Put on your shades! Photo by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash

In order to achieve something in life, you need a plan. In order to make a plan, you must have a goal. To achieve larger goals, you must set milestones, which you can reach step by step.

Don’t worry about fame
When we look at famous people who have achieved something great in their field, it is easy to be envious, without understanding how hard it may have been for them to get there. Some people also engage in delusional armchair dreaming, telling themselves that they could have achieved the same if they had chosen to, or if they had had the “privilege” they imagine famous people have, especially good connections.

Indeed, some people are more fortunate in their life circumstance than others, but even these people, if they want to achieve something, have to put in the work. So we shouldn’t make excuses for ourselves, by saying others have had it easier. Remember, it is the struggle that improves our performance and production. Without struggle there is no meaning in what we do.

Step by step
Seeing the results of others’ efforts can be demotivating, as we don’t see the process or the context. Don’t be overwhelmed by this. You need to take concrete steps toward milestones, and by reaching them, you can build a solid foundation for success. The steps you take to your goals need to be manageable and your goals need to be realistic.

We can’t really be anything we want to be, but we don’t want to limit ourselves either. That is the conundrum of the human condition. Between these two poles lies a vast sea of achievement and success. Finding your place in it is the challenge.

Be yourself, realistically
One of the reasons modern people are unhappy is because the status quo dogma is that anyone can be anything; social mobility is absolute, provided you work hard enough. This is simply not true. So in order to not waste our time, it is important to assess our interests and skills to determine what we truly want out of life and are capable of doing.

Self-actualization
You need to do what you want to do, and not what society, your peer group, or parents want you to do. When you take a job to make a living make sure it is helping you gain skills toward your ideal job or career. And whatever you do, do not fall into the trap of “making a lot of money to retire” thinking. While it is important to have the resources to live a comfortable life, don’t sacrifice meaning for comfort.

Never too high or low
Life has its ups and downs and it is best to keep an even keel on the journey. When you receive bad news, don’t panic or take out your anger or frustration out on others. Rather, take a moment to digest it, and then plan how you are going to adjust your strategy to achieve success. If it is a total loss, let it go and move on.

Keep it positive
Negative thinking is a feedback loop. Why not focus on the positive instead? It could be a blessing in disguise. You may have been pursuing a goal that wasn’t right for you, and the universe is telling you to change focus. You could also make lemonade out of lemons by salvaging some value; at the very least, it was a learning process that could help you make a better choice later. Remember, there is always an opportunity to look on the bright side, but be sure to put on your shades.

Stay cool, wear shades
Don’t get carried away by the sugar rush of success. This is more dangerous than a setback or failure. Many people have spun off course and never recovered after a windfall, luck, or great success. Some because they believe they are special and no longer have to work for it, others because they become decadent. When good luck or hard-earned achievement comes your way, take a moment to appreciate it, as if it were happening to someone else, and then put your head down and carry on with what you do best. Celebrate or treat yourself, but not too much.

Saying and doing
Some people talk about writing a book, for example, and other people write them. The latter are called writers. Sometimes you hear people say, I’ve got a great idea for a book or a movie (script), as if this made them a creative person. You are not a creative person when you just talk about it, you are a poser. A creative person creates. The idea is only a small part of the equation; it is the execution that matters. Talk is cheap, as they say.

Inverted status
You know you live in a degenerate culture when the most economically successful and high-status people are simply actors hawking product, so-called influencers. It used to be that you achieved something first, and then you could be an influencer. For example, you were a famous sports star, and then you created a clothing brand based on your success; or you are a famous writer who teaches writing at a university.

Achieve then share
Young, and not so young, people today have decided to skip the achievement stage altogether, and simply talk about themselves online (usually about their victimhood), or put on clothes or make-up, for their sponsors. You have to ask yourself what’s the point of sharing ideas, when people unpacking toys on Tik Tok get millions of hits. We truly live in a superficial culture.

In the end it is unfulfilling, if not immoral/unethical, to make a living as a spokesperson, whether for a corporate brand or for a totalitarian government. What is fulfilling is to create things for yourself and others that make the world more beautiful.

Consistency
In order to achieve something you need to be consistent. That means that if you’re an athlete, you have to train every day; if you’re a student, you have to study and apply what you’ve learned in practical way to become a professional; and if you’re an artist or artisan, you have to put in the 10,000 hours to master your craft.  

There are many talented people that never achieve their dreams because they don’t put in the work. As the saying goes, success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.

The 80/20 rule
At the individual level, Pareto’s 80/20 rule means that 80% of results come from 20% of your efforts. So, it’s not just about working hard, it’s also about working smart. For example, you could have a great product or service, and be doing a good job of promoting it, yet you have chosen the wrong demographic to market to. Or you could have a brick and mortal business, and there are few or no potential customers in your area; or worse, your location has poor visibility, or the neighbourhood is blighted, scaring people away. Or your local, state, or national government could be making it difficult for you to do business, in which case you need to move.

Fail early and fail often
If something isn’t working, you should pull the plug on it sooner than later. This goes for a job, a relationship, a business idea, or even a worldview. The problem with sunk costs is that they cause people to cling to the bad, where bad means producing no value at best; or having toxic, harmful, or deadly consequences at worst.

Right livelihood
With a job, it can be difficult to pull the plug as it provides a means of subsistence. Here, one needs to be on the lookout for something better and make a transition while still employed. Still, it isn’t always possible to do this. If a work situation is particularly toxic, or a company is collapsing, it’s best to get out before the ship sinks.

Right friends
In relationships, if you have friends who don’t add any value to your life, drop them. The sunken cost of having grown up together doesn’t really mean anything. Friendships based on convenience (you happened to go to school together, etc.) need something more to be viable, such as shared interests or goals. Many young men figure out after college that most of their friends were just drinking buddies.

Change it up
It is important not to confuse our routines with their utility. Just doing something because you’ve always done it, doesn’t mean it’s useful or meaningful. If a routine isn’t proving effective at helping you make a living, learning something new, or administering your life in a positive, productive way, then its time to change it. I get that sometimes people are tired and don’t want to do anything but surf the net, but this time should be limited. We all need leisure time, but not as an excuse for not living our lives.

Less is more
Offering a succinct message is more effective than giving too much detail. The truth is humans have a short attention span, and our visual culture has made it shorter, as has the internet with its deliberate choice architecture to encourage compulsive behavior with a desire for constant novelty. In this climate, when you provide more, it isn’t valued or even noticed, as people skim through looking for the highlights.

Leave people wanting more, and when they ask for it, give it to them. Communicate on several levels and allow people to find their comfort zone. Learnt to say it with silence and omission. According to the Taoist philosophy, life is a balance between the full and the empty. The empty is also full, and vice versa. Understanding this is discernment.

Ignore the noise
Save yourself the trouble and don’t use social media. You’re not missing out on anything. You can choose to consume or produce, and producing is much more rewarding and also the path toward economic independence. In the modern world, time is a currency, so you want to use yours as judiciously as possible. A good use of time also includes relaxation, preferably in nature, in order to recharge and reconnect with our biology.

Homework
Sit down a make a plan for what you want to do with your life, both short and long term. If you have a partner and family do this together. You can share both your personal and group goals. Planning is essential to a life well-lived, but no plans survive their creation. The word is constantly changing, but a good plan provides a framework that can be adapted to suit the current situation.

Set realistic goals and list the steps you need to take to achievement them. Listen to your heart and don’t be distracted by the agenda of those in power who set the status quo. Do what you need and want to do, based on your ability, and not what other people want and tell you to do. Be steadfast through the highs and lows and consistent in your efforts. Understand that everything is connected and that you are part of something bigger than yourself. Finding your natural place is the key to self-actualization.
 

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