Give yourself 5 minutes to be frustrated and then move the hell on

The next time something makes you frustrated, soak in it. Let yourself be frustrated for 5 minutes but then move on from it. That’s what I learned from the popular TV series ‘Lost.’

I’ve seen Lost roughly 0.8 times. I’ve started it twice and never finished it. Make of that what you will.

But I’m glad I did because on my second attempt I took something away from episode 1.

Alright, the scene in simple terms:

• Meet main character Doctor Jack.

• Meet his love interest Kate who asks how he deals with nerves when performing surgery.

• Jack talks about how he deals with fear.

• He gives himself 5 seconds to freak out and then he flicks that switch and does what is needed.

The thing I took from this was we all get scared, and nervous, and mad, and every other emotion out there.

The toughest person you know cries, the most confident person you know gets nervous.

It is perfectly fine to feel these things and in fact, I’ll put it in the ‘good for you’ basket.

Be nervous, be mad, be sad — but give yourself a certain time to do so and then flick that switch.

5 seconds is extreme but given Doctor Jack’s situation, that is fair enough.

I’m running with 5 minutes instead for everyday life challenges.

I always preach positivity and tell myself there’s no point in being frustrated by that bad traffic but reality is that it’s a pain in the ass.

But after that 5 minutes I’m back to positivity and trying to snap out of it. Well, in theory at least.

There’s simply no point in dwelling over something that has already happened.

Like, what benefits do we get from it?

Take 5 minutes. Don’t run from those emotions. Feel them. Move on.

Thanks Jack from Lost.

Sit in the front seat, take back the keys to your life

The blame game — a game we all play.

Eric Thomas, someone who I only just discovered on a recent podcast episode, said that as soon as you blame someone, you hand them the keys to your life.

I thought this was a great analogy.

Yes people are annoying. Yes they are super questionable at times. And yes, honestly sometimes it is just other people’s fault that you end up in a certain bad situation.

But if you simply blame them, and then sit in your disappointment shaking your head over and over, you are letting them have control.

It’s your life, so take control of it, take back the keys.

Figure out what you can do about that crappy situation and sit in the front seat.

Next time I blame someone for something I’m going to visualise myself handing them over my shiny keys to the car and driving me somewhere as I just sit there in the backseat, sad and helpless.

Take notice of the good people surrounding you every day

The people and the connections are the best part about my job.

I’ll say this now and I’ll continue to say it for a very long time.

I’ve been with the NBL for almost 7 years, been involved in the content and sports space for a very long time and the best part about it all is, and will always be the connections with the people you make.

The players.
The commentators.
The designers.
The marketers.
The managers.
The CEO’s.
The video editors.
The hosts.
The guests.

We’re all the same. We’re all just humans going through human things and it’s wonderful.

As I type this I hear Bliss n Eso — Good People feat. Kasey Chambers playing in my head too so go put that on after reading this email.

Enjoy the people around you. Take notice of them. Have a coffee with them.

Thanks for being here

Learning life.

That's how I describe what I'm doing here.

Personal development is something we all go through whether we intentionally go about it or not.

Notice the first word of the headline being learning. I just want to make it super clear that I am no expert.

I feel like everywhere you look these days there are people telling you what is best for you.

Find out yourself.

That's the fun part.

That's what I'm doing, and I'm sharing my experiences, learnings, books, lifestyles and words of wisdom from others along the way.

Thanks for being here.