After I published my first novel in 2021, I decided to record the music that got me on the path of writing in the first place.
I had a song.
Made the beat.
Wrote down the lyrics.
I practiced it over and over. Deep down I feared doing the recording.
Tick..Tock…It went from evening to night in our apartment, just a few blocks from Lake Merritt in Oakland. What was a casual recording session was about to turn into a “thanks for not helping with dinner tonight.”
So I said “ahhh, f*ck it,” stood up, and just hit record.
I finished the song way faster than I thought about it. You can even hear me on the track saying “hit record.”
That day I learnt a lesson about just getting over the hump.
It also planted a seed that germinated into a book idea about recording and documenting. For over four years, I’ve been ruminating about that book in my head.
I’ve sketched it out. I’ve written a structure of it in some notion doc that I’ve now abandoned. Every new idea that I come across about it gets me excited. I’ve taken notes in my Obsidian – another note app. Borrowed books from libraries about it.
Then I was at a coffee shop, exactly 20 weekends ago, and I just started writing the book.
Throwing out all I have learned.
“Use a structure.”
“Have a goal.”
Blah blah.
I told myself that all I had to do was write for one hour every weekend – whatever comes to mind.
20 weeks later.
I have 30k+ words in a Google doc.
I’m confident I’ll find some themes in there for my 5th book.
The moral of the story is: You have to take action.
You just have to hit record.
Old Intelligence is not wisdom:
Most of us want crystal clear clarity.
We sit down and talk about what we want to do. We tell ourselves that we’re never ready.
All you have to do is consume that final piece of information before writing that piece of content. Ask a prospect for more clarification before asking for the sale.
Listen to one more podcast episode before starting a business.
Clarity mostly comes through the loop of acting and reflecting.
It’s the only way to stay smart in a rapidly evolving environment.
Clarity and agency is the new intelligence.
But you can never be 100% clear about the future outcome. Your best bet is to take little steps and get feedback.
That’s why having agency is the most important thing in this era of noise.
Shortening the time between thought and action.
The biggest blocker to ‘agency’ is knowing whether what you do will be worthwhile.
This boils down to choice.
With my latest manuscript, for instance, I knew that if I got up to 20k+ words in a document, I would be able to find enough material for a book. It made the one hour of time each weekend worthwhile.
So I made the choice to do it.
That’s the difference between the amateurs and the pros in any field you choose.
Amateurs spend time trying to figure out how to “do what they love.”
Professionals find a way to “love what they do.”
The 3 Modes of Agency So You Can Love What You Do:
“Clarity devolves to chaos with bouts of inaction.”
I wrote that in the zoom chat of a weekly entrepreneur mastermind that I’m in. One of the members talked about how inspired he was, just a month ago, about his business offer, but he hadn’t done anything about it. So he felt lost.
When you get clarity, act on it immediately.
The space between clarity and action gets filled with chaos. The longer that space, the more chaos. It’s just the second law of thermodynamics at work: the state of disorder increases with time.
You have two options, bring order to the chaos or accept the chaos.
I heard something recently that stress is when you have two conflicting needs.
You want to consistently make money with your paycheck but you can’t stand your boss. Stress!
You want to have autonomy running your business but don’t want to deal with the uncertainty of running a business. Stress!!
You want the societal validation of being in a relationship but don’t want to deal with the complexities of relationships. Stress!!!
The same goes with clarity and chaos.
You can accept chaos or do something about it. Either of the two options are fine. But it’s when you don’t want to accept chaos but also want the luxury of not doing anything about it. Streesssssss!!!!
I recently re-listened to Eckhart Tolle’s book – A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. A chapter I once glossed over, really resonated this time around. It gave me these three modes of agency.
Here they are so you can stop stressing and start loving what you do:
1. Acceptance:
Accept what you can’t change.
Whatever is going on, right now, accept it or change it.
But there are certain things that when they happen, you really have no choice. If you have to change your car’s tire at night in a storm. It’s not a great situation to be in, but fuming about it will not make the situation better.
Accept reality for what it is.
I’m sure you’ve found yourself in situations like this: stuck in traffic, delayed flights, illness. These are all situations to accept and just be. It’s quite aspirational but that’s why it’s a practice.
2. Enjoyment:
Be here.
This is the mode of finding joy in the things you do.
But this is not about only doing things you enjoy. It’s actually a practice in finding the joy in everything you do.
Because how you do it is as important as why you do it.
Look at activities you don’t like doing and use it as a practice to be present. For instance, I’m recently not a fan of cooking, but I have to eat, right? So I’ve been using cooking as an activity to be present and find joy in things I don’t naturally gravitate to. Funny enough, when I get into the flow of things, it’s really nice.
This joy of being then carries through to other parts of life: writing, emailing, sales calls, staying in touch with family.
This is a mode of intention and action.
3. Enthusiasm
Ride the wave.
This third mode happens when there is a surge in energy that comes together to support the things you enjoy.
The best analogy I have is like a wave that rises to support your activities. An entrepreneur finally connects with industry peers and investors to support her business. A writer finally gets in tune with an important topic and their work finally comes to light.
Enthusiasm rises and falls back to where it originated from. It doesn’t last forever.
When it rises, ride the wave. When it falls, you simply go back to the second mode: and enjoy what you do.
Accept or transform
Most people want to be in a state of enthusiasm all the time.
They fall for the enthusiasm trap. Brief moments of inspiration, followed by a drought of ideas and action. They’re waiting for an external wave to move them, when the continuous drips they need come from within.
When you keep these three modes of doing in mind, you learn to accept what you can’t change, find joy in activities you do, and ride brief waves of enthusiasm. Regardless of what mode you’re in, prioritize learning about yourself.
Because when you know thyself, you’ll move with more clarity and mindful agency.
Yours truly,
Nifemi
