Friday 5: Being larger than the situation, loving the work, and the problem you face when your dreams come true
Here are 5 incredible ideas, quotes, questions, and more to ponder this weekend.
A valuable skill in life is to be larger than the situation.
When you feel stressed or rattled it's because the situation is consuming you. It feels bigger and more powerful than you.
To overcome it, you have find a way to mentally step outside and above it — to dominate and control it.
When times are grim, you have to become the Grim Reaper.
Jay Z reflects on what he loves about Michael Jordan:
“I absolutely love Michael Jordan. His career was a perfectly composed story about will.
The thing that distinguished Jordan wasn't just his talent, but his discipline. His laser-like commitment to excellence. That's something I always respect.
The gift that Jordan had wasn't just that he was willing to do the work, but he loved doing it.
He came into the game as Rookie of the Year and he finished off the last playoff game of his career with a shot that won the Bulls their sixth championship.
That’s the kind of consistency that you can get only by adding dead serious discipline to whatever talent you have.”
From the book Jay Z: Decoded.
Before the Colorado Buffaloes first football game of the season last weekend Deon Sanders, aka Coach Prime, shared the following message with his players:
“It's not about them. This is about us! That man next to you is a miracle, a believer, a go getter, a dawg, someone who wants this thing, who believes, who wants this thing today. We ain't got tomorrow, we got now. We ain't got next, we got today. We ain't comin' no more, we here.”
For a team that's struggled with "being up and coming" for years, it was time to arrive. They went on to win the game against first-ranked TCU's Horned Frogs with a final score of 45 to 42.
Watch his talk to CU Buff players.
Rick Rubin on the problem you immediately face after your dreams come true:
“It’s hard to get really depressed until your dreams come true. Once your dreams come true, and you realize you feel the same way you did before, then you get a feeling of hopelessness.
Because you feel like, 'I have this empty hole in me, but if I get to do this thing this is gonna fill that hole.'
One in a million get to do that thing. When you do that thing you realize, 'Oh I feel exactly the same.'
Most people who are really driven for something are doing it because they think it’s going to satisfy something in them. Yet most worldly things tend not to be so satisfying.”
From the documentary film Shangri-La.
Here's a simple question to ask the next time you you're facing a task you dread:
What do I need to accomplish and how can I have the most fun possible while doing it?
Sometimes it's as simple as changing the venue or context of that task.
Challenge yourself to turn something you dread into something that's fun — at least until it's done.
Until next week,
Daniel Scrivner
Investor at Ligature
Creator of Outliers with Daniel Scrivner