Jon Gregory's Blog, page 6

“I feel like money makes you…

more of who you already are. If you’re an asshole, you become a bigger asshole. If you’re nice, you become nicer. Money is fun to make, fun to spend, and fun to give away.”

– Sara Blakely, billionaire founder of Spanx

Her husband wrote a great book, very inspirational and funny too, check it out:

Living With a Seal

 

Writing is…?

The procrastinating, staring at the screen, trying to make yourself start or waiting for the right feeling to come…that my friends is where true misery lies.

Unburden yourself by diving headfirst into what you are putting off – the delaying tactics really don’t make you feel better, and once you get past that first minute or two- you realize why you’re here – go do it.

Writing is activity, not a passive thought process that leads to something – the writing is the something.

Now go fire it up.

J

How often should you write…?

You can play with this one all you want.  It’s the perfect delaying tactic when you don’t know what to put on paper.  Should you write daily, every other day, when the muse strikes you?  How about those rare windows when I have the house all to myself?

How about:  cut the crap.  If you’re serious about this you’ll write all the time, if you’re not serious you’ll search blog posts for the perfect schedule to unleash your creative spirit.  I’ve done it, great writers I know have done it, you’ll do it.   A reason not to write is the easiest thing in the world to come up with…

So… listen to the reasons, acknowledge them, then sit down and write.

It’s the only way this gets you anywhere.

Now go fire it up.

 

J

Try it this way…

Instead of trying to find your passion, searching for the magic bullet that will rejuvenate your daily routine – get passionate about what is on your desk.

It’s right in front of you, something got you to this place…now go do it well, such that if someone were to watch you they would envy the passion you have found.  It was there all along, now it needs to be framed differently.

Producing good work generates passion, not the other way around.

Now go fire it up.

J

Can’t find time to write? Do this…

Journal.  Daily.  For 90 seconds.  Do that for a week then bump it up to 2 minutes, repeat, bump to 3 minutes.

Get it?

You can do anything for 90 seconds.  And if you do, you’ll most likely keep going.  The momentum is only there if you start, once you have that it gets easier.  Hard to start when you are thinking of writing for an hour isn’t it?  So just commit to 90 seconds.

Try it, I just did.

Now go fire it up.

J

We’re all trying to be happy…

we all know what makes us happy, but we’re not doing those things that make us happy…you know why?  Because we’re too busy trying to be happy.

Happiness isn’t a place you arrive at after soul searching, reading blogs and meditating.  Happiness is something you decide – no matter the circumstances -there are people with much less than you who are happier than you, and you don’t know how they do it.

Neither do they … they just do it.  Let’s quit taking ourselves so seriously and be who we want to be instead of thinking about being who we want to be.

So, go be happy, fire it up, and enjoy the holiday.

 

J

Listened to a podcast interview a Navy Seal, here’s one thing that will stick…

He said many things, and these guys are obviously heroes and of a different caliber than us every day people.  However, the interviewer asked him… “So what can you tell us common people, we’re probably not ever going to be Seals, but we can learn from you, give us your best wisdom that can be applied.”

Without missing a beat, his reply was:

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

That my friends, is life.  We’re constantly trying to undo mistakes and create opportunities, and make life convenient and smooth.

Well, it’s not always that way -if you embrace that… you can be a winner, if you complain about it, it’ll still be there.

Now, go do something that makes you uncomfortable and fire it up.

J

You want the visual definition of persistence? Go rent this movie…

Actually, there are several but I will recommend one.

You can go see any Rocky movie, anything like Pumping Iron will do also.

However, there’s an older one that has a scene which will show you the entire concept of persistence in 60 seconds.

“Treasure of the Sierra Madre”.  There’s a scene where Bogey is at a bar in Mexico, down on his luck, and a young boy asks him if he wants to buy lottery tickets.  In typical Bogey style the way the kid is treated doesn’t go well at first.

However, so as not to spoil it, when you see this ask yourself “When would I have given up trying to get this guy to buy a ticket?”

Apply this to your creative pursuit – there is no quitting – there is no failure…if you have the right mindset.

Now go fire it up.

J

“The purpose of life…

is to be defeated by greater and greater things.”

Don’t know who said it, but it says it all.  What chance do you have to get anywhere unless you fail along the way?  It’s a part of the process and nothing comes to those who try to jump over that.

It’s like looking for 6 minute abs or the free lunch.  You’ll keep chasing that while the ones who get ahead do one thing and they do it well: they plod.

Through failures, false starts and frustrations … none of these setbacks enter their mind as anything but something that needs to be overcome.

So go fire it up, and be the kind of person who doesn’t stop.

J

Your demons may have left the building, but they’re out in the parking lot doing push-ups…

Nobody gets through this without them.  The demons, the thoughts, paranoia, anxiety about the future and regrets about the past.  It’s not that the great ones don’t have them, they most likely have boatloads.  The trick comes in how they handle them…

2 ways.  First, get into them, deal with them, wrestle ’em to the ground and beat the crap out of ’em.  See a professional, read the books, stay up late and work it out.

Or…

Just do the thing anyway.  The demon will be there in one form or another no matter what you do.  This way is much easier, and I think it’s more effective.  The best cure for not being able to do what you want to do…is to write down one little thing that gets you closer…got it?  Now go do that.