Last year while walking along the countryside, I understood how important mental strength is. Over a few miles into the walk, traversing inclines and declines, my legs screamed for a rest. But stopping would only make the walk more difficult.
Stopping causes us to enter a comfort zone, that once we’re in is difficult to exit. A few minutes becomes ten, which becomes thirty and so on. So pushing through that difficult period, by not stopping, is crucial to success.
As shown in this crudely done drawing of mine, you’ll see that after The Dip (covered in Seth Godin’s book of the same name) in results there’s a spike upwards. Push through the dip.
This upwards trajectory is like a second wind. And is often where the pay-off happens. What’s the point in going through a struggle and then giving up? Keep going and get the reward.
👀 Recommendations 👀
📚😇 Angel - Jason Calacanis. JCal is one of the 🐐 angel investors and spills his methodology in this book. A focus for me this year is to increase my angel investments (anyone in the UK can make them, accreditation isn’t needed) and this book will help me improve my decision-making.
“If you’re going to be a great angel investor, start at the small tables while you learn—there is no rush. Every year, billion-dollar companies are created, and that will continue for the rest of our lives”
📚📝 Deep Work - Cal Newport. I’ve learned a lot from this book and will be preaching its lessons in future newsletters. Until then, if you’re interested in improving your attention so you can focus on meaningful work, this is your book.
“Deep work is not, in other words, an old-fashioned skill falling into irrelevance. It’s instead a crucial ability for anyone looking to move ahead in a globally competitive information economy that tends to chew up and spit out those who aren’t earning their keep.”
That’s all for this week.
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