One of the curses of particular myself, and I can only assume I'm not the only one - is this constant dopamine crunch to always be listening to the latest podcast, the newest clinic, the next book recommendation so we can be seen as 'achievers' who are accomplishing something 24/7.
Sometimes in our own professional journey, we can get caught in a perceptual cycle of achievement, checklists, workouts and doing rather than learning to be satisfied with the experience of being a human being.
We get so relinquished in information that we miss knowledge, and if we find it so caught in knowledge that we miss wisdom.
This can cause a lot of unneeded anxiety, pressure while we miss the most enjoyable part - the process. We are not present . . . and so we miss out. On life. On being our best. On seeing what’s there.
So here's a few thoughts so you can start to discover your JOMO - the joy of missing out.
The smile, peace of mind and satisfaction you can sit in knowing that you haven't read the latest podcast, and that you probably won't. In fact you don't even know about it.
This is never me, so probably why I am writing about it. It's a work in progress.
You Are Doing Something, By Doing Nothing
Bill Gates spends one week a year in his cabin where he is uncontactable, dedicated to thinking.
Dedicating times in your day where you just sit in silence, or walk in nature, or simply enjoy doing nothing are the times when your greatest ideas can come to fruition.
We think that DaVinci, Einstein, Gates, Jobs all the great movers and shakers just woke up every day and all their ideas were ready to go.
"Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form." - Leonardo DaVinci
They intentionally carved that time out for thinking. Disconnecting improves problem solving and creativity.
Enjoy that.
Adopting the Attitude of a Child
Those great minds had a child like curiosity, an unlimited capacity to simply chase what interested them and dive down rabbit holes that went on for years.
“Above all, Leonardo’s relentless curiosity and experimentation should remind us of the importance of instilling, in both ourselves and our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it—to be imaginative and, like talented misfits and rebels in any era, to think different.” - Walter Isaacson (author of Leonardi Davinci)
It wasn't work to DaVinci, it was play, it was one big game. That's why he was unstoppable, burn out wasn't a thing he was merely pursuing the roots of his curiosity and having so much fun doing it.
When I walk in the afternoons I am fascinated by kids, who have invented games out of nothing but rocks and sticks, who have used their imaginations to venture down tunnels and create characters. Their capacity for creation and knowledge is unlimited, and something to be learned from.
Read what you love, until you love to read.
Ask why, why, why like an 8 year old until you get to what you want.
Get lost in a Youtube rabbit hole on a topic that is blowing your mind.
If you want to watch X's and O's on Twitter for 2 hours because it interests you and so does creating playbooks, it doesn't mean you have to read about soccer because some high level coach is doing it.
Conduct small experiments and fail miserably.
Try not to be so damn rigid in your approach.
Adopt and embrace the idea that if somebody threw away everything you know you could start all over again. Steve Jobs started all over again multiple times, so did Elon Musk.
The most important discipline is love. Follow what you love, what sparks your interest.
You Are Not That Important
When you die, nobody will remember who read the most books.
Nobody will remember who won the most games.
Nobody will remember you in 200 years from now. Nobody will remember me.
So enjoy missing out.
This blog is just therapy for me, I mess this up constantly. But it's worth trying.
A calm mind, a body of health and a house full of love. That is all I desire.
Everything else is just noise.