On time: the limiting factor

We all have the same 24 hours in a day to work with. 86400 seconds that starts a new budget afresh every single day for the duration of our natural lives. As with any other budget, and for us as masters of our own lives, we need to make the executive decision on what we want to spend it on.

What I mean by this is that a more important question than “what do you want?” that is more clearly associated with exercising choice, is the question “what are you choosing yourself out of?”. This is a tactic I like to use because it allows me to prioritize and ensure that at least I’m not lying to myself. The simplest example would be “I’m choosing to play games on my console” would be the answer to the first question, when the answer to second one would be “I’m also choosing not to have as good a grade on my coming exam, as there’s more effort I could’ve applied in studying if I hadn’t chosen to play videogames”. 

The small decisions you make everyday about how you spend your time, uses capacity that you’d use elsewhere if you were considering that time is the limiting factor. 

I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t play. I’m dull enough not to want that for my child J but don’t lie to yourself either about how you spend your time and whenever you feel you’re not where you’d like to be, that there are things you’d like to get better at or skills and capabilities you need to work at, look out for the time wasters because that’s where you’ll tread the road from good, to great to phenomenal.

Don’t waste time. There’s no time to be weak. We’re all with the clock going against us, and every day lost is eating away at our goals and dreams and taking the better version of us away from serving our loved ones. They deserve the best of us. You and your mom deserve the best version of me, so I can’t relent, I can’t rest and I can’t stop dreaming if I’m to be who I said I’d be, who I promised I’d be.

Live with a sense of urgency, because time will always be the limiting factor.

On ownership: own your praises but also your mistakes

Owning praises doesn't come very natural to me. In my mind I know I've worked hard to achieve objectives and the part I played in it, but I kind of don’t know how to react when I receive praises. For me, I just did what had to be done and was in front of me and within my authority, knowledge and ability to do.

But knowing how to react with others when praised is a good skill to have whilst avoiding cockiness, especially for goals that aren't achieved in isolation which almost none are. Use it as further motivation to keep working. But this is usually the easy part, owning praises…

The lack of ownership of mistakes in our society is generally appalling. The moment there’s a need to own a mistake, most have a bunch of excuses lined up to justify everything that everyone else didn't do, everything else that didn't happen or other random types of misfortune.

Don’t do that. Never do that. Owning mistakes is a characteristic of a strong, confident  and mature person that is ready to learn and ensure they don’t happen again. If you need to apologize, so be it. As soon as a mistake happens that you know will affect someone, address it immediately.

Let them know what happened, apologize, learn to make sure it doesn't happen again and move on with your life. But don’t obscure it, don’t deny or justify it. If you know it was within your ability and knowledge to address it and you didn't, just assume the mistake and carry on.

It’s not about feeling good inside. Personally, I really like to avoid having to do it, but when I need to, I do. I’m less concerned about people knowing I made a mistake, than I am to ensure the memory of the event is imprinted in my memory along with those feelings so I have a better chance of not making it again in the future.

And lastly, it’s also about the respect you get from behaving this way. Owning your mistakes promotes the establishment of trust and respect, especially because it’s so scarce. When most of the world default to pointing fingers at everything at everyone, and someone comes along that practices and preaches extreme ownership on everything that happens to itself, you’ll be miles ahead of any possible competition.

What is scarce is always valuable. Remember this.

On Crisis – never let a good one go to waste

A great many things will happen in your life that your initial response may be that of a crisis. By crisis, I mean a season however long that you’ll that you’ll find difficult to deal with or feel under danger, or even when you have what you may consider as a very important decision in your life.

That’s normal and ends up happening to us all, even to me who am known for coping well with them.

But these seasons, the winters in life, are there for a reason. They’re a natural part of being human and everyone on the planet has to deal with them. These are seasons that if faced with an enquiring mind ready to learn, can generate the biggest growth and maturing. Growth that you wouldn’t be able to tap into if everything went well.

The benefits can come from the experience, but it’s also important to consider that we shouldn’t let repeat instances of the same crisis. Take the teachings and ensure you’re better prepared for the situation if it happens, and better yet ensure you don’t ever have to deal with situation again.

Historically, us humans aren’t very good at this. We tend to hit the same road blocks over and over again and not really learn much from the struggle, but aim to ensure that isn’t you.

 The other hidden benefit of a crisis is in its ability to increase our threshold for entropy from the world, the threshold of our minds. By putting yourself through struggles and crisis situations, and aiming to be calm and relaxed when they happen, you increase the amount of pressure it takes to break you and that’s invaluable for anything you may be and aim for in life.

There’s growth and good things at the end of the bad seasons in life, so receiving them with an open mind and heart will allow you to be better prepared to face what life may throw at you and put you in a state of mind that is synergistic with problem solving and character building.

Take life as it comes, Rafael.

Lessons in Music - SOJA - Faith Works

Music has always been such a great part of my life, that I decided to start a new type of post to do every once in a while about lessons I learnt from certain songs. I believe the music we hear has transformative power, evidenced by the fact we can stay for more than 10 years without hearing a song and when it starts we suddenly remember the whole lyrics. They stay with us, they shape us, they helped make us who we are today. I can certainly relate songs to feelings, particular episodes or seasons in life and can even see how the genres I favored over the years have shaped me to deal with a situation or even making it harder to end downward spirals.

For those who know me, know this section will mostly be filled with metal music moving forward, but had to start with one of the songs I most listen to and that helped me decide what I want to focus on in my life and also what it takes to succeed on any measure of success.

Faith, works and unconditional love -
No bad mind, no hatred, no envy and no grudge.
Babylon destroy, your minds they want to corrupt,
But InI have got to reach the higher heights up above.

The chorus, and that first sentence are words I constantly remind myself of. Faith, works and unconditional love. That’s it. That’s the recipe for a great life. A life of service, accomplishment and unions.

Things will never be the same,
Old doors close, new doors opening.
The life we led in the past, we've got to rearrange;
People treat life as it is a game.
Work hard to change the people's mentality,
The way the world is going now, it's insanity.
Live the life you love and don't go on so greedy,
Help the children to grow up and things will change speedily with

This verse reminds me that change is the only constant, and that we must adapt to new circumstances but also not forget to help others as we come across and they want our help

Hit the street and give a hand to
those you meet who need your speech to
lift their feet to rise and drag them
selves from the mud.
Be discreet so you won't ever meet defeat
for Jah will seat we won't retreat
and Babylon can't come out on top.
Faith without works that is death,
when you work you breathe hard so
InI give thanks for every breath.
I only fear is Jah judgment.
Try your best to live upright so that you don't
end up in hell with.

This verse’s most important point to me is “Faith without works that is death”. Just having faith without the necessary willingness to do the work, is the death of greatness. Help those close to you and that matter to you.

If a hawk can fly and show it's love
with songs of praise and giving thanks
along 395's polluted 10-lane highways -
And if a man like twice your age
can clean your house for minimum wage
and still somehow greet life with a big smile on his face...
Then why can't we just show respect
for all things with no neglect and realize
that love it is the only way?
Then why can't we accept the fact we're lucky,
we need to give back - we're foolish for not
humbling ourselves every day with 

This verse reminds me to be humble and thankful for everything I have. There’s so many people out there who have it way harder than me, who am I to complain ? What have I really endured compared to what so many have before and currently ? Greet life with a big smile.