This year has been quite a change.
I’m 27 now. A wrinkled old man, nearly collecting social security.
It felt like yesterday when I had a mattress on the floor of a 400 square foot place.
I was always the type of guy in school with wrinkled, torn up homework. Nothing was ever organized.
“Who cares, (insert excuse)”
This carried on with me for years.
Discipline and organization was for losers.
I hated it so much, I worked my a$$ off to run a business just so I wouldn’t need to be told to be disciplined or organized, ironically.
But my whole life had been shooting from the hip and not taking responsibility, “who cares, I’ll just have a maid clean the house”.
I kept pushing off things. And it’s tough when you’re smart, you can think yourself in or out of anything.
And although the business grew, I was negligent. I am able to slightly outpace my shortcomings, but as I’ve gotten older I look at my actions and lack of prudence and I’m embarrassed. It used to be funny “that’s just the way John is, lol”. But it wasn’t funny anymore.
It’s the little things, they aren’t little. The messy room. The busted taillight or expired tags on a company truck.
I was acting like I was going to wake up in a new life someday.
That I was just in a purgatory before my real life would begin, and once someday in the future came, everything would be different.
So I never worried about the details. I treated everything like a single use item. My environment, my business, even people. “I’ll get a new (insert thing in my life) later, so who cares about this one”.
Until you keep waking up, and every day was just like the day before.
And you add up a few years like that, and pretty soon you realize…your life will just be a memory of what you did with those days, where you were a moron.
I’ve always spent too much time thinking of an ideal perfect future, always imagining and dreaming.
Lately, I’ve changed a lot. I’ve pulled back from the future a bit. I looked around me and I’ve stopped trying to take shortcuts.
Now, what matters to me is living my days well.
Go to bed early. Wake up on time. Hit the gym religiously. Eat clean. Take the vitamins. Clean the house. Make the todo list. Do the work. Don’t be too good or too fancy to roll up your sleeves.
I’m not above anything now. I slow down and do things the right way.
I make sure to have every hard conversation I need to have.
I broke things off with my girl of 4 years. I fired a few people. A lot of other personal and spiritual changes.
To grow, to become something new, the old you must die. I look at the old me and I don’t feel attached to it. I don’t mind if it dies.
All of the existential questions are gone now. I know what I need to do. I feel like I’ve got enough time. I focus on each task with my full attention now.
I tell you this because it’s been a big lesson for me and maybe you might resonate with it.
One thing that’s changed is the importance of my word.
Lately, and going into the new year, the only thing that matters to me is the solidity of my word, to make sure that there is ZERO difference between what I say will happen, and what happens.
Start by promising less. Think deeply about what you can be sure of, and only say what you can fully promise. Then, stick to it. Keep it simple. “I will wake up at 5am tomorrow”. “I will eat 1800 calories tomorrow”. Make your word to yourself and others be as strong as iron.
This is how I measure myself now. The degree in which I stick to my word and follow through on the promises I make, whether it’s to myself, to God, to others.
Without this, you are full of shit. You can’t do anything. Even you yourself will know it’s all BS.
I will spend 0 time comparing. I’m happy for you that you made 13 million this year within 6 weeks of starting your business. That’s awesome. It has nothing to do with me.
I am taking my time and doing everything the right way. Taking pride in the small details. At the very least, in a greater way than I have before. Everything will happen when it needs to, but I will be certain to do the work and do it the right way.
It starts with your surroundings and your body. Sleep, nutrition, exercise, cleanliness, routine, optimization. Then your house gets clean. Then you fix the random stuff you’ve neglected. Make the todo list each night, follow it systematically. Your todo list is your word in a way. If you break it you break your word. So make sure what goes on there will actually get done.
It snowballs into things being all dialed in. Your health is great, you look and feel great, your mind is clean like your house, your business is dialed in, your employees are happy, your customers are happy, etc.
So this year, I’ll be continuing to focus on making sure my word is as strong as iron. I’ll be going slow, and doing everything the right way, neglecting nothing. With open eyes and an open mind, having the humility to revisit each thing as a beginner.
This year is the year of having an iron word.
I’m 27 now. A wrinkled old man, nearly collecting social security.
It felt like yesterday when I had a mattress on the floor of a 400 square foot place.
I was always the type of guy in school with wrinkled, torn up homework. Nothing was ever organized.
“Who cares, (insert excuse)”
This carried on with me for years.
Discipline and organization was for losers.
I hated it so much, I worked my a$$ off to run a business just so I wouldn’t need to be told to be disciplined or organized, ironically.
But my whole life had been shooting from the hip and not taking responsibility, “who cares, I’ll just have a maid clean the house”.
I kept pushing off things. And it’s tough when you’re smart, you can think yourself in or out of anything.
And although the business grew, I was negligent. I am able to slightly outpace my shortcomings, but as I’ve gotten older I look at my actions and lack of prudence and I’m embarrassed. It used to be funny “that’s just the way John is, lol”. But it wasn’t funny anymore.
It’s the little things, they aren’t little. The messy room. The busted taillight or expired tags on a company truck.
I was acting like I was going to wake up in a new life someday.
That I was just in a purgatory before my real life would begin, and once someday in the future came, everything would be different.
So I never worried about the details. I treated everything like a single use item. My environment, my business, even people. “I’ll get a new (insert thing in my life) later, so who cares about this one”.
Until you keep waking up, and every day was just like the day before.
And you add up a few years like that, and pretty soon you realize…your life will just be a memory of what you did with those days, where you were a moron.
I’ve always spent too much time thinking of an ideal perfect future, always imagining and dreaming.
Lately, I’ve changed a lot. I’ve pulled back from the future a bit. I looked around me and I’ve stopped trying to take shortcuts.
Now, what matters to me is living my days well.
Go to bed early. Wake up on time. Hit the gym religiously. Eat clean. Take the vitamins. Clean the house. Make the todo list. Do the work. Don’t be too good or too fancy to roll up your sleeves.
I’m not above anything now. I slow down and do things the right way.
I make sure to have every hard conversation I need to have.
I broke things off with my girl of 4 years. I fired a few people. A lot of other personal and spiritual changes.
To grow, to become something new, the old you must die. I look at the old me and I don’t feel attached to it. I don’t mind if it dies.
All of the existential questions are gone now. I know what I need to do. I feel like I’ve got enough time. I focus on each task with my full attention now.
I tell you this because it’s been a big lesson for me and maybe you might resonate with it.
One thing that’s changed is the importance of my word.
Lately, and going into the new year, the only thing that matters to me is the solidity of my word, to make sure that there is ZERO difference between what I say will happen, and what happens.
Start by promising less. Think deeply about what you can be sure of, and only say what you can fully promise. Then, stick to it. Keep it simple. “I will wake up at 5am tomorrow”. “I will eat 1800 calories tomorrow”. Make your word to yourself and others be as strong as iron.
This is how I measure myself now. The degree in which I stick to my word and follow through on the promises I make, whether it’s to myself, to God, to others.
Without this, you are full of shit. You can’t do anything. Even you yourself will know it’s all BS.
I will spend 0 time comparing. I’m happy for you that you made 13 million this year within 6 weeks of starting your business. That’s awesome. It has nothing to do with me.
I am taking my time and doing everything the right way. Taking pride in the small details. At the very least, in a greater way than I have before. Everything will happen when it needs to, but I will be certain to do the work and do it the right way.
It starts with your surroundings and your body. Sleep, nutrition, exercise, cleanliness, routine, optimization. Then your house gets clean. Then you fix the random stuff you’ve neglected. Make the todo list each night, follow it systematically. Your todo list is your word in a way. If you break it you break your word. So make sure what goes on there will actually get done.
It snowballs into things being all dialed in. Your health is great, you look and feel great, your mind is clean like your house, your business is dialed in, your employees are happy, your customers are happy, etc.
So this year, I’ll be continuing to focus on making sure my word is as strong as iron. I’ll be going slow, and doing everything the right way, neglecting nothing. With open eyes and an open mind, having the humility to revisit each thing as a beginner.
This year is the year of having an iron word.
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