Most things
that never get done
never get done
because they never get started.
You wait
and wait
and wait and wait
and you wait so long that the thing
doesn't even matter anymore.
And the days turn to weeks
and the weeks turn to months
and the months turn to years.
Years of mediocrity
is what causes people to be bitter.
If you want to get around bitter and complaining people
get around people who are not seeing much activity.
They're bitter
they're complaining
they're cynical
and they're jealous
because nothing is happening
because nothing is going on in their life.
And if you want to stop that from happening to you
wake up in the bed and know what you're going after.
Get up out of the bed
with an agenda.
When you have an agenda
you don't spend time worrying about how you feel
'cause it doesn't make any difference how you feel
you woke up with something to do.
If you would like to discipline yourself,
which is a very good idea
pick a direction you want to go first.
Pick a goal you would like to attain,
a long, medium to long term goal.
You might imagine something you need and want,
some attainment that,
that would motivate, whose pursuit would motivate you.
And you can ask yourself that,
it's a good question to ask yourself in general, you know.
If you could have what you needed and wanted,
what would that be?
And that's a meditative question.
You don't want to force an answer out of yourself.
You want to ask yourself that
like you would ask someone else.
If I could have what I wanted, what would that look like?
And you can ask yourself that in a more differentiated way
If I could have the relationship that I needed and wanted.
If I could have the friendships.
If I could have the job or career.
If I could have the educational pathway.
If I could adopt civic responsibility.
If I could engage in some creative enterprise.
The next goal is to take your goal and to fragment it into
micro goals until you find a micro goal that's small enough
that it still presents some challenge that you will do.
Stop waiting for something to move you and move yourself.
Every day move yourself.
In the morning move yourself,
in the afternoon move yourself
at night move yourself.
Be very intentional
and very deliberate
about moving yourself.
Through the inspiration of desperation
you'll become more creative than ever before.
Throw your whole self into it.
See, most people go at it tentatively.
They don't give all their stuff
they don't concentrate.
And if you don't have what you want
stop telling yourself the story
because you don't have the money or the time
that's bullsh*t.
It's because you haven't committed yourself
where you would burn your boats.
If you want to take the f*cking island
burn your f*cking boats
and you will take the island
'because people, when they're gonna either die or succeed
tend to succeed.
Stand up for your dreams.
Stand up for what you want in your life.
Decide that your life is so meaningful to you
that you love you
and you love life so much
that you're gonna stand up for something you want.
You don't want to be a spectator
you want to get out in the field
where the action is
and you will be amazed
after the struggle
there will be a calm period
and things will begin to click for you.
Come out here with what you've got.
You don't have enough money?
Don't worry about it
you've got the dream.
You must be patient
persistent
and positive, no matter what.
But aren't there some guarantees you can give us?
Yes
you're going to die.
You can't get out of life alive.
So I'm saying to you
you've got six months to live.
Live your life now.
Live your dreams now.
Start acting
like this is your last day on the planet.
Have you ever heard the expression,
I don't know where it all goes?
Well, from now on, make a new commitment to financial independence
and to the value and the feeling that comes from knowing where it all goes.
And where it all comes from.
It is just one of those important disciplines that
cause you to prove to yourself
that you are on a new road, walking in a new direction,
becoming a new person
and arriving at a new destination.
Without that effort, you will keep falling back.
Hey, I found out you can make 5,000 a month and still go broke.
You say, how could you go broke making $5,000 a month?
It's easy, spend $6,000
and when you make $5,000, spending $6,000 is not that difficult.
Someone once said, if your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall.
So, be the master over whatever you have
and whatever you are.
That's where the seeds of greatness are sown.
Great wealth, great health.
Great results, great influence, and great lifestyle.
Take interest
and even delight in doing all the small things well.
It makes you a sophisticated person who knows
where the beginnings of wealth and happiness are.
There's a Bible phrase that we could
quote here that would be appropriate.
It says,
If you will be faithful over a few things, the small things,
you will someday be ruler over many things
and major things.
That's it.
That's the philosophy that counts.
Let's say that you can pick your level of competition in life to some degree.
Okay, so let's say you pick a level of competition where you're always winning.
It's like, well, all that means is you've picked the wrong level of competition.
Because, you know, like
let's say you're a grandmaster chess
player and all you do is play amateurs
and every night you go home and congratulate yourself on what a genius you are.
Because you just stomp these people left, right, and center.
It's like, you're not a genius.
You're dimwit.
What you should be doing is playing people who are beating you like, well,
as much as you can tolerate.
So maybe that's 40% of the time, maybe it's 60% of the time.
But that way, because to be a winner,
you want to be disciplined, you want to know what you're doing,
and then you want to be on the edge.
Where your skills are being developed.
And if you're going to be on the edge where your skills are going to be developed,
you're at a place where,
where loss, where losing is always a possibility.
Because otherwise you're not pushing yourself beyond your current capacity.
And so, one of the things that I've outlined in
12 Rules for Life is, is a theory of meaning.
Because meaning, as far as I'm concerned,
a sense of meaningful engagement is the antidote
to malevolence and suffering, essentially.
Because you want to have a life that's so engaging that you think,
despite the fact that I'm limited and
that we're mortal and that life is tragedy and there's evil in the world,
despite all that, this is worth doing.
And I think that there's a technical meaning
that genuinely exists, and that's the meaning that you get when you're
in a domain where you have some discipline and some skill.
So you're laying out your competence and your ability.
But you're simultaneously pushing yourself to develop past where you are
that's really engrossing and what's that do it
what did that is doing is expanding your competence
And so life is suffering and betrayal in many senses of the word
But you can adopt a way of traversing through life
That is more powerful than the tragedy in the malevolence.
The art of true living in this world is more like a wrestler’s,
than a dancer’s practice.
For in this they both agree, to teach a man whatsoever falls upon him,
that he may be ready for it, and that nothing may cast him down.
If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience,
if you keep yourself free of distractions,
and keep the spirit inside you undamaged,
as if you might have to give it back at any moment—
If you can embrace this without fear or expectation
—can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now,
as Nature intended,
and in superhuman truthfulness (every word, every utterance)
—then your life will be happy.
Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect.
It’s all that protects your mind from false perceptions—
false to your nature, and that of all rational beings.
It’s what makes thoughtfulness possible, and affection for other people.
You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought:
everything random, everything irrelevant.
And certainly everything self-important or malicious.
You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, “What are you thinking about?”
you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that.
The obstacle is the way.
Embrace the challenges that come your way in your work,
for they hold the potential for growth and self-improvement.
Instead of resisting or complaining about difficulties,
use them as opportunities to cultivate resilience, patience, and perseverance.
Remember that your attitude towards work matters more than the work itself.
Approach each task with a sense of purpose and dedication,
regardless of its nature or perceived significance.
Find fulfillment in the process of striving and giving your best effort,
rather than relying solely on external outcomes.
Think of your many years of procrastination;
how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace,
of which you have taken no advantage.
It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong,
and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are;
and to understand that your time has a limit set to it.
Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone,
and never in your power again.