There is a space between feeling and reaction.
I’m learning to sit there a little longer, to observe, to understand.
It’s changing how I experience my emotions.
I wrote about it here:
https://t.co/xXDKyeQAAG
Lovely reflections @MissGinaSM
https://t.co/Ey7y85RYkP
The Water Mind -
"Water does not panic when it meets a rock. It does not argue with the mountain.
It does not waste its energy demanding that the landscape change for its convenience.
Instead, it adapts. It moves where movement is possible and waits where waiting is required.
And somehow, through patience rather than aggression, it carves canyons."
2-minute reading
@steenbab
Sometimes I wish I could open a book like a door and step inside.
Disappear between the pages for a while.
Return softer. Changed. Less alone.
I wrote about the quiet life of readers
https://t.co/gzdhx25tRn
BYE-BYE POWERPOINT.
Claude 4.7 just made presentations obsolete.
In 60 seconds, it builds slides better than most professionals.
Here are 6 prompts that do everything for you 👇
📌 Save this before everyone starts using it.
Article: How To Make Your Life Worse
You've heard people say: "The odds are against me."
Today, that reality showed up on a soccer field. And it taught me something I want to hold close.
Despite adult obligations and work demands, every week or so I prioritize reuniting with a group of my most skillful soccer friends — guys who genuinely wanted to become professionals. Creative. Competitive. No weak links among them.
Today, only seven pitched up. Four against three.
I raised my hand to be on the short side. Two brave boys followed — Asanda and Cee Jay. I always prefer the short team. It's where the fitness is earned, the pressure is real, and the lessons are sharpest.
We won, decisively.
Here's what performing under pressure actually looked like 👇
1. As the captain of my team, I encouraged constantly. Twice we were behind. I kept saying: "Don't give up — it's only 1-0. Don’t give up — it’s only 2-0. Don’t stress, take another shot." I continually fought the urge to lash out, to confront every poor decision out loud. Because that never changed a scoreline.
2. As the captain of my team, I focused on what was in my control. Defending our goal as if my life depended on it. Passing accurately under pressure. Not missing my chances in front of goal. This was in my control. Not the poor shot Asanda made. Not the wrong decision Cee Jay made. Not the talent of the opponent.
3. As the captain of my team, I owned my mistakes first. "I'm sorry — I should've passed earlier. I dribbled too much." Harmony doesn't come from demanding it from others. It starts with you. Every time.
Every day I'm reminded that I don't have a degree — odds are against me in the corporate space.
Every day I'm reminded that I'm not in a wealthy country with well-off parents — odds are against me economically.
But no one cares.
No one cares that just when I needed to lock in on my studies in Grade 10, my parents had to confront reality and ask me to sleep at my cousin's place next door — because the big house they had visualized was financially strained. That's when I met the wrong crowd. Gallivanted many nights undetected for two straight years. Got introduced to all available drugs in the black township.
But hold on — I might have locked in on my studies, passed matric handsomely, entered a decent university, landed a high-paying job… But I doubt that would have led to happily ever after. I've seen many of those stories turn sour. Precisely because certain phases were never experienced.
Today, I know what it's like to be addicted to cigarettes — to upturn your mattress looking for a cigarette butt just to fall asleep. I know what it's like to almost die driving under the influence. I know the highs and lows of an ecstasy pill that makes you dance all night like a performer going from club to club.
And because I know — I recognize the patterns that lead to addiction, the crowds heading toward a cliff, and the thoughts that lead to poor decisions.
Inner disharmony. Inner dissatisfaction. Inner turmoil.
A surefire way to make your life worse is to think negatively about yourself, your past, your mistakes, and your circumstances — especially when the odds are already against you.
You won't improve those odds by venting your helplessness. You won't change your trajectory by finding better ways to explain your bad luck in life, work, or relationships.
No one improves their odds by explaining them better.
Like my soccer lesson — you can do this instead:
Applaud yourself, every chance you get. "Well done for staying calm when that stranger was rude to you. Well done for not retaliating when your efforts went unnoticed. Well done for not complaining when your mother criticized you again, clearly ignoring your efforts." Words have power. Don't turn them against yourself when the odds are already stacked.
Focus on what is in your control. Today. Your attitude. Your effort. Your experience. Your family.
Stay calm and composed internally, despite the noise outside. The government will do what it wants. Let it. The economy will load-shed. Let them. Neighbors and colleagues will gossip about you. Let them. Your job is to remain kind, loving, and compassionate — with yourself first. Then with your family, in that order.
The odds don’t change because you complained better.
They change when you play better.
@steenbab@elonmusk@PeterDiamandis@orangebook
#mindset
Good people are like rain.
Like trees.
Like light you don’t always see, but feel.
They don’t always announce themselves.
But they leave something behind.
My latest article below “Like Rain, Like Trees, Like Light.”
https://t.co/igsVoPwDEL
@CanceloAlvarez
#Growth#article
Becoming Without Hardening https://t.co/EwjdFK52YO
What a beautiful article @SETHABILLIONAI
Written by a thinker and observer,
written for other thinkers and calm minds out there.
Check it out!
#Southafrica 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦
@steenbab@elonmusk
The older you get, the more you realize luck is just exposure.
If you sit in the same chair, same routine, talking to same people… nothing new happens.
You have to touch the world to win.
• Talk to strangers
• try a new coffee spot
• post on social
• Start a side hustle
The world rewards motion.
You don’t find opportunity sitting still.
You bump into it.