Have you ever really thought about the genuinely weighty matters of life. I mean, from a philosophical perspective. You don’t have to have studied Nietzsche, or Kant or Smith to have pondered the great why’s of life. I often think about human nature and motivation. What drives people. Human beings are the most adaptable creatures on the earth. No other animal has eked out a living and thrived in every corner of the planet. If we aren’t specialized enough, we conquer our deficiencies, and we succeed.
I believe that this functional survivalist nature of humans is what drives entrepreneurship and innovation. We all possess these drives. It’s what promulgates our desire for growth, and encourages progress in every area of endeavor.
The will to survive begat Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Innovation and Entrepreneurship begat pragmatic growth and personal development. Practical growth and personal development begat what matters in life; ADVENTURE. Collect things to your heart's content, but what makes your heart sing is Adventure.
Isaiah Hankel in his book The Science of Intelligent Achievement identifies our most valuable asset as our MENTAL ENERGY. It’s not time, although we need time to apply our mental energy. It’s the number of quality, high-octane hours you have at your disposal every day where you are your most creative and most innovative. How and when do you apply those hours? I apply my high mental energy hours to writing, for example. What useless dramas, negative people and ridiculous rat-holes are part of your day? When you’ve rid yourself of all of these Mental Energy draining aspects of your life, you might find you are a bit bored.
What can we fill that boredom with? Why, adventure, of course.
Live out of your comfort zone, in work and your personal life. Get moving. Don’t wait for inspiration. Do stuff. Create an experience for yourself. Motivation won’t come from an epiphany. It never does. Motivation comes from doing something and completion leads to the desire to want to do it again. If you have problems getting started then read the “Five Second Rule,” by Mel Robbins. In it, she shows the power of intention focused implementation. You only have about five seconds before you talk yourself out of doing something significant. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be important, the act of picking that spot that’s uncomfortable and leaning into resulting in some productive output will condition your Basil Ganglia to crystallize this most entrepreneurial of habits.
Collect ADVENTURES, not for a living, but for life.
