Month: January 2021

Cutting Corners

The last five minutes in the sauna are always the most difficult.

It’s uncomfortable. Your heart is racing. Your mind is trying to convince you with every excuse in the book to justify getting out early.

But if you do, you know that you did. Do you know what I mean? It’s a feedback loop of decisions and accountability. 

We feel better when we choose to make every minute count. Aligning our actions with our words makes us want to raise our head a little higher and stand a little taller.

No one is going to notice if you cut corners, or act out of an un-ideal character. No one is going to really notice or care you didn’t hold the door. No one is going to care if you leave the grocery cart near your parking spot instead of taking it back to the store. No one is going to care if you arrive a little late, or leave a little early.

But you’ll know. You’ll care.

Nothing is rarely easy. And if it is, it’s probably not worth doing.

Easy is often choosing inaction over action, comfort over discomfort, short-term over long-term.

But is that really what you want to be?

Of course, it’s not about making things difficult for difficulty’s sake either.

It’s about showing up. It’s about caring. It’s about becoming a better person by being a better person.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1181

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Find the Good

Optimism rubs off on people. Even the most prickly person can have a hard time not being affected by the glow of charisma and hopefulness.

It’s not about only being positive and making light of bad situations. Optimism isn’t about ignoring reality. An optimist sees what everyone else sees. They are just viewing the world through a bright lens.

It’s about not letting the bad circumstances win. There’s the event, and then there’s how we perceive it. Our perception changes everything. But that’s hard to see when you’re in a bad or negative mood. (Because a negative lens only shows you a negative view.)

If something negative happens to you—say you lose your job, or find out someone is trying to tarnish your reputation—then feeling the emotion is natural. Anger. Negativity. Sadness. Loneliness. Despair. But all these things cut both ways. Giving into poisonous emotions too long and you’ll only hurt yourself.

Who’s really benefiting from our anger or despair? No us, certainly.

Anger can get you to far, but it can’t make you happy.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1180

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Prioritizing Joy

Priority doesn’t happen on its own. If we don’t actively engage in what’s important to us, then something else is going to fill that space.

The hard part is that priority requires choice. It demands us to “sign our name”, so to speak, and put our money where our mouth is with our time and energy.

Lack of priority is usually a sign of us being unclear with what we want or unwilling to plant our flag. Sometimes that’s okay because we’re still trying to figure out where we want our flag to go. Do I plant my flag here or there? Well, which would bring you the most joy?

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1179

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Moving Past Mistakes

The first time I took a hot bath (as an adult) I had no idea what I was doing.

I wanted to relax my muscles, so I grabbed a bag of Dr. Teals, turned on the H, poured some Epsom salt into the tube, and proceeded to make the rookiest mistake you can make—I waited until the tub was full before getting in.

Naturally, it was like stepping your foot into boiling lava. So there I was, full bath, completely naked, waiting outside the tub shivering for thirty minutes for the water to cool.

Mistakes like this can happen to the best of us. We step into the unknown, completely unaware that our battleship is about to be sunk.

Sometimes stepping blindly into a venture is exactly what we needed. Because if we knew what we didn’t know at the start, we might have chosen not to do it, and we would have missed out on a moment of personal or professional growth. Sometimes we step faithfully out into the unknown and get super lucky and/or with the right mindset and we accomplish what we aim for.

Sometimes mistakes are silly humbling moments that give us a story to share later on.

There are different mistakes, however, that leave us wreaked and reactive. These are also humbling moments of growth (usually after we put some time and distance between it and ourselves), although at the moment you’re crying in the shower, wondering how you will ever move forward.

Yet, moving forward is exactly what we must do. Because if we stop now if we give in to hopelessness, we won’t grow. We won’t become something more than our mistakes.

Forward momentum is how we can thrive.

All we need to focus on is taking that next step forward.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1178

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Creativity is a Team Sport

I love writing. I love putting pen to paper and coming up with new ideas or new takes on old ones.

I love picking up a guitar or sitting down at the piano and losing myself to the music.

I love making things on my MacBook or building things with my hands. 

And as much as a lot of creative skills are an individual act, every single one of them is also a team sport. 

Doing what you love is great. But making something that you can share and others (and they can maybe find value in) is what makes creativity special. 

And it’s not just about building an audience but surrounding yourself with other passionate creators.

Put me on a desert island with all the art tools and supplies you could ask for, and I would still enjoy making stuff. 

But would it be as enjoyable and rewarding without someone to share it with? Would I be as disciplined as I am without the accountability and encouragement of others? I don’t think so.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1177

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Dabbler’s Dilemma

“Give me a man who says this one thing I do, and not those fifty things I dabble in.”

Dwight L. Moody

Dabbling is a useful tool to explore different skills, career paths, and opportunities. I find it hilarious that we are pushed in high school to know what we want to do for our careers.

All I knew what I wanted in high school was to get to level cap in WOW and come up with a new song or two on the piano. (Aka I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do for a living.)

Dabbling gives us a way to try on a bunch of hats and see if we like them. (Perhaps college was originally supposed to be the environment to do that, but because of the larger and larger price increases, that’s become unwise.)

Dabbling reminds me of taste-testing cake like you would if you were planning a wedding. You try a bunch of tiny little pieces of cake to see which ones you like best.

Otherwise, I don’t subscribe to the dabbler’s life. 

Naturally, I get the appeal—there is so much out there you can learn. But at the end of the day, there’s only so much time we have to give.

I think it’s better to find what you love and dive in deep.

Not to say that you can’t ever change your mind. There’s no sense in continuing down a path that makes you miserable. We can choose to change at any age. Sure, we might have more responsibilities than a teenager, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just different. 

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1177

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Staying in Tune

“Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you’ll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you’re gonna be rewarded.”

Jimi Hendrix

I started playing guitar in middle school. “Playing” is a generous way to put it. I owned a guitar and would mess around. I picked up a few things from a friend and my grandfather. But I was just a guy who owned a cheap guitar. I even took a lesson… once. Maybe twice.

It wasn’t until high school, where I started really falling in love with playing piano when my interest in guitar became more than a passing fancy. I still didn’t really know any of the theory, but I trained up my hand dexterity, ears, and overall feel for the guitar to come up with interesting rhythms and tunes.

One thing about guitars is they never stay in tune. The newer the strings, the more quickly they’ll un-tune themselves. Tuning is a ritual you always need to be cognizant of and constantly check on. Otherwise, the sound will be off and the strings won’t work well together sonically.

It’s also worth noting that there’s more than one way to tune a guitar. Standard Tuning (EADGBE) is just one among of many.

I find this
Tuning is a great metaphor for a lot of things in our lives.

Ambition. Learning new skills. Competition. Priority. Interest. Relationships. Love. Values. Work.

Each aspect of our lives has a certain frequency that works for us. Sometimes we are in tune and sometimes we are out of tune.

For example, when we are learning a new skill, we start with a mountain of enthusiasm and energy. We see people who have mastered a craft and want to be good at it too. As we begin our journey, and time goes on, our enthusiasm waxes and wanes from excitement to boredom, or from having fun to overworked.

The same is true for love. In the beginning, everything is butterflies. But as time goes on, things go from learning about each other to growing and experiencing life together.

And, like everything else, things can get out of tune if you aren’t checking in on it.

We stop learning a new skill because we get distracted by another one, or our goal—our reason for learning—gets unclear and out of tune. Our relationships become repetitive. Our drive to compete diminishes because of losing or lack of motivation.

But just like a guitar, all we need to do is retune.

We do that through genuine intention, action, and care.

You must constantly periodically return to yourself. Your values. your vision. your priorities.

Reaffirm what’s important to you.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1176

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How to Prioritize the Right Things

“You have to make one thing a priority and achieve balance that way, rather than trying to do everything all at once.”

Jan Fields

1. Want it more than the alternatives.

Desiring change is the first step towards prioritizing the right things.

But it goes beyond simply wanting or wishing for an outcome.

Wanting to get fit doesn’t mean that you will. Wanting to start a company doesn’t ensure its inevitability.

We need to want it more than anything. Our desire and dream need to our match our alternatives. So that when alternative options arise—and they also do—it won’t sway us, because our goal and desire are stronger.

2. Choose it.

Choosing comes after wanting. It’s a commitment to something (and therefore must be a non-commitment to alternatives) that goes beyond thinking and crosses over to action.

3. Do it First.

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” – Theophrastus.

There’s only so much time in the day. I know that more than most. As someone who is passionate about multiple disciplines and subscribes to a ‘Renaissance Life’, there’s only so much time to throw around.

The best way to prioritize the right things is by doing it first. By doing it first, I mean philosophically and literally.

If you’re hoping to find the time to give to your dreams, it will never appear. That’s like hoping a cream cheese bagel will magically appear in your hands. It won’t. If it did you are one in a trillion. The only way for us to prioritize what matters is to go out and get the bagel.

Put it on your calendar. Carve out an hour. Create as much time as you possibly can. Give yourself permission to prioritize first.

4. Keep it Simple and Straightforward.

One of the most challenging things about pursuing, well, anything, is the unnecessary desire to make it more complicated for ourselves. Our goals should be clear, not muddy. If its hard to explain to someone else, then it’s likely too convoluted. Practically complex is fine, but if your goal is so large you can’t grasp onto it, or see the edges, then it’s time to simplify. Break it into tangible pieces. Start small. Remove the inessentials.

5. Make it Instinct

Practice so much it becomes the default. Plan and work it so much that there’s no other option but to prioritize it first.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1175

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Saturday Updates: 01/23/21

I want to up my game when it comes to writing and with the Renaissance Life. Many moons ago, I had this dream of becoming a Renaissance Man. Someone who is a master of multiple skills and who walked through life with a spark of creativity, curiosity, charisma, and wisdom.

I started writing blogging every day as a strategy for becoming a better writer. Writer’s write. Dancer’s dance. Developers code. To be in the game you have to play the game.

I was (and still am) inspired by Seth Godin’s prolific amount and quality of work. I also was conversations having several separate conversations with new people in my circles who were taking on 30, our even yearly around daily creative challenges. The tea leaves were telling me to write every day—so I did.

Now, every writing a 1000+ consecutive blog in a row, I want to get to that next level. In all this time, I’ve only been working on RL on the side—well, more like the side of the side. I spend about an hour or two a day on writing and editing my podcast.

I don’t know how yet, but I’d like to turn Renaissance Life into a media company, not just a random guy who happens to blog every day.

That starts with being more consistent with my newsletters and podcast.

It also means thinking long term about what I want the RL to be, who it should be for, and how I can be of more service to you and your goals.

Plus have fun doing it too 😜.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1174

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Follow-through

“There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.” — Henri Frederic Amiel

Respect is earned by follow-through. It’s not enough to just say you’ll do something, you have to back it up with gold.

A lack of good follow-through isn’t because we aren’t hard-working, rather, because we’ve taken on too much at once, or we are in over our head.

Pair back. Focus on what matters more.

Build a reputation of going the extra mile for others and being genuine and reliable.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1173

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