Blog | Justin Mulvaney

Looks like the post for yesterday didn’t send out until this morning- oops! I spent all day yesterday moving and didn’t catch it. *Sigh* Technology.

On the topic of moving- this one has me particularly excited. It’s unique, the psychological weight that gets assigned to where we are, specifically our home. A relocation carries with it a form of psychological reset and excitement that make the previously impossible possible. It provides the opportunity to re-associate and change previously engrained routines.

I think there’s tremendous power in building these circumstances into our lives- moments which enable us to discover truth about ourselves and move closer to discovering that truth.

It’s a miserable place to be in. It has many names- the breaking point, rock bottom, in a funk. We find ourselves exhausted, defeated, and struggling to go on.

It is at precisely this point where we have the most to gain. The only way is up, and we’re free to experiment with nearly any solution- how much worse can it get?

The next time you find yourself defeated, don’t give up. Get creative.

It’s something that our western much-to-do culture values very little despite the meaning the word holds: an inner sense of calm and peace.

In stoic philosophy, tranquility defined as the banishment of negative emotions and the emergence of joy. It seems like the very essence of what we seek from our lives, yet it is something we very rarely claim to value.

Consider adding tranquility to your definition of success.

P.S. If this kind of thing interests you, I have some notes on stoic philosophy via my books page here.

…might just be yourself. A useful heuristic I recently heard:

If you’re wondering what course of action to take, ask yourself: What would 10-years-older you tell you to do?

We intellectualize all of the time. We hear sound principles for leading a happy life but dismiss them.

“I can’t do that. It wouldn’t work with my life.”

We don’t take the time to reconcile it’s conflict with the current state of our life and do the most difficult part: enact change. 

Occasionally, we choose to act but fail anyway. It’s at this point that we gain an even greater understanding of the principle. Only by attempting to apply it and succeeding or failing do we start to true understand what a principle looks like in application.

There’s potential in theory, but power in application.

Why do you want it?

What don’t you want? Why don’t you want that?

Goals are wonderfully useful, but assume a knowledge where you want to go. Take care of first things first.

There’s something to be said for the hustle. Being able to sprint when you need to can get you places you could never get to otherwise.

That being said, there’s just as much to be said for stamina. Relentless sprints don’t win the long game. Hustle when you need to, and don’t if the time isn’t right.

Growth is a function of feedback loops, our ability to ideate, execute, and reflect on that experience.

While the ideation and execution are necessary, they alone aren’t sufficient. Growth comes from well-tuned reflection on what went right, what went wrong, and most importantly, why. Growth, improvement, and progress come from our ability to see.

If we can reflect and see, there’s no problem too large.

The two are inevitably tied. Adhering rigidly to a principle will often predetermine an outcome, and pursuing an outcome at any cost will affect which principles you are (and are not) adhering to.

Best to consider both when deciding how to act. Oftentimes the optimum, the scenario which achieves a good outcome while reinforcing your integrity, lies somewhere in-between.

 When we trip, it’s easy to see the bottom and start falling toward it, to fall prey to the downward spiral.

Impossible to perceive but just as real- the upward spiral that proceeds from picking ourselves up.