Question to reset your focus:

Are you allowing the things you prayed for to become the things you complain about?

Earlier this week, I had a moment that stopped me in my tracks. I want to share it with all of you in case it helps someone out there.

I was in my office doing some important work when my toddler son came in and started making a mess. Nothing out of the ordinary, just climbing on top of things, knocking stuff over, typical toddler things.

I noticed that my thoughts quickly morphed into complaints:

• Why was he acting like this right now?
• When was I going to have time to clean up the mess?
• Why hadn't I put a lock on the door?

But then, I stopped.

I took myself back to a few years ago, when my wife and I were struggling to conceive. I had prayed every single night that we’d be blessed with a healthy child one day.

And yet here I was, blessed with that exact thing I had prayed for, and complaining about it.

Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that you are living out the things you prayed for.

Are you allowing the things you prayed for to become the things you complain about? When you catch yourself in that negative pattern, pause, zoom out, and remember those moments when you wished for these gifts that you now have.

Sometimes, you're truly living out your prayers. Remember that.

Quote on the power of imperfect action:

"If all you can do is crawl, start crawling." - Rumi

The life you want is found on the other side of imperfect action.

The answer is always found in the action.

When in doubt, act.

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Framework:

The 10-10-10 Rule

I’m always on the lookout for tools that allow me to act more decisively when faced with bigger decisions in my personal and professional lives.

The 10-10-10 Rule—a simple decision-making framework created by author and speaker ​Suzy Welch​—is one of my favorite new tools I’ve come across.

The idea is that you pause and evaluate your decision across three timeframes:

• 10 Minutes: How will you feel about this decision in 10 minutes?
• 10 Months: How will you feel about this decision in 10 months?
• 10 Years: How will you feel about this decision in 10 years?

For those who have followed my work for a while, you’ll know that I’m a fan of so-called mental time travel—which involves zooming out from the present to gain improved perspective on your actions and decisions.

The 10-10-10 Rule functions as a neat, structured approach to mental time travel that allows you to create new perspective on the short and long-term impact of a decision or course of action.

If you’re going to make an impulsive short-term decision, the 10-10-10 Rule forces you to consider the long-term ramifications.

The most valuable things in life come from playing long-term games, so while there are some cases where acting for the short-term will be appealing, choosing to make big decisions that take into account your 10 year future self is the best approach.

So, the next time you’re faced with a bigger decision, walk through this exercise:

With each potential course of action, how will you feel about it in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 years?

Do that and you’ll find yourself making better decisions that compound positively toward the future you are trying to build.

Study I'm paying attention to:

There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows that walks in nature improve your mental health and reduce the incidence of depression, stress, and anxiety.

​A recent study​ found that participants who were assigned to take a 90-minute walk in nature saw notable reductions in self-reported rumination (the act of dwelling on negative thoughts, replaying mistakes, or worrying about the future) and activity in the corresponding part of the brain.

The same study found no notable impact from those assigned to a walk in an urban environment, indicating that the natural environment provided enhanced mental health benefits.

Next time you’re feeling stuck, go for a walk. It may be exactly what you need.

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it." - Søren Kierkegaard

Commencement speech with infinite wisdom:

​Advice on Life and Creative Integrity​

Bill Watterson, the cartoonist most famous for his wildly successful Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, delivered the commencement speech at Kenyon College on May 20, 1990.

While it is significantly less well known than ​David Foster Wallace's famous "This is Water" commencement speech​ from the same podium 15 years later, Watterson's speech is similarly wisdom-rich.

My favorite line (emphasis mine):

“In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords [them] the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to [their] potential—as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth."

This is the exact realization that pulled me to write ​​The 5 Types of Wealth​​. It is a player's guide to rejecting that default culture and building a life by your own design. I’m a bit biased, but I think you’re going to find immense value in it.

P.S. ​Preorder here​ to unlock valuable bonuses.