better, to experience a new level, to maybe even become great, then somehow the price must be paid. We must incorporate practices and rituals, spaces and times to nurture the soil of creativity, to improve how we see, how we process, and the techniques of creation. To become better creators and artists.
Here are some ideas inspired by Frances' book.
Just start/Begin anywhere
The blank canvas can be very intimidating, especially if we have not created in a long time. We might hold some romantic notion of how we ought to be as creatives, of how good the artwork has to be, or of how good we should be. We should throw all of those concerns away and just begin from anywhere. Just start. Take a piece of paper and make a scribble. Write a few random words in a notepad. Record a couple random melodies. Make a mess. Do something.
Doing this will shake out the cobwebs so to speak, limber up those stiff limbs and get you back in the groove of creating.
Follow your curiosity
What interests you? Put some time aside and do a real deep dive into it. What ever piques your curiosity. Maybe you always wondered about UFOs, or medieval weaponry, or knitting. Whether it is something mundane or something outlandish, allow yourself the space and time to dig into it. Do some research, go down an internet rabbit hole, visit sites, connect with people. Follow your curiosity, you will find new things, good, bad, boring, interesting, and it will fill your tank with new ideas and new references.
Make space
I have blogged at length about the need to create and protect creative space. To be able to cultivate and nurture your creativity, you need to have the space and time to devote to it. You need a place to make your art, whatever that is. This space needs to stimulate or support you as needed. It has to be sacred and set apart. This is an important time of enquiry, of experimentation, of worship.
Collect stuff. In your travels, in your movements around the world, you will come across things - signs, images, discarded objects, places. Bring something back with you, take a picture, make a film. Build and curate a storehouse of inspiration, of little odds and ends that you can come back to, study in more detail or tap into for ideas and direction. You are only as good as your references.
Actively experiment
Try different things. Start your process from the opposite end, or start from the middle. Create in a different medium or work with a different technique. Try creating with your less dominant hand, or in a different environment. Keep pushing the boundaries of what you create and how you create it. Shake things up to unleash new skills, new perspective and fresh takes.
Travel
Move around, it could be as close as a walk around the neighbourhood, or as far as moving across continents. But exposure to new places breaks up monotony and allows us to see things with fresh eyes. And it brings us in contact with new people, ways of living, and ideas.
We could all gain wonderfully from cultivating an artist's eye and mind. Beyond the boons to creativity, the work of creating pushes one into a deeper state of being. A space where one must be still, and observe, really look, or really dig in and think and draw from the depths to birth something new. It is in these spaces that we learn about ourselves, that we tap into our powers, that we create something tangible, something truly us. It is here we meditate and connect to the sublime. It is here that we discover, that we learn, that we break through.
It is through the way of the artist, that we can become even more ourselves.
by Oto | Sep 14, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Productivity
In a previous post, I shared my experience with upgrading my living space, and as I mentioned then, the experience has inspired me to take a closer look at productivity as a whole. Although I am already fairly organized, I know there is still plenty room for improvement.
And as I dive down the rabbit hole and nerd out on productivity tools and frameworks over the next couple of weeks, I will share ideas on how to improve how we get stuff done and stay on track with all our concerns.
I find myself asking questions like. What does my workflow look like now? How do I stay on top of everything? How do I become more effective and efficient? How do I ensure I do the things that usually tend to fall through the cracks? What systems do I have in place to capture all the ideas, tasks, requests I have and be able process them well?
How do I read more and retain information? How do I gather my notes in such a way that it is easy to access and apply those insights? How do I keep up to date with all my projects and make sure they are moving forward?
A lot of questions I'm sure I will have a lot of fun trying to answer. But even now, there are some quick ideas I can think of to help take your productivity to the next level, and make yourself even more effective.
Have a prep/planning day
If you don't already do this, then you need to set a day and a time to plan your week. Every week.
If you are able to build the habit of checking in with your goals, intentions, tasks and priorities weekly, you stand a much better chance of staying aligned to it over the long term.
This is the time that you take to review the week that has passed and look over the one coming. You can do this on a Sunday before the week officially starts, or on Monday morning, or whenever really. As long as it happens every week.
In this time you get to empty your mind of all the reminders, and tasks and requests that have been swirling up there and objectively sift through them to prioritise the most important things to get done in the coming week.
This is absolutely crucial if you want to keep your plates properly juggled.
Make your calendar your best friend
I'm not yet great at this, but in my research, I have seen quite a few people swear by having a calendar. It is a vital component to your productivity and time management.
The idea is to make sure that every appointment, call to make, birthday, event to attend, you want to make sure all of that is captured in your calendar so you don't forget. Instead of having to keep all of that in your head, all you need to do is pull up the calendar and be reminded of what you need to do by when.
Another powerful use of the calendar is to use it to time block. You can actively plan your day hour by hour the day before according to your prioritised todo list, and actually block off time for each task. So when you start the day, you have a clear game plan, and at any point in the day, you know what you should be working on.
Obviously you can move things around as you need them, but having a plan in the first place is invaluable in putting you in control of your day. It eliminates distractions and keeps you focused and accountable.
Organized productivity boils down to a few main principles
When trying to be organised and productive, people often worry about the details - what tools to use, what apps to download, what is the best notebook, etc. But truth is, the tools are less important than the underlying system and principles.
There are a few main principles to getting things done, those boil down to - capturing, filtering, scheduling, evaluating. You want to be able to reliably and consistently data dump all requests, tasks and ideas into appropriate apps and notes. You want to be able to filter and prioritise all that stuff. Then you need to be able to schedule the most important tasks or steps of your ongoing projects. And you also want a system where you can monitor what you are doing and review and adjust as needed.
Once you have these main things in place, it doesn't matter exactly what tools you use, just that they work for you.
Invest in your tools
Whatever you do for work or creativity, there are the tools of your trade that you use regularly. You probably use a computer, you might need a camera, or a ring light, or some notepads and pencils. Evaluate what you do, and what you need to get it done. Invest in improving your tools from time to time. Get things that are durable, as top of the line as you can afford, as nice as you can afford. If you enjoy using your tools, you will enjoy your work.
The day I switched from a PC based set up to Mac was a game-changer for me personally and I haven't looked back since. Getting an extra screen boosted my workflow and productivity. The Logitech MX3 mouse I started using this weekend is already having quite the impact on the way I work and design.
Invest in your tools and leverage them to become better at what you do.
It is all about reducing friction
I mentioned this already in my post about upgrading your environment, but it bears repeating here. What being organized and improving productivity is all about is making it easier and more fun to do what we need to get done.
Having a neat and clearly define place for everything allows you to easily find what you need when you need it. Using your calendar allows you to free up mental space to actually be creative or problem solve with the peace of mind that nothing is falling through the cracks. Having a proper note taking system allows you to access the information you need when you need it. Designing and fine-tuning your workstation to your needs make its easier to plug in and get things done.
Keep evolving your productivity practice and finding ways to reduce friction and you will find it easier to breeze through your work and reclaim the time and space you deserve to enjoy life.
by Oto | Sep 6, 2021 | Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Musings, Personal Development, Productivity
Every year as September rolls in, things tend to go into overdrive. The year is far gone enough that we can collectively start to feel the pressure of time running out, but there is still enough year left for a lot to get done.
With this, it is important to take a quick glance over things and take stock. If you have been doing well, steadily working towards or even hitting your goals, then kudos to you, keep pressing on and finish strong.
If you have been struggling to get it together, there are still four months to make an impact. And perhaps the concept I am about to explore might be of use to you.
This is the idea of 'turning pro', an idea I have mentioned in passing a couple of times in writing.
The idea comes from Steven Pressfield's seminal book 'The War of Art' and he proposes it as the antidote for the Resistance. Resistance being that inscrutable force that rises up every time we try to do something good or worthwhile.
You know the feeling. You want to work, or study but then you start to feel restless or anxious and soon you are doing everything but the thing you need to do. It is that pressure, that well of excuses, that fear, that turmoil, all the reasons why we shouldn't. That is the Resistance.
The Resistance is all of the things that stop us from focusing on the work. Whatever that work is. Whatever that intent is, the real thing we know we ought to be doing. And it defeats many of us. It succeeds in distracting, or discouraging us, so we take a few steps forward and many steps back, stuck in a cycle.
But when you turn Pro, you cross the rubicon, you cross the line. You commit. You pay the price. When you turn pro, your goals change from a nice-to-have, to a must-have, the absolute standard.
We are all pros
We are all already pro in some ways, or at least we have the experience. We know what it is like to hold a job, to have responsibilities or expectations. To have to do a thing regardless of how we felt that day. When we turn pro, we take that frame of mind and apply it to our intent. To the thing that is important to us - our project, our business, our ambition.
Too many times, our projects or ideas do not come to fruition because we are still dilly dallying. We are taking the approach of the amateur. We do it, but only halfway. We do not take things to the logical conclusion. We do it when we feel like it. We do it when we find the time for it. It is not a true priority.
But if you want a true breakthrough in this thing, in this art, this business, this channel, this project, then you have to commit. You have to turn professional. You have to go all the way.
What are some characteristics of the pro?
The pro has learned how to suffer
The professional knows that there will be hard days, that there are the hard and unpleasant parts of the project. Not every aspect is fun and passionate. But the pro knows how to embrace the grind, the slough, the dark, hard side of the business. The pro doesn't bitch about it, the pro just gets it done, knowing that is the price that must be paid.
The professional is patient
He knows that things always take longer than you expect. He is focused on the process. He knows that the labour is his to take care of, and the results belong to God to bring to pass. He is willing to put in the work, day in and day out for as long as it takes. He is willing to embed the work into his routine so he can work steadily at improving.
The professional seeks order
The pro knows that true creativity is unleashed by routine. They understand that having a conducive environment, a defined process and a way of working frees you up to think deeply and innovate where it counts. They cannot abide a mess, a cluttered work space where nothing is within easy reach and the work is frequently disrupted. The professional eliminates chaos from his world, so as to banish it from his mind.
The professional acts regardless of fear
She knows that the fear never really goes away, that the anxiety still rears its head from time to time. She still face the racing heart, and the nausea before every performance. She is still familiar with the terror of the blank page. But she knows to move regardless, to take action, to dive right in. She faces the white space of an empty page, feels the fear, and begins anyway.
The professional accepts no excuses
They know it is a slippery slope. The pro knows the job must get done. No matter what the lay of the land is like. No matter the weather. No matter the obstacle. Despite every condition or factor to the contrary, even the legit ones, the pro does everything in their power to execute on the job. The mission matters.
The professional commits to mastering technique
The pro knows that the saw must stay sharpened. They commit to practising, to improving, to covering their blindspots and achieving mastery. They want to make sure that when the opportunity knocks, when inspiration strikes, they have the full arsenal of skills to maximise the moment.
The pro doesn't take things personally
They don't care what people think, or how they react. They achieve a balance delicate between their craft and their identity. Giving all they can to the work without completely conflating themselves with it. They give it all they have got, but are able to take criticism, fair and unfair. They are able to ship and move on, they are as comfortable with failure as they are with success.
The pro goes all the way
They make sure they go over the finish line. They do everything that needs to be done. They don't lose steam, or stop halfway. They get it done. They launch. They ship.
There are many more characteristics Steven outlines in his book, but at the core of them is approaching our task, our work, our lives, with the mindset of the professional, going all the way, committing to the craft, doing the work and improving constantly. The more we can embody the pro mindset, the more powerful and productive we can become, the easier it is to build a life on our terms, a life of our design.
