Good books are like old friends.
You’ve known them for a while. They’re familiar.
The more time you spend together, the more you share and reveal yourselves.
As you go through life, you grow and change (I hope!). So too do your circumstances.
Good books and good friends come with you for the journey, providing guidance and helping you reflect on your changing world.
I’ve been sitting with this excerpt from Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek that I want to share.
I first read the book a decade ago, and while I never seriously sought out the passive income business and lifestyle he focuses on, I found in it wisdom that challenged me.
Sure, sometimes it made me want to cry and eat peanut butter and chocolate, but in the end I always got better!
Doing ambitious things you desire and that are truly worthwhile for you is often fucking scary.
You need books and friends that help you get to new levels and make sure you’re demanding enough of yourself, ideally while providing compassion, too!
Excerpt from The 4-Hour Workweek
From contacting billionaires to rubbing elbows with celebrities, it’s as easy as believing it can be done.
It’s lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for “realistic” goals, paradoxically making them the most time- and energy-consuming. It is easier to raise $1,000,000 than $100,000. It is easier to pick up the one perfect 10 in the bar than the five 8s.
If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.
Having an unusually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal. Realistic goals, goals restricted to the average ambition level, are uninspiring and will only fuel you through the first or second problem, at which point you throw in the towel. If the potential payoff is mediocre or average, so is your effort.
The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals.
I found this to be true in my life.
I’m not famous or extraordinarily successful, but I’ve been able to do some pretty cool things by setting my sights high.
Whether it’s celebrating championships with athletes I admire, working alongside famous basketball coaches and executives, landing big time projects for my business, or being elected to political office in a city I love — I feel so grateful for these experiences. I wouldn’t have had them if I hadn’t tried to do things that other people didn’t bother attempting.
And it’s a cycle that feeds itself. Achieving these goals and making it through the challenges helps you get better.
As I continue on my path, I think about what I want — what I really want, not just what I think I can get.
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