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Success

Accept Life’s Gifts

May 21, 2020 by Danny Miranda 1 Comment

My Grandma likes to tell the following story about me:

When I was younger, I liked to solve puzzles or play with toys. When my Grandma always inevitably attempted to help me with the problem of the day, I would tell her, “No, I want to do it on my own.”

It is a tale of my individualism. My pride in figuring out the world on my own.

But this is no way to live.

A grandmother’s assistance is one of life’s great gifts. Anyone’s assistance, really.

Let’s put this in practical terms.

Imagine you played Secret Santa. What if when you received your gift, you said…

“Nope, I don’t want this.”

People would look at you like you were crazy.

First, you were rude to the person who picked out your gifts. And second, you robbed yourself of the pleasure of the gift itself. Maybe you don’t think you want it now, but what if in six months, it turns out to be exactly what you need?

When you refuse a gift, you hurt two people: the giver and yourself.

What Are Life’s Gifts?

As it turns out, life is giving us gifts constantly. If you start looking for them, you’ll notice them everywhere.

Here are some examples of gifts you might have (this list is far from exhaustive):

  • A personality trait
  • A talent/skill
  • A specific interest 
  • A special circumstance that only you have access to
  • A friend
  • A relative
  • A work ethic

These are all gifts.

Maybe in some cases, you cultivated these gifts. But isn’t your desire to cultivate these a gift as well?

You Don’t Have To Use Your Gifts

Of course, you don’t have to take advantage of life’s gifts. 

The Internet is a gift. You don’t have to take advantage of the Internet. That’s the beauty of life (and living in a free society, at least). You get to choose. But it is a travesty to rob yourself of the potential joy of this activity.

We have the tendency of spitting in life’s face and ignoring its gifts. It’s quite rude, really.

Steven Pressfield ends The War of Art with the following idea:

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention. It’s a gift to the world. Don’t cheat the world of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.

Pressfield wants us to accept life’s gifts to create the world we want to live in.

Sometimes we fear putting our gift on display. What will others think of us? Will they judge us? Will they think we’re narcissistic?

But the truth is, the world is starving for your contribution. Starving for your gift.

If LeBron James never played basketball, the world would not be the same.

If William Shakespeare never started writing, the world would not be the same.

If Frank Sinatra never sung a melody, the world would not be the same.

“Okay, but I’m not LeBron, Shakespeare, or Sinatra.” 

Maybe not yet. But all these individuals did is follow their gifts. You have gifts too. 

It’s not about capturing great wealth or fame. 

That’s not the point.

The point is that you may find tremendous joy from doing these activities, and you’ll never know, unless you accept life’s gifts.

If you choose to ignore life’s gifts, you will instead pursue imaginary ones.

Henry David Thoreau noticed as much when he commented: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

Why do they lead such a life?

They prioritized the external. They hear the sound of a million bucks and they jump right out of their chair. They hear the gift and say to themselves, “Maybe another day. Is this gift going to get me paid?”

But in doing so they miss the essence of life.

To accept one’s gifts.

How Do You Accept Life’s Gifts?

You accept life’s gifts by using them – via the principle of work.

If you’re reading this, you were given the gift to be able to read, write, and use the Internet. That puts you in a rare position. A position that the majority of the 100 billion humans that ever lived didn’t get the opportunity to experience.

If you were given the gift to be born into enormous wealth and fame, you are in a rare position to build the world you want to see.

Let’s look at Kylie Jenner. 

She was given incredible gifts. Fame. Fortune. The opportunity to do nothing for the rest of her life.

What did she do instead? She worked.

Kylie Jenner recap.

1/ Used her own capital
2/ Hired six people
3/ Paid close to zero in ads
4/ Leveraged media trends
5/ Leveraged supply partners
6/ Built a $1.2b brand
7/ Now $600 million richer
8/ And she did it in five years

The above isn’t the result of fame alone.

— Web Smith (@web) November 18, 2019

Think of the greats. 

Instead of ignoring their gifts, they honored their gifts with work. They appreciated their gifts. They were willing to fail with their gifts. Accepting the harshest of criticism in an attempt to capture the essence of their craft. And still, they kept coming back for more. Day after day.

There is no better way to say thank you to life than to work at improving your gifts.

Why is our first reaction so often to spit in the face of our gifts?

Ego. 

Our ego wants us to know we did it on our own. “On our own.” What that really means, I’ll never know.

But it can never really be true.

Because the work is not done by us but through us. Because even when life deals us a bad hand, we can still choose to take lessons with us that will help us for our next journey. Because when we achieve success of any kind, it’s often thanks to the gifts we received.

Think about many of the phrases that have become almost cliche at this point:

  • “Standing on the shoulders of giants.”
  • “Behind every great man is a great woman.”
  • “Glory to God.”

We are aware when we do our best work, there are often too many other people (and outside forces) we must thank before we really accept any of the credit ourselves.

These people and forces are gifts, too.

That’s not to say trying to achieve “on your own” is bad. 

But if you are offered a special opportunity, there’s nothing wrong with taking it. 

In fact, you should take it. 

If you don’t, Grandma will be awfully upset.


Thank you to Grandma, Eugene Yan, Rohan Williams, Stew Fortier, Jesse Evers, and Nick Drage for graciously looking over earlier drafts of this post.

Filed Under: Success

Is Your “Hard Work” Fun?

May 18, 2020 by Danny Miranda Leave a Comment

Here’s the big secret:

People who do “hard work” often don’t think of the work as hard. They are having fun doing it.

But when they tell you their experience, they tell you “it was hard work.” And then, you think to yourself…

“I probably shouldn’t do that.”

But the trick is to understand that in the moment, they might have been having fun doing the activity. When they are relaying the experience, they are making it seem more difficult.

Let’s have fun with our hard work.

The Optimum Mental Level

Lanny Bassham is an Olympic Gold medalist and a teacher of mental performance. Bassham knows “hard work” is necessary. But he also mentions a mental model for how to complete hard work:

“The optimum mental level and ‘let’s just have fun today’ are closely related.”

I mean how true is that?

When you’re having fun, you’re not thinking about the outcome. You’re thinking about enjoying the activity.

If you were to fix the broken sink with an attitude of having fun, the process would fly by – even if it was your first time.

You get lost in the process.

Here are a couple of examples from real life:

70 Books.

Could you imagine if one human produced 70 books?

That’s what Niklas Luhmann did.

Luhmann came up with a simple system that made his work incredibly easy. He realized each highlight was only relevant in the context, so he created a method to connect them.

When he spoke about his work, he said:

I only do what is easy. I only write when I immediately know how to do it. If I falter for a moment, I put the matter aside and do something else.

Here is a guy who wrote 70 books and produced more than 400 academic papers. And he said he only does work when it is “easy” for him?

Yep.

Pretty crazy.

This relates closely to Derek Sivers experience on his bike ride.

The Bike Ride

Derek Sivers loved to ride his bike in Santa Monica. Every time he completed his bike ride, he would time himself.

Sivers always gave his best effort. Really struggled through the process. Because that’s what you’re “supposed to do.”

It always turned out to be exactly 43 minutes.

Then one afternoon, he didn’t want to ride his bike.

It was “hard work,” after all.

So instead of doing the difficult work, he decided he would do the same bike route and take it easy. 

For the first time, he noticed the dolphins. He looked up and saw a pelican, which eventually pooped in his mouth. He couldn’t help but laugh. His experience was totally different. He was enjoying the process, after all.

In Sivers’ estimation, he expended 50% less effort on his bike ride.

But the bike ride took him 45 minutes. Instead of the usual 43.

Derek was shocked.

In his own words:

So apparently all of that exhausting, red-faced, full-on push-push-push I had been doing had given me only a 4 percent boost. I could just take it easy and get 96 percent of the results.

How can you apply this to your own life? Are you stressing yourself out about achieving a certain result in a certain time? Can you just do what you need to do, take it easy, and get almost the exact same result?

It’s a question worth asking.

What You Can Do Now

Is it possible we captured the same effort, the same energy, but instead of thinking about putting in “hard work,” we instead attempt to enjoy the process?

Can we have fun with our “hard work”?

Figure out where in your life you are doing the most “hard work.” Then ask yourself, can I make it easier to get the same result?

For years, hard work has represented the epitome of success.

What we’ve failed to realize is that those doing it were enjoying the process.

Filed Under: Success

Why You Should Utilize Seasons for Your Own Success

May 14, 2020 by Danny Miranda Leave a Comment

Older players told Kobe Bryant he was going to have an identity crisis after he retired.

The game consumed him. How could he ever be the same?

But four years after he hung up his sneakers for good, he transitioned successfully to his next chapter: 

  • He started Mamba Academy. 
  • He wrote children’s books.
  • His first (and only) film Dear Basketball won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

He accomplished more in his four years away from basketball than most people do their entire life.

How did he do it?

He simply went on to his next “season” – to help the next generation learn basketball.

A season is a period of time when you focus on improving one aspect of yourself.

The Earth has already figured this out.

In the spring, the Earth grows its trees. In the summer, the Earth maintains the growth. In the fall, the Earth sheds the leaves from its trees. In the winter, the Earth wipes its trees completely dry.

Nothing would happen if the Earth tried to do this all at once.

So why don’t we treat our lives the same way?

I originally stumbled upon this idea from Steph Smith’s blog post – Another Year Under the Sun. Steph outlines many of her goals at the onset of each year. Someone commented on her article (via Hacker News): 

It may help to think of your life as “epochs” or “seasons”. Sometimes you’re in a work period, or in a startup epoch. Another time you’re in a travelling season. It’s easier to split your interests over time than to parallelise in the present. The season idea can be greatly reassuring – “oh, I’m not doing enough music now, but that’s because I’m in a work period. Focus on work, do that, that’s enough. Spare time – rest, recuperate, so I can do better work tomorrow.”

And I couldn’t help notice how true it is.

When I am “at my best,” I follow this premise. Focusing on improving one aspect of my life for a set period of time.

So let’s explore how the idea of seasons can help you achieve a specific goal.

Preseason: Selecting Your Season

You either fall into one of two categories: you have no focus or you have too many focuses. But in order for seasons to be effective, you need to have a goal or target (your season).

No Goals? Pick Something

If you don’t have a goal, you are drifting.

In Outwitting the Devil, Napoleon Hill talks about the most common form of “drifting”: indecision. Decide what you want to do instead of letting the tides of life carry you.

When you have no goals, you’re an object at rest.

Can you identify one area which you would like to improve? 

If you can figure out how you can make tiny improvements on this one goal (your season!), you’ll be in a much different position one week, one month, or one year from now.

Too Many Goals? Use Essentialism

Essentialism, popularized by Greg McKeown, is the concept of focusing on what is truly important. 

In the circle on the left, you end up going in twelve different directions but end up getting nowhere. In the circle on the right, you focus on one area and make huge progress.

A useful exercise might be to write down your twelve areas and then ask yourself, “If I could only get better at five of these, which one would I choose?”

Then do that process again with the five you’ve picked. “If I could only get better at one of these, which would I choose?”

Then, you can focus on your one big area ruthlessly.

This is your season.

The Critical Early Stages

When you want to make progress on your season, you need to devote more energy to that specific task than everything else. That way, you’ll get the most out of it.

Great theory, pal.

Does it hold up in the real world?

For a powerful example, let’s look at how you learned to speak.

When You Learned How To Speak

When you are young, your parents select your season. It’s “learning how to speak” season for all toddlers around the globe.

Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley studied 42 families in an attempt to figure out why some students were faster learners than others.

They found:

  • Children whose families were on welfare heard ~600 words per hour
  • Working-class children heard ~1,200 words per hour
  • Children from professional families heard ~2,100 words per hour 

By age 3, children in families on welfare hear 30 million fewer words than children in professional families.

They found the greater the number of words children heard before they were 3, the higher their IQ, and the better they did in school.

Learning a language is a skill – like anything else. In the early stages of any journey, you’re laying the groundwork.

To get good at something quickly, you have to cut the noise and surround yourself with those who will help you get better.

If you half-ass something in the beginning stages, you will pay for it later on.

Because when you’re new to an activity, you are working with a blank slate. You have no (or little) knowledge about a subject. And the improvements can rapidly increase your progress.

How Seasons Work In Real Life

My brother writes, produces, and performs a comedy show for his fraternity every semester. He takes it seriously. 

The show typically coincides with his finals, club activities, and ragers. 

It always turned out great, but never met his high expectations. He always thought to himself, “Man, if I could focus just on the comedy show, it would turn out amazing.”

This past year, he got his wish.

When COVID-19 forced him into quarantine, his schoolwork eased up. He suddenly had no other clubs or parties to attend to. 

As a result? 

He focused all of his attention on the show. And he produced his best performance. 

He was in the season of producing his comedy show.

How To Avoid Post-Season Depression

Here’s one guarantee: life will change.

When we complete one season, it’s easy to fall into a spiral. We lose the focus we had. The flow. The constant improvement. Even the stresses and worries are fun to look back on. Because we’re not drifting.

Seasons give us focus.

There is a sharp increase in deaths among men at 62 in the United States. This happens to be when Social Security is available. While correlation does not mean causation, it’s possible this is a reminder that “work” acts as a season and a reason for living.

So when we go from one season to the next, how do we make sure we don’t ruin ourselves in the process? 

You avoid post-season depression by doing what Kobe did:

Starting something new. And doing it fast.

Because it’s easy to fall into the trap of nostalgia. About reminiscing about past successes. To form your identity around a previous version of yourself. But you need to move. You need to get yourself in motion.

Where To Go From Here

You are likely in one of two camps:

  • No goals
  • Too many goals

Figure out which bucket you are in.

If you are in the first, pick something you wish you could get a little bit better, day after day. (It could be writing, drawing, coding, illustrating, exercising. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you commit to improving yourself in an area over a set amount of time.)

If you are in the second bucket, utilize essentialism to ruthlessly cut that which is not important to choose your season.

Focus on your season ruthlessly – especially in the early stages. This is the most critical time for your development.

Then, when you’re done with your season, choose something else to improve.

That’s it.

To track your season, utilize Streaks.


Thank you Joel Christiansen, Michael Shafer, and Stew Fortier for looking over the first draft of this article.

Filed Under: Goals, Success

No. Matter. What.

April 30, 2020 by Danny Miranda Leave a Comment

I study people.

Specifically, “successful” people.

It’s all I do. Constantly. Reading biographies, non-fiction books. Trying to figure out the answer to the question: “If we’re all human beings… How come some of these people have made more out of life than others?” 

Some people believe there are a select few “born different.” But I tend to think anyone can achieve enormous levels of success.

When I come across a connection, I like to make note of it. I write it down in my little Notes app.

But when I notice the same connection over and over again?

It’s startling.

“Success leaves clues.”  –Tony Robbins

There is a strand connecting everyone from Kobe Bryant to Steve Jobs to Kanye West to Mike Posner to Jim Collins. 

This principle of success spans generations, geography, and genres.

The first time I noticed it, I thought to myself, “That seems like something you should have.”

The next time I noticed it, “This is something you should have.”

And more recently, “This is the difference between success and failure.”

This principle is about finding a way. It’s about ingenuity. It’s about being so resourceful, so gritty, so willing to go the distance, you can’t help but achieve the result you desire. It’s falling 1,000 times. It’s getting up one more.

But it’s not just a matter of theory. This principle has been put to the test over and over again.

The “No. Matter. What.” Principle is quite possibly the most important element to your success – in any goal you set out to achieve.

What Is The “No. Matter. What.” Principle?

The “No. Matter. What.” Principle states: “You will accomplish the goal or task… No. Matter. What.”

It’s about going all in. Stacking your chips. And placing them in the center of the table.

Successful people think about whatever they’re trying to accomplish followed by “No. Matter. What.”

Don’t believe me?

Kanye West: “Never stop fighting no matter what anyone says. If it’s in your gut, your soul, there’s nothing, no worldly possession that should come between you and your expression.”

David Goggins: “Success is based off of your willingness to work your ass off no matter what obstacles are in your way.”

Jocko Willink:

Perhaps a couple of real life examples will better illustrate this principle in action…

The Walk Across America

Mike Posner wanted to walk across the United States of America.

It was something on his bucket list for a long time.

Then his dad passed away.

He realized he had less time than he thought.

So, in April 2019, Mike started his walk in New Jersey. To his friends and family, he told them he was going to walk across the United States.

But what he told himself is, “I’m going to walk across the United States… no matter what.”

I will walk Across America no matter what.
KEEP GOING. pic.twitter.com/Riadw80dbr

— mikeposner (@MikePosner) August 29, 2019

Three little words that make all the difference in the execution of the journey.

Mike’s “No. Matter. What.” Principle came in handy about halfway through the journey. 

Mike had made it halfway across the country. Then, on August 7, halfway through his trek, he got bit by a rattlesnake. He called 911. He asked if they thought he was going to survive. The operator told him, “I don’t know.” He was airlifted by a helicopter to a local hospital. At first, the doctors told him they might have to amputate his leg.

Mike survived with two feet.

But he had to learn how to walk again. So, Mike spent the next few weeks rehabbing his foot.

He was slowly learning how to walk (using a walker) and soon became accustomed to the comforts of home. People were feeding him. And he didn’t even have to walk. Besides, he had an out. He didn’t need to walk across America. A rattlesnake had taken a chomp of his foot afterall!

That’s when he remembered his “No. Matter. What.”

So, after rehabbing his foot for a few weeks, he drove back to the same spot he started… and started walking.

Psychologically, it was difficult. But Mike refused to give in to the part of his brain that told him to quit.

It was the “No. Matter. What” Principle that helped get him through to the other side of the country.

Jim Collins’ Most Important Rule

Jim Collins is the bestselling author of Good to Great and Built to Last.

He has a rule:

Every 365 days, he has to have completed 1,000 creative hours… “No. Matter. What.” (His words, not mine.)

That means January 1 to January 1 the following year. Or April 14 to April 14. Or July 29 to July 29.

It doesn’t matter if he’s sick or tired or doesn’t feel like doing the work. If he hasn’t completed his 1,000 hours for that “year,” then he gets to work. (For those counting at home, 1,000 creative hours means a minimum of approximately 2 hours, 45 minutes per day. You can see how one can produce great work if they’re spending 1,000 hours yearly on creative hours.)

(For a more detailed description of what qualifies as “creative hours,” check out this brilliant podcast from him and Tim Ferriss.)

That wasn’t the only time he mentioned the “No. Matter. What.” Principle.

He also mentioned it in regards to relationships too. 

More particularly, the relationship with his wife. He described his philosophy as even through the tough times, his mindset is: “We will not fail at this marriage. No. Matter. What.”

Have Standards

Want to achieve anything?

Hard times are non-negotiable. Unexpected adversities are guaranteed.

Having a “No. Matter. What.” clause makes sure you don’t have an out. You’re in this fight until you can’t fight no more.

It’s the mindset of, “I’d rather die than not accomplish this task.”

And if your level of commitment is that high… success is almost a guaranteed outcome.

Of course, it won’t be easy. Of course, there will be times when you want to quit. When you want to give it all up and start something else.

Your No. Matter. What. keeps you going. Keeps you on the path.

It makes sure you have standards for yourself. 

That you’re upholding your promise to yourself. 

That you will do whatever it takes to achieve what you’re aiming to achieve.

What’s Your “No. Matter. What.”?

I don’t write this post to tell you some stories about some successful people.

I write this post because I want you to ask yourself: 

What are you currently committed to? What are the standards you are unwilling to compromise on? What will you succeed at “No. Matter. What.”?

If you don’t currently have a “No. Matter. What.”, start with a habit. Build a streak. Set a standard for yourself. And move forward. Every day. 

This is the way people have achieved incredible success for thousands of generations. This is the way you can create incredible success in your life. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be anything other than a simple habit or goal.

You may look at celebrities. Or people who achieved incredible success. You may think of them as somehow different than you. But they are human.

Very human.

They have simply committed to a simple task and completed it.

No. Matter. What.

Filed Under: Goals, Success

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