Pendulums and Extremes

 

Montana is a state steeped in extremes. This year, as April gave way to May, snow dusted my eyebrows and I needed my puffer coat to stay warm. Less than two months later, however, as we waved goodbye to June, the city was erumpent with temps brushing against triple digits.

These extremes are just bookends, though, markers by which we observe the spectrum. And these extremes don’t last. Soon, summer will set in, and we’ll be back to 72º and sunny, spending long summer afternoons by Flathead Lake.

In many ways, I’m the same way. My life has been peppered with similar (almost ironic) extremes: “Director of 150 retail stores becomes a minimalist and rejects consumerism.” “Six-figure executive walks away from his career and earns less than he did a decade earlier.” “Entertainment-addicted jerk jettisons his television and home Internet.” Etc.

But of course the flip-side benefits are just as extreme, too: “Depressive man discovers lasting happiness.” “Rejected writer becomes bestselling novelist.” “Fatso loses 80 pounds and gets in the best shape of his life.” Etc.

You see, sometimes we have to move from one extreme to another in an effort to course correct. Sometimes we must embrace, at least temporarily, the discomfort of the other side of the spectrum. Sometimes we must hit both walls before we find the middle.

Eventually, once the pendulum has traversed both extremes, we discover what works for us, and we end up somewhere completely different from where we started—somewhere in between both extremes.

Read more at The Minimalists

TEDxPhnomPenh – Colin Wright – Extreme Lifestyle Experiments

 

Extreme lifestyle experiments.

The lifestyles we live, need to be conguesive to achieving whatever goal we wish to embark towards. In that to achieve our goals we need to first ask ourselves why we haven’t achieved them already. Most of the time, one has the idea and the only thing holding him away from his goal is a lack of  “resources”.

In my experience, however little it may be, I’ve found that most people who cry about their lack of resources actually just have either a lack of self belief or the lack of determination required to obtain those  missing resources. So if you ask me what seperates us from acheiveing our goals: it’s our lifestyles. Old habits that have taken years to develop and are now taking as long to part away with. The Procrastination, the excuse-making and the hours and hours of re-planning when in fact- you’re only stalling away from the real work. The work that actually gets your whole body aching and not just your fingers and thumbs.

Watching the above clip opened my eyes to something that should have been part of my life ever since I made the decision from working towards getting a University degreee to becoming an entrepreneur.

The twelve minutes I spent listening to Colin Wright begged me to answer this one vital question that I happened to have forgotten about: what is The Love?

What is this “thing” that I’m chasing? And what sparked off the passion for achieving it?

Once I got to re-answering these questions, I designed a bunch of lifestyle experiments which could ensure that the journey towards my goal (Zooloo) becomes a fluid one.

One that comes more naturally, because the love exists everyday.

I’ll be posting up a lot of these experiments throughout my start-up journey.