I see this sucker mistake being made all the time in modern society; we mistake activity (answering emails, swiping and typing on our phones) for achievement. What we must focus on is effective, meaningful, and purposeful activity \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in order to achieve what is substantial to us!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement. – Isocrates\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The reason why I feel this is an important idea:<\/p>\n
\n
- First of all, our lives are short. Imagine like you started a video game with 99 lives, and every year, you lost one life. At the end of the game, you die, and cannot \u00e2\u20ac\u0153respawn\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. This is real life \u00e2\u20ac\u201d no matter how rich, smart, or intelligent we are, we cannot put in a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cheat code\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for death. Real life is like playing Diablo II in hell mode \u00e2\u20ac\u201d once you die, you die forever. <\/li>\n
- Knowing that (at best) you might live to be 99 years old, how will you wisely spend your 99 years? To be honest, I think you can achieve anything you want during your duration on planet earth \u00e2\u20ac\u201d as long as you focus on one thing, and give it your fullest attention, effort, hustle, and dedication. <\/li>\n
- Assuming you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not a slave, you have the power to do anything in life you desire. Sure you might not be able to afford a Purple Lamborghini in life (this requires a bit of luck), but honestly if you really really wanted to \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you probably could lease one, or at least rent it for a day! Anyways, recognize that you have the power to dictate to live your life however you desire. You have the power to dictate your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lifestyle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d how you employ your 24 hours, every day. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nNo matter how rich, smart, poor, or educated you are \u00e2\u20ac\u201d we are all granted 24 hours in a day. You have the power to control how you use those 24 hours in a day.<\/p>\n
For example, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assume that most of us need at least 6-8 hours of sleep a day. Now \u00e2\u20ac\u201d how will you use the other hours of your day?<\/p>\n
Consider how much time we waste on commuting, working at our 9-5 jobs, buying food, cooking and cleaning, running errands, watching Netflix, responding to emails, responding to messages on our phone, checking our likes-comments-followers on social media, and on inane social gatherings or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153obligations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n
The sad truth is this: Many of us don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free time\u00e2\u20ac\u009d left to us. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have that much creative leisure time to pursue what we are truly interested or passionate about.<\/p>\n
But recognize \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you can do anything you want in your life. But of course, there are always consequences.<\/p>\n
\nFor example, you can choose\/elect NOT to work a traditional 9-5 job, and instead, live and work in Saigon for far less money.<\/p>\n
You can choose to NOT own a car, and instead take public transportation (saving you $30,000-$50,000) over several years.<\/p>\n
You can choose NOT to buy electronics, gadgets, phones, and devices which get outdated in a few months \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and instead, use that money to buy books, travel, live nomadically, pay your rent, or pursue your creative\/educational\/intellectual interests.<\/p>\n
You can choose NOT to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, or consume (expensive) drugs which drain your wallet.<\/p>\n
Now of course, the consequence is that you cannot do those things. But to me, freedom is the sweetest nectar of life. I value my freedom, free time, attention, energy, and focus more than any amount of money in the world.<\/p>\n
And to me the best trade in life is this:<\/p>\n
\n Trade your money to buy you more time and freedom!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Unfortunately this is what most of us do:<\/p>\n
\n We trade our time, money, and our years of life for more money \u00e2\u20ac\u201d thinking that the money itself is the final goal.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But in truth, money in itself isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t valuable. Money is only a tool or a means of exchange \u00e2\u20ac\u201d we trade money to buy ourselves tools, food, coffee, housing, and stuff. But honestly I think most people desire to have more money because we think that once we have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enough\u00e2\u20ac\u009d money, we will be able to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153retire early\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, and then finally<\/em> have the time, attention, and focus to travel the world, read books, write poetry and literature, and other \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cultured\u00e2\u20ac\u009d activities.<\/p>\n
But the sad thing is this \u00e2\u20ac\u201d most really rich people I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met are just rich slaves. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re slaves to their mortgage, their monthly car payment (usually their expensive cars are leased), to their children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s private school education, to their expensive lifestyle (expensive wine and complicated Michelin Star foods), a slave to their email inboxes and their phones, and thus they have no freedom.<\/p>\n
Growing up poor, I always spited rich people. Now I just pity them.<\/p>\n
\nWhat if you already have enough money?<\/h2>\n
An interesting idea that Seneca shared with me (actually with his friend, Lucilius) in which he said:<\/p>\n
\n You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re toiling away at your job, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153one day\u00e2\u20ac\u009d retiring to otium (a life of leisure). But what if you already have enough money to do so? Or what if you have more<\/em> money than you need to retire?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nIf you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re reading this, I assume you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a privileged westerner or at least someone with some sort of advantage in life \u00e2\u20ac\u201d either with your education, your family wealth or cultural-social wealth, your social capital, etc. You might already have enough money to retire to a cheaper developing country \u00e2\u20ac\u201d such as Vietnam (actually quite high tech, I personally love Saigon, Dalat, Hanoi\u00e2\u20ac\u201d in that order). You can live a simple life \u00e2\u20ac\u201d focused on your intellectual and creative pursuits; whether making photos, making videos\/films, making poetry, writing books, etc.<\/p>\n
For myself, I think the apex of happiness and freedom is having the maximally simple life. A life that allows you the maximum amount of creative freedom, and the least amount of obligations to others.<\/p>\n
\nAnyways, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting off topic. Back to the subject at hand\u00e2\u20ac\u201d don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mistake activity with achievement!<\/p>\n
Assuming you only got 99 years of life (this is a very generous estimate; you might die in a car accident today)\u00e2\u20ac\u201d how will you best leverage those 99 years of life?<\/p>\n
A simple answer:<\/p>\n
\n Figure out what your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Archimedes lever\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is in life (your #1 strength in life), and best leverage that strength!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For example, my #1 skill is probably blogging. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been blogging since I was 16 years old, and only started to take photos when I was 18-19 years old. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also been using computers since I was 12 years old. So I guess my Archimedes lever is computers, technology, information, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153content creation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (in crude modern terms).<\/p>\n
Also when I meditate on all the blogging I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done over the years, they all point back to one thing: empowerment. To give power to others who feel disempowered. I write with all of my scars and soul \u00e2\u20ac\u201d because in the past I know what it once felt to be disempowered. Now I feel a lot more empowered, confident, and self assured \u00e2\u20ac\u201d yet it still is a skill I must exercise and cultivate everyday.<\/p>\n
\nHow to know whether your activity is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153true achievement\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or not?<\/h2>\n
Well first of all, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153achievement\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be measured by gold stars, likes, followers, numbers, money, or anything metricated. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Demetricated life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d a life where you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just judge your life progress based on numbers. Instead, I advocate for a life in which you judge your progress and achievement in life based on your own gut \u00e2\u20ac\u201d based on your own self-assessment of yourself! Which means,<\/p>\n
\n When you look at yourself in the mirror, are you proud of who you see?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the most robust ways to measure \u00e2\u20ac\u0153success\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, because 100% of the judgement comes from you \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you and only you! Nobody else!<\/p>\n
What if I died tonight in my sleep, tonight?<\/h2>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been living with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153memento mori\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on my mind, everyday, for the least few years. This means, I only live for today. I only think of time periods in 24 hours. This is good, because it helps me focus and prevents me from getting distracted on what is truly meaningful in my life.<\/p>\n
Every morning, when I wake up, and have my morning coffee, I ponder:<\/p>\n
\n If I knew I was gonna die tonight in my sleep, what would I do and what would I NOT do?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And the truth is, knowing what NOT to do during your day is more effective than knowing what to<\/em> do.<\/p>\n
\nThe grim reaper is tapping on your shoulder. How are you going to best effectively employ today?<\/p>\n
MEMENTO MORI,
\nERIC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I see this sucker mistake being made all the time in modern society; we mistake activity (answering emails, swiping and typing on our phones) for achievement. What we must focus on is effective, meaningful, and purposeful activity \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in order to achieve what is substantial to us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cropped-1676E2BA-940C-4C20-BA04-43C750F94AA0.jpeg?fit=1600%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105470,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105469\/revisions\/105470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}