On sprinting: being imbalanced for rapid improvement

Hopefully by now, you've integrated the belief that the route to success in any endeavour in the long term is made with journey of continuous and consistent effort towards improving your expertise and areas that impact and affect it. But we should also acknowledge that's not the only tool at our disposal.

In "Linchpin", Seth Godin talks about the concept of sprinting and how you should be doing it often.

In my own words, sprinting in this context means creating a temporary imbalance in yourself by narrowly focusing unsustainable effort for a short period of time with the intent of a) deliver something of value (or shipping as Seth calls it) or b) quickly attain or improve a particular skill that you believe you require immediately and do not possess.

This can happen for a number of reasons, whether to take advantage of an opportunity for better or different work or to make you more effective at reasoning with and influencing others with the right advice and considerations. I've used it extensively through my career and plan to keep doing so.

But it has a cost, and one must understand its cost if we're to manage the its impact on ourselves. The cost, at least in my case, usually comes in one of two ways. loss of sleep or dropping other things which keep me balanced to use the available capacity to focus on that narrow sprint goal.

It's a price you should be willing to pay if you really care about it, if you're serious and if you want something almost as bad as you want to breathe. If you're not willing to pay such price, that tells me you just "kind of want it". That you don't really want something as bad as you say you do, or better than you want to party or look cool. Never fool yourself.

The danger here, which will be subject of the next blog post, is how to ensure you don't lose yourself and that state of imbalance doesn't stay permanent, to a point you no longer recognise or enjoy who you are.

"I feel like I need to prove myself to everyone"

This post came to be over a sentence I've read in the book I'm currently reading. I didn't catch it on the first time I've read it, but on the second run it stood out. This is probably the most personal post I've ever written and will ever write as it details things in my life I've never mentioned to anyone before about, but I feel it is teaching me an important lesson to share with you, Rafael, and whenever my time comes it will give you an insight into who your father is and what shaped him like nothing else I'll ever write.

I hadn't cried since I've been 17 years old, but apparently it wasn't broken because writing this did the trick. :)

The sentence in the "The Phoenix Project" book is from Steve, the CEO, and he's sharing his personal life with his Board of Directors. "But it's hard being a poor country hick, surrounded by people from privileged families. I feel like I need to prove myself to everyone".

Let's first establish how I personally deal with this. When I look at my life, I've been through hardships that would've probably broken most people I know, if I'm honest, but I always focus on perspecctive. So many people have had it so much worse than me, and beat odds much less favourable than mine, that I'm never going to be complaining about anything. This is my story, everyone has theirs and theirs are as relevant to them, as mine is to me.

Perspective is what has kept me since I was 17 years old, but not until then, from feeling sorry for myself and blame the whole world for what I couldn't do and who I couldn't be. Now, onwards.

I'm 34 years old at the time of writing this, and I'm still personally dealing with feeling like I need to prove myself to the whole world, and I now clearly see it has to do with the fact that I've grown and currently work and live with people that come from privilege so I always feel the need to constantly be proving myself. This isn't necessarily healthy and I need to change.

Now, the key point is what it means to me "coming from privilege", and this where it gets personal.

If you've never missed a meal, you come from privilege
If you didn't grow up with an alcoholic parent, you come from privilege
If you've never had your parent want to go buy half a chicken, for you, your other parent and himself to have dinner, you come from privilege
If you've never seen your parent harm himself in front of you, you come from privilege
If you never, as a young child, been put aside by the teacher on a school party day because she assessed that your parent's contribution was insufficient, you come from privilege
If you didn't grow up as a coward because you couldn't stand up for yourself, you come from privilege
If you never been put to fend for yourself as a teenager, unskilled and unprepared, you come from privilege
If you didn't grow up with some of your social groups to constantly make fun of you, including girls and how that felt inside, because how fat you are, you come from privilege
If as a child you didn't spend a whole night crying, because your friends parents were so good to them and you didn't have any of that in your life, you come from privilege
If you never felt ashamed, for after having your initial break and start teaching, to be serving your engineer students at a coffee shop and you were working there because they fed you and your parent and paid you an extra €5 a day, you come from privilege

This what I mean when I say I'm surrounded by people that come from privilege, and please whatever you do, do not feel sorry for me or pity because I don't. Again, everyone has their own story, this is just mine. All of this early on, made me learn lessons that most people will never learn in a lifetime, and I knew them by the time I was 20, so my story is a growth one (downhill from there would be tough, even for Fortune :)) so there's nothing to be sorry or to feel pity about.

The cautionare tale for both of us, because I'm sure that as your father and as a high achiever, there's the risk that you'll feel the need or even I have the expectation that you live up to my achievements and go even further that I'll ever be able to go, because I'd love you be as engaged in your craft and passionate about learning and development as I am, but know that your life is yours and you need to live by your own terms, understanding the skin in the game you have of making your own decisions and taking your own risks.

As your father, it is my job to warn you of perils ahead and you'd probably be wise to listen :) but at the end of the day, you are the sole owner of your life (after you're an adult and never before, until then it's called parenting and it's legal :D) and you're the one, because we all are, responsible for the outcomes we want or have in life.

Don't feel the need to prove yourself to others, not even to me, Rafael. Prove yourself to you.

On living a happy and productive life

By our very human nature combined with modern heavy data consumption and online social activity levels, it's probably more difficult than ever in human history to feel happy and lead a simple and productive life.

But if we are to aim for that, which we should, we need to consciously decide on some fundamental principles that are to serve as the compass to our decision making, such that knowing what the right thing for you to do is in any given situation is automatic and self-evident.

I believe that living a happy and productive life and defining what that is for you, in your personal circumstance and context, with your goals and aspirations but also your shortcomings or what you still need to work at is key to the being a content person.

To be productive you first need to shut down the noise. There's too much noise in our society, and attention spans are ever smaller. You can't live a productive life whilst being bombarded with multiple stimuli constantly. Shutting down the noise implies that you can filter what's essencial, so that's the first question.

What is essential for you to feel balanced and in which order ? This can usually be derived from your values, the things you hold dear. To me, it's my family, my career and my health. IN THAT ORDER. This is key. Knowing what takes precedence even if it's uncomfortable to have to choose one over another.

Determine activities that support your balance and productive goals - these are the things you do to get action behind what comes out of your mouth. An example would be knowing I need to keep studying and learning if I'm to support my career goals. Or ensure I go to the gym regularly to support my health goals.

Identify the 'fun factor' in those activities- look for the little or big things that you really enjoy on those activities. You may not like all of it, but there are usually aspects of what makes you productive you like. It helps if you actually enjoy your work for instance. Then focus on that particular aspect of the activity and not what you don't like so much about. For instance, there are many types of physical training, choose one you can actually enjoy if health is something you value.

Choose activities that maximize both fun and productivity - Now you have the baseline set to choose to do things that maximize fun and your sense of well being, but also productivity towards doing and being the things you value. For instance, for me Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the one activity that spans all 3 things I value (my ability to defend my family if needed, the carryover to my career from being able to face adversity and discomfort and it's a great workout so it's productive for me to train regularly so I can maximize what I hold dear

Go do it - Then the framework is set, and your job is to wake up and do those maximised activities every single day, so you're always one step closer to being who you wish to be across everything you hold dear.

That's it. Then, day to day decision making and routine becomes simple, easy and enjoyable because you're always doing things you like. It may be a 6 in happiness as opposed to a 10, but it's also productive so that's good enough and is helping you build your character on a daily basis.

Life becomes mostly automatic and decision making simple and easy. You do the things that keep you balanced and that allow you to move forward in all areas you value in your life.

On Fools and Cowards: Be neither

This post is inspired by a quote usually attributed to William Francis Butler.

“The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.”

I would suggest this to be true not only to the nation, but also to the individual. You must be sure not to be either. This sentence suggests that the warriors train their craft so much and devote so little time to study the ways the world, strategy, politics, sociology and philosophy that they are fierce and brave but also fools in that they lack other important knowledge.

Inversely, the strategists, politicians, sociologists, philosophers and businessmen spend so much time in their crafts and devote negligible focus in their fighting and physical training, that though they have the knowledge and authority to make decisions, they are cowards at heart as they cannot deal with confrontation.

Neither is being self-sufficient, and neither should be acceptable.

But it takes time to develop these things, and it takes commitment and it takes the self awareness to know where you really are, where you should be and work to bridge the gap.

To not be a fool, you need to study the past, the present and what believable people think the future will bring. subject matter expertise is important, whatever it is you choose as your area of interest, but knowing how the world and society around you works is also crucial if you are to be all you can be. You aim to be wise.

To not be a coward, you need to be comfortable with physical training and fighting. That means being able to carry heavy weights, handle your own body weight and be flexible. In fighting, I hope you join me in jiu jitsu at least as a self defense tool but also know how to give and take a punch because you never know when you'll need to protect yourself or those you love. And the mental fortitude that comes from practicing tough training sessions both in the gym and on the mats will yield benefits in your other knowledge areas too. You aim to be strong and brave

I hope you get these at a young age. Rafael I certainly didn't, and know that if I had gotten them earlier in my life they would've been extremely valuable and I would've stood up for myself more growing up, but I guess it led to where and who I am today, so it's all good and all part of life and living.

Be Wise, Be Brave and Be Strong. Be whole.

On Fortune: ask no favours

Fortune is seen in ancient philosophy as being a fickle mistress. One day, it comes to you, and all is well. Things go your way. the stars align and open a path that would otherwise be shut or difficult to walk. You get used to its good winds, leading you somewhere nice and pleasant and you remain content.

But then, the good winds turn into storms. When Fortune leaves you, seemingly unrelated things start going wrong, and all seems so much more difficult than you expected and believe it has to be. These storms make it difficult to navigate your path, urgencies and emergencies take away your focus and you end up expecting only the storms.

But reliance on Fortune is always ill advised, because it's not something within your control. Nothing you do or have ability to directly influence will affect how Fortune descends or not upon you, so there's no benefit in forming an opinion of how Fortune affects you. It just is what it is.

Marcus Aurelius put it best.  "Fortune, I have nothing to do with you. I am not at your service. I know that men like Cato are spurned by you, and men like Vatinius made by you. I ask no favours"

How empowering this sentence is. He starts by distancing himself from being at the service of Fortune, implying that he doesn't make decisions based on how Fortune descends upon him but that he knows what he wants and will keep doing the work independently of how much Fortune helps clearing the path.

He then mentions the two extremes in ways one can deal with the impact of Fortune in our lives. We can either spurn it, rejecting its benefits and disdaining its presence like Cato. Or we can let ourselves be made by it, implying that conditions made themselves favourable to us and we just took advantage of these external circumstances, live Vatinius. None of these two options are particularly helpful.

Finally, he ends it with "I ask no favours". This tells us that Marcus Aurelius valued more his ability to know what needs to be done and put in the work to achieve it, rather than wish that his Fortune was different and that things somehow could be made easier for him, and this is the real lesson I believe from this.

So too, Rafael, I would urge you to live the same way. The winds of Fortune come and go, and you can't rely on them to ensure you reach your destination. Sometimes they'll blow for you, sometimes against you and there's nothing you can do about it or anything in your power to influence either scope or strength of Fortune.

But if you distance yourself from it by asking for no favours, Fortune has nothing on you. It can try and blow you in any direction, but you've made the commitment not to rely on it to achieve your objectives. You own your results, and realize the conditions to achieve them will change, will at times be favourable and at times adverse, but you commit to see it like it is and adapt to any changing conditions. Again, you make adjustments and not excuses. And when you do get or achieve what you had in your heart and mind to do, you'll know you've asked for no favours, from Fortune or elsewhere, and that your results in life are a result of what you put in to it. You've asked for no favours, and instead decided to ride the winds of Fortune as they presented themselves to you.

Nothing puts you in the driver seat of your own life more than knowing you expect no help from Fortune to be who and what you wish to be or achieve.

On Choices: you’re constantly choosing

Most people would refer to choices as being the exercise of establishing a direction to deal with a certain issue at hand. It may be choosing to lose body fat, to deal with the issue of not enjoying how we currently look, for instance.

With this choice then, would come a certain expectation of behaviours that need to be adhered to in order to support that same choice. In the previous example, that would be choosing the courgette over the spaghetti for example. This is definitely an important practice to set direction and ensure we’re aiming for what we chose to be important.

But this is not the only type of choice you’re exercising and in order to perform full awareness and ownership of the daily small choices that align with the goals set on the big choices, consider that some choices will generate negative equity.

Going back to our previous example of fat loss, this would materialize when you go to an ice cream stand and get the biggest and baddest of them all. In this situation, you’re not just choosing to have an ice cream. You’re also choosing yourself out of choosing the silhouette you said you wanted. If about training and you decide not to go, you’re choosing to become weak. If about not studying, you’re choosing to have bad grades.

Thinking about choices and the negative equity they can bring to other things you said you wanted, is the best practice to ensure you’re accountable to yourself, that you’re fully aware of the consequences of what you choose and what’s getting affected or not getting done as a direct result of them.

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.