Danny Miranda

for those in pursuit of their highest version

How Do You Know You’re On The Right Path?

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Today’s entry comes inspired by a reader of Tuesday Treasure. His questions are in bold and my answers are featured below:

My question is this: in a multi-faceted life, with multiple different hobbies and aspirations, how do you know or feel that you are on the right path?

First let me say this… if you don’t feel like you’re on the right path…. that’s okay. You’re in college. For the far majority, college is a time when you give up part of your identity to be part of a group. That sounds negative, but it’s actually a good thing. The reason why is because this expands who you are. When you get exposed to new ideas and new friends and new places… you become an expanded human being.

Let your curiosity guide you. Everything you do, even when you give up part of your identity, serves you in some way.

Not to say that there is ONE right path, but do you personally have a feeling that what you are doing is aligning with who YOU are/who you are meant to be?

Personally, I 100% feel as if what I’m doing is what I’m supposed to be doing.

  • To figure out what path to travel, ask…
  • If you had only two years to live, what would you do?
  • What was I doing as a kid?
  • What could I do for the next 10 years for fun? (That’s how long it takes to build a successful career.)
  • Who are people I admire and what are they doing?
  • Where do I spend my time?
  • What feels like play to me?
  • What are the last 10 things I bought on Amazon?
  • Where do I spend my money?

I have many different goals relationship wise, personal business wise, hobby wise, academically, and sometimes it feels that they are impossible to juggle in the sense that one or more of those may be underdeveloped or ignored.

Dude, that’s completely fine. And normal. I was just explaining this to someone… sometimes one area has to be stagnate or go down for another area to grow. This is particularly hard in college where there are so many paths you can take and they’re all illuminated in front of you. Just do the best you can in every moment and be okay with that. The fact that you’re even asking these questions lets me know you’re on the right path.

This is Day 9 of 14 of my daily writing challenge.

What Makes A Great Conversation?

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Over the past two days, I’ve had three incredible conversations.

What signifies a great conversation?

They leave you better than you were before. You have more energy. New insights. The world twinkles a little bit clearer.

That’s why I created my podcast (to have incredible conversations).

So it made me wonder… What exactly creates a great conversation?

I’ve come to the conclusion that it comes down to two main factors:

  1. A shared energy.
  2. A shared knowledge.

Thank you Louis Shulman, Kyle Bishop, Rob Henderson, and Craig Burgess for your energy and knowledge.

My world is a little bit brighter because of it.

This is Day 8 of 14 of my daily writing challenge.

Climb The Mountain Every Day

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It’s easy to create this magical destination of “making it.” But there is no such thing as “making it.”

You have to “make it” every day.

No matter what you’ve accomplished…

Every day you wake up a nobody. 

Every day you need to climb the mountain to become somebody.

And that opportunity is available to you today. That opportunity is available for you tomorrow. That opportunity – to be somebody – is constantly available to you.

That’s the reason my podcast logo is climbing up a dude staring down a mountain.

Because that’s the climb we are forced to make every. single. day.

This is Day 7 of 14 of my daily writing challenge.

Make It Easier

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For some odd reason, we have this tendency to believe a new habit has to be difficult.

When I tell you I meditate, you may assume I’m sitting like a monk. Cross-legged? No. Perfect posture? Definitely not.

I actually put a blanket over me. My legs are stretched out. I move around during the session.

Because I’ve made it easy for myself, I look forward to the activity.

How you can apply this:

When building a new habit, seek out ways to make it easier. 

If you want to try yoga, try it for 10 minutes.

If you want to lift weights, follow a plan you actually enjoy.

If you want to write daily, test it out for two weeks. 😉 

Don’t seek to make it more difficult. Seek to make it easier and more enjoyable so you stick with it longer.

This is Day 6 of 14 of my daily writing challenge.

Give Yourself An Out

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When you’re starting a new habit, I recommend giving yourself an out.

What do I mean by this?

 “Okay, I’ll just do this X times. If I don’t enjoy it after this time, I can quit.” I recommend at least 30 days. Closer to 100 days would be ideal.

The reason?

This will give you enough time to suck, improve, and get better.

When you start something new, the idea of doing forever seems daunting.

For example, I started Naval’s 60 minutes, 60-day meditation challenge in May. Sitting with my thoughts for an hour was intimidating. So, my “out” of 60 days gave me some comfort. The first week was challenging. But by the end of 60 days, I couldn’t imagine not meditating every day for at least 60 minutes.

It works for three reasons:

  1. The habit changes you.
  2. It you a timeframe you can imagine.
  3. You are not the same person in the beginning of the challenge as you were when you started.

The out allows you to outsource the decision to a stronger version of yourself.

I use the word “out” because it doesn’t mean you have quit. But you don’t have to feel bad about quitting if the habit isn’t for you.

Here are some of my current outs:

  • 100 podcast episodes (23 published)
  • 100 newsletters (25)
  • 100 blog posts (69)
  • 14 days of daily writing (5)

These are all related to content, but in the past, I’ve used outs for weightlifting, reading, and meditation.

If you end up giving this a try, let me know on Twitter.

This is Day 5 of 14 of my daily writing challenge.

Tune In To Your Thoughts

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I was on the PropanePodcast earlier today (should be released in mid-December).

And the wise Dr. Yusef Smith helped me come to this conclusion… 

Solitary confinement is punishment.

Spending time by yourself is self-love.

This blew my mind. 

When I went to a cabin in the woods for five days, it was not torture. Although there were moments of despair, it was overall an enjoyable experience.

But at the same time, for many, this would have been difficult. Forget five days by yourself. Many people are scared to meditate. And I empathize. It’s not easy to sit down with your own thoughts. (It certainly was hard for me in the beginning.)

We’re constantly running from our thoughts. We believe someone else has the answer.

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” –Blaise Pascal

Think about this moment. You’re reading my thoughts, not your own. That doesn’t mean you’re trying to avoid something, but it does point to the fact that we are so often tuning into other people’s ideas of how the world should work.

Let this post serve as a gentle reminder to tune into you.

This is Day 4 of 14 of my daily writing challenge.