Hello and welcome to my weekly newsletter! I'm thrilled you were able to be there. Every day I keep my Zap Pad with me and jot down everything I learned this week or thought was interesting. On Mondays, I review my top 5–10 entries and write about them in order to share what I learned. It's what I refer to as Muse Monday.
Don't Try To Be The Best
Recently, I have had this idea in my head about what makes someone truly good at what they do. Everyone knows what they know, but at the end of the day, how do you separate the good from the great? I came to the conclusion that they can teach the subject, but not only can they teach it, but they can teach it simply. Growing up in school, I was always told that you would know a subject if you could teach it to someone, and that holds true in school just as much as it does in the real world, but if anyone who can tech is good, who is the best? I thought to myself that it's the person who makes it simple who always stands on top, the person who can give their knowledge to everyone and have them understand it. And I thought this also worked really well for what I was trying to do. I thought to myself, "I don't have to be the best in the world at YouTube or blogging, but if I can make things simple for everyone, that's how I can stand out." And if you have a goal, you can do the same. Instead of trying to be the best, try to be the clearest.
Understand Things To Enjoy Them
The other day, I was talking to one of my friends about finances. I know right now that it's so much fun, and that's exactly what they thought they said to me. I don't like talking about money, and I said it's because you don't understand it. After that, I started to wonder what are the things I don't like that maybe I don't understand; I don't like watching baseball, but maybe it's because I don't understand which pitch is being thrown, and if I did, maybe I would say, "Wow, what a curveball." Maybe you don't like shopping with your significant other because they stay in Bath and Body Works all day. Instead of hating it so much, try asking yourself why they like it and turning it into a game. Try looking at what they see and thinking about the things they do. This can be useful in many aspects of our lives, in my opinion. Without a doubt, I'll use it.
The System Is Rigid
I think people make life harder than it has to be because everyone focuses on how rigid the system is, how bad they have it, and how they will never get out. But I was listening to one of my favorite youtubers, Dan Koe, and he said something that really resonated with me: "The system is rigid; you can't change it, but you can learn it." This really made me think about what would happen if we learned the system. What would happen if we stopped making excuses in our lives and actively tried to learn them? If you know me, you have probably heard me say a quote from Ryan Holiday: "Build a life you don't need to escape from." It's because that's what I want for everyone, and I wonder how much of a difference it would make if instead of fighting for the lives we want, we learned how to make them.
If You Want To Be, Then do
The other day I was listening to Ali Abdaal’s podcast Deep Dive, which I listen to a lot, and he had one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Noah Kagan, on to speak. Noah said something that seems so simple, but when I heard it, I had to write it down: "If you want to live an exciting life, do exciting things." I believe we spend far too much time thinking about the systems we need and the hacks we can use to live the lives we desire. But at the end of the day, we don't really need all that. Yes, it can help, but what would happen if you woke up every day and asked yourself, "What is the life I want?" and "How can I do that today?" If you want to be financially free and sip margaritas on the beach while writing your weekly newsletter, just as an example, then what can I, I mean you, do today that would make that happen? Maybe you want to live an exciting life. What exciting things can you do today?
The Worst Part Of Betrayal
I like listening to lectures on a variety of topics, especially if James Petterson is the one talking, and I stumbled upon a video about betrayal, and in that video, he said the reason why betrayal is so hard is because it doesn't just affect you in the now; it also affects your future and your past. For example, if you are in a relationship and it turns out they have been cheating on you for years, not only are you sad because your whole world is shaken, but you also have to look at the life you thought you would have and see that it was also all a lie, and the past is the worse part because we often think of the past as being set in stone when it happened; those memories are what I thought they were, but then you realize that was a lie too, and your past isn't even what you thought it was. Now, of course, I'm paraphrasing, but I just found that very fascinating to think about, and I believe that at one point or another, everyone has been let down or disappointed by someone, and understanding why it hurts is the first step.
Question of the week: What can you do today that will lead to the life you want?
If you liked this week's Muse Monday, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought. I'm Ace and thanks for reading.