I remember when I was 10 years old, me and my childhood best-friend were out for trick or treating with our parents and siblings. In our search for the best candy we somehow found ourselves in a neighbourhood we didn’t recognize. It was now around 10pm, raining heavily, and very few people were left outside. Neither of us had cellphones or any kind of device we could use to contact our parents so we decided to knock on someone’s door. A lady came out and listened to us explain through tears that we were lost. She helped us call our parents and waited with her until they came.
Last year on halloween my husband and I sat outside for over 2 hours and only one kid came to our door.
The world you grew up in no longer exists.
If you want to stay grounded in the modern world, you can't shy away from being ordinary. The world now rewards chaos, emotional dysregulation, and an unsettled spirit. You need to do whatever it takes to be a stable and steady person. Be normal. Embody an older spirit. Don't give in to the growing expectation that you need to discover and express exactly what makes you different. Live a life of discipline, responsibility and care. Live a boring life.
If you want to stay grounded in the modern world, you can't shy away from being ordinary. The world now rewards chaos, emotional dysregulation, and an unsettled spirit. You need to do whatever it takes to be a stable and steady person. Be normal. Embody an older spirit. Don't give in to the growing expectation that you need to discover and express exactly what makes you different. Live a life of discipline, responsibility and care. Live a boring life.
A lot of people would progress faster in life if they viewed their growth through a lens of unlearning toxic habits and patterns of thought instead of learning a new way of being. This is the way of subtraction. Instead of asking "What do I need to do to become better?", ask "What have I learned to do that is preventing me from becoming better?"
Your best qualities are likely buried beneath years of conditioning. Unearth yourself.
This is also why the people who can tolerate the tediousness of a good life will win, especially in a world where people get bored and need more and more stimulation/ drama just to feel something
All success is a product of meaningful repetition
As long as you decide that you want to keep improving, as a human being and also as whatever title you have (leader, mom, dad, daughter, son, etc), you are simply unstoppable.
Nothing can get to you because you’re laser focused on your destination. Nothing else matters
My strongest held beliefs:
- good decision making is the most important thing you can learn. The earlier you can start making good decisions, the better
- if you focus on a single goal, show up every single day and take, conscious, meaningful action towards it, you will reach your destination in less time than you think
- talent isn’t as important as embodying traits that everyone can appreciate. Effort is undeniable and universally understood
- you need to acknowledge you are a soul. A spiritual being. You can accomplish whatever you set out to, but if it doesn’t nourish your soul, it doesn’t matter
- values are your compass. You need a set of values that you can map every single decision/ choice you make back to
I've only gotten far in life because I don't wait for permission to improve something. Every role I've ever been hired for, I've looked beyond it to see where my help is needed. Even in my day to day life, if I can improve something, I don't need to wait. I've never defined myself by a set limit of responsibilities or skills. If a skill is called for that I don't consider myself to have, I can just adopt it. There is no cap on what I can learn and accomplish. I am a boundless human being. I rise to every challenge in front of me simply because I can.
There's so much in the world that could be better if more people simply took ownership of their environment. You don't need to wait for responsibility to be given. You can just assume you have it.
People are way too focused on what they deserve and not nearly concerned enough with their own growth as a human being and we're all worse off for it
Especially in relationships, there's so much emphasis on finding someone who meets your standards that we rarely stop to question whether we're capable of offering those same things to another person
It's such a self-serving mindset because it allows you to constantly evaluate other people without ever having to evaluate yourself
Of course you should have standards for how you're treated. But you shouldn't be treating the possibility of finding someone "better" as a substitute for examining your own behavior and what you bring to the table
It is deeply unattractive to constantly demand better from the world while making very little effort to become better yourself
Uncomfortable truths about success:
- Talent means very little if people can't consistently rely on you to deliver
- Tolerating boredom will matter more than how motivated you feel at the beginning
- Your ability to communicate reliably is just as important as your ability to do the work. People need to trust that you'll follow through on what you say
- You don't need to be the most talented person in the room. You need to become someone whose effort rarely depends on how they happen to feel that day
- You can do everything right and still fail. But you can dramatically improve your odds by becoming more competent and giving yourself more opportunities
I think people spend too much time worrying about whether they're naturally gifted at something and not enough time developing the qualities that make someone exceptional
Talent might give you an advantage in the beginning, but consistency is what allows that advantage to compound over time
You can bend life to your will. What you repeat, what you consume, what you surround yourself with - all of it is conspiring to make you who you are. And if that's the case, then changing who you are is as simple as making a friend who challenges you to be better. It's as simple as waking up every morning and speaking words of positivity into your being. It's as simple as repeating the behaviours that get you closer to your purpose.
That doesn't mean it's easy, but the formula is there. You just need to be brave enough to apply it.
My hottest take is that you can be a mastermind/architect when it comes to your own life. You can make deliberate decisions and choices about the people, work, and commitments that will shape your future.
Owning/running a business, I frequently have conversations with millionaires. But it's never their money that impresses me. It's the fact that they have also built loving marriages, close families, and lives they genuinely enjoy. I’m always looking for the patterns in how they make decisions, and something I keep noticing is that they have underlying principles that follow them across different areas of life.
They know what they value and what they’re unwilling to sacrifice. That gives them criteria for choosing:
- Who they surround themselves with
They’re careful about who they make friends with, and who they spend their time with because they recognize how deeply other people can influence their life and sense of what is possible
- Who they build a life with
They’ve been selective about the person they marry. They care about shared values, how they’ll raise a family, and whether they can support each other’s growth. They understand how much of their life will be shaped by this relationship
- What they do for work
They make deliberate choices about what they build and what they want their working lives to look like. For many of the entrepreneurs I know, ownership matters deeply. They’re willing to accept the responsibility and uncertainty that come with protecting it
- What they choose to believe
Many are spiritual in some sense or follow a religion that they return to when making decisions. Their beliefs give them a way to understand their responsibilities, and align their choices with something beyond immediate success
It’s possible to spend years repeating choices you would never consciously make. You have to be present enough to notice what your decisions are producing. i think the younger you learn this, the more of a headstart/advantage you get in life.
There will always be things you cannot plan for, but you do have a say. A good life is something you can actively participate in creating.
God doesn't ask you to pray only once. He asks you to return daily. He asks you to make a ritual out of your worship. He asks you to choose him in despair, in grief, in sadness. He doesn't ask you to be whole before you kneel. Instead, He asks you to come to him when you are at your most broken. Maybe he understands that we humans get distracted. We forget. He knows that the things we want to live by need a practice that brings us back to them.
You need to return to goodness the way you return to God. Choose what is beautiful even when you want to give in to anger and distrust. Changing your inner world will feel uncomfortable at first, but familiarity only grows through repetition. Make joy a religion. Make gratitude a ritual. Make trust a way of life. Make appreciation a daily prayer.
You can teach yourself to enjoy things and expand the happiness and joy in your life. I can actually appreciate the sunlight now. Coffee in the morning. The pain that comes by pushing through a hard set at the gym. The tears and the ache that are the result of a revelation breaking through the shield of my emotions. I've come to be thankful for failure, as it gives me more wisdom. This is all within your control. You can transform hatred into appreciation. You know this is true, because you've already taught yourself to hate. It was a choice you made and you can make another one.
Believing that you have no control over your perception, your emotions and desires, is a big part of why people feel stuck and helpless in their own lives.
















