Happy Sunday Friend!

Welcome back to another musing! I’m glad you’re here. Here are your Sunday Musings, a quick dose of what I’m exploring and thinking about. If you find it useful, please feel free to forward this along to friends!

Quote I’m Musing

“You have to assemble your life yourself-action by action… No one can keep that from happening.”

-Marcus Aurelius

Here in America, we’re entering the holiday season. It’s an interesting time; for many of us, we have lots of time off, we enjoy three major holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas) and we, generally, have a good go of a three-month span. My outlook on this timeframe is something like this:

For Halloween we remember those who’d come before us, the dead.

For Thanksgiving we reflect on the good fortunes we’ve had throughout the year.

For Christmas, we share the good fortune we’ve had with those dear to us and those less fortunate.

As I get to this time of year, I make sure to reflect on all three. This year, I’m also thinking on how far I still need to go.

And while comparison is, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “the thief of joy”, I’m looking at what those who are great at what they do have in common. Mastery of themselves.

I’m looking to muse, this week, on how to cultivate self-mastery with a few short ideas.

Seek Physical Challenge

“The body must be treated rigorously, so that it may not be disobedient to the mind.”

What if I told you there was a magic pill you could use to boost your mental and physical energy, improve mental clarity, prolong lifespan, elevate your mood and outlook, as well as make you more physically attractive?

Would you take it?

The pill exists, it really does. It’s called exercise. The highest performers in the world take the pill daily. The human mind operates at its best when our feet are moving, our eyes are moving, and the sun is on our face.

Focus on the Process

I often find myself thinking about goals as end states, the final result. When I break it down, the idea is to love what I do, not really what I’ll get at the end. The joy comes from the act of doing it, the process. When we love that, the results simply happen as a product of doing what we love.

Focus on What’s Up to You

Some things are up to us, some aren’t up to us. We don’t just ignore everything else, or don’t care about what’s going on in the world. We just focus on what and where we can make a difference in those collective action problems. Once those are complete, then maybe our span of control has increased, and we have more things that are up to us. If not, what is the next thing we can do that we control? Do that.

Understand Your Emotions

The idea isn’t to repress or stop our emotions. I don’t think it’s actually possible.

But to analyze what we’re feeling, observe our emotions. Recognize that we’re angry, or sad, or happy, or anxious. Then ask, “Why am I feeling this way?”. Was it something from yesterday? Today? 20 years ago? Then identify what we’re going to do with it.

How can we channel it, use it, control it in a way that lets us be focused on what we’re doing, but also use those emotions in a way that accomplishes what we need rather than simply reacting and being consumed by them.

Build Discipline

Discipline isn’t doing things that we already love regularly. Discipline is about building systems and strategies to get us to the place we want to be, even if those things are hard for us and we don’t want to do them.

Another idea is discipline as self-love. I have challenged myself, and I encourage you to take the challenge also. Change the mindset from discipline as being harsh or restrictive with ourselves, to being about taking care of ourselves today and in the future.

Turning down that extra piece of junk food or pushing yourself to hit the workout instead of skipping it because you’re tired is showing love and respect for yourself.

Find Your Stillness

How do we remain calm during the high-highs, and be the same calm person during the low-lows? Living life on the emotional rollercoaster, riding the waves of emotion, is exhausting. It’s also easy to be lost in those emotions, not learning from them. Also, being a constant rollercoaster makes our children, our spouses, our teams, our businesses become the same.

We need to feel the joy and sadness, the intensity of competition. We have to have the desire for success. But the ability to care a lot, to have that intensity, and ratchet that down to a stillness of mind and person so we can channel creativity and assertiveness into a focused edge. The inner sanctuary of stillness lets us make crucial decisions in the moment with clarity.

Wrapping it Up

The first thing to do be in charge of is oneself. Seek challenges to improve, love the processes we’ve created, focus on the things we can control, understand our emotions and what makes us tick, then create the systems that help us build the discipline to achieve our goals, and find the stillness to get the perspective and make decisions effectively.

And this progress (even in little bits at a time), in my mind, is the first step to being great.

I’d Love Your Feedback!

Which musing is your favorite? What else do you want to see or what should I eliminate? Any other suggestions? Just send a tweet to @erichaupt on Twitter and put #SundayMusings at the end so I can find it. Or, eric@erichaupt.com for long form email.
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Have a wonderful week, I’ll see you Sunday.
​-e