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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Cancelo Alvarez

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 

Cancelo Alvarez

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.”

• Reading Time: 1.20 minutes
  • 280 Words

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