Five things to Remember as you Pursue Success

Success

5: Stop Daydreaming

“I’m sitting in the crib dreaming about leer jets and coupes, the way Salt shoops and how to sell records like snoop…”

Daydreaming is probably one of the worst pastimes you can develop an addiction to. At one point during my years working in finance I developed a nasty, nasty habit of simply daydreaming. Sitting around, thinking about other stuff I should be doing, other stuff I could be doing, and ultimately stuff I’d never be doing because I was spending so much time day dreaming
It got to the point where I was daydreaming so much that I convinced myself that I was actually plotting my escape and so – it was all healthy because it would eventually come in handy. Nah. Chill. I’m not saying one shouldn’t dream, but when your dreaming is slowing you down – time to give it up. 90% of the time we spend daydreaming could probably be spent doing something that might make our dreams realities.
How does one stop daydreaming? Honestly, I don’t know that we can stop completely. We’re humans – we are aware of our existence – that’s our gift and curse. I was able to reduce the amount of time I wasted daydreaming simply by organizing my day more thoroughly. Stuff like, “from this time, till this time, I will do this,” or “I will not go to bed until I finish this…”

4: “What Do I Like, What Am I Good At”

“I’m trying to keep it alive and not compromise the feelings we love.”

When I was at the point in my life where I was trying to figure out which direction to go next, I kept asking myself the two questions above. I still ask myself these two questions every once in a while. They key is asking both. I love playing basketball – I’m not good enough to play in the NBA. I was pretty good at navigating corporate finance, but I didn’t like it enough to do it forever. I like writing, I think I can one day be a pretty good writer. Bingo. Boom. There it is. That’s what I’m going to focus on.
The other thing it took me a long time to understand is that talent isn’t as valuable as I always thought it was. The truth is, there are a ton of talented people in this world. In our culture and society we’ve somehow attached a certain measure of entitlement to talent. We think that because we’re pretty good and something, we’re entitled to put minimum effort into it and reap maximum rewards from it. Talent will open doors, but once you get in the room you realize it’s full of other talented people. Hard work is what separates the talented who do, from the talented who don’t.

3: Ignore What Others Think

“But do you have the power to get out from up under you.

We spend years creating and cultivating the sides of ourselves we present to the world. What do you do when you realize that who you’re presenting is pretty distant from who you really are or who you really want to be. True power is having the ability to get out from up under the you you’ve created. As much as I hate to admit it now, and as much as it makes me cringe to confess: I used to care a lot about what people thought of me. Letting that go was a huge step for me. Admitting that who I’d been was not who I best suited to be took time, but once I did – I was so surprised at how many people supported and encouraged my decision. Check out this video below. It proves that when you decide to be yourself and commit to it fully, the world will at first watch, then they’ll laugh, then they’ll mock… and then, eventually … they’ll follow.

2: “I’m Not As Dope As I Want To Be”

Ira-Glass-Quote
I read this quote, at least once a week. It’s a constant reminder that it’s completely normal to know that you suck as long as you understand that only way to get beyond that is to keep pushing through. Other than that – this pretty much speaks for itself.

1. Don’t share you’re ideas

“‘I want money like Cosby’ ‘Who Wouldn’t? It’s this kinda talk that makes me think you probably ain’t got no pudding.’”

Some people are the kind of people who “speak stuff into existence.” Some people are the kind of people who accomplish more when they work with an “accountability partner” – someone they share their ideas with so that the person can then follow up and make sure those ideas are being executed. Those kinds of people are not me. The more people I tell an idea to, the less likely it is that the idea ever becomes anything tangible. It’s a biological thing. For many of us, when we share an idea and receive a positive response from whomever we’re sharing it with, our brains release the same satisfaction inducing hormones it would have released had we actually taken the idea to completion. Basically, we’re getting the reward without actually having done the work. This kills a great deal of the motivation we had for whatever it is we want to do. Try it. The next time you have a great idea, don’t tell anyone … instead – do what I’ve learned to do… stay low and keep firing.

Original on SBM.

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