Decision’s are never easy. Even the ones we have certainty and conviction on can still leave us with doubt and uncertain in the back of our mind. ‘Is this a good idea?’ ‘Should I really do this?’ ‘But what if I fail?’ There’s very little certain in creativity and life.

But there is one thing I’m certain about: The default option is never a great idea.

Defaulting is deciding not to decide.

It’s meeting a fork in the road and deciding to do nothing.

Sometimes, deciding to do nothing can work out in our favor. Being neutral and not taking a side in other people’s conflicts has its benefits. But, having someone’s back is much better.

Staying inactive in our personal lives is not a great idea either.

Doing nothing leaves the results to chance or worse — other people’s desire for what our life should be, without considering what we personally want our life to be.

There’s little upside to non-decision in life. The cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of action and potential failure.

Doing nothing is also a decision.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1555

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There will always be a reason why you shouldn’t do something you want.

You don’t have enough money.

You’re too busy. You don’t have the time.

You’re too old.

You’re not old enough.

You’re not experienced enough.

You’re too short.

Everyone around you tells you that you can’t or shouldn’t because of X Y Z.

You suck.

But if you pile all that up and look at it honestly, all those reasons are just excuses holding you back.

Anything that tries’s to hold you back from creating your dreams needs to be crushed by action.

There are a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t, but there’s one reason why you should: why not?

I say do it anyway.

The people in this world that have achieved greatness and put a dent in the universe had the same excuse we do if not more. Do it anyway. Now is the time.

Do what you were born to do.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1554

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It’s difficult to know if you are doing the right things and making the right calls when you’re in the middle of it all.

The ‘right’ path is up to each of us, but I see it as living a life that is meaningful to you and aligns with what you stand for, believe, and want to be.

But amid all the day-to-day activities and decisions we make daily, is hard to see what the full picture looks like.

If our life is a painting, then each action and experience is a stroke of the brush on a canvas. You want to be in alignment with both — the full picture and the small brushstrokes — because each decision we make ultimately determines what the larger painting of our life looks like.

Each day can be meaningless. Another day in a sea of countless days…. But that’s not quite right. Our days on earth are countable, we just don’t (or try not too) think about it. In reality, if you really think about it,

Every day we have is vital.

A ‘day’ makes up our entire lives.

All of this is extremely hard to apply to your own life unless you regularly schedule times where you check in with yourself and consider the bigger picture that you are living.

What do you think of your life?

What do you want to do better?

On a scale from crap to fantastic, where is your work or social or financial or family live?

It’s okay if its on the crap end. That just means you have a little work to do. Most people don’t even realize that though, because they never take the time to think about what they want their life to look like. Not you, of course. 🙂 You’re like me — you are after meaning, mastery and a life well-lived.

Get clear on where you are heading. Go all in on each day to make it happen.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1553

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Starting over isn’t a bad thing. It’s a blank slate. It’s our chance to reinvent ourselves and take in knowledge with a fresh and deeper understanding.

Whatever skills we cultivate, we should always be reapproaching the fundamentals and what we think we know. Just because we think we know something doesn’t mean we actually do. Or still remember! “Use it or lose it” as the old saying goes.

Every time we refresh our memory we are engraving the concepts deeper into the grooves of our mind. And each there’s usually something new to learn.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1552

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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.

Repetition plus challenge gets you where you want to go.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1552

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Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.

Robert Collier

Habits are only as good as the value they give to our lives (and the value they create to the people we surround ourselves with.)

The benefit of setting up a habit is our mind puts us on automatic mode, where we don’t have to think about doing something we just do. Make your bed. Carry a water bottle with you. Read every day. Things like these become second nature, and actually feel weird when you don’t do them.

But often our habits get away from us and break down into unhelpful versions of themselves, or no longer serve us as they used to.

For example, a morning yoga routine slowly, over time morphs into a couple of stretches and maybe a cat-cow or two. Or our daily habit of taking a photo is no longer bringing us joy, so we phone it in.

I find it helpful to periodically audit my habits. What are my main habits? Are they useful to my life (now and/or in the future)? Do I have any obvious bad habits? Does anyone close to me notice any bad habits or mediocre habits I’m doing that I’m not aware of?

Dropping or improving a habit that no longer provides value to us is essential to healthy habits.

The habits we keep are a high influence on who we are and how we live.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1551

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There’s always more we can say yes to than time we have to give.

That’s why we need to be picky about what we say yes to.

If it’s not worth it, don’t do it. No matter how much you’ll make, or other things it can do for you.

If it’s not what you want any more, don’t do it. Our previous experiences may inform our current opportunities, but not completely, and not permanently.

There’s no sense in spending your life doing this you find mediocre.

Mediocre yes’s equals a mediocre life.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1550

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“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” — Anne Sweeney

The difficult thing about success is it often naturally leads us to compare ourselves to others.

We see what someone “more successful” has and wonder why we don’t have the same.

We think things like:

• ‘They’ve got all the tools and space they need to create at the level they are performing’

But the thing is we don’t know what they’ve been through or had to do in order to get where they are. All we see are successes, not mistakes, lucky breaks, moments of loneliness and doubt, and crying in the shower.

There’s a narrow version of comparison that can be good. We call it inspiration. We see someone doing something amazing and we feel inspired to do it too.

It’s the comparison that leaves us feeling stuck, worthless, and hopeless that we need to avoid. This usually stems from a lack of money or access that others have that we don’t.

It sucks to be locked out of doing something when you don’t have the resources to join/compete/play. It takes money to make money, right?

But on the flip side, perhaps our lack of resources is good. Maybe it’s protecting us from things we aren’t ready for (and knowledgable in yet). If we don’t know how to invest $100, having access to investing $1,000,000 dollars sounds absurd. In the meantime, how can we practice and be prepared for the day when we do have the resources to join in. Not having a huge podcast following can squeeze us into coming up with ideas others haven’t thought of. Not having a huge network of friends can push us to connect with new people.

The only way this works is if we see our limitations as opportunities to grow.

Lack of success is humbling. And being humbled isn’t a bad place to be.

Success is a worthy pursuit. But with success comes greater responsibility (as all nerds know).

Wherever we are in life, there’s always something we are fighting for or fighting against.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1549

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“You may delay, but time will not.”

— Benjamin Franklin

There’s an expression, “youth is wasted on the young” that I can only imagine was created by an adult. It’s highlighting something interesting but misses the point entirely.

Time is only wasted if we are spending it on things that don’t matter to us.

If I were to rephrase the expression, I’d say something like:

Youth is an endless amount of time and only ends when we give up play, curiosity, and creativity and replace it with passive and passionless things that occupy our time.

Youth can be endless (until we pass on from this life) if we choose.

Responsibilities aren’t the culprit. Saying yes to things that we only marginally care about zap us of the energy and drive that childlike wonder creates.

As adults we need to guard our time from the mediocre and meaningless-ness things that don’t contribute towards our lives or the lives of others.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1548

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Is this a decision made from fear?

Is this a decision based on what others tell me or based on what’s true to me?

(Is this a heart decision?)

Is this a decision made from indecision?

Our lives are paved from the road of decisions we make, and decisions we let others make for us.

We can’t change past decisions, but we can also change how what and why we decide on things today.

Awareness is the key to good decision-making. Self-understanding of who you are and what matters to you. Self-seeking of knowledge and guidance for daily and big decisions. And relationships that you cultivate to have your back when decisions backfire.

The goal isn’t perfection, rather, making the best call we can make right now, that aligns with our character, values, and goals.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1547

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