Rule #7

Hello everyone 👋

This week, I was able to hop in on some full- and half-court ball runs for the first time in over a year. Super nice to have “normal” (or a version thereof) return back slowly but surely. Plus, it’s also a great feeling to be back on the court 🏀

I’ll be honest here, motivation has been hard to come by. Over the past few weeks, my research project hasn’t been moving as fast as I’d want it to. I’ve passed my iAscend torch to the now current leadership team. BioDojo has been focused on preparing for the next cohort and thus been a little slower. I’ve taken a bit of break from creating content for my YouTube channel. Safe to say, a lot of the external motivators have been taken away from me — and it’s taught me a lot about myself.

What I’ve come to realize was that a lot of my intrinsic motivation came from external sources — things to accomplish, people to please, due dates and deadlines, someone getting “ahead” of me. I’m just being real here, I’m sure you can relate to some extent. I would actually go as far as to say that the work that I’ve currently been doing over the past few months has been solely dictated by myself (for the most part), and it’s kind of been interesting how I’ve responded to that challenge.

I’ve currently been binge watching Blind Spot on Netflix with my parents. It’s a super interesting show about…okay I won’t spoil it. It’s the right amount of mystery, action, and thriller that satisfies the testosterone in me. Oh, it’s also a great indicator of how I’ve been doing in lieu of “doing work” (and how I’ve been very smartly using my time). I mean, sometimes you need a break. But c’mon binge watching a show?

Haha, that was me kicking myself for letting it temporarily consume me. Yes, it’s temporary (until I can finish it…). Okay, I digress. Back on track. Rule 7. Yep, I’m still working through the 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson, and I’ve finished the first 8 rules (summary of book found here). Rule 7 — Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.

The book revolves around a theme of chaos versus order. Peterson makes the argument (which is quite cliché and I bet something you’ve heard of a bunch of times) that the path less taken may be the one more meaningful. In other words, good things take time and may not often be easy. Contrarily, those which are more accessible and easy, may not be the best for you.

How did I go from my lack of motivation to pursuing meaningful things? Well, I think that the two are quite intimately connected. If you’ve gotten to know me, I’ve always talked about basing my life on the “why” rather than the what. To me, “why” makes it meaningful and is a precursor to consistently identifying things in your life that should be a priority (ie. work, friends, experiences).

I feel like the flaw that I’ve had was that as time went on, I allowed external influences (ie. comparing myself to other people, letting progress define product, following what’s “cool”) slowly creep into the original logos of my work. Without much intentional reflection, which I guiltily haven’t been doing, I’m realizing that I allowed those forces to cloud my why — and thus why I’m struggling with a lack of motivation.

Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. This is more of a note to self more than anything. Reflecting on that and staying true to my why is something I’m going to be working on this week, by resetting and approaching it from the bottom up.

Let me know by dropping a comment below, or by reaching out to me on Twitter. Have a great week :)

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