There’s this concept of loose threads (or loose ends) in film (and muuurder?) where certain details are left unfinished or unresolved.

Loose threads can come from the plot (i.e. We have some loose ends we need to cut) or the film itself, where there are storylines that feels unanswered and left hanging.

These unresolved/unfinished moments happen in our own lives too—good and bad. Let’s start with good threads.

Good threads:

A good thread is what I call anything you put out into the world that’s positive, good-natured or could become an opportunity (for you and-or for others).

The classic example is good karma. Things like anonymously donating to a charity, leaving a tip for a podcaster you enjoy, helping an old lady change her flat tire, etc.

Good threads can also be investments you put out into the world that could bloom. Friendships, work, monetary investments, love, optimism, ideas, etc.

You never know when something you do or something you create will have a massive impact on your life or the lives of others.

That’s why it’s good to try to always be on our A-game and give one hundred percent (with whipped cream on top) to everything we say and do.

What friendships can I invest more in?

What’s an idea I can work on to make it a reality?

Bad threads:

Bad threads are unresolved sentiments. Todos left undone.

Things we said (sometimes even bragged about) but never did.

Abandoned or sidetracked dreams.

Projects unfinished. Things we didn’t do but wanted to. Regrets.

There are some bad threads that you can’t pick back up. Bridges burned, reputations tarnished.

Other bad threads are things we leave unfinished and yet still think about often.

These can be super harmful because they can zap our energy—in what we are currently doing AND from what we aren’t doing but wish we were.

And they add up over the years. One thread unravels to two, then three…

I find it good to take some time to think and list out (if any) threads I’ve left open unresolved. After that, it’s a question of if it’s something I need to finish, something I really want to do, or something I should let go of.

What are some projects or ideas left open that I need to resolve?

What are some tasks/favors/opportunities I need to say no to?

What are some things I need to let go of?

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1653

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“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Time, by its very nature, is our most finite resource.

Not everything we do (or want to do) is on an equal level of priority.

When we prioritize on thing, we un-prioritize another.

I tend to get lost in what I call ‘shiny object syndrome’ and sidetrack myself with other interests and ideas I have in the middle of what I’m doing.

However, at the end of the day I’ve done a bunch of different things without actually accomplishing what I wanted to do.

Does the immediate take priority over the important?

Does the shiny take priority over the meaningful?

No. We need to put our meaningful tasks / desires first and follow through with what matters to us.

Follow through with what’s important to you.

What you stick with highlights to others (and yourself) what you deem important.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1652

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If it takes 10,000 hours (give or take) of deliberate practice to master something, then why do most of us never reach mastery in the things we love?

Likely because continuously challenging yourself and pushing your capabilities to the limit day after day, year after year is… well… hard (to put it mildly).

But luckily, working on a skill daily doesn’t take the 5+ years first to see results.

Each day’s effort builds on the last.

Even if it doesn’t feel like it, every time you sit down to write or practice pitching your idea or work on your art you are building and cultivating change.

The people who tend to go farthest are the ones who keep going.

If you enjoy playing guitar, then why not just keep doing it?

Or if you love making movies, don’t stop making them.

There’s little reason to stop and a thousand reasons why you should keep going.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1651

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“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Lay this unto your breast: Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best.”

John Webster

Friendship gets better as you age.

There may be ups and downs, and busy times where you don’t see each other much.

But it’s hard to beat having friends you’ve grown together with.

New friends are great, especially the ones that resonate with your personality and interests.

Every time you meet someone new is an opportunity for them to experience life with and become an old friend.

Long friendships are the most rewarding. Old friends get better with time. (Or they don’t. This usually happens with rifts like jealously or neglect.) When you have people in your life that have stayed in your corner as you’ve gone from season to season (and vice versa), you share a bond that grows stronger as the years go on.

Cherish your old friends. Invest in them. Be there for them in when they need it.

Don’t just take the easy path. Make an effort.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1650

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“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”

Walter Winchell

Every great relationship takes effort.

Take long distance friendships versus school friends for example. It’s pretty easy to be friends with someone whose always around, but staying in touch with someone who you don’t see regularly needs intentionality and active engagement.

But maybe that’s how it should be for all of the friends we want to be close and connected with?

Shouldn’t we invest as much time into the quality of our friendships as we do with anything else we spend our time and resources on? We’re sleeping 7-8 hours, and working (or going to schoo) for 8 hours. How many hours are you investing in your relationships?

Relationships are fundamental to our lives and wellbeing.

Who’s going to be there when you are going through a breakup or layoff or project success or health issue? Who are you going to lean on when you need someone to lean on?

Invest in your relationships.

Spend time with them. Make dumb videos. Share hopes and struggles. Go on weekend-hikes. Go deep. Care.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1649

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I’m getting married today 👰‍♀️🤵.

Wish me good luck, love and happiness. 🙂

I hope you have (or will soon find) the same.

Related:

Loving-Kindness Meditation

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1648

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Love, friendship, family, health, freedom, purpose.

Our essentials should take priority over immediate.

And yet, we often allow ourselves and feel driven to do the opposite.

There are many reasons we could point to—we didn’t sleep well last night, we are distracted by pain or distracted by shiny things, etc.

What’s easier: answering a few emails and clearing out your inbox or working on that book you’ve been talking about for years now?

What’s more rewarding: watching Netflix or sweating at the gym?

What’s more exciting: another night in or calling up a friend to catch up?

But the essentials take more time, energy, and intention.

No wonder we struggle to get anything important done! We trade short-term pleasures for long-term success and happiness. Not that we have to give up happiness in the present to have it in the future.

Rather, happiness comes from the process of spending our time and energy in ways that we love and find meaningful.

Our energy and joy increase when we focus on meaningful things.

Even an ounce of effort spent on what we love creates massive returns for the rest of our lives (which we can use to get things done without stressing over them).

There’s another big reason that the important things tend to get benched:

The important things become too important. Or in other words, the essential things we want to do are so important that we end up not doing them.

We idealize and fantasize them into undefeatable monsters in our minds. We (consciously or subconsciously) delay, avoid, distract, procrastinate and psych ourselves out from doing them.

And eventually we end up filling our time and energy with everything *BUT* the things we want to do.

I’m making it seem clear and cut-and-dry, but it’s usually anything but. In reality the tradeoffs are so subtle, we hardly even notice we are selling ourselves short.

We trade what we really want to do, for second or third-best options because we think that’s all we desire or are capable of doing.

Because what if we fail?

What if we waste all this time and energy for nothing?

What if we succeed and are still unhappy?

Ultimately it comes down to giving yourself some space and asking yourself is it worth it or not.

Is this worth my finite amount of time and energy?

Is this going to add value to my life AND the lives around me?

Is this going to provide me meaning and happiness in the present, regardless if I fail or succeed in the end?

Failing at something you love is better than succeed at something you hate or find mediocre.

Because failure is recoverable. But we can’t get back wasted time on things that don’t matter.

The road to mediocrity is born from hesitation and feeding ‘what you are supposed to do’ instead of what you feel called to do.

What do you feel called to do in this life?

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1647

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“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” — Leonardo da Vinci

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. Yet that will be the beginning.” Louis L’Amour

The thing about keeping daily habits is they are always something that you are trying to improve and strive for.

A goal is just something to aim for.

We can set milestones on our journey, but the goal isn’t the finish line, it’s the daily progress and joy that comes from doing something you love. Because when we hit our goals (or even when we don’t) we still have an itch to keep going and aim for the next peak.

The reward is the in the doing, not necessarily the destination.

The only reward we get for having clean, healthy teeth is a lifetime of use.

Of course, the destination of being a professional, being excellent at what you love is a rewarding goal. And also something that you continuously work at, even when you “arrive” at your peak.

That’s why we need to learn to get comfortable in the uncomfortable and enjoy the present, fully engaged.

When we can do that, not only can we continue to reach for better work and skills, but also be happy in the moment.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1646

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Productivity is a means to an end.

Ideally to create a better life for ourselves.

It’s a tool, which means it can be used poorly (applied to the wrong situations) or used to improve our world.

It’s also a loaded word for a load of reasons. Maybe you loathe the idea of productivity because it makes you think of your job you dislike or your micromanaging boss. Or maybe you love productivity because it lets you do more things in a shorter amount of time.

I think it’s good to take a step back and ask yourself what do you want to be productive for?

Why do you want to be more productive? What’s the ideal here?

Doing what you need to do so you can spend more time with your kids?

Get smart about your time and what you spend it on so you can focus more on what matters to you—your dreams, friends, sports, NFTs, skills, family, etc.

There’s no wrong answer here as long as you are doing what you love and focusing on what’s meaningful to you.

One thing I’d caution you on is being more productive so you can do more.

More work, more tasks, more hobbies, more ideas, more money, more more more.

More isn’t bad on its own, but it has diminishing returns.

It’s super cool if you can do 15 morning habits before 9 AM, but I could argue that doing a handful and giving more time to each will be more impactful than adding another 5-minute habit to your repertoire.

What’s more impactful? Reading for 10 minutes, or reading for 30, 60, or 90 minutes? Practicing guitar for 5 minutes or for an hour?

Longer time creates deeper practices and makes us work on our ability to focus for long stretches.

Of course, five minutes is better than zero minutes. Don’t be hard on yourself if that’s all you have to give right now. So if that’s all the time you have to read or meditate or practice your art, then get in your daily five and work towards longer practices when you have the opportunity.

Remember, the goal is deeper practices, not more shallow practices.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1645

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Negative thoughts correlate to negative outcomes.

For example, fearing we’ll fail at something makes us hesitate and hold back from our best. Which usually leads us to fail and get stuck in a loop of fear and failure.

We lock ourselves inside of a (hamster) maze of our making, unable to find the way out. But not just with fear, but with all negative emotions.

We stress about stress. Worry about worry.

Even expecting great things to happen can lead to ‘sudden’ disappointment, when they don’t happen. Or we are disappointed when it doesn’t happen exactly the way we planned.

Going after great things is an amazing goal to have. The problem is latching on to anything other than the pursuit—the journey—at the same time. The journey is the reward, whether that’s through good times or bad.

The moment we expect something to happen, we lose sight of the present and dwell on the prize at the end of the rainbow.

Let It Go

To make any great thing happen, we have to let go of our expectations, let go of the prize, and focus on the next action we need to do that’s in front of us.

Our dreams are inevitable only when you focus less on the goal and more on the very next step you need to do to get closer to the goal.

It’s not that we are giving up hope.

Each step is an impactful action. That’s how we get out of the maze.

A good balance is planning for the worst, but hoping for the best. But either way, we’re prepared.

STAY BOLD, Keep Pursuing— Josh Waggoner | Daily Blog #1644

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