Whenever you go out to achieve some sort of goal, you may be tempted to make it absolutely *known* to people about what you’re doing or planning on doing. You want anybody and everybody to know that you’re such a big achiever, a real go-getter.
After all, you wouldn’t want them to think you’re some sort of lazy bum, sittin’ around doing nothing. But you are. And that’s what you’re doing. Of course, you fall under peer pressure to make yourself look good, to project a false image that’s worthy of praise. You boast and embellish in hopes to win some sort of applause (and maybe a cookie?) Maybe you’ll go outside for less than five minutes to your local park and post a selfie with the status “Great day for a hike!” then go back inside lying around watching Netflix. Maybe you’ll post a picture of a salad and say “Feels good to eat healthy.” then eat a bunch of mozzerella sticks, Buffalo wings, and pizza after the salad. Maybe you’ll post a selfie in a suit you tried on at the mall with #feelingclassy only to go back home lounging in your PJs. Despite the display you show on the outside, it’s nothing but a foolhardy performance at best and shitty acting at worst. You see how easy it is to be so concerned with success that you’d rather *look* like success than actually *be* it? Truth is, you ain’t winning shit. You’re touting a victory that was never won. You’re pulling for glory while doing inglorious things. You’re celebrating an achievement that never happened...all in the goddamn wish to be seen as awesome and successful in the eyes of others. Man, I say embrace your laziness. You’re trying to impress people that frankly don’t give a fuck about you. So lean back, relax, and don’t give a fuck about them Besides, as we covered last week, success is largely overrated, in terms of attaining materialistic things, like fame or wealth. It’s better to have other people think you’re a lazy bum, when you’re really building success (in terms of happiness and freedom) from your couch, than it is to pretend you’re this really big deal when frankly you’re in over your head. In other words, it's best to *move silently.* It’s best not to say a goddamn word about what you’re doing or what you’re achieving. Make careful, thoughtful, and *slow* moves, then only speak when you get to say “checkmate”. That’s the way of a true procrastin8r. More sleeping. And less waking everybody else up to tell them about what you’re doing. It’s all about the core of laziness: minimizing effort and maximizing results. It takes way less effort to just keep moving forward than it does to create some sort of grand gesture or announcement every step along the way. And the results are bigger when you are happy because you’re proud of yourself for doing what you did, not proud of the fact that you feel admired by others. Anyway, we’re gonna take a look at how to move calmly and quietly towards your goals today in the blog and without further ado, let’s dive….right into it! Don’t celebrate before victory. People can celebrate way too early, man. I mean, it happens in sports all the time. No doubt you’ve probably come across some meme videos scattered across the Interwebs of a runner or cyclist waving their arms in victory of quote on quote “winning” the race, seconds prior to someone behind them passes them before crossing the finish line. Or maybe you’re familiar with Super Bowl XLIX, where the Seattle Seahawks were pretty much “guaranteed” a win, with less than 10 yards away from the winning touchdown against the New England Patriots, with one of the best running backs in the entire league, Marshawn Lynch (aka Beast Mode) practically within reach of the goal post. I mean the dude’s literally known for pummeling through opponents’ defense like a “beast”. Well the quarter back Russel Wilson made the executive decision NOT to pass the ball to Lynch but instead go for some sort of weird pass to another player that he MISSED. Meanwhile, Seahawk fans were shouting “Beast Mode”, practically celebrating their super bowl ring, before the last play was made. But outside of the sports world, you might hear from the dude who is” makin money moves” with his business, only to watch him end up bankrupt a few months later. Or the ex reality star who celebrates his winning of a Presidential election, only to see the poll results say otherwise *cough*cough* Trump (which to this day he and his supporters still deny). You don’t win until the game is over. You don’t finish the race until you cross the finish line. You don’t win an election until you actually get voted for. You don’t achieve a goal until you actually do it. You’ll wind up being disappointed, not only in the eyes of others, but in yourself if you try to glorify a victory that hasn’t been earned yet. Procrastinate your celebration. Put it off. Wait ‘til later. Take pride in the process of making your way toward the goal, and not just in the end result. Don’t act like you’ve made it, when you still have a long way to go. Enjoy each slow n’ steady step along the way. Don’t focus so much on what you can win in the end, but on what you can learn along the way. As the popular quote goes “Life is about the journey, not the destination.” I’ll add to that and say don’t make it out like you’ve reached the destination while you’re still along the journey. Have patience. You’ll get there...eventually. You’re not there *yet*. You will be, at some point. Just don’t pretend you’re already “there” when you’re really not anywhere close. Doing things early is NOT the way of a procrastin8r. Needless to say, premature celebration is very un-procrastin8r. Yay you did it! No need to announce it to the world. Seriously. There’s a such thing as being proud of yourself for the sake of being proud of yourself. There’s a such thing as making an achievement without letting others know about it. Let your accomplishments speak for themselves. You don’t need to shout about it. Don’t let anyone know you’re saving up for a Tesla, until you pull up driving it. Don’t let anyone know you’re getting in shape, until they see you in your beach bod. Don’t tell anyone that you’re building a business from the couch until you hand in your 2 week notice to quit your day job. Achievement is louder and grander than any sort of boasting you can do while attempting to earn said achievement. Take pride in what you actually get done, not on what you plan on doing. Certainly, look forward to accomplishing your goal, but don’t let that goal define who you are RIGHT NOW. Likewise, find satisfaction in the accomplishment itself, not just the applause that may or may not come with it. Be in the present. Know where you’re at in the moment. Be realistic. Be humble. Cheer for yourself and don’t rely on others to do that for you. It’s more amazing of a feat if you do something awesome like it really ain’t a big deal, than to prance around like your God’s gift to the world before actually doing anything noteworthy. The mere thought of being something doesn’t make you that something. It can, some day. But that takes slow n’ steady time. There’s a difference between seeing potential within yourself and believing you already reached that potential. There’s a difference between being a procrastin8r and saying “I’ll get there eventually” and being poser and saying “I’m already there.” And even when you DO achieve something big, see it as just another slow n’ steady step towards your ultimate goal of fulfillment and reaching that best version of yourself. Hard workers make it a point to tell their boss (as well as everybody else) just how good of a job they’re doing. You, a procrastin8r, on the other hand, don’t care about such recognition. You just take it easy and go with the flow, allowing yourself to achieve without exerting any extra effort to “prove thyself.” People work so hard to let others know how hard they’re working. Not you. You minimize effort and maximize results. You put no extra effort into self-promotion. After all, the most effective self-promotion is caring for yourself and not what others think. Embrace Your Inner-Sloth The sloth doesn’t roar or bark or neigh. He just does his things. Slowly. Quietly. He climbs that tree, to the top of his goal, without making a big deal about it. He ain’t making a fuss or trying to echo his voice throughout the jungle to let everybody know he is KING, baby! No. He just calmly makes his way to the top of that tree, making no sound, besides maybe cute little squeaks. Whatever sounds he makes though, it’s not his intention to gloat around. He’s just minding his own business. Mind your own business and do what you want, without any sort of attempt to holler or otherwise roar about it to the rest of the “jungle.” That is to say, climb to the top of your goals, like a sloth to a tree, ever so slowly and ever so silently. I’ll use a quote for a similar analogy that furthers the point I’m talking about here:““A seed grows with no sound, but a tree falls with huge noise. Destruction has noise, but creation is quiet. This is the power of silence. Grow silently.” Do it for the Accomplishment NOT the “Likes” In the age of Social Media, everybody wants to post about what they’re doing, or at least the embellished version of what they’re doing. Look….Social Media is fake as fuck. Fake. As. Fuck. It’s not real. It’s all idealism. You don’t know anyone on social media. All you know is this heroic fantasy version of themselves they created. So many people will start posting their gym selfies, only to find themselves sittin’ in a drive-thru at McDonald’s a few months later. So many people will post about their humanitarian deeds of making a donation to some sort of non-profit organization or good cause, only to tell the next homeless person they see on the street to “Shove off, buddy!” People go on Social Media to compare themselves to others. “How am I doing compared to everyone else?” is the thought that consciously or not creeps up in everyone’s mind as they open that app on their phone. And of course, they’re loaded with images of people doing elaborate things -- doing a hard work out, making a fancy meal from scratch, touring on an exotic vacation, what have you. They see all these AMAZING things that *other* people are doing and of course want to post something at least equally if not more AMAZING to “fit in the crowd”. Then if you’re not posting this amazing thing, but everyone else is, well you get anxious with that FOMO, that fear of missing out. And so the cycle begins. You see a post of something you might be missing out on, so you post something that other people might be missing out on, and those who see it post another thing that even more people might be missing out on and so on and so forth. What you end up with is a series of posts trying to “out FOMO” each other, in sum. What you have to realize though is that all you’re looking at is a glimpse, a mere and simple glimpse, of people’s lives. You’re not seeing the whole picture: the hardships, the woes, or even everyday boring mundane things that happen. You’re seeing a catered collage that’s designed to make you think “I wish I was doing that.” Look, life is a lot more enjoyable, I mean *a lot* more enjoyable when you eliminate the addictive need to try and make yourself a glimmering spotlight in the eyes of others. Once you do that, you can do things because you actually enjoy them, not because you want others to wish they could enjoy it. You can achieve things because you actually want to, not because you want likes or applause. Frankly, no one really cares about you all that much. To clarify, I mean the majority of your friends list don’t care about you and what you’re doing. Certainly you can have a close group of family and friends that quietly cheer you on, but the fact of the matter is, they probably already know about it. I mean, they’re your close people after all. You really don’t need to tell the rest of the world what you do and what you’ve been up to. No one gives a fuck. The only reason they might give a fuck is either they want to *compare* their own set of achievements to yours or because they want to try and tear you down, not because they're *actually* interested in what you're doing. I don’t say that to make you anxious and think you’re all alone and nobody likes you. I say that to encourage you to have the realization that what you’re doing doesn’t matter to others. And if it doesn’t matter to others, in the grand scheme of things, then your life can become a bed to relax on, rather than a stage to perform on. Have more than you show. And speak less than you know. That is the way of a procrastin8r. Now to wrap up this article, I’ll give you a quote from Joana Mejia, which reads as follows: “Move in silence and let your success make all the noise.” Take it easy, N8
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2022
Categories |