Welcome to The Art of Becoming.
The Power of Five Ideas Friday edition.
The Art of Becoming is a newsletter about finding value in adversity and embracing discomfort. Each week, I share how to find fulfillment, a little joy, be more resilient, wiser, and a little better. It starts with you and me embracing discomfort—by doing hard shit.
Today, we learn how five (small) ideas can change our lives
I hope you join me.
At a glance
Everyone has energy sinks. What are yours?
The ultimate framework: Stop waiting for one day. Today is that day.
The Paradox of Fear. The thing you fear is probably the thing you need to do.
Quote: Stop waiting for the extraordinary.
An amazing life: The last man to use an iron lung in the United States.
Identify the energy sinks in your life
An energy sink is a term in physics and engineering that describes a system or component that absorbs or dissipates energy without performing valuable work.
In other words, it's a place where energy is lost or stored in a way that doesn't contribute to the intended function of the system.
Everyone has energy sinks—actions, people, things that don't contribute to our lives in a valuable manner.
Common energy sinks are procrastinating, reliving past failures, scrolling through social media, watching TV, or having the wrong people in your life.
Eliminate or, at the very least, lessen an energy sink’s impact on your life.
An energy source is a system or component that provides energy to a system, allowing it to perform work or sustain processes.
Identify and invest in the energy sources in your life. They are the source of your true wealth.
My energy sources are my wife, meditation, writing, reading, training, my dog Nike, friends, and children. Andrew Huberman wrote on X, "Energy sources enable you to do your best work, live fully and contribute in meaningful ways."
Sometimes, an energy source can devolve into an energy sink, such as when I over-train. When that happens, I've learned to take a break and rest.
What are your energy sinks? What are your energy sources?
Turn one day into Day One
This is the ultimate framework for improving, growing, overcoming, failing, and starting over again.
Every day is day one. You are not trapped by yesterday's mistakes and failures.
Day One thinking discards strict adherence to dogma. You learn from history but are not bound by it.
This means you are always starting fresh and have another opportunity to begin again.
Turn today into Day One.
Lean into the Paradox of Fear
The paradox of fear is when the avoidance of a feared situation or stimuli paradoxically reinforces and intensifies the fear itself.
So often, the thing we're afraid to do is often the thing we need to do. The only way to end fear is to chase after it. To run it into the ground.
In the space between your fear and confronting it is the opportunity for growth, self-discovery, and building resilience.
In other words, do the thing that scares the living sh*t out of you. It's good for you.
Quote on waiting
"I was waiting for something extraordinary to happen, but as the years wasted on, nothing ever did unless I caused it."—Charles Bukowski.
Stop waiting for life to happen, stop waiting to make it big, stop waiting to find love, stop waiting to be happy.
All that waiting is years wasted.
One of the last men to use an iron lung has died
In 1952, Paul Alexander was six years old when he contracted polio. After six days at home, unable to move or breathe on his own, he was rushed to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, which was one of the best polio care units in Texas at the time. He had an emergency tracheotomy to clear out congestion in his lungs, and when he woke, Paul was inside an iron lung.
For the next 72 years, that machine was his cage and cocoon. However, his story does not end with a man living in a machine. Doctors thought he would not live beyond a year, but Mr. Alexander proved them wrong.
Paul Alexander lived an amazing life.
Mr. Alexander lived until he was 76. He was the living embodiment of Marcus Aurelius' quote, "What stands in the way, becomes the way."
If anyone had an excuse to quit, it was Paul Alexander. He could not breathe, so he taught himself to breathe again. "Frog breathing," he called it. He graduated high school at 21 and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas. He earned his law degree in 1984 and passed the bar in 1986.
What his body could not do, his mind compensated for. His passion for the law enabled him to help people and their lives better like he wanted for himself.
The next time you complain about your life, remember Paul Alexander. And then stop complaining. [Source: Washington Post. There might be a paywall]
Thanks for reading. Stop waiting for the extraordinary. Only you can make it happen.
Love to you and yours,
Michael