How To Get Ahead In Life

Good Morning Y'all!

I want to share with you how I'm making decisions during this unique time in my life.

LIFE IS LIGHTNING FAST

These past 5 months, ever since I've moved to Austin, have flown by.

Months feel like only a few days,

Days feel like only a few hours,

and major life milestones feel like they're happening effortlessly.

To be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing, but it all seems to be working.

Life seems to be ramping up.

The new businesses are beginning to take off,

Just about to move into the house I just bought,

Will soon be engaged to my girlfriend,

And I'm about to scale my in-person community across the nation.

Some days, it feels like I'm balancing all of this with ease.

Other days, I feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted.

That's called being human.

That being said, I feel that there are some changes that need to be made.

TIME TO MAKE SOME CHANGES

At this moment, I have more than I've ever had on my plate,

and simultaneously the least I'll ever have on my plate again.

So, what does this mean?

It means it's time to get focused.

These past few days, I've felt incredibly tired, overwhelmed, and irritated about how I'm currently navigating life.

I've never lost sight of gratitude, but I've temporarily viewed life and my responsibilities as burdens, not blessings.

There's a handful of reasons why this was taking place, some of which I will discuss in letters later this week...

But the solution is now clear as day.

I was saying yes to everything.

When we say yes to everything, we're saying no to the things that actually matter.

We only have so much energy, and it must be used wisely.

I must prioritize my life.

Everything around us is trying to grab our attention...

My good friend, Cole Tucker, put out a recent tweet that I resonate with, and I wanted to share it with you...

"You need to read that book!

You need to check out this one podcast!

You need to meet these investors!

You should take this course!

Go on this retreat!

Go on my podcasts!

Try this business idea!

Maybe this pivot would help?

Move cities?

Watch this one movie!

Vacation to Costa Rica?

Go to this party!

Go to this networking event!

Go to this one amazing comedy club!

Join this speech club!

Try this AMAZING place out for dinner!

Watch this one life-changing show.

Try this one type of meditation!

Have you gotten to signing this NDA?

Have you set up your two new PayPal accounts?

Is everything properly tracked?

Team motivated?

Project headed in the right direction?

On track to hit the needed milestones?

Will we make enough money back?

I'm Founder-ed out. There are so many energy generators here in Austin- all with the purest of intentions to improve themselves and others around them.

I have pages of notes.

Places to go.

Books to read.

Movies to watch.

I'm exhausted.

The full point of me moving to Austin was to be surrounded by people- people who are growing and not complacent in life. It was great for a while but now the inverse has happened.

Now I'm overwhelmed instead of underwhelmed.

Balance is hard.

I need to enter a season of No.

I need clarity- not more data points."

Seeing Cole's tweet felt like a wake-up call for me.

I feel the exact same way.

There's a season for doing all of the above,

but that season has now passed.

HOW THIS LOOKS

The greatest addition we can make to our life is subtracting all the junk.

One illustration that's always helped me better understand this is the following...

I imagine our life as if we were a boat.

That boat is trying to cross from one piece of land to another, and we must cross an ocean to get there.

We're from a land where we've faced persecution, depression, and lack of opportunity.

Our destination is where we'll find the life we've always wanted...

It's a life where we spend quality time with loved ones, enjoy good food, and experience freedom.

This boat is somewhat small, but definitely built well for the long haul ahead.

The only problem is that we're all hoarders.

The boat is filled with a few hundred pounds of storage boxes.

Other than having something valuable, like food,

those storage boxes include every piece of clothing since childhood,

that old TV from the 90's that looks more like a box than a flat screen,

and the thousand different pennies that make up our coin collection.

None of these things are necessary, but in an ideal world, they'd be nice to have.

All of this is fine and dandy, until the boat begins to have some problems...

The small boat is beginning to go much slower than expected.

At this pace, we won't make it to land in time before we run out of our food supply.

Not only that, the big TV is causing the boat to feel imbalanced, occasionally allowing for water to seep in.

So, what are we to do in this situation?

We could just chill,

sort through our pennies,

completely ignoring the boat's speed, direction, and damage,

Say, "We'll get there when we get there."

Or....

We ask ourselves, "What will make the boat go faster?"

Obviously, deciding to ditch the TV, penny collection, and probably most of the clothes.

In doing so, the boat begins to speed up, now that it's carrying much less weight.

Now, we cut the commute time down by days, and we begin to enjoy the ride much more.

OUR LIFE IS THAT BOAT

I give this example because I believe it applies to how I've been spending my energy.

Although I've gotten much better over the past few months...

I still spend way too much time focusing on things that make the boat go slower.

The largest item that is currently on my boat, is a big ass TV.

The TV symbolizes all of my devices.

I'm still spending way too much time consuming social media, and sports news.

Like, it really doesn't matter to my life about who will be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers...

It has no impact on my world, but I still give it a lot of attention.

I also don't need to obsess over the NBA draft combine to determine the top college prospect this year.

I don't need to watch new car reviews on YouTube, especially since I'm not planning to buy a vehicle anytime soon.

All these distractions, both obvious and subtle in my personal life, are making the boat go slower.

There's no need for me to grab coffee with random entrepreneurs from Twitter.

And there's no reason to strategize for future businesses if it distracts me from the ones I have today.

Not only is all of the above taking away my time, but more importantly, it's taking away my energy.

I deeply believe that the way to live a happy and fulfilling life is to find a handful of tasks that give us energy.

These distractions take away my energy, leaving less for me to give to loved ones, clients, and creative work.

Everything in our life is either giving or taking our energy.

We know immediately which is which, simply by asking ourselves this question...

"Do I feel more or less energized after watching this YouTube video?"

"Do I feel more or less energized having spoken to this person?"

If we can unapologetically subtract those things that take energy away from us...

Feeling energized will be our default state of being.

Subtracting the energy-sucking activities will make the boat go faster.

We will get to the destination much quicker,

and most importantly,

we will enjoy the ride.

CONCLUSION

It's time to get focused,

It's time to prioritize.

We will either sacrifice for what we want, or what we want will be the sacrifice.

One thing I will not be sacrificing, are my morning writing sessions that create The Love Letters.

I'll be doubling down on this.

These give me more energy,

all while fine-tuning my gifts and skills.

That's it for today,

I hope you know that you are loved, and you are enough.

See you tomorrow,

I unconditionally love you all.

-Cameron Hogan