Am I hunting Antelope or Field Mice?

A lion is fully capable of capturing, killing, and eating a field mouse. But it turns out that the energy required to do so exceeds the caloric content of the mouse itself. So a lion that spent its day hunting and eating field mice would slowly starve to death. A lion can’t live on field mice. A lion needs antelope. Antelope are big animals. They take more speed and strength to capture and kill, and once killed, they provide a feast for the lion and her pride. A lion can live a long and happy life on a diet of antelope. The distinction is important. Are you spending all your time and exhausting all your energy catching field mice? In the short term it might give you a nice, rewarding feeling. But in the long run you’re going to die. So ask yourself at the end of the day, “Did I spend today chasing mice or hunting antelope?”

The above excerpt is taken from Tim Ferriss17 Questions That Changed My Life who had quoted Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives using the above analogy.

Why pay for it?

There’s a big difference of results between doing it on your own (for something you’re not so good at) compared to hiring a professional to do it.

For tasks that you could kind of do it, have an idea about it or know a little bit, it’s better to go with a professional most times. There might be some exceptions here and there.

Recently we hired some professional movers for a few hours to load our belongings in a Pod.

Could we, ourselves have moved the belongings to a Pod? Perhaps yes.

Yet the time saved for the few hours, no physical or mental tiredness from moving, having the belongings efficiently put in a Pod and a general peace of mind made hiring professional help for moving totally worth it.

You actually don’t know the overall benefits of getting professional help until you get one.

What work/tasks can you do best and what can be outsourced to someone who can do it much better than you?

What’s on your calendar?

One way to identify what’s a priority for someone is to look at their calendars.

What’s there and what’s not there?

If your calendar does not have the activities/people/experiences that you value or are important to you, pretty soon it will start filling up with other people’s priorities.

Someone can tell you how much they want to be an entrepreneur and live the lifestyle they have always dreamed of. Yet when you see how that person spends their time, you will notice if they really mean it or are not focused on their personal/professional goals. If it’s not booked on your calendar (or time blocked off for it), then usually it will not happen for many reasons.

Usually the calendar is a good indicator of what’s a priority to someone.

15 Minutes A Day

I started an experiment. The experiment is to allocate 15 minutes each day to learn something new.

There is no shortage of resources to learn from in  today’s world. Connect to the internet from any corner of the world and you enter an universe where you can learn anything and as much as you want. What you need to become more knowledgeable is curiosity, focus and dedication to continuous learning.

On the first day I started the 15 Minutes A Day experiment, I read How Tim Ferriss Became the ‘Oprah of Audio’—Behind the Podcast With 70M-Plus Downloads on the Observer website. The article was informative and a fun read. I am already excited on how much I will learn each day going forward. At the end of each day, I feel accomplished, informed and happy that I learned something new. A day well spent.

Just get started

Lots of times we overthink to get started on a project, a task or an assignment. We think of all the challenges ahead of us. With each thought, the project looks bigger, daunting and unattainable. Until you get started.

When I was first contemplating of starting my own website (this one), I had an idea about it. I grabbed a white piece of paper and started sketching out how I wanted the website to look like. Within a few minutes, I had the first blueprint of this website. After a few months working on it, here I am-writing blogs on my website. The idea has now become the reality.

For me, starting is the hardest part of any project. Let’s say you want to write an article or run a 10K in the near future. You don’t plan on finishing the whole article at the first take or run the 10K in your first practice. You take it one step at a time. Once you type a few words on the Google doc for the article, you are on your way. Once you run a few miles, you are on your way.

So if you are thinking of accomplishing anything in life, take the most important step-the first one.