Slogging it out doesn't have to be dull

#86 - my introduction to *real* action films

Hi there,

I hope you are well. A pretty worthless platitude at the start of most messages, one I’ve never used to start our weekly *cough when I’m free on a Sunday night* conversations. But I mean today’s greeting in sincerity 😊

I have just returned from the cinema, enthralled by the truly incredible Mission: Impossible 7. Having never seen any of the previous episodes nor Tom Cruise films before, it was a nail-biting thriller with extended action sequences, longer than the average - you’re left needing some downtime after a 20 minute scene of drama, noise and jolt. Certainly my highlight of the week. Hope you’ve managed to treat yourself to some entertainment escape from your busy life lately and if not, maybe schedule it in?

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What I wanted to write about today fell into my lap last weekend, waiting to be cooked up, unlike the usual first few minutes when I sit down: me racking my brain, pacing through my diary and messages to source inspiration. It is perhaps a reward for all those hard reps, which is ironic given what we’re going to discuss -

I. Rewind to Tuesday. A new captain for my U17 club cricket team. I’d got the impression just before we walked out onto the field that I was opening the bowling. The skipper even asked me to “go down to third man” which is one of the usual positions of a bowler about to come on.

The first over goes by, we get a wicket to kick things off. I walk to the crease as if to hand my cap to the umpire and get into my work when a teammate (a legspinner) is handed the ball. Hmm, I think as I go to another fielding position as asked by the captain.

Next over, back to third man, far away from the action and jealous of the warmth my legspinner friend who’s being showered with the fleeting sunshine at fine leg (the other side behind the wicketkeeper) has. As I watch every ball go by, shifting back into focus each time, I think to myself “This is what cricket is, spending hours in the field. It’s what makes up most of the time I’ll spend on a cricket ground, bowling forming the next largest chunk. But if this is what I’ll be doing for most of the time and is my ‘duty’, then I better do it well and most of all, learn to enjoy it”.

It took me back to a common saying in happiness and success advice land: “Enjoy the journey”. A surefire way to make life feel more content is by doing just that, loving the path that takes you to the destinations you want to go to. If the ultimate goal is to be happy, you’re maximising your chances by enjoying the path to your goals because you’ll spend way more time on the way there than you will on top of that mountain you’re climbing.

II. The orchestral arrangements we use at school are split into ‘Parts’, each playing 1 section of the harmonies and melodies in the music we play. Having mostly played the oboe, along with the flutes and clarinets in our upper woodwind section, I usually play the tune, the bit that the audience know.

Since it’s been a year since I went on music tour to Edinburgh, I looked back at some of those songs, this time seeing what the sax part was like. And boy was it different. Longer notes, off-beat background fillers, like the lettuce in a McChicken Sandwich - you like it being there, notice when it is not but it isn’t the showpiece.

It made me again think about how

• part of working as a team is that someone does the dirty work like that, which allows us others to have a bit more fun. If anything, it’s more important because it gives the foundation for the tune to shine, ‘filling out’ the middle

• everyone needs to do their equal share of unsexy stuff to make the nice stuff worthwhile and feel as nice as it does

• we must appreciate that our team members are doing that for us, using that as motivation for working even harder at our own slice of the work - because others are (indirectly) sacrificing their time in the spotlight for us

As the headline of this post from half a year ago says, the hard work is what makes the fruit at the end. It’s the atoms the prize is composed of, the food that you feed the creature for it to grow into glory. Given it’s unavoidable, you might as well learn to take pleasure out of this practice, knowing that it’s all you can do in the present moment and that it is towards a greater good. Taking pleasure from this pain, deriving meaning from the effort, creating an opportunity to exercise your discipline and skill: maybe it’s all necessary for our mind to appreciate the gift at the end?

Excellence is a matter of steps. Excelling at this one, then that one, and then the one after that. Existing in the present, taking it one step at a time, not getting distracted by anything else.

Simply do what you need to do right now. And do it well. And then move on to the next thing. Follow the process and not the prize.

An excerpt from The Obstacle Is The Way, the book I’m still reading

Podcast of the week 🎙️

The Tim Ferriss Show: Michael Mauboussin — How Great Investors Make Decisions, Harnessing The Wisdom (vs. Madness) of Crowds, Lessons from Race Horses, and More (#659)

This may feel a bit too high-powered, not quite attuned to your own wavelength. I clung on for most of it, some cool ideas discussed.

Article of the week 📰

Does “maximising impact” lead to misery?

A practical look into effective altruism and the issue with optimising for (the value of) money nicely looked into here

Quote of the week 💬

Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once. – Drew Houston

Enjoy another week of the summer (hopefully with some ☀️)

Adi