An Op-ed from DUCT

The guidelines provided by Margo Paterson have been invaluable in crafting this article. I’ve drawn on personal reflections, observations, and stories shared by fellow beneficiaries to convey our message.

Word Count: 720

• Reading Time: 4 Minutes

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George Clason, in his classic book The Richest Man in Babylon, wrote:

“Work well done does good to the man who does it. It makes him a better man.”

It makes him a better man because it takes him out of his head, which tends to default to negative thinking, and gives him something to look forward to. After the work is done, that sense of recognition for having contributed to the betterment of a company, or society, or nation brings satisfying sleep after a long day. Many of us joined our SIPS with little-to-no job experience, but today our résumés elicit self-esteem and a track record of being useful and valued. Indeed, many have attracted better jobs precisely because of these few months of work experience and/or funds to pursue better opportunities.

One thing you instantly realize when you work for the betterment of a society is how often you yourself had previously contributed to its decline — such as mindless littering in public, wasting of natural resources, and being indifferent to wrong doing. It gives you a chance to be ‘responsible’ for positive change and uniting members in communities. And this is very hard, because you begin going against the tide and rouse ridicule from peers — but as we subconsciously know already: The hard way is often the right way.

Time defines our lives. We are not shaped by the space we occupy but by how we spend the time we have in that space. And for a number of our participants, I can confidently say they understood the assignment. It’s less about on-site training and more about the vision each carries in their heart. Funders and strategic partners can only do so much. Ultimately, participants are ‘responsible’ for the bulk of the effort in managing and elevating their livelihoods.

A number of participants have moved on to permanent jobs, others now afford college fees, others have been promoted to bigger, Admin responsibilities, and others, — they are still the same people they were before this project. Why is that? Perhaps Leonardo da Vinci answered it best when he wrote in 1500: “O God, Thou sell all good things to men at the price of effort.” For positive actions often yield positive reactions. Those who show the desire and effort to improve, who raise their hands to opportunities, who yearn for knowledge, and those who, though challenged and vexed, do not give in to despair — but wake up each day optimistic about life. Yes, they tend to attract better circumstances.

One profound social value reinforced by SIPS is the return to simplicity in a society overwhelmed by media and FOMO. We are reminded to protect our natural resources, to stand against illegal dumping, and to appreciate the earth by deliberately transforming what’s neglected into thriving, profitable spaces—particularly community gardens. Our DUCT teams have embraced this and generated promising profits. On November 1st, we held an internal market day to sell produce nurtured by participants, securing R2,600 that day. The motive was to help our participants create a track record of sales and inventory management so they could pursue commercial stores for business. We are still surveying the impact these gardens have within neighboring households.

In closing, I began this journey last year in September as an Enviro Champ for DUCT. Thank you, SEF. Over the past few months, I’ve been moved to several different roles, such as M & E Data Collector and now Project Administrator. What I truly admire about the SIP that hired me is the management team. They are truly rare—loving, compassionate, and wholly invested in protecting the Duzi River, preserving natural resources, and providing employment and skills to participants. I can proudly say my bosses are professional and hardworking. In their little corner, they raise the South African flag with pride. I’ve joined them, and my key role is mentoring and collaborating with all the star participants we work with.

I am eager to find more such participants through sustained support from IDC, SEF, partnering sponsors, and the government—because in developing the mind and heart of the individual lies the hope of Africa.

More articles:

The Trials That Shape Us 

Transforming Your Reality 

Written by:

Samkelo Madlala

DUCT, SEF Project Administrator

Creating the Conditions for Success

 

Am I Putting Myself in Good Positions and Creating the Conditions for Success? — James Clear

It’s difficult to know what a ‘good position’ looks like if we haven’t exposed ourselves to diverse information, possibilities, lifestyles, and beliefs beyond our immediate environment. Our first duty, therefore, is to explore—to be curious about the world and step beyond our confines. While much is said about asking questions, I strongly recommend this habit throughout life, directed both inwardly to oneself and outwardly to reality. However, there is another practice I deeply admire: learning to trust yourself to take action without always seeking permission.

Permission often serves as a safeguard against harm, both mental and physical, and its importance is undeniable. Yet, in this vast and mysterious world, there are countless opportunities waiting to be explored. Seeking permission can sometimes hinder discovery by creating unnecessary hesitation.

Consider a student in school who decides to investigate the differences between A and C students. She discovers that A students tend to sleep eight hours, eat nourishing breakfasts, and engage in afternoon sports. Meanwhile, C students might face challenges like divorced parents, lack of stationery, or spending time in unproductive environments. Through this exploration, she gains valuable insight into what contributes to academic success. With this knowledge, she can make informed choices about positioning herself for success in school and beyond.

Similarly, an entrepreneur must explore, study, introspect, and experiment to understand why some companies thrive while others fail. Through this process, they learn key truths: luck favors those who are prepared, effort is the price of rewards, and knowledge is as crucial as action. They come to understand that customer needs are as important as the product or service offered and that success often stems from providing something scarce and valuable.

Ultimately, creating good positions requires preparation, curiosity, and courage. It means having the right information to guide actions and the trust in oneself to take bold steps when opportunity arises. So, explore boldly, question deeply, and take action without waiting for permission—this is how you create the conditions for success.

Cancelo Alvarez 

Opportunities Are Everywhere

 "It's not about the space you're in, but what you do with the time you have in that space.”

Just as Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, wrote more than 2,000 years ago: "It's not how long you live, but how well you live."

Become a strong believer in efficiency—the ability to fully utilize opportunities. Throughout life, you will encounter countless unique situations. Not all will be positive or negative, but they are all opportunities. Let’s drive the lesson home:

• It’s not which country you are born in, but what you do with the time you have in that country. Moving to another city or country can be an option, but for many, moving isn’t always feasible. Often, we find ourselves settling into routines and standards that feel familiar or confining. The challenge is to make the most of where you are, whether or not you move elsewhere.

• It’s not which school you attend, but what you do with the time you have in that school. In school, if we’re not taught early on to choose friends wisely, we may struggle with social acceptance and even face rejection. Nevertheless, those we spend time with profoundly influence our attitude, work ethic, and overall experience. Surround yourself with friends who inspire you to grow and stay focused.

• It’s not which job you start in, but what you do with the time you have in that role. If you dislike your job, improve your skills during breaks, after-hours, or on weekends. If the pay is low, consider which of your skills are most marketable and seek ways to enhance them. If the environment feels toxic, take a moment to reflect. Are you contributing to that negativity? Self-care practices like exercise, reading, and meditation can foster a more positive outlook and potentially influence your surroundings.

Remember, “Readers are leaders.” You can handle almost any circumstance or environment if you understand that most situations are temporary and are designed to reveal your true character. Positive or negative, each experience is an opportunity for growth.

A Summary of The Lord of the Rings: A World of Power, Purpose, and Perseverance

 

Introduction — By Cancelo

The Lord of the Rings is a world of Friendship, Strength, Burdens, and Boundless Hope. It’s a story of companionship that endures through unimaginable temptations and challenges. Danger is constant, lurking in the shadows; uncertainty lies at every turn. Nostalgia and desire pull on the heart, and courage is tested at every step. It's a novel for the soul.

At 1,210 pages, it’s a journey that can take months to read—but here, I’ve distilled its essence to offer you a glimpse in under four minutes.

In the style of Lucius Seneca, Dr. Brett Steenbarger and Morgan Housel:

In the world of The Lord of the Rings, we find a reflection of the ceaseless struggle of the human heart with ambition, power, sacrifice, and love. Frodo’s journey, arduous and deeply personal, reveals the weight of burden and the nature of resilience. His task is not just to bear the Ring but to resist its pull, a near-impossible feat because power, even when resisted, insinuates itself into the bearer’s mind. In our world, this dynamic plays out in our handling of money, relationships, and influence; each offers a temptation that can make us either resilient or enslaved, depending on our choices.

“Only when there are things a man will not do is he capable of doing great things.” - Mencius

Seneca would say that Frodo’s burden is a meditation on how often we fail to resist what ultimately harms us. But the Ring isn’t simply evil—it is the embodiment of potential greatness and destruction alike. This is the paradox of power. Gollum, drawn to the Ring, shows how deeply we can be compromised by our desires; for him, the Ring is life itself, a reflection of his self-worth and his ruin. He serves as a lesson in how the unchecked pursuit of something external—something meant to enhance but never define us—can consume us entirely.

“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it.” – Kahneman

The Ring’s journey across Middle-earth is the trial by fire for each character that secretly wants it for themselves. Just as Morgan Housel teaches that true wealth lies in having control over time, so The Lord of the Rings shows that true power lies in relinquishing control over others. Gandalf and Galadriel, offered the Ring, reject it because they understand that real strength is not in possessing the power to dominate but in exercising restraint and wisdom. This is perhaps Tolkien’s most powerful insight: the path to freedom is marked not by taking but by letting go, a principle as timeless as wisdom itself.

“Extraordinary flexibility is required for successful living in all spheres of activity.” - Scott Peck, The Road Less Travelled

Dr. Brett might observe that the mental and emotional endurance displayed by Frodo, Sam, and others mirrors the internal battles we face when striving for meaningful change or mastery. Frodo’s physical endurance and Sam’s unwavering loyalty are less about heroism and more about a disciplined, relentless effort to reach the end, even when the end is uncertain. This commitment to the journey above the outcome is the hallmark of resilience. Frodo’s ultimate failure to destroy the Ring alone speaks to our limits. He couldn’t resist the Ring’s influence without Gollum's intervention, and in a sense, even failures serve the purpose of the mission. It’s a reminder that the strength of any journey lies not in perfect success but in accepting help and grace, which can appear even in unlikely forms.

"The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious." — Unknown

As Seneca might say, the trials of Middle-earth serve as a reminder that adversity is often the burning, tempering flame in which our truest virtues are forged. Aragorn Son of Arathorn, having lived as a ranger, hidden from his royal birthright, represents the path of patient preparation. True leadership doesn’t come through inheritance alone, but through understanding sacrifice, humility, and patience. Likewise, in life, the call to leadership often requires that we spend years honing ourselves in obscurity so that we are ready for the responsibilities and weight that come with it.

“Unless a person has trained himself for this chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous. A great occasion is worth to a man exactly what his preparation enables him to make of it.” — J.B. Mathews

Ultimately, The Lord of the Rings teaches us that the most worthwhile endeavors are rarely completed alone. Frodo’s survival, as much as his victory, depends upon the friendship, loyalty, and strength of others. Whether it’s Gandalf’s wisdom and guidance, Aragorn’s courage & protection, or Sam’s love and integrity, Tolkien’s world shows us that there is no true success in isolation. And even if we are left altered or scarred by our journeys—as Frodo is upon his return—the essence of our achievement is not in returning unchanged but in having ventured forward with courage.

"What you become is far more important than what you get." — Jim Rohn, 7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness

Thus, The Lord of the Rings concludes with the message that life’s journey is not about claiming greatness or defeating others, but about the courage to face both the light and dark within oneself. It’s a wisdom that echoes in our world: we can strive, we can win, we can lose, but most importantly, we can endure—if we remember that no journey worth taking is traveled alone, and no power worth possessing is sought for its own sake.

“To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, loneliness, illness, mistreatment, and humiliation— I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the pain of self-doubt, and the misery of defeat. I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not – that one endures.” –Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power

Thank you for reading.

A series of the Lord of the Rings is also available at: The First Series: 1/3 or any online movie website.

Cancelo

Seize the Day

 You grow every time you get rejected.

You need stress and urgency to express more of your potential. It’s only too common for people to spend weeks and months not getting much done at all.

Oh yes! You will see many waking up every morning rushing to and fro - making calls, making plans, talking big. But the truth and the glaring reality is that very very few people actually contribute to the big things that change and influence the trajectory of our lives; economically, politically, industrially, etc. At least in my country.

Another fact to observe is that of poor time management — office workers do not spend 8 hours doing meaningful work. The fact is that you can finish your work is less than two hours, if you do not multi-task. The question is what do you do with the rest of the time you have in the day.

The average, ordinary, uninspired person will take out their phone and distract themselves, or they will get up and look for people to distract, or they will eat away their anxiety and frustrations, or they will take out their phone after putting it away to distract themselves some more.

I propose to you, my dear, that life and time are exceedingly precious raw materials — a blank page waiting for you to paint and draw your whole life plan. If you don’t pick up the pen and the paint — the blank page will not complain and shout at you. It will sit there and wait, sometimes forever, until your dissolution back into eternal darkness.

Yet while you sit and postpone your life — the politicians you criticize are out there getting things done, the entrepreneurs who sell you products are out there getting rejected and fighting for their vision, the athletes are out there sweating and recovering from defeats, the writers are out there learning about the history and the future of the human kind — enriching their minds and souls. Appreciating and recognizing the magnanimity and grandeur of the Universe, of God the creator.

Good people are busy getting better and getting things done for others, they aren’t living in their mind, they aren’t overthinking everything, they aren’t victimizing themselves.

It’s a beautiful and exciting universe for the optimists and the hard workers. A heaven on earth.

Cancelo Alvarez

The Other Side of Hardship

 “Difficulty is what wakes up the genius.” — Nassim N. Taleb

Maybe we should begin with a lesser term than genius — How is maturity developed?

It is developed through a prolonged lack of comfort and privilege — which, depending on the stuff the individual is made of — can either break or build his spirit. By spirit I refer to hope for better things, the will to overcome bitter times, and the courage to absorb reality as it is — without running away or crying for mercy.

All the people I know who enjoy a pleasant life as a result of bold, unusual choices, had a lonely, painful, difficult past, where they had to learn how to quickly get smarter, wiser, mentally stronger. You naturally become self-driven once you realize no one is coming to help. People often assume you are cheerful and positive because you had a comfortable past. It’s precisely the opposite. You had to deal with the worst, and now understand the wiser way to handle the difficulties of life.

Difficulty is what wakes up the genius — yes indeed. But it is also difficulty that wakes up the worst in us — which leads us to crime, addiction, and suicide.

Constant and unwavering self-awareness and the curiosity to understand this large and mysterious world — accompanied by a slow burning fire within our hearts which just refuses to die regardless of the storms and winds that attack it from every side, a mind that realizes the glory of human kind - the intelligence and willpower bestowed into every child of the universe.

These are the requirements to turn problems into opportunity, pain into lessons, defeat into strength.

Cancelo Alvarez

Emotional Awareness: The Key to Resilience

 Every great story happened when someone decided not to give up.

From personal experience, giving up often stems from negative emotions. These emotions not only go untrained but are also given room to grow until they’ve eroded the will and drive needed to pursue something meaningful, courageous, or impactful with one’s life and resources — both internal and external, physical and mental.

Why emotions? Because we experience them continuously. Every waking hour, we encounter a range of emotions, which we label differently as moods, excitement, annoyance, hope, doubt, poise, confusion, and so on.

Our choices and actions largely depend on the emotions currently influencing us. The longer and more frequently we feel a certain emotion, the more it shapes our decisions. For instance:

A moody person — often linked with negative traits — may find every reason to withdraw from others, building walls at the slightest hint of misunderstanding or disagreement. Similarly, a doubtful person might consistently look for evidence of their inadequacy. While they may start by challenging these thoughts, trying new things here and there, repeated disappointment can strengthen the habit of doubt until it becomes second nature.

In the end, persisting through life’s inevitable defeats and disappointments requires continuous self-awareness. By recognizing and curbing negative emotions, we can create space to cultivate positive ones.

Positive emotions help us see opportunities in problems, growth in losses, self-discovery in disappointments, and joy in small wins.

“It’s a learning process, and mistakes made in one year often contribute to competence and success in succeeding years.” — Warren Buffett

Remember, “Until death, all defeat is psychological.”

Negative emotions distort setbacks, isolating us from the way the world actually works — for everyone.

Strength Revealed: The Trials that Shape Us

 Until death, all defeat is psychological.

What an unrestrained giant our emotions can become when they are poorly trained to obey our resolutions and values. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve came across super inspiring anecdotes of daring courage, infinite patience, and god-like humility from role models who encountered testing and crushing obstacles but who just maintained their self-control and did not allow emotions to take the driving seat.

Yes, these examples have never failed to inspire me to such levels of self-control until the moment of challenge — particularly when my self-image or ego is challenged and opposed, or completely disregarded.

One can never be sure of one’s strength until numerous difficulties have appeared on every side, or indeed until the moment when they have come quite close. — Seneca

It is when we are exposed that we should thoroughly evaluate our perceived progress — and this opportunity happens every day.

What annoys you masters you.

We all have countless examples of little and big, significant and insignificant worries and challenges that annoy and vex on our internal peace. I propose these are precisely invented to help us tame that emotional giant, which is imbedded within us from generations of human history, and become a little bit stronger and better prepared against it’s incessant attacks — which can truly break us if we’re weak and careless.

Fortune tests the spirits mettle. A boxer who has never suffered a beating cannot bring bold spirits to the match. It is the one who has seen his own blood — who has heard his teeth crunch under the first — the one who, though forced to yield, has never yielded in spirit, who after falling rises fiercer every time: that is the one who goes to the contest with vigorous hope. — Seneca

Written by:

Cancelo Alvarez

The Purpose of Knowledge

 The purpose of knowledge is not knowledge, but action.

Books, mentorship, school, and any kind of knowledge out there that is true and factual, is actually there to open your eyes — to see things not as you want them but as they are, and then you use what you see (and learn) to improve yourself, and your lifestyle.

This is why it’s crucially important and advantageous to learn from well-researched, well-informed schools and books, because it’s only too easy for the student to accumulate biased and distorted information, passed down from a different time and age, that has once evolved into something new and widely different.

Parenting may be the leading cause of distorted and biased mentorship. This is because parents and relatives can only preach what they themselves received and believe. And if the parents are not particularly skilled, disciplined, hard working, and mature, what they teach is most likely to be harmful.

As the child grows, they’ll encounter unique situations, and without great mentorship or genuine teachers prepared in advance, they have nowhere to go but back to their parents or worse, society, who are supposed to help the child maneuver successfully within these testing obstacles. The truth, again, is that parents will advise what they know and believe, not, in most cases, what is true and progressive. Because most likely what’s truly progressive is often uncertain, risky, and challenging.

To close, I am not shunning parents or schools — I am merely saying you have to do better than to receive information at face-value. To be a thinker, you have to appreciate the complexity and abundance of opinions in the world — and research, and then earn, what’s true and valuable for you — for your spirit.

A thinker is like a filter, in which truths as they pass through leave their best substance behind. — The Intellectual Life

College vs Work Ethic

 “You don’t need college - in fact you don’t even need High School.” — Elon Musk

It boils down to work ethic.

If College hasn’t taught you to think on your feet, than it hasn’t taught you much.

To think on your feet is:

• To see opportunity in problems,
• To find strength in pain,
• To celebrate smalls wins in the midst of crushing losses,

You see, you get success, you don’t claim nor wait for it - it’s not given, it is worked for — in short, earned.

Earned through ceaseless effort, effort after effort — bursts of energy and drive — childlike excitement - self-belief.

What truly matters is not what or where you’ve studied but what you can do—and how much you’re willing to learn.

Cancelo Alvarez 

The Test of a Student

 “The test of a student is not how much he knows, but how much he wants to know.”

The extent of his will to embrace embarrassment by openly acknowledging his ignorance when he has detected it — to truly embrace the ordinary lessons and discoveries that connect the pieces to the extraordinary. For life is so designed that unless we have understood the basics, we cannot appreciate, comprehend, and realize the complex. Indeed, it is similar to opportunities. Which, like information, will imperceptibly pass you by in broad daylight simply because you are not trained nor equipped with the resources to realize it.

When we know something, we feel valuable, if not superior, and there is nothing wrong with this. What is wrong is when our superiority is threatened by the detection of ignorance along the path. 

When we’re well informed, we are useful, and even life-changing to those who do not know. When we refuse to acknowledge our ignorance, however, we are destructive to our own selves. And then we pollute our environment with our ego — which then spreads to affect everyone, including those who truly look up to us — our children and associates, which creates a society of know-it-alls. A society that perceives the detection of ignorance as weakness, not as opportunity to grow and explore further.

A student is not distinguished by age or time. We are all students of the game of life. And so, let this be your daily guide.

Modesty in your current abilities, curiosity towards this immense universe, and an acceptance of your flaws.

Cancelo Alvarez

Self-Awareness & Introspection

 Self-awareness allows you to self-correct.

How do we build self-awareness? There are many ways — but I’d like to mention a few that have stuck with me.

If you’ve just had a bad day, the default behavior is to want to forget about it as soon as you can, to avoid any detail that might remind you of the experience, to either close yourself in your private space and distract yourself away or get out to seek outside distraction, bad or good for you, to do whatever you can to forget.

But, that isn’t how we build self-awareness. Quite the contrary, self-awareness requires you to precisely go against your default or conditioned behavior. Your conditioned response, firstly, is to avoid pain. Secondly, to protect your ego from being attacked, and thirdly, to avoid challenge. But, without self-awareness we tend to repeat mistakes and bad days. 

Self-awareness, that humble, curious, and persistent attitude within every person is actually there to support and guide us away from avoidable mistakes — it is there to ask the confronting, painful questions very few are ready to face:

Self-awareness will ask you:

• Apart from what he or she did to you, what did YOU do that led to this mistake or bad day?
• Apart from what you were not given, what did YOU do or not do to make things better for yourself?
• Yes, people are selfish, but why did you trust another person more than you trusted yourself?
• Yes, money and jobs are scarce, but what skills have you developed to make yourself better than you were last month?

You get the point. And the point is that a humble and curious attitude allows you self-correct and therefore improve yourself, regardless of how bad or hopeless the situation has become.

A humble and curious attitude enables you to examine, persistently, the bad days as they come.

A humble and curious attitude encourages you to turn pain into strength, loss into opportunity, defeat into progress.

Self-awareness allows you to self-correct.

Cancelo Alvarez

The Challenge of Personal Finance

A Reflection on Healthy Choices

By Cancelo Alvarez

This past weekend, I once again examined my personal finances. After five years of reading and self-development, I’ve finally grasped the root challenge people face with money management. It’s the same challenge people face in looking after their mental and physical well-being.

As Scott Peck writes in The Road Less Traveled, we all have a healthy self and a sick self. And because life is designed with an inevitable end, many have adopted the sick self, almost as a way of damning existence. They’ve given up on living with purpose, values, or a positive outlook amidst the certainty of death.

However, unlike mental or physical well-being, neglecting your financial well-being hits you immediately. Let me explain. Skipping exercise this week won’t make you unfit, skipping a book won’t lead to a lack of inspiration, and skipping deep breathing won’t lead to disaster. But skipping your savings this week will leave you unprepared for an emergency months later. Buying fast food today ensures you’ll have fewer resources in the kitchen in a couple of days.

In other words, financial decisions are among the most critical choices you’ll make. They determine whether you live in poverty or tranquility.

Four Essentials for Managing Personal Finance

As you reflect on these, think about how far you’ve come with each—and feel free to share any strategies you’ve found helpful.

1. Investments: Are you building investments that will one day replace your salary?
   Think of real estate, shares in stocks, or even side hustles that gradually grow over time.
2. Income: Do you have a reliable income from valuable skills you’ve developed?
3. Savings: Are you saving aggressively? Are you saving at all?
4. Expenses: Do you track your spending? Do you know how much you’re spending on recurring expenses each month?

Many struggle financially because they neglect one or two of these essentials, usually savings and investments, and then wonder why they never have enough to live the life they want.

Investments are hard because they require sacrificing instant gratification. Instead of buying a new car or wardrobe, you put that money into something that grows over time. Savings are equally difficult because life’s unexpected turns can always shake your discipline. Yet, in the long run, those who save and invest consistently find themselves more successful and secure.

Ultimately, it’s not just about surviving—it’s about thriving financially, by making every decision today a step toward your future freedom. So, which of these essentials are you mastering, and which ones still need work? 

Brave Enough to Grow

Reading Time: 1 minute

• 300 words

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It is exceedingly hard and uncomfortable to point out and address one’s weaknesses—yet it is strangely tempting, even enjoyable, to point out the weaknesses of others.

How do we find balance between these two extremes? I propose a simple mental habit, especially for those who desire growth over pretense.

If you are reading these words, it means that you are human. Unlike animals, which cannot read or be taught to do so, humans possess unique abilities. As humans, we share specific strengths and weaknesses. Somewhere within all of us lies the potential to excel—whether as public speakers, inventors, or individuals capable of resilience after failure. Likewise, buried within us are the roots of envy, bitterness, and other negative traits that trouble the human heart.

Recognizing this shared humanity can lead to a profound realization: The weaknesses we identify in others often mirror weaknesses within ourselves.

Here is a habit I propose for those brave enough to try it:

When you identify a weakness in a friend or stranger, immediately ask yourself: In what way is this very weakness inherent in me? In other words, how am I, like my friend or this stranger, also unaware of my own shortcomings—whether it’s bad breath, poor food choices, or a negative reaction to feedback?

This habit offers solid benefits: It increases awareness of our own weaknesses, reduces the tendency to criticize others, and fosters a deeper appreciation for our shared human experience. We are all connected, revolving together on this large globe called Earth, suspended in the vastness of the universe.

Cancelo Alvarez

Broken Teachers, Broken Students

Reading Time. 1.5 minutes

• 345 words

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 "When teachers are confused and uninspired — they will contribute to the general failure and complacency rate."

I wrote an article dedicated to Your Environment last month. The aim of this article was to emphasize that ‘education’ in a destructive, stagnant environment can easily turn to dust and a badge of shame.

Think about this, our parents, to make a living, have to choose a career, and usually the most readily available careers are government-run, such as nursing, security, and teaching. A parent is fundamentally a human who’s either consciously decided to get a child or unconsciously brought one into the world through lack of awareness. Therefore a parent is also a child with great responsibility to raise another child. A parent is a child because they are still learning about life, making mistakes, fighting their fears, filled with uncertainty, and more.

A person who is turned into teacher because they’ve met the system requirements but has no love or inclination for teaching is an exceedingly harmful person to the youth and to the glory of mankind. I shivered when this dawned into my mind — that, some of my school teachers were actually parents at home. Parents who were failing at parenting. Parents who are overweight because they are greedy around food, parents who are in debt because they are frivolous with money, parents who are mean and bitter because they’ve been hurt and betrayed by their romantic partners. In other words, parents who contribute, rather than reduce, to the confusion and the trauma transferred onto the youth.

I cannot help but strongly believe that had I been educated in a closed-environment by one or two dedicated mentors I would have thrived during my teenage years compared to this shuffling exposure to many uninspired teachers.

Children and teenagers are faced with a lot of challenges; poor parenting, destructive environments, peer pressure, self-doubt — but what’s frequently ignored is the added confusion and bitterness they get from teachers who are utter failures in their personal lives!

Home school your child, is my conclusion.

Cancelo Alvarez

 

Transforming Your Reality

Reading time: 1 minute

“Everything is Energy and that is all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.” — Albert Einstein

In other words:

"Unless a person has prepared himself for this chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous. A great occasion is worth to a man exactly what his preparation enables him to make of it." — Earl Nightingale

When your whole being — mind, heart, and soul — Loves, Understands, and Believes in a specific reality, your energy becomes continuously and directly invested in it. This creates a positive cycle of energy. Small wins compound, small exploratory failures teach, understanding spreads and deepens, eventually, your belief in self and that reality transcends normality.

What is normality? The state of complacency. It is unclear whether you are in or you are out. No, it’s not really uncertainty. It is simply the refusal, obvious or hidden, of fully committing your heart and soul into a certain reality or vision. The state of normality dominates your mind and that of society. This is why you must transcend it first before you may enter the stage of, for lack of a better word, attraction.

You attract the reality you want when you match, mentally, spiritually, and physically the frequency, that is, the implicit alignment and understanding of the requirements of your desired reality.

And so standing here today, in a nutshell, I would recommend to you an obsession for your chosen desire — for only such an abnormal approach may fulfill the gaps of understanding that now separate you from your desired reality!

Cancelo Alvarez

 

Rising Above Financial Struggles

Reading time: 2 minutes

• 350 words

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You shouldn’t have time to complain about life being hard. You should be busy getting physically stronger, mentally sharper, financially in a better place, building relationships with loyal friends who have your back, taking smart risks and investing in your future freedom. 

How to Improve Financially When It Feels Like You've Tried Everything

Many people feel stuck financially, convinced they've exhausted all options—school, job applications, even going door-to-door in search of work. When nothing seems to work, it's easy to believe that no one values your skills or what you can offer. But often, the biggest barrier isn't the lack of opportunities; it's a negative outlook and a pessimistic view of oneself and the world.

Before blaming external factors, reflect inwardly: Are you holding onto negativity and desperation? I've been there, and this mindset never worked. What did work was maintaining a positive attitude, having hope in myself, and committing to self-improvement.

Focus on Self-Improvement

1. Wellness: Exercise to combat stress and negativity caused by financial pressure. Meditation helps clear pessimistic thoughts, revives gratitude which creates space for resilience. 

2. Learning: Read to uplift your spirit and develop skills that open new doors, even if they start small.

3. Networking: Reach out, start conversations, ask questions, and offer support. Rejection is part of the process, but each connection brings new chances.

I once spent months applying to companies in distant cities, only to discover through a chance conversation that a company just 10 minutes away was hiring over 100 participants—and they needed someone like me. Had I been too afraid to speak to a stranger, I would have missed that chance entirely.

Rise Above Desperation

"If you find yourself filled with the anger and desperation of smothering poverty, you have to rise above it to communicate your hope. You have to reach inside yourself and find your sense of self-worth and your belief that you can and will do better. Then you have to reach out and communicate that belief." — Kent Nerburn, Simple Truths

Financial struggles can be overwhelming, but the key is to keep believing in yourself and taking action. Focus on what you can control: your mindset, skills, and interactions. With positivity and relentless effort, you'll be better positioned to seize opportunities that arise. 

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The Inner Duel

 Reading Time: 1 minute

• 223 words

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People get offended by many things when they are insecure: you are not poor because millionaires exist, you are not unpopular because good-looking people exist, you are not average because smart, talented people exist. You are the product of your training, efforts, risk-taking. — Orange Book

It’s You vs You. Truly, it is. You win the Gold medal not because you did better than everyone on the day of the performance, but because of your dedicated, deliberate preparation vs lousy, unguided training, because of your sincere commitment to small improvements of your strengths and weaknesses vs an indifferent attitude to either or both, because of your willingness to compete in the first place vs your resistance to challenge!

It is You vs You because you possess a Healthy Self and a Sick Self. For ages and ages it has always been that way. The two polarities you see around you: good vs evil, love vs hate, loss vs gain, tears vs laughter, etc. are all taking place within you also, and they compete for your attention.

The trick, therefore, to doing well is first accepting that you are both Sick and you are both Healthy. You are capable of being extremely sick if you choose to think so, and you are capable of being almost flawlessly healthy if you commit yourself to that also.

And secondly is it realizing that whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into — is largely dependent on which Self you feed minutely.

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Celebrating Our Similarities

• Reading Time: 2 minutes
  • 370 Words

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 I discovered people are alike in many more ways than they are different.

I was heavily influenced by Morgan Housel when he wrote, “The dead outnumber the living 14 to 1, and we ignore the accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind at our peril.”

In my early teenage years, I relocated to a more crowded environment, and in this large community, it seemed to me that people were convinced of how special they are—egotistical, indifferent, and insensitive to others. You see this in the levels of liquor and substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, crime, and the stagnation of adults. I strongly believe these individuals have willfully refused to study and learn about others. They’ve convinced themselves they know it all.

Worse, if they don’t know something, pointing it out only irritates them.

In such communities, where most believe themselves unique and special, you often find the most ordinary, wretched, and ignorant. They are ordinary because they follow what their friends or neighbors suggest; wretched because they lack the discipline to forge a new path, conforming instead and growing bitter; and ignorant because they repeat the same cowardly and selfish mistakes that shaped their upbringing.

Only when people begin to study humanity—the intricate, machine-like mind, the triumphs and failures of the past—do they become, not necessarily unique, but authentic, original, and daring. Only then do they appreciate the similarities between one another, not to lament over, but to celebrate strengths, alleviate weaknesses, and find a healthy balance between pleasure and purpose.

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The Heart's Path: Choosing Gratitude Over Negativity

 We internalize, not just what we do, but what we feel. — Dr. Brett

Having developed the habit of finding a problem in every idea, every new experience, every opportunity—the human heart develops the worst of all traits: the inability to be grateful. This fosters feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, and vulnerability in the face of positivity, sincerity, and grace.

Having made it a conscious and willful routine to pause and reflect on all the small and big advantages, gifts and wins — the human heart internalizes a deep sense of gratitude, a prevailing feeling of fulfillment, contentment, and inner tranquility.

Both these feelings stem from small, very tiny choices made daily—choices that grow, expand, and multiply until they become hard and dominant.

Meet an ungrateful person, and they may well shake your inner peace, make you doubt your heart’s purity, and influence a sense of inadequacy within you. It takes preparation and resolve to maintain one’s inner tranquility in such encounters.

Meet a grateful, sincere person, and you will feel a sense of freedom. For a time, you forget all your problems, your shortcomings, under their reassuring gaze. Your heart will expand. You will feel great indeed.

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Reading Time: 1 minute

• 229 Words

Knowledge vs. Environment

 Education is Key to Success, But So Is the Environment You Engage With Every Day

We tend to focus on education as the primary driver of success, often neglecting the environment in which we are situated. Yet, knowledge alone is not enough. It helps you discover principles, the ‘right way,’ and then convert those insights into daily choices guided by values. However, your values can easily intermingle with those of your circle or community.

In fact, it’s very easy for this to happen because your circle often includes your parents and the community that raised you. Naturally, you’ve adopted their worldview and preferences. With the acquisition of knowledge, you’re attempting to reverse, relearn, and unlearn unproductive preferences and habits. But reversing and unlearning is an exceedingly uncertain process—one that requires more than just intellectual effort. It’s crucial that you change your environment simultaneously.

Why? Because what you learn can easily be used against you if your environment doesn’t support your growth. Phrases like, “You’re mean,” “You’re too ambitious,” “You’re not realistic,” or “You’re too serious,” can quickly undermine your progress.

In my opinion, great knowledge will only thrive when you are in an environment that recognizes, appreciates, and honors that kind of knowledge. This often boils down to your character and choices, which are deeply influenced by your surroundings.

As Darren Hardy wisely observed:

“The people with whom we spend our time determine what conversations dominate our attention, and to which attitudes and opinions we are regularly exposed. Eventually, we start to eat what they eat, talk like they talk, read what they read, think like they think, watch what they watch, treat people how they treat them, even dress like they dress.”

In other words, the environment you engage with every day shapes who you become just as much as the knowledge you acquire. To truly succeed, it’s essential to not only focus on your education but also carefully curate the environment that nurtures your growth.

The Mental Sunlight -- Breathing

 

Henepola Gunaratana: Mindfulness In Plain English

Book Summary in 300 words, 1 minute reading time:

What you are now is a result of what you were. What you will be tomorrow will be the result of what you are now. The consequences of an evil mind will follow you like the cart follows the ox that pulls it. The consequences of a purified mind will follow you like your own shadow. No one can do more for you than your own purified mind—no parent, no relative, no friend, no one. A well-disciplined mind brings happiness and self-assurance.

This is why we sit down each day with eyes closed, listening to nature or soothing music — Meditation is intended to purify the mind. It cleanses the thought process of what can be called psychic irritants, things like greed. Hatred and jealousy, things that keep you snarled up in emotional bondage. It brings the mind to a state of tranquility and awareness, a state of concentration and insight. In this state of self-awareness, dark mental clouds are temporary. In the opposite state, our minds are always cloudy, never experiencing the warmth of sunlight and the clear blue sky of contentment.

The idea of meditation is to go in as one person and come out a different person altogether, by making one aware of one’s own thoughts and actions, reflecting on them as much as possible, and remaining in the moment.

Civilization changes man on the outside. Meditation softens him within, through and through. Meditation is called the Great Teacher.

Patience is key. Patience. If you learn nothing else from meditation, you will learn patience. And that is the most valuable lesson available.

"What stops us from saying that the happy life is to have a mind that is free, confident, fearless, and steady? A mind that is beyond the reach of fear and desire...

A person with such a mind will naturally be cheerful and deeply joyful, finding delight in their own resources and desiring no joys greater than their inner joys."

— Seneca, Letters From A Stoic

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Further Reading: 

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

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Daily Journaling: Your Path to Self-Mastery and Growth

It may well be that we don't need so much to correct our weaknesses as to improve our access to our strengths. -- Dr. Brett Steenbarger

The key word: Access, to our strengths. In my years as a daily reader of self-help and philosophical content, I am convinced of one direct way to access our strengths, while simultaneously becoming aware of our weaknesses: Journaling.

Weaknesses hinder progress by their destructive nature — generally it’s either we are OVER-doing something, or UNDER-doing something, normally we will UNDER-do something hard but important for our growth, and, astonishingly, we will OVER-do something trivial and harmful to our growth! We will over-eat, we will over-react to passing emotions, we will over-rate failure. Consequently, we will under-do exercise, we will under-do any form of self-improvement.

Consequently we will not discover and sharpen our strengths — and without strengths, how can we ever compete at the highest levels? Where talents and strengths contribute to victory.

Through daily journaling - you will raise your awareness on these human tendencies, or human weaknesses — and, you will improve, daily, weekly, yearly — you will master yourself.

You will strengthen your strengths & talents — you will starve your weaknesses.

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 Reading time: -1 minute

• 187 words

Train, Discover, Perform

 The more we improve how we train, the more we expand our range of possible performance. — Shane Parish

Another way to look at it, as Dr. Brett suggests: “When you exercise your talents, they will multiply.”

Consistent training leads to frequent and rapid discoveries in both our field of performance and ourselves. Through these discoveries, we learn our preferred tools and approaches, summarized as Best Practices.

In my experience, Best Practices focus on systematizing processes, conserving energy, and maximizing strengths. Experimenting with each best practice for at least a month is beneficial as it allows us to collect enough data on its efficiency and effectiveness. This means that if you’re continually experimenting, it is not unusual to replace a best practice multiple times before you find the one or two that truly resonate with you, implicitly and explicitly. 

Implicitly, you enjoy applying this tool or approach. Explicitly, it has proven to be the most efficient, conserves energy, complements your strengths, and increases potential rewards with growing experience.

We cannot achieve peak performance without experimenting with various best practices. Peak performance arises from understanding our field, developing cutting-edge shortcuts, and aligning our inborn talents with our preferences.

"Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own." — Bruce Lee

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Reading Time: 194 Words

• -1 minute

The Power of Now — Teaching It To A Child

 Wherever You Are, Be There Totally. — Eckhart Tolle

The best description of a focused life.

Becoming Aware of the Constant Inner Voice:

• We often assume that a person is mentally ill only when they visibly mutter to themselves in public. However, even the majority of ‘normal’ people are excessively controlled by their minds—always thinking, judging, and comparing—mostly about useless and repetitive stuff. It’s not uncommon for this inner voice to be someone’s own worst enemy, tormenting and draining vital energy.
• Your mind is a tool, but when you’re addicted to thinking, you’re no longer able to lay it down. It negatively runs your life.
• Your habitual mental state attracts certain vibes and circumstances in your life. For example, observe the case of ‘gratitude’ vs. ‘ingratitude’. Sit down for two minutes with an ungrateful 60-year-old, and they will complain and decry how negative and hopeless life is—but this is merely their mental state. Another 60-year-old may be so grateful to have even reached that age. It’s a miracle to them.
• The greater part of human pain is unnecessary and self-created through some form of non-acceptance and unconscious resistance to what is.
• Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it — work with it, not against it. This is how resilience and courage are built into the human soul.

A Summary of Fear:

• The ego-dominated mind cannot afford to be wrong. To be wrong is to die. This manifests as fear of loss, fear of rejection, defending mental positions, and ultimately fear of death, which is non-acceptance of what is.
• Observe the habitual tendency of your mind to escape the NOW, either by imagining a better future, which gives hope, or a worse one, which causes anxiety—but ultimately, both are illusory.

The Joy of Being:

• The moment you realize you are not present, You Are Present. Be present as the watcher of your mind and thoughts. Otherwise, fear will dominate your mind.
• Adopt this as a daily exercise: Ask yourself— is there joy, ease, and lightness in what I am doing? Because the moment your attention turns to the NOW, you feel a presence, a stillness, a peace. You do not derive your sense of worth from the material world—through fame, wealth, or success—you are whole and satisfied with yourself now.
• Gratitude for your life now, your current self, and everything you have will open gates unimaginable to you.
  • Check out the song: Blessings by Hlengiwe Mhlaba

Discovering Yourself:

• You discover yourself not by digging through the past—that’s an endless quest. Instead, you discover yourself by paying attention to the NOW: your desires, your reactions, your fears, etc. For example, if [name] says, “Let’s go rock-climbing,” my reaction to that will reveal a lot about my inner state and my past beliefs about heights and risk-taking.
• Egos are drawn to egos. Darkness cannot recognize light. Your circle of friends (and mentors) says a LOT about you.
• To attract decent, mindful, kind, and loving people in your life, be all of that first.

Benefits of Inner Peace:

• Aging also comes from overthinking and laziness, which is overthinking even simple actions.

  "We suffer more often in imagination than in reality." - Seneca

• The vastness and stillness of the universe is also within you—not in size but in depth—as peace, as love, as joy.

Conclusion

"What stops us from saying that the happy life means having a mind that is free, confident, fearless, and steady? A mind that is beyond the reach of fear and desire...

A person with such a mind will naturally be cheerful and deeply joyful, finding delight in their own resources and desiring no joys greater than their inner joys." — Seneca, Letters From A Stoic

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Reading time: 3 minutes

• Words: 600

 

Life Is A Long Meditation

 “A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.”

I liken a man’s life to a long meditation, that is bound to come to an end. This is my mantra and philosophy.

If you’ve ever meditated before, or simply practiced Yoga - you might have realized the impatience and agitation your mind caused, even if you were just waiting for ten minutes of clock-time to end. Now, how you endure that ten minutes or forty minutes of meditation is quite an excellent reflection of how you are currently enduring, living, and appreciating your entire life.

In meditation, though you are simply seated — you encounter various mental storms, sunshine, depression and peace — to name a few! But that is exactly what we go through in our entire lives. And my conclusion is that if you master ten or an hour of meditation — master in the sense of experiencing prolonged peace, tranquility and gratitude — you will also master this game of life.

Storms you will reduce by your calmness, depression will be foreign to you, and you will indeed live in sunshine and peace — even though the external world may be in turmoil.

I assure this life game is a mental game. Study, observe, and understand your mind and you will have understood life in its entirety.

If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without. — Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

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Reading Time: 1 minutes

• 251 words

 

Why We Sabotage Ourselves

 click on the image

• The talent you want is the training you avoid. 
• The growth you want is the suffering you avoid.
• The wealth you want is the uncertainties you avoid. 
• The health you want is the lifestyle changes you avoid. — Orange Book, Twitter

I recently read that those who lack the courage to do will always find a philosophy — a perfectly reasonable story to first tell themselves and then the world, as to why they cannot do something. Talent falls mainly under that category. Once the average person discovers the amount of work and commitment expected of them to achieve a certain skill and broad understanding of their field, they are thoroughly discouraged.

Few will overcome this instinct and commit to the work, but even for them, it’s only a matter of time before they say goodbye and find a good story too. We’re then left with what you hear called “The 1%” — the champions, the masters, the greats. When you look deeper into their lives, you simply discover a long, arduous, and disciplined journey of consistency regardless of innumerable obstacles!

Yet, of all these avoided paths, I am interested in the lifestyle changes an average person will avoid, and yet are required, to achieve the health, or fitness they desire. Here, it's less about sheer willpower or consistency and more about self-knowledge and a clear life-map -- the “WHY” you desire health will get you through all those simple veggies over mouthfuls of junk, those bitter alternatives over sugar, that ‘unreasonable’ weekly exercise program which seems to go nowhere for months of hard work. Perhaps your WHY is to feel vibrant in old age, or more attractive to employers, etc. No matter -- so long as it gets you out of your mind and onto the road - it's good enough. 

I feel Orange Book has captured the essence of life in just four lines, and Charlie Munger, the great investor, would somehow agree:

"You will be most successful where you are most intensely interested.

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Further Reading:

The Unsung Hero

Reading Time: 1 minutes

• 280 words

Anger: A Glitch in the Human System

 You get less angry as you get smarter. — Orange Book

The emotion of anger is exceedingly mysterious to me — the whole unfolding from annoyance to frustration to out-right anger makes a person dangerous and unknown to his very self. I am an adult so I have experienced this progression, in its many disguises, and I can humbly assure you it is very hard to manage and overcome — particularly depending on one’s upbringing and/or current environment & culture.

One of the greatest writers, Lucius Seneca, a stoic philosopher, wrote a whole book on Anger, a piece from it:

The point is to know what anger is; for if it comes into being against our will, it will never yield to reason—indeed, any movements that occur independent of our will cannot be overcome or avoided, like shivering when we’re sprinkled with cold water, or disgust at touching certain things, or the way our hair stands on end at bad news, or the dizziness that comes over us when we look down from a cliff.

In summary, since anger is an emotion, a mere fault in our minds — it can be healed by instruction, by self-awareness.

Constant reminders as you depart your house: “I will encounter many people who are devoted to drink, many who are lustful, many who are ungrateful, many who are greedy, many who are driven by the demons of ambition.” All such behaviors you will regard as kindly as a doctor does his own patients. Not because you are a doctor, but because you understand the human mind and the consequences of being carried away by anger to extremes and consequently to remorse and regret.

Advice from an 80 year old to the youth I once came across: “Avoid anything that will cause you remorse. It is a disease to the mind that is hard to heal.”

"The greatest remedy for anger is delay." — Seneca

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• Reading Time: 1 minute
  • 300 words

Don't Dim Your Light

 We look up to people who stand out. But we are always trying to fit in. See the problem?

Are we not naturally and instinctively attracted to “heroes” as children — where we quite idolize a man or woman because not only are they exceling in their talent or role, but because they are exceling in something we love — a field we feel deeply connected with.

We are. And I would go further and assert that your particular hero in childhood made you come alive, they gave you a certain burning spirit, you may have even felt you had wings yourself, and swift legs, and a genius mind, and so on, — all from watching your hero.

Philosopher & Novelist Ayn Rand writes in the introduction of The Fountainhead:

The best of mankind’s youth start out in life with a sense of enormous expectation, the sense that one’s life is important, that great achievements are within one’s capacity, and that great things lie ahead … It is not in the nature of man—nor of any living entity—to start out by giving up…

But you will not see this anywhere, no. The majority of adults are taught and actually prefer a life of certainty & dependability. So they recommend it to the youth; yes, forcefully recommend fitting in. Because to positively “stand-out” is risky, stressful, foolish, unnecessary, reserved for so and so. But this way of living is detrimental because it plants a fear of failure, self-doubt, and self-pity — consequently we shrink from even the smallest risk of change or uncertainty. We become shallow through and through.

And yet, we look up to people who stand out as children because we feel deeply that their lives are exciting, vibrant & influential!

Fight the urge to fit in — live daringly.

“Only when there are things a man will not do is he capable of doing great things.”

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• Reading time: 1 minute
  • 300 words

Beyond Time Management

Consistent consistency will guarantee you success. - Orange Book

It's very hard to be consistent, even harder to be consistently diligent like we were yesterday or last year—especially when our consistency has yielded only negative results, as in competitive arenas like sports or business. Nonetheless, consistency is our most certain practice to enlarge ability.

Even the sun is not consistently visible—a mere cloud can block sunlight for hours. Similarly, a mere distraction can cause you to skip practice. But the sun is consistent, and so are world-class athletes and businesses producing daily needs. My guess is that these people or entities are well-led. Leadership is the first step to consistency. Leadership entails a clear vision, and therefore, clear direction of Do’s & Don’ts.

First, we prioritize not tasks, but elevated states in which we are most productive. This includes sleeping well, eating healthy, and exercising. As long as you wake up each day with renewed hunger and energy to practice your strengths and your craft, I strongly believe your success is guaranteed.

Lack of consistency and therefore rapid progress is due to mismanaging not time, but our energy and attention. You may spend time practicing your craft, but if you're running on drained energy or batteries, you're most likely wasting time.

Let me say this: strive to practice with utmost hunger, energy, and diligence. That, in fact, may guarantee success—if you crack the code to repeat it daily for years.

"Jack had enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is the best shortening for any job; it makes heavy work light." — Ben Graham

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Further Reading:

The Unsung Talent

Reading Time: 1 minute

• 261 words

 

The Two Hungers

 You might feel less anxious when you keep yourself busy, but you will only truly feel at peace once you are doing something meaningful, something that actually matters. 

Jim, who’s a director in my company, loves to share the two different hungers each human has: the Small Hunger and the Big Hunger.

The Small Hunger refers to food and our basic daily needs. The Big Hunger — which is not so easy to satisfy, nor cheat — has to do with meaning: the love of our work, the impact we have on our society and country — the hunger for being truly valuable.

Being an adult is difficult. One of these difficulties is finding your meaning—your particular field of interest that will truly grip your heart, paint your mind with enthusiasm and liveliness, and give you the rare courage to embrace old age and death. The difficulty comes directly from all the different opinions we receive from the world on what to do with our lives.

But adults have the power to choose. The power to think everything through. To deliberate, to doubt, to question, to research, to learn from your past and the past of human nature what has worked and what hasn’t. This power will guide you in this labyrinth, this web of options thrown at your awareness. I hope that sooner or later, you choose what truly grips your soul. And go on to do it — knowing that fear can never be completely extinguished. It is our companion, but so are courage, enthusiasm, and the will to do.

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Further Reading

The Unsung Talent

Reading time: 1 minute

• 250 words

The Graduation Within

 

The real graduation is when your mind is calm. —Orange Book, Twitter

Maintaining a calm mental state that is conducive to self-awareness; this is what I most value in my adult-life.

Being self-aware, I am able to perceive accurately which attitude is currently dominating my mind: and take measures if needed, that is, assume a more useful, enthusiastic, and constructive attitude in the face of challenges and/or discomforts.

Particularly discomforts — a normal human being will encounter a thousand different reasons that cause discomfort in a day — anxiety, worrisome reflection, traffic, provoking noise, annoying friend, arrogant co-worker, — etc. So that if you have not trained your mind to be calm, therefore lack self-awareness — the world and these trivial circumstances will always carry you away. Because, as James Clear of Atomic Habits observed:

“A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.”

It has been stressed before that if you cannot manage yourself in small altercations nor in handling minor challenges — you are not to be trusted in managing yourself in life-changing, life-threatening challenges nor opportunities.

The real graduation is when your mind is calm.

Further Reading:
The Unsung Yalent

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• Reading Time: 1 minute
  • 210 Words

Unwritten Rules

Being good at something doesn’t promise rewards. It doesn’t even promise a compliment. What’s rewarded in the world is scarcity, so what matters is what you can do that other people are bad at. — James Clear

In my six years of involvement in the financial markets, I’ve observed and studied my major losses, leading me to this summary:

The nature of business, more often than not, is to delay, conceal, and oppress the rewards of early execution on truly great ideas — it’s like a marathon race: before you can break away from your competitors, you have to survive what they cannot survive — a steep hill, a certain pace, weather conditions, etc.

You do not break away when it’s easy; you break away, if ever you do, when it is hardest for everyone else but you. Because you are more prepared and capable of enduring longer periods of suffering.

I made this observation while reviewing an investment I made in the commodities market, where I was shaken out with a big loss before the investment proved successful.

If you have run competitively before, you will understand how difficult running is: a steep hill will leave you out of breath, a fast pace will force you to walk later on, and hot weather will exhaust you. In business, we face similar challenges. Leverage will assail your financial stability, and losing months will cause self-doubt in your products or investments.

But both runner and entrepreneur need to survive these challenges in order to break ahead into victory or profitability. Without leverage, how can you ever Trade For A Living? Without a fast pace, how can you ever get the Gold Medal?

Start by identifying the unspoken rules in your situation. What constraints do others face, and how can you turn those into your strengths? — Shane Parish

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• Reading Time: 1 minute
  • 230 Words

The Unsung Talent

 

Long-term discipline is the talent. 

Discipline — the most decisive word in my English vocabulary.

It has caused most human suffering, self-imposed and otherwise, yet it has also produced the most enduring, shining, and impactful achievements in human history.

To develop and achieve true mastery, ability, and knowledge — in any shape or form, we need discipline. It is like the sun to our days; without it, we can only experience darkness — that is, laziness, doubt, and decay.

The consistency required to constantly improve ourselves, whether slowly or rapidly, is entirely fueled by discipline, in all its varied forms and shapes. But always remember that discipline's temporary discomfort is the bridge we cross to reach the lasting joy of achievement and self-enhancement.

It helps to continually assess what season your life is in because the kind of discipline required may differ from the previous season.

The discipline required to lose weight is different from the discipline required to gain weight.

Discipline is a form of humility to life’s ever-present complexity. — Cancelo

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• Reading Time: 1 minute
  • 158 Words

Bruised But Not Broken

 

The path that leads to the life you want is full of challenges that you don’t want. - Orange Book

At one point in my life, at least deep down within my heart, I thought somewhere out there there was a career, a field of work, a way to make a lot of money without working hard, without expanding to a more educated, energetic, skilled, and thoughtful person; and this belief that there was a short-cut, so to speak, has been gradually torn away to pieces — it has been destroyed painfully and thoroughly.

Now, bruised and humbled — I would love to think that I am wholly convinced there is no such path. The world is so designed that us humans and animals alike should get acquainted with the universal fact that life has its inevitable hardships. And that only by embracing this fact, by growing spiritually, will we appreciate also that life is full of joy and meaning. To always keep in mind the words of Kahlil Gibran of The Prophet, that:

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

• Reading Time: 1 minute
  • 188 Words

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Beyond Limitations

 

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. — John Wooden

Almost every day, we’re confronted with the choice to make the best of our available resources, abilities, and information or, more commonly, to complain about all that we lack.

If you look deeper into the problem, you will find that it often stems from childhood. As we age, the process of change requires us to take on more responsibility. However, taking responsibility is painful because it means we cannot complain openly. In every complaint or excuse, if you observe closely, you will find that it is not 100% correct. Acknowledging even the 1% fault in our excuses can cause discomfort.

However, the more we acknowledge the flaws in our excuses, the more we increase our willpower and maturity. This helps us take responsibility and appreciate what we have.

“If I could talk to myself twenty years ago, I would tell myself to focus on my strengths, and not on my weaknesses; on the things I could do and not the things I couldn’t do; to strive to excel and hone those skills to the point of excellence. That this was the best strategy to secure my future. I would say to myself that the only real obstacles you have are those you create for yourself.” — Mariam Paré

Further Reading:

https://theproductivelifeca.blogspot.com/2024/06/overcoming-distractions.html 

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Reading Time: 1 minute

• 187 Words

Overcoming Distractions

 Lesser the distractions, more the chances of success.

For a beginner, this means mostly a change in mindset and habits. However, for someone who’s been pursuing a goal for years with little to show for it, this means a great deal, especially in terms of what you do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Distractions come disguised in many forms. On a normal day, micro-distractions might simply be the time you wake up: are you rushed or relaxed? If rushed, you’re already distracted.

What do you expose your mind to upon rising — your journal, your gym equipment, or social media? Social media is already a distraction.

Do you allow yesterday's happenings, especially those that are negative, to re-occupy your mind again and again, or do you plan and visualize an energetic and favorable day? The past is already a distraction in the morning, for it drains you of vital energy.

Macro-distractions are concerned with the map, the direction, and the choices you prioritize. You’ve got to review the previous week, month, and year to effectively plan for the future. Regularly assess your network of communication, your nutrition, and your value system. Measure progress and review setbacks. Not doing so is a major distraction to success. James Clear said it best:

“Mastery is not only about getting better at your craft, but also about finding ways to eliminate the obstacles, distractions, and other annoyances that prevent you from working on your craft.”

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Cancelo Alvarez