This Is How We Do It: A Pep Talk

may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. —Maya Angelou

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. —Maya Angelou

Stand up tall and confident and proud, as you should be at all times,

Energy flows where attention goes, and some of that attention is just emboldening the negative forces in the world. There are many reasons for this, but one is because people who can’t get positive attention often opt for negative attention, rather than getting no attention at all.

you already have a wealth of experiences on your own. These experiences are nuggets of gold, and with perspective they contain valuable wisdom. All you had to do to get them was fuck up.

For me, there’s no such thing as relaxation. Simply because there is no such thing as being comfortable

success is earned. It’s not given.

I am driven by the same thing I want you to be driven by: big questions. If your questions are big enough and positive enough, you can transcend the ordinary. Here are some of the questions I ask myself: What am I building? What is the endgame? And when I get to the endgame, is it really the end? When I die, what will other people talk about?

I am driven by the same thing I want you to be driven by: big questions. If your questions are big enough and positive enough, you can transcend the ordinary. Here are some of the questions I ask myself: What am I building? What is the endgame? And when I get to the endgame, is it really the end?

I want you to look in the mirror right now and say, “I’m proud of myself.” Really feel a deep respect and admiration for your grind, your will, your effort, your blood, sweat, and tears.

I want you to look in the mirror right now and say, “I’m proud of myself.” Really feel a deep respect and admiration for your grind, your will, your effort, your blood, sweat, and tears. Because all those things are you. And this is where we are starting: loving who you are today.

What path are you on now? Who chose that path? Where is it ultimately leading if you don’t change anything? Whose approval are you seeking? How far will you go off your path to get it? What decisions are you making out of fear? What decisions are you making out of joy? If you are marching to the beat of a drum, who or what is beating out the tempo?

The only path that leads to the ultimate you—because beyond goals, that’s really what we’re talking about—is the path you choose yourself. Nobody is in charge of you but you.

Start now by challenging any negative thoughts you have about yourself.

One of the greatest skills is the ability to categorize all of your bullshit as it happens and put it into place where you can say, “All right. Eventually, I can dump this. I can dump that. Oh, how do I dump this other bullshit?”

I choose to take care of myself

Success, they say, is where preparation meets opportunity. And there are two kinds of preparation: One is dedication to your personal craft, to the specific skill set you need to reach your goal. The other is to prepare your life and your mind to find, embrace, and receive that success.

In the age of the internet, negativity surrounds us constantly. Even if it’s not about you, it’s bathing your brain in stress.

The problem is that all this shit-talking makes it harder to achieve something in life.

You have to risk negativity, risk banishment, risk hatred to have a life worth living.