Success is Your Only Option

NASA

Dear friend,

What if you lived a life where you knew in your heart that success was your only option?

1. Failure is not an option

nasa- failure not option

Failure is not an option – Apollo Mission

Imagine your back is against the wall.

Imagine you’re a soldier, and you landed on a foreign land. Your commander burns the ships behind you. He tells you that you only have two options: death, or victory.

2. No options -> Innovation

When you have no options, that is when you innovate. That is when you find creativity. That is when you hustle harder, to uplift yourself out of poverty.

3. Throw more punches

To find more success in life, we need to take more shots. To take more risks.

If we’re a boxer, we need to throw more haymakers. We need to throw more hooks, jabs, and upper-cuts. We might miss our opponent a lot. But the more punches we throw, the more likely we are to knock them out. And if we learned anything from Muhammad Ali; you only need 1 well-aimed (and timed) punch to knock out your opponent.

4. What if you couldn’t fail?

What if the word ‘failure’ didn’t exist in your vocabulary? What if you weren’t afraid of it?

5. Subtract options to add creativity

I was a lot more resourceful when I was younger, when I had no resources, and no money.

I have now fallen victim to comfort. To pleasure. To complacency.

The way I am able to force myself to innovate is to subtract options.

For example, everyday I try to uninstall at least one app from my phone or my laptop. This forces me to become more resourceful with the few programs I already have.

I also try to force myself not to spend money when I don’t need to. It is easy to fix your problems with an Amazon prime delivery. I learned from Cindy — how can I already use what I already have, to innovate, and be more creative?

For example, I have been shooting less with my GoPro, and making more videos with my smartphone. Or shooting videos on my Ricoh GR II camera.

I’ve been removing options of shooting color on my camera. So I try to innovate, and make the most sublime and beautiful black and whites I can.

In terms of life, I try to figure out how I can continue to subtract the superfluous from my life— rather than figuring out more things to do. Because the more noise I cut out from my life, the more signal I will create.

6. The rolling stone gathers no moss

Success is your only option,
fuck failure
fuck fear

don’t be like a deer
in the headlights.

See clear
into your future
the step ahead of you

Keep climbing the mountain
step by step
and when you’re out of breath
keep going.

Keep moving,
don’t stop.
The rolling stone gathers no moss.

Always,
Eric

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