Month: June 2021

Who Do You Want to Be

Why is it sometimes easier to talk to a complete stranger than someone who you know really well?

Because they have little expectations from you (beyond first impressions).

Because they don’t know you and don’t know what you are going through.

This can be relieving and sometimes exhilarating when you want to try to step out of your normal shoes and be someone different for a change.

When people know you, truly know you, they see who you are, who’ve you’ve been, and who you want to be.

That can be wonderful because you support each other and help each other on your respective journey.

But it can also be limiting because they define you and picture you a certain way at a certain time. Your the guy that did/likes X. Or you’re the Z girl.

But that’s just a moment. You define who you are, by your actions and your words.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1322

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Liking the Idea vs. Liking the Reality

Liking the idea of something is not the same as practicing it.

On paper, a bunch of things sound better than they actually are in reality.

Sometimes this is because the reality doesn’t suit who we are (right now). For example, you may like the idea of starting your own company, but disliking the day-to-day stress of running a company, wearing multiple hats, and leading (yourself and others).

Liking the idea, but disliking the reality is imagining a reality that doesn’t exist.

Of course, all ideas are imaginary at one point. Problems can become opportunities. And sometimes those opportunities can rewrite reality, if in an ever-so-small way.

It could be real but we won’t know unless we try. It can also be an idea that sounds great on paper, but in reality, comes with lots of downsides. Fame for example. Most famous people don’t like being famous, they just enjoy the benefits that come from being famous. Or—more accurately—fame is a byproduct of doing great work and that work building a following. There’s a ton of upside, but everything you do is public (EVERYTHING) and scrutinized, and you can barely leave your house without getting mobbed.

There is also liking the idea of something but not willing (and/or fearing) to put in the work to make it a reality.

These fears are our bottlenecks. They are things that are currently holding us back from our dreams.

Spend some time thinking about what you wish you were doing but aren’t.

Why? What reasons/excuses does your mind come up with? How could you go around them?

An idea worth pursuing is worth overcoming fear and chancing failure.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1321

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Learning From Failure

Learning from failure is tough.

Most of the time, we just sweep our failures under the closest rug we can find, so we can forget that it ever happened.

But is that learning?

If we only ignore our failures, will they really go away? Will we be better for them?

Ignoring failure is wasting the opportunity to do better next time.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1320

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An Origami Life

I want to get to the end of my life and be like a piece of origami paper. Worn, folded, forged into a thousand lives and stories. A lifetime of learning, adventure, meaning created by my own hands and the beautiful lives of others around me.

Worth starts with self-worth. In order to go out into the world and create magic, you need to be able to love yourself—including your flaws and works-in-progresses.

It’s impossible to become truly great at something if you don’t commit to it. Commitment is going all-in—giving full focus to what you are doing in the moment. It’s mindfulness

ess in action. It’s failing until you succeed. It’s learning to frustratingly enjoy failure, because you know there’s still room to grow and work to do to get there.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1319

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Same Mistakes, Different Day

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
— Peter Drucker

“A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.”
— B. F. Skinner

It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do. What matters is what you do now.

We’re always going to be making mistakes and facing failure. But the key is to never make the same mistake twice. If we do, then we aren’t learning and paying enough attention to what we can do better.

There are always going to be mistakes made by others too, sometimes directed at you. Try to let these go if you can—especially when they own up to them. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1318

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Ask More Questions

“If you don’t have enough answers, you aren’t asking enough questions.”
— excerpt from 101 Things I learned in Product Design School

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”
—Voltaire

“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.”
— William S. Burroughs

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
— Zora Neale Hurston

“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.”
— Thomas Berger

Seeking wisdom isn’t about finding, it’s about searching. For every answer, there are at least a dozen more questions. That should either terrify you or excite you. If it lights you up, then you are on the right path.

Behind every question, there’s likely better and deeper questions to answer.

For example: How can I make more money? < What does money mean to me?< Why do I want to make more money? < Why money? < What is money? < What could money be?

Answers are more rewarding when it takes work to uncover them. Not busy work, mind you. Busy work is idleness in motion. It’s going through the motions to make it seem like you are working. Answers are rewarding when our minds make connections and align up the pieces. It’s like neurons leaping from one synapse to another. Questions are the sparks that unlock potential.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1317

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Worth Sharing

“Things are never quite as scary when you’ve got a best friend.” — Bill Watterson

It’s always a good idea to get an outside perspective from someone who you admire and trust.

It’s hard enough to go through hardship and pain, but doing it alone is even worse.

Find someone you can share it with.

I don’t mean unload all of your criticism and baggage. Share your struggles and problems, ask for advice. Listen to their own problems.

Sometimes that’s all we need. Someone that will really listen to us. Or someone willing to lift a hand and pick us up out of the dirt when we fall.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1316

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Habit Bonuses

A habit is a consistent and repeated routine or form of practice. We all have a hodgepodge of good and bad habits. The benefits (or downsides) come from the accumulation of a habit over a period of time and the combination of all our habits.

Like Admiral William H. McRaven discuss in his commencement speech (and book), Making your bed is a good habit that sets your day off right with a little bit of control and intention.

A bad habit is reaching for the cookie jar (every day) after a stressful day at work. It’s not the cookie per se—It’s the hundreds (for me, more like thousands) of cookies you eat every year that add up to a negative result (aka fat *ss). And also the secondary or tertiary side effects of having a bad cookie habit. What other bad habits is your cookie habit gatewaying you into?

What make a good habit great?

Ideally, it prevents a negative, creates a lasting impact on your life in the long run, and radiates and creates other benefits as a result.

For example, what does brushing your teeth do for you really? Well, it keeps you from getting cavities (preventing a negative outcome) which would lead to large dentist bills, so now you put that money towards something else instead of fixing your teeth. On the plus side, you have shiny white teeth which a nice smile can make you feel more confident and help you socially. And You likely avoid having dentures when you are older, so that’s a huge plus.

And that’s just one tiny good habit!

Imagine what sticking to other successful habits could do for your life.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1316

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You’re Repeating Yourself

When it comes to practice, repetition isn’t enough on its own. Because just repeating the same crappy thing over and over again isn’t going to work. It’s far too easy to wing it if you’ve got nothing to aim for.

I can practice the same three chords over and over again on the guitar or piano, but that’s not going to make be a better musician. When it comes to practice, we need challenge. We need to push ourselves as much as we can each day. Psychologist refer to this as Deliberate Practice. It essentially means being intentional about your goal and systematic on how you are going to get there.

Deliberate practice is a combination of being aware of where we want to go (i.e. our “big picture” goal) and then going super granular on each step we take to get there.

Have something to aim for.

But when you are practicing, focus exclusively on the task at hand.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1315

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Show Up

Showing up is one of my biggest principles I try to live by every day.

Don’t just take up space—be here today how you need to be, even when you don’t feel like it.

Be there for the people who you care about when they need you.

If a friend asks you to move, do it. Show up. If you agreed to go to something, go to it. Don’t flake. If you feel like garbage, let them know, but show up anyway.

Be there for yourself for what you need.

Give your body, mind and soul what it needs. Show up to your problems. Show up to your weaknesses. Show up to your dreams.

Life’s too short to do anything less.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1314

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