Sometimes, my scorpio side kicks in and I lock into an idea with a fierce loyalty to it.
While it allows me to kick things into gear and go hard, sometimes it creates tunnel vision. I lose perspective and stop thinking about things like if I like what I’m doing, I just keep on doing it. Lately I’ve felt the stirring of change in me.
It’s the last quarter of the year and while 2024 was dedicated to lowering debt and the hustle, I need more out of 2025.
I’ve made some real headway on my debt but the truth is I need to put myself into a situation where I am making more money.
2024 has been this transitional experience of finding new skills and purpose.
The question becomes what do I do with it all?
Some doors are closing and others are opening for me
As I ploughed my way through work this year I was blessed with meeting many new people.
These conversations started to show me that there is a community out there I will land in that makes sense for me, especially socially. So much of my adult life has been siloed into fishbowl environments like work or music where you end up meeting the same kinds of people. Between Uber and the sales gig I’ve been reminded in a real life kind of way how much bigger the world is.
This knowledge means I can’t really keep playing where I’ve been. That didn’t work for me. Instead I need to figure out what the best of it all is for me, and build something new and interesting. Something that gets me excited so I can sell the story to people with the money to pay for it all. In the meantime I need to reflect on all parts of my life and plan for next year.
Circumstances have simply changed for so many of us that it’d be impossible for me to jump back into where I was.
Meanwhile I keep meeting interesting people capable of solving certain problems I face as I bring insight that helps them solve theirs.
When you get comfortable with something you will get bored
Recently, for the first time in over a year I’m excited about making music.
I want to perform again because I have these shiny new songs to show off. Feeling that joy and excitement has shown me that maybe I don’t feel that way about everything. The fact that I do one less podcast a week is a blessing. Gives me more energy and desire for the PRSPCTVS stream. We also have new ideas cooking up on that front that will never get executed unless, at least for my end, I shuffle things around.
I’ve fallen into this comfortable routine that has me slowly getting bored. The monotony of it all is just letting the year fly by. Yes my minimum payments are less than they were, but I’ve only cleared about 33% of my debt.
All things considered I need to light that spark in me again so I become peak in my performance. I need to eat better, work out more regularly and fantasize about when I can sleep normally again.
I’ve taken on several new ongoing expenses and my boredom is not conducive to anything.
Thankfully I heard some interesting advice today as Scott Galloway was speaking with a neuroscientist on his podcast.
It’s about shifting from goals to standards.
Standards are like goals but focus on the lower end and not the win
The example used for a standard was:Being able to do 3 sets of 25 proper push ups each year on your birthday
That means that your lifestyle has a minimum standard of success that requires push ups. You are not allowed to fall below that standard or you are failing. That means instead of worrying about what goals you need to achieve, you need to worry about making sure you can live up to the standards you set.
Now 75 push ups becomes the least you need to be able to do. A goal of doing 75 push ups would result in you aiming for that number. A standard of being able to do at least 75 push ups, means you need to live healthy enough that you can still do those push ups.
At a practical level it’s the same thing but in reality by focusing on the low end we don’t have a maximum threshold.
We just aim to do our best and stay over the standard. There is no goal to miss. You are either at the standard or you need improvement.
I’m going to think about how to implement this for myself and share it with you when I get there.
Until then, pivot when necessary.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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