Slopes are an inevitable part of bike-riding. Anyone who rides avoids it like the plague, but the solution is simple.
The method of surviving the hill is to ride as fast as possible in one breath. It may sound like a reckless stretegy, but riding up a slope with speed reduces the inertia to a minimum. Gravity is like an invisible arm that pulls on the rider, so the longer he stays in that slope, the more resistance he feels. Rather than taking the slope slowly, blazing up the hill shortens the time of the pull that wastes energy.
There are times, of course, when blazing is not a good strategy, like towards an ever-upward mountain ride or when there is not enough energy. Still, the logic applies.
As strength improves, the slopes become exponentially easier. As soon as you gather enough energy to blaze up the worst of slopes, what was once thought impossible becomes easy. Similarly in about everything else, blazing makes everything easier.
The difference lies in emotions. “I want it” is different to “I WANT IT!!!”. It’s easy for someone in a shopping aisle picking groceries as for a student with a course guide to know what they want. Wanting something and getting it is as common as stars in the universe, on the other hand, an obssession AKA “There ain’t no stopping”, rare like a shooting star. Obssession is what brings someone from being very good at something to being very best. All human progress is driven by obssession.
We’re all different, they say.
You could be a banker, designer, nurse, engineer, musician, doctor. How we define ourselves makes us feel like we’re doing different things. Yet I see bankers solve humanitarian problems through innovation, designers save lives through building positive cultures, nurses who produce magic for patients, engineers who make art of their creations and musicians who peacekeep with their tunes.
The only thing that separates us are the words we use to describe our occupation.
Tags: career
There may be obstacles in building a product or your personal reputation. Who you consult when you encounter an obstacle is extremely important.
Obstacles like the rise of a competitor, getting fired by your boss or getting rejected by your colleague sends out a “No Through Road” message and sends most people packing home. But is it others who should decide when you’re giving up on something you really, truly want? If you were the one who decided that you wanted something so much, you have no reason to give up on it based on the reaction of the outside world, unless your motivation is based fundamentally on tangible gains that could easily be replicated by doing something else, in that case you should probably switch to something easier.
But if you’re in it for the love of the work itself or to have an important vision realised, then this core belief that first motivated you is your strongest weapon. The core separates you from the ones who are in it just for the glamour or paycheck because when the tough gets going, they’ll quit.
When in doubt, consult the core.
Easy is an illusion.
Paths of success like 101 ways to make quick money, earn $50 an hour by typing at home or follow the script and earn big bucks never gets us what we want. Going around looking for a shortcut usually ends quite bitterly. The right thing to do is usually hard – a challenge that lures us out of our comfort zone, exposes our weakness and forces us to make choices. “The dangerous thing to do, now, is be safe. The safe thing to do is be on the fringes. Safe is risky.” says Seth Godin. Security is gained by expanding our capacity through exposing ourselves.
A life that is easy is also numb and boring, so stay risky.
A missionary once told me that he confessed to repent his sins. I think he meant that he seeked forgiveness for his mistakes, because there is no way to undo a sin when one can never go back to the past; what’s happened is set in history. The only action left is to come to terms with former mistakes and rewrite the meaning we assigned to them. The only thing we have control of is the future through the action of now. Now is what writes history, and only now is the truly important moment in our lives. The past may be important, but only good to use to your advantage to do what you want to accomplish.
Tags: choice, self knowledge
A boy shows up at his lover’s door in the night, “I brought you a surprise”, and he hands her something. What is the difference between receiving in anticipation a gift of flowers or slab of bacon?
Obviously it is not only marginally different, you can eat the fatty goodness and a good slab probably costs more. But flowers represent a thought more than the gift itself, of symbolic value. The thing that decides what people care about and how to make people happy is – Symbolic Value.
A leather purse made by Louis Vuitton goes to $1000 and more. You can argue whether the price is justified, but a similar purse selling for $100 lacks the the symbolic value in lifestyle, rarity and exclusivity that LV has painstakingly associated with their product. The same applies to Ikea, not only selling furniture but a way of thinking that people want own a piece of, as a result Ikea make chest of drawers that are better enjoyed. The moral of the story is that there is an Art in enjoying materials goods.
The way to making people happy lies not in material quality of things we give them, but in the art of enriching the cultural and symbolic value behind material goods. Roses may be pretty, but the story behind them is equally important. Better still, if one could turn bacon into a sign of affection and courting, how much more loving is possible amongst everyday moments?
Growing up, it seems to show that many things do not turn out as they seemed, especially of people.
Our parents, once strong and ever-reliable, who guided for us from the start of time, can fall weak and vulnerable as we grow up to see their struggles and imperfections more clearly. As time progress, teachers and mentors show limit to their knowledge and wisdom; political leaders reveal their flaws; television personalities lose their mystic glamour; heroes we once thought perfect reveal their failings; lovers and beautiful strangers turn out not as they are perceived.
As worldly knowledge increase, all assumptions break, and all that is left is human – flawed and imperfect. Imperfect human beings, flawed so to be fascinating and unpredictable; imperfect and flightless on its own that it calls for the need for love. What separates sentient beings from senseless beings is the ability to rise above their personal gains to care for one another, and only then can one experience true happiness. Love is not easy, nor is it a birthright, that’s why it is so precious.
Tags: happiness, Imperfection, Love
The discomfort that stems from living a dream far bigger than yourself is always better felt than the boredom felt from a small, attainable victory.
One of the biggest myths about chasing your dream is that it’s about doing what you love all the time. It is not true. Behind every grand pursuit is sacrafice. Getting to that position you want to be in takes perserverence over essential obstacles that makes you cringe.
Then why do it? Certainly many people choose the safer option of finding a grind that feeds their bank consistently. It makes things predictable and easy to control. Life is easier that way. Others choose a more difficult life for a simple reason: a goal gives them something to do, something to think about, something that they truly own. Finding something, or someone, worthy of our sacrifice makes life worth living. There is nothing more painful than a life without a goal.
We can get stuck getting what other people want and ultimately deprive ourselves of what we ourselves want. I’m not talking about selfish desires, because that ultimately makes us less happy. I’m talking about climbing your own Mt. Everest in life, the things where you find your ultimate happiness in pursuing.
By “other people”, I mean people who don’t think in your best interst, who imposes an unhealthy standard on you either purposely or by accident. Other people are very good at telling you what you want, what you should do, or what you are not good at. They have boring lives, and they want you to buy into their way. So they tell us to work in a white cubicle, to keep buying things, to have the perfect body, to never take risks.
Sometimes, we listen, and life doesn’t get very interesting not getting what we want.