Die Empty

Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

Buy Here.

by Todd Henry (Arms dealer for the creative revolution) – Accidental Creative founder + author of “Louder Than Words”, shows folks like us how to develop practices and systems that lead to everyday brilliance.

Photo by Sasha Joe on Unsplash

Jamie’s Notes.

“Your days are finite. One day, they will run out. As a friend of mine likes to say, ‘You know, the death rate is hovering right around one hundred percent.’ Many people I know spend their entire life trying to avoid this fact. They fill their lives with frantic activity, bouncing from task to task, and no matter how successful they perform in their work, as they close up shop for the day they are left with the question, ‘Did the work I did today really matter?’ Others I’ve met are incredibly successful at, vested in, and highly compensated for their work, but over time they’ve grown stagnant. They sense they have something more to give but they can’t quite put their finger on why they’re stuck in first gear. They have a nagging suspicion that they are capable of contributing more—maybe even being truly brilliant at something—but have no road map for unlocking what that contribution might be…

If there is one overriding goal of this book it is this: to bring newfound clarity and sense of urgency to how you approach your work on a daily basis, and over your lifetime. I hope to help you lock onto a focused understanding of what’s really important and help you make a commitment to chase after it with gusto rather than simply settling in for the ride.”

• WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE. FAIRLY SOON (in cosmic terms). MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR BLINK OF EXISTENCE. PLEASE.
• NOBODY has a roadmap for unlocking potential, we are all just making it up on the hoof, but it definitely not to be found in your Comfort Zone as that leads to a life of Quiet Desperation (I know, I’ve been married!). Take a chance, sooner rather than later. It’ll eat away at you if you keep delaying.
• We all know what we want, closing the gap is the challenge.
• We are all “GodShards“, we have just been farmed to forget it.

“The Developer is constantly weaving together available resources and opportunities to create value. He doesn’t work frantically, but instead works with urgency and diligence, making plans and then executing them, learning from his actions, and then redirecting them as needed. He recognizes that uncertainty is not an enemy, but a natural part of engaging in important and valuable work. He also knows that opportunities are valuable only if he is prepared to take advantage of them, and as such he is constantly developing his skills that will be needed when he gets where he wants to go rather than where he is currently. If you want to die empty of regret, with a body of work you can be proud of, you must focus on becoming a Developer.”

“…die empty of regret, with a body of work you can be proud of.” That sounds like a worthy aspiration to me.

Mapping + Making + Meshing = Developer

Mapping = Knowing your guiding star, your mission. Progressing towards it.

Making = Do the work—with urgency and diligence. Every day.

Meshing = Developing your skills so you’re always growing. Pulling together disparate bits of learning.

The Developer integrates all three.

“Mediocrity doesn’t always mean underperforming—it’s a sliding scale and a state of mind. It means settling in and succumbing to stasis. Mediocrity comes from the Latin words medius, meaning middle, and ocris, meaning a rugged mountain. Literally it means to settle halfway to the summit of a difficult mountain. It’s a compromise of abilities and potential; a negotiation between the drive to excel and the biological urge to settle for the most comfortable option.”

Sometimes mediocrity can be a trap. It’s not quite bad enough to make you quit, but it’s certainly not lighting your fire on a daily basis.

Tony lists the indicators of mediocrity alphabetically.

Aimlessness + Boredom + Comfort + Delusion + Ego + Fear + Guardedness.

And his antidote to each –

Define Your Battles + Be Fiercely Curious + Step Out of Your Comfort Zone + Know Yourself + Be Confidently Adaptable + Find Your Voice + Stay Connected.

medius (middle) + ocris (rugged mountain) = Mediocrity.

Literally meaning to stop halfway to the summit of a rugged mountain. Or to give up when it gets tuff.

Which leads to the “Lives of quiet desperation” that most men lead.

The polar opposite of mediocrity is Excellence.

Today is the Only Day.

“Imagine for a moment that you will have a guest accompanying you throughout your day tomorrow. This person’s task will be to follow you around from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep. They will take copious notes about your schedule, how you interact with your family and friends, how you engage in your tasks and projects, and your mind-set through it all. Once the day is over, this person will spend the next few days processing their observations, draw conclusions about your motivations, and compile their notes into a book about you that will stand as the definitive record of your life and work.

How would you act differently tomorrow if you knew that your actions and attitude on that one day were going to be a permanent testament to your life? If you’re like many people to whom I’ve posted this question, you would probably get up a little earlier, pay extra attention to your family and the barista at Starbucks, be fully vested in every meeting, be meticulous in every task, call up an old friend for lunch, reconcile with an alienated colleague, and generally wrap up loose ends.

Next I ask, ‘How does your imagined behavior compare with how you are actually living your life today?’”

Having someone else observe & assess you is a bit scary, eh!?! But you are doing this to yourself everyday. Judging yourself. +1 or -1. It all Registers.

Take some time to consider, possibly write down, perhaps a note on the fone, as to what a Masterpiece Day should look like, or at the very least contain.

Step, Sprint, and Stretch Goals

“Growth doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of intentional effort and consistent progress. You must define how you want to grow, then establish a plan to help you get there. There are three kinds of goals that help you grow: Step, Sprint, and Stretch. A step goal is a very short-arc goal (often daily) that helps you maintain forward progress, even if it’s small progress. A sprint goal is a medium-arc goal (a week or two weeks) that causes you to go beyond yourself for a season in order to increase your capacity, and a stretch goal is a long-arc goal that forces you to go far beyond your comfort zone.

Each of these three types of goals nest within one another. Step goals help you accomplish your sprint goals, and sprint goals help you accomplish your stretch goals. They don’t always have to co-exist, but it’s unwise to set the long-arc goals without having accompanying short-arc goals to help you get there. For example, running a marathon is a great example of a stretch goal, but I would be foolish not to set corresponding sprint and step goals to help me work my way up to 26.2 miles. The stretch goal is the objective, but step and sprint goals are the building blocks. We usually reach our end goal, but fail to consider the mechanics, or the day-to-day logistics, of how we will actually get to where we want to be.”

If you don’t have a destination in mind when you set sail, you are just wandering the oceans of life. Or an archer without a target. Choose your own metaphor.

“The lag is the gap between cause and effect. It’s the season between planting a seed and reaping a harvest. It’s the time when all the work you’ve done seems to have returned little to no visible reward, and there is little on the horizon to indicate that things are going to get better.

When you are in the lag, the only thing that keeps you moving forward are (a) confidence in your vision and ability to bring it to fruition, (b) a willingness to say no to other things that tempt you to divert from your course, and (c) daily, diligent, urgent progress.”

Or the U as he refers to it in Louder Than Words.

Know this is going to happen, prepare for it (WOOP) and work thru it.

This ties very strongly to…

Optimism vs Wishful Thinking

“There’s a vast difference between optimism and wishful thinking. One is a mind-set that expects progress through effort, and the other is nothing but a bulwark against the fear of failure.

Someone who is optimistic expects the best while actively working to bring it about. Wishing externalizes responsibility and hopes that everything lines up according to plan, but doesn’t do anything to actively bring about the desired change. Someone who operates from a place of wishful thinking is—in essence—a closet pessimist.”

“Closet Pessimist” would be funny, were it not so true of so many folks delusions.

Closely related to Tony Horton’s wisdom of Functional Optimism, Optimism needs Action, Optimism needs Doing.

Time for Priorities & Focus

“I hope that this book has been helpful in some way in instilling a similar level of urgency in how you think about your life. You have a finite amount of focus, time, and energy to offer the world, and it can never be reclaimed once it’s spent. There’s no use in wasting your time lamenting the past, because you cannot change or control it. Rather, I urge you to focus on what’s next.

Ultimately, your life will be measured by what you gave, not what you received. Don’t hold out on the rest of us—we need you to contribute. Spend your life building a body of work you will be proud of. Engage today with urgency and diligence. Plant seeds every day that will yield a harvest later. Tomorrow is only an unfulfilled wish, so live and work as if today is all you have. If you do, you will be able to lay your head down each night satisfied with your work, and in the end, you will die empty of regret, but full of satisfaction for a life well lived.”

You are going to be dead soon enuf. Lots of Clever Folks believe it’s healthy, positive & productive to remember this. Every day. Stoic Memento Mori. Tibetan Buddhism .

It is not a selfish act to be your best self, to attempt self actualisation, safe in the knowledge that it is an arduous and lifelong journey, rather than a destination.

Because, to be “less than” is depriving the Universe of the gifts that only you can give. Get working & give them.

Y’all are unique!