3 Minute Monday
Hi friend,
Updates from Dubai:
It’s still hot but my pinkness has died down.
I’ve been recording out of the 25th floor of my buddy’s apartment overlooking the Dubai Marina. Straight up BDE.
Went for dinner at Ce La Vie Dubai on the 52nd floor of a building which opens out onto the Burj downtown. Ridiculous views.
I’ve struggled a bit with locking in a routine and focussing on work, not sure why.
This is a challenge I think lots of people come up against when they change their environment.
Not much I can do other than setting out structures and guidelines for me to rely on.
A useful opportunity for me to test my discipline in a suboptimal environment anyway.
I’ve also noticed some self doubt creeping in, again I’m not sure why.
Perhaps it’s because in the UK there’s less competition from people doing exciting and high agency activities.
(After all the country is on lockdown and currently gets about 90 minutes of daylight per day)
Whereas in Dubai everyone seems to be grinding and achieving lots and has a really well defined sense of life trajectory.
It’s motivating but also challenging because it brings into sharper contrast the inefficiencies and areas you’re lacking in.
Comparison is a hell of a drug.
It’s also a surefire route to misery.
Again – a great opportunity to learn some lessons in the real world.
This week I’ve spent time around ultra endurance athletes Tom Otton and Marcus Smith.
These guys have run the most ridiculous races on earth including an Ultra Marathon lasting for 50 hours without any sleep and the Marathon Des Sables – the toughest foot race on earth.
They’re also both wildly successful business men and have happy relationships and family lives.
A key lesson I learned from them was that they feel pain and discomfort and self doubt just the same as everyone.
Before meeting them I think I presumed that they must have a different constitution to normal people.
One where they don’t ever suffer or get demotivated or have a very believable smart voice in the back of their heads justifying why they shouldn’t or couldn’t do something.
Or maybe they do but the voice is less loud or they have some way to ignore it more effectively.
I’m now convinced that these guys suffer and feel doubt and negativity just as viscerally as me.
They just deal with it more effectively.
They don’t try to ignore it.
They accept that the self doubt or the pain or the negative voice is there.
But they don’t believe it.
They don’t attach any credence to it.
Their sense of self worth isn’t dependant on it being true or not true.
They simply have a greater faith in their own abilities and resilience than the negative voice in their head.
Time and time again they’ve leaned into discomfort and come out on top.
They also avoid a victim mindset at all costs.
They never whine about “why is this happening to me”.
They take full responsibility and do what they can, with what they have, for where they are.
Marcus was hit by a truck at 54km/h and broke his ribs in 7 places, punctured a lung and ripped his scapula off.
He ran 30 marathons in 30 days less than a year later.
These aren’t the outcomes of humans who don’t feel pain or doubt.
They’re the outcomes of humans who take ownership of their pain & doubt.
Both episodes are coming soon on Modern Wisdom. Straight fire.
Subscribe on YouTube to see them in all their 25th-floor-glory.
MODERN WISDOM
I do a podcast which has had 7 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
This week’s upcoming episodes:
Monday.
Jay Morton – how to develop a special forces mindset from the 14-year SAS Operator and 2-time Everest conqueror.
Thursday.
Hamilton Souther – a Master Ayahuasca Shaman of 4000+ ceremonies tells us about why plant medicine has a place in the modern world.
Saturday.
Not sure yet. Maybe Tim Campos the ex CIO of Facebook who doubled the workforce’s productivity.
THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1.
Networks and happiness are the only things which don’t divide when you share them.
They multiply.
2.
“When the tide goes out, you see who’s swimming naked.”
— Warren Buffett via Eddie Hearn.
How many people who were living a front in 2019 have been rumbled in 2020?
3.
Goodbye has a weird history.
“Goodbye” comes from the term “Godbwye” – a contraction of the phrase “God be with ye”.
“God” was changed to to “good” by confusion with good morning, good day, etc.
I actually much prefer God Be With You to Goodbye.
LIFE HACK
Tell yourself “this is why I’m here” when things get challenging.
When things get hard it can be easy to have a pity party.
But the challenge IS why you’re here.
Whether it’s in the gym or at work or raising a child or learning a new topic.
Difficulty is the signal that growth is happening.
Remind yourself that you’re here for the discomfort.
It’s a feature, not a bug.
Lean into it.
The time is going to pass anyway, you might as well spend it well.
Big love,
Chris x
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PS
Gas a friend up today. They deserve it.
