3-2-1: On endless pursuits, the value of courage, and how to buy back your time

read on JAMESCLEAR.COM | JANUARY 18, 2024

Happy 3-2-1 Thursday!

Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider this week...

3 Ideas From Me

I.

"The days can be easy if the years are consistent. You can write a book or get in shape or code a piece of software in 30 minutes per day. But the key is you can't miss a bunch of days."

II.

"The wedding is an event, love is a practice. 

The graduation is an event, education is a practice.

The race is an event, fitness is a practice. 

The heart, mind, and body are endless pursuits."

III.

"The obvious way to buy back your time is to pay someone to do something for you. Pay the mechanic to change your oil or a dry cleaner to press your suit.

The less obvious way to buy back your time is to say no. Passing on a promotion might "buy" you more time with family. Declining the dinner invite might "pay" for the time you need to exercise. We buy back our time not only with the money we spend, but also with the opportunities we decline.

The more clearly you know how you want to spend your days, the easier it becomes to say no to the requests that steal your hours."

2 Quotes From Others

I.

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl on freedom:

"Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Source: Man's Search For Meaning 

II.

Ethnobotanist and mystic Terence McKenna on courage:

"Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed."

Source: Unfolding the Stone (edited lightly for clarity)

1 Question For You

Artist and educator Corita Kent had a set of rules she often shared with her students. One of them read, "There is no win and no fail. There is only make."

What are you making today?