Fellow dude bros, once again I lay out wisdom for you to evaluate and act upon.
To paraphrase my good friend retired Master Sargeant Mike Miller,
“The question is not why, but instead when to do it before you die.”
#1 Get a job you like, then quit it for a job you love.
Eject before you hit this point...
One way I can group everyone I know is by how they feel about their job. There are three categories
- Dudes who do jobs they hate
- Dudes who do jobs they like
- Dudes who do jobs they love
Which dude are you?
As I examined this more, I learned some critical items.
- Job satisfaction is not primarily associated to money
- Job satisfaction seems to be highly associated to time
- Personal interest remains a key factor
- Sense of mission accomplishment is a must
- Fewer bosses typically equals a happier dude bro
I can’t tell you where you are now, or where you need to go next. Only you can do that. What I do know is you will always be bummed if you stay in a job you hate. I can tell you that you will always wonder if you stay in the job you like. I am certain the job you love is not a key to happiness, but it is likely a mile marker on that road.
So this is the first dude bro challenge: figure out what you love and find a way to get there.
There will likely be several stepping stones on the path, and it’s likely it will not be happening tomorrow.
#2 Become #1 at something, if only for a minute.
The Beloved Leader, Fashion Icon and #1 violatior of human rights in the Pacific Rim
There are a lot of things to do in this life. Somewhere in that mess is your destiny to be #1, even if you are only #1 for a minute, an hour, or a day. I don’t know what it is, or when it will happen.
Maybe you can become the best seller in your department, the best dart player in your league, break a record in a sport, or own the most copies of Grip and Rip 2.1 (that’s a hell of a record to get to!)
Inside every dude is a gene that drives him to be better. Some people have had their ass kicked so bad by life that they forget. Luckily for you I am here to remind you. You were born to be better. So get on that shit.
#3 Stand up for someone who can’t
This is not a call for action to go out and become the World Police. It is simply a suggestion to be someone to stand up for someone who needs it at a particular time. I don’t know when that time is, or what the situation will be. I am not speaking specifically on physical violence either, I am talking a range of conflicts to include the inner conflicts of doubts and depression. Be the dude to stand up when it is the right time.
#4 Consider erasing some words and ideas out of your mind
The words we use are the products of our thoughts. Some thoughts are destructive; poisonous cancers which do a shit load of damage to you.
This is not as easy to do as it is for me to write. I am doing a lot of work on this topic myself, and every time I make a progression I feel better. It is easier for me to do something different than it is for me to change my mind, so I strive to seek different behaviors to move these ideas out of my mind more and more. These are four ideas I am working on because they have been incredibly destructive to me in the past.
- Should: possibly one of the top three most destructive ideas in the human mind. Do you find yourself speaking in “shoulds” often? I used to. The more “should” I owned, the more pissed off I found myself.
- Always: I still use this one often, but I am getting better at it not doing it. Is anything truly appropriate for an always? Always is an idea of “sameness” and can I accurately say something is to be the same every time? It seems every time I use an always I find myself contradicting it at some point.
- Never: Very much connected to the idea of always is the idea of never. Nevers are often spoken addressing things which will not happen and yet they do happen. “That never should have happened” is a pretty dangerous combo which I found myself using quite often in the past. You know what was interesting about “never should’a happened?” It often happened, even though I said it shouldn’t have. The less I use never, the fewer times I find myself pissed off.
- I know: Frankie said this to me first “The problem with knowing is you stop thinking” Knowing carries a degree of certainty and it can be very helpful to not be so certain. When you are not certain you will question more, and that is a good thing. The more I question, the more I learn.
Only you can make the call on what needs to go in your mind. I do think it is likely you will find some ideas which are slowing you down, and if you can reduce them you will likely be better off.
#5 Do something to make you better everyday
This is the core of PR Everyday. The idea of getting better daily. It’s not just about the gym, its about life. Things don’t need to be “good” or even “great” they just need to be better. I don’t know how many steps it takes to get to good, or how many actions are needed to move from good to great, but I do know how much it takes to be better. The slightest degree of change.
Better is not about optimal, not about perfect, better is about better than present state.
If you can turn away trying to be good or great and simply work to be better you will likely go farther, and get there faster.
Naturally this is something you need to test out in your own life, it is not certain at this point.
Better awesome is found by bettering your life style.
You are the only one who can decide what the right move is. Stop asking someone else to tell you how to live your life. Look around, you will find a bunch of people who will gladly run your shit, and you will grow to hate it. You are the man, so be the man.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Hanley
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Hey Adam….. I found these quotes from a famous Samurai. Check them out. They apply not only to battle but to life also.
“In fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.”
“Do nothing which is of no use.”
“You win battles by knowing the enemy’s timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.”
“Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mt Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening near to you.”
“Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”
“Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.”
“All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this.
“Know your enemy, know his sword.”
“Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.”
“Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.”
“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.”
“from one thing, know ten thousand things”
“The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy’s cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.”
I know I should always never give up.
Gene that made me laugh
I know I should never say “always.”
Looks like Gene beat me to it
yeah but you made it seven words while I needed eight. Yours is more elegant. We should make a haiku out of those 4 words.
Gene
being that I think I suck at poetry I will default that task to you if you want the win. What is the format of the haiku again?
17 sounds (not syllables) from wiki arranged to show the world in few words or something like that. In a 5-7-5 pattern. I don’t know exactly what counts as a sound (moras) so as I am a simple white construction dude bro, I will use simple syllables.
I know dude bro fight
should never go up to t rex
always with saw gun
should have tested flex
I know always heed body
never do now broke
trainer told me so
should always be neutral spine
I never know self
I know sounds above
son should sleeping never does
never get workout
gotta go upstairs and cease this poetry exercise. I know that I should always never ignore my 3 year old.
LOL I am doing a post now on the haiku talent of Gene.