It’s easy to see how quickly you can fall out of a habit. If that’s journaling, writing for this blog, or whatever. You miss one day and missing day 2 becomes easier. I noticed this with my journaling. I was fairly consistent with this throughout the year, but I got out of the habit and stopped using my Todoist app and missed about two weeks. I think the importance of having a reminder and a set time to get the essentials completed cannot be overstated.
Source: Ryan Swan quoting Jeff Bezos or someone else
Lesson: If you like 50% of your job you’re in a good place
Reflection: Job satisfaction has become a topic that I’m translating into a proxy of my sense of wellbeing. I don’t know if this is because of the quantity of time we spend in our work role. I think separating the two things is a challenge. If you want to be content at work it will take work. If you’re lucky you can walk into a culture that was created with work that was already done. If you elect to start your own company you can put in the work to create a culture of success. If you walk into a poorly performing office that has developed bad habits over the course of a quarter century, it’s going to take a lot of work to redirect the ship. Those things all influence our perception of work. Potentially, we just need to believe that half of the things that we’re doing are meaningful.
Source: Practicing Mindfulness – Intro to Meditation – Audible Great Course
Lesson: It doesn’t matter why you start
Reflection: The context of this quote was that it doesn’t matter why you start meditating. It could even be vanity, wanting to appear spiritual, to stroke your own ego, wanting to become a God or Buddha. The practice or habit is beneficial either way. While it’s easy to judge a person for their motivation, it doesn’t take the value away from the habit. I thought about this with exercise. Antidotally, most people start exercising as a means to improve their self image. The habit of exercise then has the side effects of improved health, sense of well being, can be meditative and can build community. Initially it might boost your ego, but the plateaus will humble you. The ability to overcome the plateaus is the real value in most endeavors.
Source: The Power of Now
Lesson: Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than time – Master Eichert
Reflection: The fixation on the past and the future. Master Eichert’s statement on this was compelling. There are obvious benefits to reflection and planning, but there is a trade off made. There is the trade off between using our time to practice gratitude, to appreciate where we are and the development of talents. Do we donate our abilities now or do we sharpen the ax. There’s a time for both. The struggle I have is determining the balance between delayed and realized gratification. I’m uncertain if there’s an optimal ratio, but the extremes can be damaging. I’m uncertain if the rewards in instant gratification or delayed are worth the efforts either way. Accepting instant reward can lead to emptiness and delaying gratification can lead to resentment and a sense of superiority.
Seeking Progress 