That 5-hour Rule

 

There are so many shared commonalities between Warren Buffett, Elon Musk and many more moguls and one that stands out of late is their adoption of the 5-hour rule.  NO matter how busy these moguls are, they NEVER cease learning, they NEVER stop learning NO MATTER HOW busy they may be.  BUT before you balk on that 5-hour rule, it's NOT spending 5-hours per day on something.  Instead, it's spending an hour a day, five days a week, focused solely on LEARNING📗📙📘

Before I get suspected for being in cahoots with BLINKIST, it being an apps [WHICH is free only on trial basis], allow me to qualify that BLINKIST is NOT the only platform for us to try pursuing that 5-hour rule.  There are tons and tons of FREE learning apps and platforms.  BUT again, those WON'T be delivered on your very door steps by UPS or DHL.  You got to have that hunger and thirst for LEARNING dude💥💥💥

Let's touch a bit on the anatomy of a day.  As there are 24 hours in a day [OR 1,440 minutes] and the average person sleeps around eight hours a day [with the Dutch sleeping the most and the Singaporeans the least].  That leaves us 16 waking hours left to spend.  We need to subtract the seven to eight hours a day during WHICH most people work though those sleepy Dutch work a bit less.  So, we're down to nine remaining hours.  Much of those nine hours are taken up by life 'admin' tasks and of course eating /drinking.  Of course there are massive cultural differences lurking in that category❎❎❎

YES, most of us have at least a few hours to do with WHAT they want.  And for some, those hours are wasted away on non-work related phone worship.  BUT these are NOT the people WHO will become the entrepreneurs, innovators and success stories in the future.  The recent past decades, we have heard Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates all employing that 5-hour rule.  The idea here is that devoting an hour of your day to learning and education, improving one's skills💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  SO HOW?  Even accepting the wisdom in the 5-hour rule, it can still come over as daunting.  After a long day, with tired eyes and a throbbing headache, most of us will reach for our smart phone.  SO, let's learn however we can.  Reading print on a book is one way of learning BUT it's NOT the only way.  In fact, if you DON'T enjoy reading that much, it's likely you'll learn less from it anyway.  Today, podcasts and audiobooks are great ways to spend your hour [as part of the 5-hour rule].  WHAT's more, the internet is full of educational, entertaining and enlightening articles].  Dude, bettering yourself is NOT a tough task😁😁😁

Lebron James: Nothing Is Given. Everything Is Earned.

 

Quoting purported NBA GOAT Lebron James, NOTHING IS GIVEN.  EVERYTHING IS EARNED.  SERIOUSLY.  NOTE:  I am crediting Lebron James for this one-liner because he has filed his I.P. rights with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Regardless, you might wonder, WHY is this our thread today?  Blame it on all those freebies in life with almost every enterprise peddling and offering all forms and shapes of 'CARROTS' to entice people and get their attention, for them to succumb to their hitherto subtle intentions.  Everywhere we will hear various tricks to inveigle and lure people for various subtle agenda.  LIKE offering a SIGNUP BONUS for a job offer.  LIKE eGC's if you SIGNUP for a credit card offering.  LIKE 50% off the price of the 3rd piece of a product [if you bought 2 previous pieces at its full price].  LIKE bank car loan offerings highlighting that the first amortization payment will take effect 90 days later. WOW, one too many 'CARROTS' BUT can we agree that EVERYTHING IS EARNED in life???

All these tricks to lure us [triggered by various hidden agenda], we got to realize that at the end of the day, EVERYTHING IS EARNED, nothing AS IN nothing is really free in life.  NOT the job promotion you received.  NOT your salary adjustment.  NOT the rewards points you're redeeming for your grocery OR gasoline expenses.  On the other hand, some of life's most valuable achievements can only be earned through intense effort, perseverance and tons and tons of sacrifices.  This concept, often encapsulated in the phrase 'BLOOD & SWEAT' speaks to that deep-seated human understanding that true accomplishment often comes at a significant personal cost.  BTW, 'BLOOD & SWEAT' should NOT be taken literally BUT instead, this vivid metaphor represents the extreme effort, dedication and often discomfort required to achieve certain goals💥💥💥

To EARN things, this is all about pushing beyond our comfort zones, facing our fears, and persisting even in the face of all kinds of adversity.  We DON'T need to be hard pressed to find tons and tons of role models and the field of competive sports is one of the most relatable sources of success stories.  Through the years, African runners have lorded it over the even playing field.  BUT WHAT's in their bag of tricks?  They confide that their training programs even span more than a decade of high volume trainings, high altitude exposures, high intensity training regimen, incorporating long runs with hill repeats, and trainings on all kinds of terrains, WHICH in Africa they termed as soft and dirt roads.  By the time they capture the gold medal in the Olympics, that is NOT just a result of their talent BUT of years of gruelling training, strict diets, early morning rises and even sacrificed social lives💚💛💜

If we break out the BLOOD & SWEAT, the BLOOD might represent the physical toll on their bodies, the injuries they endured and even the limits pushed way and beyond.  WHILE the SWEAT symbolizes those countless hours of practice, their mental fortitude required to keep them going WHEN any of their muscles would ache, and that sheer determination to improve day after day after day.  Oh yes, I always believed that there is a reason WHY achievements gained through intense effort are often more satisfying than those that come easily, sometimes 'served on a silver platter' as psychologically, we tend to value things more WHEN we've had to work hard for them✅✅✅

Our takeaway:  Psychologists have coined this as that EFFORT JUSTIFICATION which suggests that the more effort we put into something, the more we come to value it.  Moreover, that process of working hard towards a goal builds character, resilience, and even develop skills that often times extend far and way beyond the very achievement itself.  The discipline learned in training for marathons for one, can translate into greater focus.  YES dude, to quote the GOAT, NOTHING IS GIVEN.  EVERYTHING IS EARNED😀😀😀

WHAT IF We Shove Our Phone?

 

WHAT IF we shove our phone away [EXCEPT of course if you are at work and that phone is required]?  Way back 1654, philospher Blaise Pascal was quoted:  ALL OF HUMANITY's PROBLEMS STEM FROM MAN'S INABILITY TO SIT QUIETLY IN A ROOM ALONE.  In iPhone's SCREEN TIME, it showed that my typical daily phone activity includes ninety minutes of texting, one hour of reading, another hour of emails, another hour of social media and about seventy 'PICKUPs', meaning that I checked my iPhone about four times per hour.  BUT that's least a surprise because I carry my iPhone around with me AS IF it were my oxygen tank, whoaaaaH!  Even during my idle times, I realized I do stare at my phone📗📙📘

And WHEN that Covid-19 Pandemic did hit us, I realized that many of us really cherished working from home because it gave us that sense of control, that sort of relative peace, as long as our phone was next to us.  A recent Georgetown research said that those 'WILLPOWER' and tips [and even add our very vague resolutions] are NOT just suffcient by themselves to tame the ability of these new technologies to invade our cognitive landscape.  Instead, we are advised to establish that 'philosophy of technology use'💥💥💥

Experts are seemingly giving us quite extreme countermeasures like a month-long detox, like a 'decluttering period' in WHICH a person takes a complete break from all optional technologies.   And WHEN it's over, the digital minimalist slowly reintroduces the technologies on his/her own terms, like you might still need an hour with Instagram each week.  And for our interactions and collaborations with friends and colleagues, let's consider those 'conversation time' at the local coffee shop💚💛💜

So, these recent studies are indeed pushing us to consider becoming digital minimalists, one WHO drops those 'low quality' activities like mindless phone swiping and halfhearted binge watching in favor of HIGH-VALUE leisure activities like board games and learning to fix OR build something every week.  Our end goal here is to establish that permanent change of outlook and behavior [LIKE converting to veganism]. I met someone WHO was so dependent on his Apple watch for donkey years and I was kind of shocked recently WHEN he confided that he recently bought a 'BASIC' watch!!!

Our takeaway:  In case some are NOT aware, those social media companies monetize everyday selfhood like our own preferences and even our personal data are tracked [and SOLD!] to advertisers.  Our relationships are framed as potentially future conduits of their commercial opportunities and here we are, continually capturing one another's lucrative attention by performing some version of WHO we think we are and over time, we seem to have absorbed these seemingly unpalatable TERMS & CONDITIONS.  BUT to quote American writer Jenny Odell, NOTHING IS HARDER THAN TO DO NOTHING.  So dude, will you consider 'shoving your phone' to manage your screen time???

Let's Clear Our Own Eyes FIRST [Before Setting Our Sights Somewhere Else]!

 

Pasting EN TOTO from Quora.com posted by Darby Kozey.  A man moved into a new house with his wife.  In the morning, while they were both having breakfast, the wife looked out the window and saw her neighbor's clothes drying in the garden. She said in surprise:  "Look, our neighbor's washed clothes are not clean at all! She probably doesn't know how to wash clothes properly." She repeated this comment every time the neighbor washed her clothes and hung them outside to dry📗📙📘

About a month passed, and one day the wife was surprised to see that the neighbor's washed clothes were shiny and spotless.   She said happily: "Finally, our neighbor has learned to wash clothes properly!"  The husband smiled and said: "No, this morning I cleaned the window through which you look outside!"  Then he said gently:  "We should clear our own eyes before we see the flaws in others, because most of the time the problem is in our own eyes, not in others."💥💥💥

People who constantly point out deficiencies in their partners and other intimates tend to fancy themselves as problem free, as sort of the unofficial therapists of the situation who are only trying to help. What they fail to recognize is that they have big unaddressed problems too and that focusing on the other is an unconscious defense mechanism put into place precisely to take the attention away from the threatening aspects of their own life situations.  Constantly pointing out deficiencies in others is an abusive power play that masquerades as genuine concern. But it’s actually about shifting the focus and with it the responsibility for problems in relationship systems❎❎❎

By acting as the judge, the jury, the godlike figure, the therapist, etc., these critical people make themselves invisible players in those underlying relationship dynamics. And they make themselves the arbiters of ethics and morality, the arbiters of which behaviors are functional and which are dysfunctional, which are normal and which are abnormal, which are acceptable and which are unacceptable.  The truth is that in any normal, healthy human relationship both people recognize and try to work on their own deficiencies because they accept themselves as real, flawed human beings😢😢😢

Our takeaway:  It is obviously true that when someone is always pointing the finger it’s easy to fall under the spell and take on too much responsibility for problems so it’s useful to remember that pointing that finger serves the important purpose of going on the offensive and staying on the offensive so that no one has the chance to focus any time or attention on the deficiencies of the person behind the finger.  Of course they work towards being the best people they can be and try to help those they care about be the best people they can be but part of that attitude is greater tolerance.  Dude, LET'S CLEAR OUR OWN EYES FIRST before setting our sight somewhere else😡😡😡

[Preventive Alert] When Downloading From Play Store

 

Supposedly, regardless WHETHER you're using iPhones OR Android, we would assume that it is SAFE to download from either the Apps Store OR Google Play Store as both Apple and Google have built that reputation for being trustworthy these days.  So, it's easily understandable to assume that if an app is in either the iPhone App Store OR Google Play Store, it is safe to download.  NOT to taint OR besmirch the Google Play Store BUT that assumption is very true for Apps Store because every single application that seeks to be part of it is very heavily vetted by Apple💚💛💜

Quoting Michelle Ehrhardt datelined 09.17.2025 @lifehacker.com, yesterday, a third-party security report revealed that Google had recently removed 224 malicious apps [ouch] from the Android Play Store.  Dubbed “SlopAds” apps by security company Human, which discovered the apps and wrote the report, these apps evaded Google’s usual security procedures and instead used a clever workaround to secretly install malware on users’ devices, even when downloaded straight from Google’s servers✅✅✅

The way these apps worked was that, if you downloaded them by searching for them through the Google Play Store, they would work as advertised with no malware dragging them down. Generally, these apps were pitched as simple utilities, or attempted to pass themselves off as more popular programs like ChatGPT, to try to trick users into downloading them.  if you downloaded one of these apps after arriving at the Play Store via one of SlopAds ad campaigns, it would also secretly download an encrypted configuration file that, after a few post-download checks, would install malware on your device [ouch AS IN ouch]❎❎❎

Once a device was infected, the app would then steal its information, and start using it to generate fake ad impressions on sites run by the scammers, maximizing profit.  SO, HOW DO WE AVOID INSTALLING MALWARE ON YOUR DEVICE? Android is different from iOS in that it allows you to sideload apps onto your device. This can be convenient when working with smaller developers, who might not have the resources to get their programs on the Play Store. But downloading an app that hasn’t been verified by Google opens you up to extra risk😡😡😡

Always be cautious about links to apps that you find on suspicious websites, and especially in ads. It’s still a good idea to turn it on if it isn’t enabled on your device already. This will scan an app for known malware before downloading it, giving you an extra layer of protection. It will also periodically scan apps already installed on your device. To ensure it’s turned on, open the Play Store, click your profile icon in the top right corner, and navigate to Play Protect > Settings. To scan sideloaded apps, you can also turn on the Improve harmful app detection setting, which is in the same spot😗😗😗

Never Ignore Those Tell-tale Signs

 

ALERTs and WARNING signs are everywhere, whether there's a road erosion, slippery road, sharp curves, falling rocks, name it.  And we CAN'T even find a scape goat in our every day life because it's the same stuff all over.  Never Ignore Those Tell-tale Signs and there can be NO stronger and louder warnings we can ask for.  NOT being promoted for a job role you're angling.  NOT bagging a new sales contract.  NOT receiving a salary raise.  NOT being made part in a circle WHERE you used to be one of the mainstays.  NOT missing those medical checkups getting more frequent.  NOT missing to buy tons and tons of prescribed medicines😡😡😡

So, is a COLLAPSE coming and eminent now?  NOOOOOOO sirrrs.  Likely, that COLLAPSE is happening right now in your eyes, albeit without the visuals and impact that will cause a cardiac arress [knock on wood].  Unfortunately, WHAT we often hear is "COLLAPSE IS COMING' BUT in many scenarios, it is happening, it is already happening.  In short, more often, we do miss out that we're 'LIVING IN IT'💚💛💜

Thing is, COLLAPSE is NOT an apocalyptic event.  It is WHAT happens WHEN the rules change.  It is that slow hustle with nothing to show for it.  It is the rising rent.  So, COLLAPSE is that culmination of all those 'LITTLE CUTS' we do to make both ends meet.  LIKE maybe we've cut down our subscriptions.  LIKE maybe we downgraded some of our usual lifestyle standards.  LIKE maybe we started to skip our scheduled medical consultations.  LIKE maybe we put off for a later time fixing our leaking roof [because it's still summertime for now].  LIKE our monthly savings gets pruned down and down.  LIKE your annual rituals for your family holidays is becoming a thing of the past.  LIKE you start to pay your credit card bills via those installment options luring you no end❌❌❌

In a nutshell, let us NOT wait for that 'BIG BANG' thing like a Super Nova about to burst in the galaxy.  Thing is, it is quite regrettable WHEN at times we refuse to acknowledge and recognize those tell-tale signs.  LIKE those road signs warning of a sharp curve ahead [NO, I'm far away from that].  LIKE a steep climb [NO, my car is in tip-top shape].  LIKE suddenly your cash flow problems used to hit you once a year WHEN it was school enrollment time for your kids but today you're cash-strapped almost always😗😗😗

Our takeaway:  Just like WHEN the 'iron curtain' collapsed [like East Germany falling down like a domino], communism  collapsed NOT in 1989 when East Germany collapsed] BUT the 'seeds' of the collapse of communism were planted no less by Mikhail Gorbachev, Russia's previous leader WHO embarked his 'PERESTROIKA' policies bundled with 'GLASNOST' as he introduced greater political and economic freedoms and created an environment WHERE those European satellite states would pursue their own paths, all culminating in the dismantling of communism.  Enough of geo-politics.  Back to our daily lives, YES, let us NEVER IGNORE THOSE "TELL-TALE" SIGNS [of a potential, albeit far fetched and remote 'COLLAPSE']💥💥💥

It's How You 'ROLL THE DICE' After All

 

This morning, I was browsing the TIME Magazine piece datelined a month back, 08.07.2025 titled "HOW MIKE JOHNSON BECAME TRUMP's SPEAKER".  BUT before I delve on this, digging into this piece is more than just WHAT the title is all about.  Instead,  this is the narrative as to how U.S. Congress Speaker Mike Johnson was able to secure consecutive major legislative victories [for and on behalf the Trump Administration] despite being an obscure, low-key undergo WHO was least expected to survive, and much more, to succeed in securing those 'legislative' victories for the U.S. Republican Party [and primarily for incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump].  Sharing the link to that TIME Magazine piece here:  https://time.com/7306839/speaker-mike-johnson-interview/?utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-daily-spotlight&_bhlid=574b669e01a2013576cc1a43811907ebe53309a4📗📙📘

As the TIME Magazine piece said, QUOTE Johnson became Speaker of the House in October 2023, emerging from relative obscurity to take what one of his Republican predecessors, John Boehner, calls “the toughest job in America.” It requires managing a conference that has for years been nearly ungovernable, while pleasing a President who expects total obeisance and tends to turn on congressional leaders who don’t deliver on his demands. Expectations for Johnson in Washington were low.  But he has defied them. Since Trump’s Inauguration, Johnson has shepherded a series of wins for the White House: thwarting a vote blocking Trump’s sweeping tariffs, passing the Laken Riley Act expediting the deportation of arrested migrants, averting a government shutdown, and delivering pro-crypto legislation that blesses certain digital assets tied to the U.S. dollar UNQUOTE💚💛💜

YES YES yowww, our life is very much akin to the DICE itself and it's all about taking chances [IF YOU WANT TO].  IF you've got three sixes on your first roll,by all means, go for that.  Like WHAT we always hear, if we want to have big returns [in life], we have to take the risk.  True, you may be scared [and you may have to settle for a puny score] BUT the bottomline here is that you tried.  And one day, voila, all those attempts and tries will eventually pay off with the dividends you've been angling for.  YESSS, like the roll of the DICE, life is riddled with possibilities and there's nothing like a crisp white scorecard at the start of a new game.  Thing is, it is all there for the taking💥💥💥

As in a DICEgame, we win some, we lose some in life [and hold on, there will be phases in our life WHEN we'll be either in a winning streak OR losing streak, just to give you a heads-up].  And to forewarn you farther, as you play the game of dice in life, sometimes you will get tired [and bored, seriously and worse, frustrated especially after a spate of failures and frustrations].  BUT as you garner more wins and successes, your own self-confidence can get boosted and one day, WHO knows, you might even develop a bit of a 'swelled head'.  And then, those wins will vanish and a losing streak hits you all over again, deja vu indeed❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  Like that DICE game, there's always rooms for improvement in our life.  And like repeatedly rolling that DICE, life is all about persistence.  The next time you sit down on the hardwood to roll the dice for the 999th time, the wood itself could reflect tons and tons of scratches, reflective both of your wins and losses BUT as we keep our poise on the tips of our fingers before rolling that DICE again, WHAT else are you waiting for?  DON'T look farther.  In that TIME Magazine piece, how U.S. Congress Speaker Mike Johnson has become his own man is indeed a narrative worth emulating😋😋😋

Those Subtle 'ANXIETY TRAPS'

 

HOW often when something different sometimes gets tagged [by our brain] as dangerous?  Probably from time to time based on my own experiences.  BUT that still perplexes me even as we speak now.  And it's a BIG WHY!  BUT for us to simplify this equation, maybe let's DICE & DRILL it farther.  Firstly, if there is something different, it could mean that CHANGE may be brewing, right?  And to do a mapping of this dilemma to our brain, psychologists opine that that's WHERE the ANXIETY TRAP looms.  True, ANXIETY is wierd enough as it is NOT just a feeling.  Instead, it is our brain's 'ancient' alarm system going haywire in this modern world.  In essence, it is that 'mash up' of two very helpful survival systems:  FEAR and PLANNING.  Indeed, these two variables are intertwined enough📗📙📘

Frankly, we are partly responsible WHEN we unconsciously evolve fear to detect real threats in the present moment.  Predators, natural disasters, imminent physical danger, name it, we tend to evolve planning to help us string together previous moments of success and use those to predict WHAT the future might look like.  Verily true, conventional wisdom tells us that we can convince people to be more flexible and less risk-averse, LIKE telling people to 'GET ON WITH IT' and just stop complaining, sort of❎❎❎

NOT to blame our brains BUT psychologists are implicitly implying that train of thought.  As our brains have evolved to really like CERTAINTY, WHICH stems from our basic drive to survive.  LIKE we seem to have noticed evolving to predict and control our circumstances because doing so optimizes our own ability to live life.  And WHEN we experience CHANGE, experts tell us that our brain can interpret it as a 'threat' OR as a 'challenge'.  The scary part here is WHEN our brain tags it as a 'threat' because WHAT happens next, your guess is as good as mine.  It can then potentially lead to distress once we get exposed to the demands posed by the environment.  Worse, we could feel being forced to go way beyond our own limits OR our capacity to cope.  And that's WHEN we experience detrimental effects a.k.a. DISTRESS😡😡😡

As things would possibly turn from bad to worse, to quote the medical experts, as our hearts beat faster, and vascular resistance makes it harder to push blood through our circulatory system.  In the shortest words, our physiological resources are NOT efficiently mobilized.  And to 'up the ante', we are likely to experience negative emotions like feeling anxious OR frustrated.  And suddenly, thoughts like "I CAN'T DO THAT" may likely creep through our minds, causing us to feel stuck in the current situation even without an apparent solution in sight.  However, WHEN we experience CHANGE as a challenge, LIKE a potentially interesting opportunity coming up [either @workplace or in business], it is WHEN we are more likely to experience EUSTRESS because the new environment demands seem within our abilities and limitations💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  Bottom line here is, regardless WHETHER we perceive significant CHANGE moments in our life as either a threat OR as a challenge, that greatly alters our emotional,  physical and even mental experiences.  And it turns out that it's possible to shift HOW we experience difficult CHANGE moments through our mindsets.  In general, mindsets reflects HOW we see things and they impact both our beliefs and even our behaviors.  Interestingly, psychologists opine that our behaviors impact our mindsets too, so by practising specific actions, we can help shift our mindsets to be more agile in the face of CHANGE.  In this way, mindsets are almost LIKE a muscle that can be trained.  And to hear more from the experts, they tell us that it is possible to develop a growth mindset that will help us persist and thrive through CHANGE, for us to extricate as swiftly and as effortless as possible from those subtle ANXIETY TRAPS😌😌😌

Our Own 'Worst Enemy'?

 

This may be quite a sensitive topic to thread on BUT the often hidden question is:  IS PASSIVITY OUR OWN "WORST ENEMY"?  Before I end up stepping on some toes here, per se, there is NOTHING wrong with PASSIVITY because in the first place, generally, a person in a PASSIVE mode does NOT have that premeditated intent to ignite an issue OR even sow some level of turmoil.  Instead, the general manifestations once we get into PASSIVITY is either our inaction, submissiveness OR that seemingly lack of initiative.  In real terms, it is subtly manifested by one's seemingly accepting the actions OR opinion of another person.  In many circumstances, once we get into PASSIVITY, our primal objective is to avoid and evade a full-blown argument OR conflict.  It's kind of sweeping things under the rug, under that dusty carpet [that has become that dusty enough because things get swept and swept under].  So, is PASSIVITY OUR OWN 'WORST ENEMY'???

Veering [BUT NOT meddling] into American Politics, here's a bonus question:  WHY WAS 'MAGA' BORN?  The giveaway question here is much as U.S. President Donald Trump has served as its 'light' and inspiration, the biggest chunk of the credit goes to the millions of Americans WHO are NOT PASSIVE!!!  To a fault, while President Trump has one too many chinks in his armor, it is the NON-PASSIVITY of Americans which led to the birth of MAGA💚💛💜

True, life is hard enough and sometimes we make our own misery.  And sadly, sometimes [again], we make things worse simply via our PASSIVITY, oblivious of the things at hand that need to be 'ACTIONED'.  In a particularly PASSIVE mode, we can slip into a litany of missed opportunities, slip-ups OR worse, failures of nerve, so to speak [even WHILE often times we tend to give ourselves hardly any credit for obstacles we eventually overcome and even those small-small victories get buried under that bushel of oblivion💧💧💧

So, the biggest question bugging me is this:  WHAT makes us PASSIVE?  WHILE this is a matter of conjecture which may NOT be concretely proved OR disproved, Let's do a 'dice-and-drill' here, LIKE WHEN we decide to pay attention to the presence of those self-defeating sentences floating around our head.  Think about it, there's tons and tons of them BUT they would tend to surface more often WHEN we are in a 'low mood' OR WHEN we're reeling in the aftermath of a disappointment😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  As every situation is unique by itself, should we agree that there should be a default reaction.  YES I do and I would strongly push that we be ACTIVE by default.  True, there will be outliers BUT let it be that way.  Outliers are outliers.  And many times in the past, I've taken a pragmatic approach WHEREIN initially I may take an ACTION mode and if my judgment call tells me to retreat, I'll go into PASSIVITY if that is most warranted.  Bottom line is, let us NOT allow PASSIVITY to become our own WORST ENEMY!@#$%?

Life DOESN'T Get Easier. You Just Gotta Be 'BETTER'!

 

Day-IN Day-OUT, at times we would stumble down and rise up.  Then, we stumble again.  And then we rise up, hoping and believing that things will get better.  BUT in numerous instances, IT NEVER GETS EASIER.  And those were the exact words of the lead actress in the Netflix ABSENTIA movie I was watching earlier last night.  Then that brings me a full circle back to our thread today because of my latest realization that despite all our brimming optimism, all the bright outlook we're looking forward up front, we just need to click and skim through those spates of breaking news.  Without making a sweeping statement, I'll even say that around 60% to 70% of every breaking news reflects situations turning from bad to worse, practically almost everywhere globally📗📙📘

WHICH brings both my feet back to the ground and restart another round of soul searching.  I realized that WHAT's splashed OR bandied around across social media are all the SUCCESS STORIES here and there.  BUT OF COURSE, dude!  If at all, you and me and anyone else will post on IG or FB all the nice and dandy updates or events in life.  And I CAN'T blame Paul Zuckerberg for coming up with "FEELING BLESSED", FB's most famous expression💚💛💜

So, if that's the wringer we're going through, you might ask '"WHAT's GOING ON"?  Simple, dude, simple.  That's the way life is all about.  WHO says that the cycles of life will consistently replicate the PEAKS and TROUGHS of the graph charts reflecting consistencies?  BUT ISN'T it that we were taught in the STAT 101 class that graphs are NOT supposedly pre-plotted to show consistent replicas of those PEAKS and TROUGHS?  In fact, I can paint a bleak scenario now WHERE [knock on wood] one of our very own day-to-day scatter graphs may even reflect more TROUGHs followed by a spate of TROUGHs and still many more TROUGHs before the graph's trajectory veers north-bound💥💥💥

As a concrete example, I can lift from the day-to-day pages in the life of Alex Eala, the up and coming Filipina tennis player WHO's hitting countless headlines because besides her 'high profile' WTA tournament wins, effortless she is a hands-down stunner.  BUT if we follow through her actual tournament performances this year, she's going through rounds and rounds of debacles.  BUT DON'T get me wrong.  That DOESN'T make her anything less BUT instead, that's a real-life manifestation that, probably, there are more DOWNTIMEs than UPTIMEs UNTIL such time WHEN it's dawn and the streak of sunlight finally shows up, voila.  BUT again, that's setting expectations✅✅✅

Our takeaway:  I am in no position to falsely show a facade of expertise in counselling BUT my 2-cents here is as simple as night and day.  If we need to RESET our expectations, YES please do in such a way that you paint graph scenarios of more TROUGHs than PEAKs and in the face of that assumption, let us be stronger to face the future TROUGHs with more endurance and resilience until the sun shines again,  YES dude, LIFE DOESN'T GET EASIER.  YOU JUST GOTTA BE BETTER😂😂😂