“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” — Bill Gates

It takes time to master a skill and perseverance to stick to it.

There’s only so much time in the day. And that time is divided up into many options that can occupy our time.

If we assume that we are going to live to 100 (or at least to 80) then we’ve got a lot of days left to get it right.

No one is going to respect your time as much as you do. Or put differently, if you don’t respect your time, who will?

I’m not going to tell you what’s worth your time or not. The fact is I’m not really sure.

Experience tells me friendships, learning, traveling, and building things are worth all the time in the world. But I don’t really know.

Make your time mean something. Don’t waste it, use it, occupy it. Make it add up to something worthwhile and beautiful.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1600

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Being unhappy isn’t always a bad thing. Some of humanity’s greatest works of art come from a place of longing and broken-heartedness.

Unhappiness isn’t something we needed to quickly swat away, like a fly landing on our arm.

Rather, unhappiness is something to be observed. It’s trying to show us something. It’s a sign that something needs to change.

It’s an emotion we all feel.

It’s telling us when need to shift things around and take action.

As long as we don’t dwell on unhappiness, then unhappiness will eventually break away into happiness.

Unhappiness becomes an issue when it sinks in and becomes all we think about.

Otherwise, we’ll feel stuck. Otherwise, we’ll continue to choose work, friends, habits, or other things that aren’t helping us and making us better.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1599

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The joy of figuring things out.

The passion from creating meaningful things.

The enjoyment of consistent routine.

The thrill of experimenting.

The peace of making something with your hands.

And the happiness of sharing your work with others.

To create a meaningful life, focus on the pursuit, not the wins and losses. Money enables, but it shouldn’t be the end-all.

If we can align what we do with what love, then our failures and adversities become less disappointing and difficult. Not to mention that our successes become satisfying and humble stepping stones to further success.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1598

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Being one of the dumbest people in the room is the best place to be.

Because that means you are likely surrounded by brilliant people whose wisdom can rub off on you.

It’s far from easy. You have to work harder than everyone else and challenge yourself to be better.

I should say that not everyone will have your back. There are plenty of smart people out there who wouldn’t bat an eye at taking advantage of you.

The key is to surround yourself with people who are thinking just as much as they are smart.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1597

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Toss a coin in the air, 50% heads, 50% tails. (Unless it’s a trick coin.) To be luckier, we need to stack the deck in our favor.

We can do this by making good decisions. Certain decisions lead to set outcomes.

Most unlucky circumstances stem from unclear or thought-less decisions.

The tricky bit is to get off the train when a bad decision is leading you to worse decisions.

Not to say that everything bad that happens to us is our fault. Lucky is an elusive thing that’s outside of our control 99.99999% of the time.

The sliver of a chance we have is based on our thoughts and our actions

The goal is to do things that lead to a greater chance of luck than unluck.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, then being around other entrepreneurs leans you closer to that goal. As does learning to come up with ideas and seek out opportunities. Not to mention starting a business by testing an idea. Along with thousands of other things we can do to make it more likely that we’ll be in the right time and the right place.

Luck is far from controllable. But it is influenced by our actions.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1596

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The worst decisions we can make are from a place of non-decision.

Meaning, not considering why we are saying yes (or no) to something.

This usually comes from a place of not knowing we you want and not taking the time to figuring out who we are and what we are about.

In a word, intentionality.

Life gets busy fast. But are we really going to let busy-ness toss us around?

Take time to learn more about yourself. Knowing who we are determines what we do.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1595

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Criticism is hard to take even if it’s coming from the right place.

It’s better to wait for someone to ask you for advice (or to at least ask them if they wouldn’t mind if you gave them a little advice) because unwanted advice usually has the opposite impact.

It’s also worth noting that we should only advise on things we (actually) have experience with and do ourselves. Or at the very least point them to insightful people who have.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1594

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We don’t need to be great already to learn to be great.

Consistent effort goes a long way towards greatness.

I don’t care what your genes say, or how much talent you have or don’t have. Mastering a skill requires effort and persistence. If you practice those and are willing to put in the time, greatness is inevitable.

Daily habits and continuously challenging ourselves leads to mastery.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1593

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Saying no to opportunities is one of the hardest* decisions we face in life.

(*Relatively speaking. Is it up there with facing cancer or a death in the family? No. But what we say yes and no to ultimately determine our paths in life.)

Saying yes to EVERY opportunity is a sure-fire way to make yourself miserable. Most people don’t realize that.

Juggling is fun. Being stretched like a rope in a game of tug-of-war is not.

Saying no—as hard as it may be—should be our default when it comes to giving away our time and resources.

This requires sharp instincts and agile decision-making skills which we can hone through practice and having clarity in what we want in life.

Say yes to what aligns with your goals, brings value (directly or indirectly) to you and others, or brings you joy and makes you feel alive. Otherwise, say no.

Sometimes that means making compromises and passing on good things.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1592

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“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

Marcus Aurelius

How often do we let ourselves lose in our minds before we even begin?

There are many ways we can lose, but the biggest defeat that happens is our mind.

Our mind is the foundation of any challenge or problem we face. Face off any two equally skilled athletes yet opposing mindsets — one who believes they can win and one who doesn’t or who has uncertainty — and the stronger, more open mind will always win.

The strong mind is more resilient to the challenge that comes from pursuing a dream.

If we lose in our minds, we’re more than likely not going to win the external game.

Set yourself up for success by believing that you can.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing — Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1591

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