Go harder
Go softer
What does it mean to go hard?
We put many labels on it,
“be very motivated”
why don’t you dispense with all those labels…
…and just try…
FOCUSING ON A SINGLE THING FOR A SINGLE FUCKING HOUR
Get a timer — set it for an hour
Get your mind straight
Time is a limited resource
And right now this is the only hour you’ll ever have
INDEED there will never be an hour like that — no two hours are identical…
Make it count
MAKE IT COUNT
See WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE within that hour
See we have all kinds of convoluted tricks and tactics to “Be productive”:
“How to not procrastinate”
“How to organize better”
“How to be more motivated”
Why don’t you just ACTUALLY WORK — when you DO WORK?
Why don’t you take the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING — out of all the important things that there are in your life — and why don’t you go ALL OUT, with ABSOLUTE AND UTTER FOCUS — on that SINGLE THING??
Get a timer
DELETE all your distractions. NOT A SINGLE DISTRACTION is allowed. It instantly ruins it
Get a timer — and EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT — you go ALL OUT
THEN you can relax
Never say “I don’t have time” if you’re not doing those 2 things:
—PRIORITISING, focusing on the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING
—PUTTING IN THAT SINGLE FUCKING HOUR of ABSOLUTE IMMACULATE FOCUS
go hard like your life depended on it
…you WOULDN’T BELIEVE how much an hour of ACTUAL, FOCUSED, HIGH-ROI work is worth,
compare an hour of Elon Musk’s work with an hour of some bureaucrat, banging out pointless hours in the fucking office
all you productivity tricks are drivel if you can’t even sit for an hour and GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT
…
now,
isn’t that too hard?
isn’t that too stressful?
what’s the point in doing something if you don’t love it and enjoy it?
those are valid points
THE POINT IS to be SINGLE-MINDED
The point is to ACTUALLY WORK when you’re working,
The point is to actually DO what you said you would
THAT is unavoidable, indisputable
Either you’re DOING something — or you’re NOT doing something (e.g. doing something else)
It’s fine if it’s PLAY TIME
But don’t say you’re “working”
You’re PLAYING, with some work in between
Or you’re doing 10 things at once or whatever — but you’re NOT DOING THE THING
When you say you’re doing something — MEAN IT. Give it 100%.
Just give it 1 hour of absolute focus and dedication and blood, sweat and tears.
Now,
Can’t you go relaxedly, effortlessly, slowly, NATURALLY, spontaneously, harmoniously, INSPIREDLY ?
Do you have to rush against the clock — and then still lose, still fail to deliver, still DIE — without having finished…?
Does the rushing and achieving ever end?
It’s a valid conflict, isn’t it?
Obsession with the outcome and performance — at the cost of naturalness, peacefulness
vs
Spontaneity, sincerity, unforced creativity — at the cost of accountability, motivation, ambition
EXCEPT IT’S NOT
You can go HARDER — AND GO SOFTER
The point is to be SINGLE MINDED
Which is to WORK WHEN YOU WORK
And to DO THE THING — when you WANT TO DO THE THING
Do you understand?
In the wake of your divine inspiration or animalistic impulse or capitalistic greed or whatever it is — you RECOGNIZE THAT WHICH MUST BE DONE — and FOCUS ON IT 1000%.
That is all there is to it
Can you go softer then?
Can you VALUE EVERY MINUTE — yet go softer?
Can you not stress, not tense, not desire, not rush?
Can you rush SLOWLY?
Can you be the BLAZING FIRE — yet CALM AS WATER?
….
One can go very soft
There’s the stillness of water,
The harmony of the forest
The languor of a sunny, cloudless day
The vastness of the mountains
The contentment of a sleeping cat
The warmth before the fireplace
The quiet of the night
The comfort of one’s bed
The bliss of a peaceful and simple life
The absence of troubles and worries and appointments and deadlines and bills and taxes and savings and nonsense?
Can you conceive of that?
Now,
Can you nurture that quality?
Can you commit to having more of that quality in your life?
Can you appreciate that quality?
There must be appreciation, there must be recognition
You must realize that you are NOT being peaceful
That there is perhaps a more natural state — which you had lost, somehow
That perhaps reality played you a fool
That you’re going to die anyway…. except perhaps not right now,
So relax now
Relax
Commit to peace, relax
…
…and once you did — is it time to ruin it now, with all the RUSHING?
it it time to ruin it with a TO DO LIST , and a fucking TIMER?
no
I want you to know peace
and cultivate it in every area of your life
and everything you do shall be carried out with a sense of calmness
with a sense of control
with a sense of non-attachment
with the wisdom of KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT,
and calmly doing it
as though you’re walking through fields and meadows and forests, on a peaceful sunny day
EXCEPT
EXCEPT I want you to SIMULTANEOUSLY have the PROFOUND fucking RESPECT for EVERY SINGLE THING THAT YOU’RE DOING !!!
WHICH IS TO BE SINGLE-MINDED, when you’re doing something
Which is to WORK WHEN YOU WORK
And to DO THE THING — when you WANT TO DO THE THING
AND to do it with a FIRE in your belly,
And yet as calmly as a mountain stream
…
No I don’t believe this is conflicted
Every single moment of your life you could be more peaceful
More at peace
More caring
More slow
More relaxed,
More loving
And yet
every single thing you, you could be
more enthusiastic
more exhilarated
more committed
more focused
more accountable
more ingenious
more brilliant
more energetic
more loving