On Reading

Reading is one of the most important foundations of personal growth. I read books frequently myself, not only self-help, but also things like autobiographies of influential leaders, books about top companies, positive psychology, philosophy, leadership, etc.

While reading, take notes on the books. This creates a learning environment to allow yourself to truly make strides in your personal growth. As you read further, you begin to see patterns between books that show what habits you need to establish to master yourself. 

I further suggest to pick your favorite books and read them with a highlighter and a notebook and go through rereading it several times. Rereading will allow you to hone in on your knowledge and truly refine your skills, while making it easier to establish habits under the constant knowledge that you should.

Reading allows us to realize how REMARKABLE we can truly become and force us to pursue better habits at all times.

On Writing

Apologies to Stephen King for stealing the title of his awesome book "On Writing." If you like to write, read that book!

I write frequently (obviously per this blog). I honestly believe writing down your thoughts is extremely helpful when trying to think through a decision. Whenever I decide on something, I tend to write about it until all my thoughts are on paper. Furthermore, I go back and edit what I wrote. This refines the thoughts I previously wrote down and clearly translates them into something I can effectively explain and communicate. There are not many ways to effectively organize your thoughts and writing is the easiest, most effective method of doing so.

I highly recommend you write on a daily basis, every morning. It can help you sort through your life and whatever important decisions which currently engulf your mind. Write your way into being REMARKABLE.

Also, a good recommendation is to write down 5 things you want to accomplish during the day (Focus Five) and 3 things you are grateful for that happened to you in the past 24 hours (Tetris Effect). These two methods will likely get their own blog posts sometime in the future as well since they are heavy parts of my life.

Writing is good. Writing is powerful. Writing is efficiency. Writing is thinking. Writing is wellbeing. Writing is REMARKABLE.

On Emotions

During my reading binge over the past few years, I started to realize the subtle message they delivered about emotions, but it really hammered home when I read about Yoga philosophies. First, I want to establish that we choose our emotions. Nobody makes us angry, sad, happy, etc. It is your CHOICE to be angry, sad, happy, etc. 

When I was reading about yoga, one of the things that struck me most about the emotional aspect is the control of your emotions. This arose while I read the Samurai Code as well. You have to control your emotions to drive you to better results. You must be angry when you are supposed to be, sad when you are supposed to be, along with happy when you are supposed to be.

This is an important distinction. It is human nature to let your results drive your emotions. When things go wrong, our emotions go wrong. This will send us in a downward spiral. Also if things go right, we become content... and then things go wrong. 

Also, this means suppressing one's emotions is ineffective as well. You still let results drive your emotions but just because you don't tell anybody about it, does not mean you are not in an emotionally fragile state.

So use emotions to drive results! For example, Jesus used anger in the temple to show it was a place of respect and worship. Gandhi used sorrow to try to unite Hindus and Muslims in a newly free nation. Steve Jobs used excitement to realize his visionary products.

Similarly, you must grieve when you need to grieve and be joyous when you need to be joyous. Just remember, you need to use these emotions to drive results. Choose what emotion you want and utilize it to become REMARKABLE!

On Life Balance

Balance in life is dependent on your own happiness levels. If you love work and life then balancing it is not a trick of time, it is a trick of optimal life satisfaction. For self-employed people, entrepreneurs, and students, it is extremely important to learn balance. Much of balance comes from energy management. You need to put the same amount of energy into your family life, your social life, and your work life. If you keep your energy levels up high, people will not blame you for spending time at work. You need to show your family and friends that you love them by giving them your full attention whenever you are with them. Make sure you schedule important things for all circles in your life and attend them.

Time is a factor as well. You need to spend time with each circle to optimize your satisfaction levels. Maybe some weeks, you spend more time working than others. That is natural for anything other than a 9-5 job. I suggest each week you sit down and work out your schedule. You start by plugging in all of the most important things. Then you list how many hours you want to spend with each circle. Then you fill out your schedule accordingly. However, the amount of time you spend in each circle will not mean much if you do not bring your full attention during that time! ENERGY IS KEY!

Without energy, how can you be REMARKABLE?