#733 Ambition + Routine Part II

Fire Walking Our Way Through a Well-Organized #carpediem Day

Not too long ago, we had some fun hanging out on the hot coals of life as we walked to the wall of our potentials.

We wrapped that +1 up with two questions.

1. What do you want?
2. How bad do you want it?

Then I said that “One proxy to answer the second question: How committed are you to Optimizing? Are you actually APPLYING these and other truths you study?”

As I typed that, I thought of another proxy.

Well, actually, I thought of this epic quote from Mason Currey’s great book Daily Rituals.

We talked about it in our +1 on Ambition and Routine but I think it’s worth repeating here. 🤓

Here’s how Currey puts it: “‘Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition,’ Auden wrote in 1958. If that’s true, then Auden himself was one of the most ambitious men of his generation. The poet was obsessively punctual and lived by an exacting timetable throughout his life. ‘He checks his watch over and over again,’ a guest of Auden’s once noted. ‘Eating, drinking, writing, shopping, crossword puzzles, even the mailman’s arrival—all are timed to the minute and with accompanying routines.’ Auden believed that a life of such military precision was essential to his creativity, a way of taming the muse to his own schedule. ‘A modern stoic,’ he observed, ‘knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time: decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.’

Today’s +1.

Two more questions.

1. How’s your ambition?
2. How’s your routine?

And a few bonus questions:

1. What’s awesome?
2. What needs work?
3. What will you do a little differently TODAY?

High fives and see you back on the coals! 👨‍🚒

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