ikenna N

That X-factor...

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

The older I get, the more I realize how many people waste their entire lives waiting to feel ready. Gathering more information. Creating the perfect plan. Simulating progress. Convincing themselves they’ll start tomorrow. Readiness is a myth. Action creates clarity. Do the thing.

[The Motley Fool @themotleyfool]

Don't interrupt compounding.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Major cheat code for life: Build a boring baseline. Go to bed early. Wake up early. Move your body. Eat simple foods. Save money. Read good books. Avoid drama. Be present. Listen intently. Change your mind. The inputs may not look impressive, but the results certainly do.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

The fastest way to improve your entire life is to sign up for a physical side quest. A race. A competition. Whatever. Your day becomes more structured with the training. You sleep deeper because you're tired. You eat cleaner. You look better. Everything falls into alignment.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

A mentor once told me this: Fall in love with feeling like a work in progress. Resist the urge to look polished. You don’t need to pretend you have it all figured out. Nobody does. Embrace your unfinished form. Just commit to getting a better each day and trust where it leads.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

The best advice I got in my 20s: Nobody cares. Stop fearing the judgement of people who were never even thinking about you. Nobody is thinking about you. They’re too busy thinking about themselves. Go do the thing.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

I think there are two types of optimism:

1. Passive Optimism
2. Active Optimism

Passive Optimism is exclusively about belief. The belief that things will work out. Blind faith.

Active Optimism is about belief that begets action. The belief that things will work out, and the action to make sure they do. Earned faith.

Passive Optimism fails for the same reason Pessimism does. Because it doesn’t move. The passive optimist does nothing because he thinks he doesn’t have to.

And the reality is that Passive Optimism can often masquerade as patience, faith, or even wisdom. It’s the career path that will sort itself out. It’s the relationship struggle that will surely disappear with time. It’s the health issue that will eventually go away.

Belief is great. Faith is great. But without appropriate action, they are a recipe for long-term disappointment.

A mentor once told me this:

Always assume things will work out, then do the work to make it true.

That combination creates a quiet confidence that allows you to tolerate uncertainty better than anything else.

It’s a mindset of Active Optimism. Belief and action.

[The Motley Fool @themotleyfool]

Time in the market > Timing the market. Always.

[Naval @naval]

You won’t get rich just working hard, but if you don’t work hard, you won’t get rich.

[The Motley Fool @themotleyfool]

The richest investors aren't the smartest. They're the calmest.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Your entire life will change when you learn to love what most people avoid. Wake up early. Focus. Move your body. Eat real foods. Obsess over one thing. Read old books. Be present. Listen intently. Change your mind. Have difficult conversations. The recipe for a good life.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

My grandfather told me this: "You’ll achieve much more by being consistently reliable than by being occasionally extraordinary." You can get pretty damn far in life by just being someone that people can count on to show up and do the work. I'll never forget that.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

I’m convinced that the most underrated trait in life is the willingness to change your mind. Certainty isn't strength. The most impressive people change their minds often in response to new information. It’s a software update. The goal isn't to be right. It's to find the truth.

[The Motley Fool @themotleyfool]

Investing is 1% making decisions and 99% waiting patiently.

[Naval @naval]

The problem with truth is, once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

WARNING: Longer post (but worth reading or bookmarking for later).

Your life has seasons.

Each one is unique. Characterized by its own distinct desires, struggles, opportunities, and identity.

But one reflection I've had recently is just how easy it is to completely disassociate with the present season.

To give all your time and energy toward a longing for some nostalgic memory of a prior season or an anticipation for some beautiful state of a future season.

You look back at the past and all you see is sunshine. Because it all worked out. You forget (or glaze over) the struggle you endured. You're here today. You made it. You're alive. You're doing fine.

You look forward at the future and dream on what could be. You'll have so much more. More freedom. More purpose. More health. More deep connection. More everything.

The past is beautiful and the future feels limitless. So, logically, you slowly start to treat everything about the present as the bridge. A dash connecting your past and your future. A gap to be crossed as quickly as possible.

Everything you do today is in anticipation of some eventual end state.

I'm doing this now, so that I can have that later.

Unfortunately, the danger of that dissociation with the present is significant. You may spend your entire life living for a future that has a decidedly mirage-like property. You inch closer, but when it's right in front of you, it disappears and reappears on the horizon.

You may spend your entire life skipping through the present, deferring your presence, your joy, and your very humanity to a future that never comes.

In a classic French fable, a young boy is gifted with a magic ball of golden thread. He's told that if he simply pulls on the thread, time will leap forward. The catch, of course, is that once it's pulled, it can never be put back.

The young boy takes advantage of the newfound powers. Each time he's faced with a boring day at school, a frustrating set of chores, or a scolding from his parents, he pulls the thread, skipping through to the good parts.

As an adult, he continues, leaping through mundane struggles in his marriage, the friction of having a newborn, and the boredom at work. He finds himself pulling on the thread more and more, avoiding even the most minor inconveniences of his life.

But when he wakes up one day and sees an old man looking back at him in the mirror, he's filled with regret. He realizes in that moment that as he chose to skip through the boredom, struggles, and friction, so too did he miss the real texture of being alive.

How often do we all do the same? How easily do we default into this disassociation? Disconnecting from the present in anticipation of some future.

A mentor recently asked me this:

"Where are you going and why are you in such a rush?"

It hit me hard.

And to be honest, I haven't stopped replaying those words since he said them.

Why are you in such a rush?

The world wants you to rush into everything. Rushed decisions. Rushed conversations. Rushed relationships. Rushed timelines.

In doing so, you slowly relinquish your agency. You give up your claim on your own life. Surrender authorship to a pen that was never even yours.

In a world that wants you to rush, the ultimate act of rebellion is presence.

Be in the season you're in. Don't romanticize the past, don't fantasize the future. Be here. Be now. Be in this. All of its texture, depth, and struggle. All of its joy, tension, and pain. Sit with the uncertainty. Become friends with it. Fall in love with it.

Because every single thing you do today is something your younger self dreamed of and something your older self will wish they could go back and do.

The good old days are happening, right now.

And the next time you find yourself skipping through the present, remember these words:

Where are you going and why are you in such a rush?

[The Motley Fool @themotleyfool]

The market can make you rich overnight—or wealthy for a lifetime. Choose.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

I'm convinced that it’s perfectly ok to live a life that looks confusing to others. Wake up early. Do hard things. Focus deeply. Eat real foods. Go on walks. Obsess over one thing. Read old books. Avoid drama. Save money. Never gossip. Love your people. Recipe for a good life.