Austin Peete

Any time we want to go out into the world to achieve a dream, we need people there to help, guide, and uplift us. Strong relationships build great communities, which generate actionable change.

I took a few personal days to collect myself while living life. 

Throughout the past few days, I both gained and lost a bit of perspective on myself. What I lost view of is where I’m at right now–all that I’ve got going for me after working to put myself in a particular position. I hadn’t taken inventory in some time, which means I started losing sight of what my present is in actuality. On the other hand, I gained experiences that allowed me to understand the vast leaps I’ve made in personal growth in these past few months. 

It’s essential to assess where we’re at, who we are, and what we’ve got with appreciation on a regular basis. Otherwise, we run the serious risk of losing sight of all of that, which means we relinquish the influence we hold in determining our respective, and collective, futures. 

Maximize the activity you get paid for.

I’m in a place where I’m not getting paid a whole lot for any of the work I’m doing. I’d like to think I’m making investments through current work to gain more resources down the line. Right now, I’m learning how to enjoy the consistent every day, persist without quitting, pursue my potential, and enjoy living my truth. 

“ We’re all just about five things that are pillars to us that we just say in different ways.”–JohnHenryStyle

It used to bother me to listen to people in my life and feel like we were never moving into new areas of conversation. Then, I realized a few things: 1) I was beginning to outgrow my own ideas of self, which means I was outgrowing the world around me and how I perceived it, 2) People will mature at their own pace regardless of my input, and 3) We don’t constantly have to have something new to say when we can learn to say the same things in new ways.

In an age where the internet is still in its infancy as a social tool, the ways media cycles through our spheres of influence at a rapid pace makes it feel like it’s impossible to keep up or secure your own presence. I constantly have to remind myself that, independent of what I think I’m seeing across my feed, there are large amounts of time, energy, money, and teamwork behind the ways people are presenting themselves. 

I live how I live because that is who I am; I do not live to fulfill an idea of who I am or who I’m supposed to be. I do what I do the way I do it because it comes naturally to me and I hope that this brings me prosperity, in addition to the people around me. 

This week I’ve shirked some of my self-dedicated responsibilities. I’ve forgone practice in pursuit of other projects. Lately, I’ve been assigning myself so many tasks I’m not incredibly concerned if one or two items get delayed. Plus, this gives me an opportunity to strengthen my creative visualization skills.

Today, I started taking some personal inventory. Here are the questions I’m asking myself to start:

1. When am I most naturally myself? What people, places, and activities allow me to feel most fully myself?

2. What inspires me to continue creating?

3. What form does leadership take within me? What leadership qualities do I possess? What skills in leadership do I need to cultivate?

4. What is my greatest talent?

5. what do I value most in life?

6. How can I get paid doing what I love?

7. Where am I now? Where am I going?

8. What do I need help with?

9. How can I best be of service to others?

10. What are the blessings of my life?

When it comes to putting out an entire collection of new work, I’ve caught myself thinking and moving more conservatively than I would have during the earlier days of my entrepreneurial experience. I’m striking a balance between drive and dreams. I know how much time and energy and money it takes to release work, such as a line of apparel, which is why I’ve been taking my sweet, sweet time. I’m seeking more enjoyment out of the whole process, too.

There are also so many things I still don’t know, yet. Not knowing isn’t an issue because I trust that I can always find someone to fill in the gaps for me. However, I have yet to assess how to receive the best return on my work. That’s often what generates a bit of discomfort for me these days.

Initially, it was odd to me that upon releasing my first video for MDRN.RNSC–the new YouTube channel for my business–that I received so many messages of pride and congratulations. Why was it not my first reaction to understand I’m beginning to step in a direction of larger possibility? I’ve been so caught up in producing work that I haven’t taken the time to appreciate the work itself.

Remain grateful for the connections you experience in putting yourself out to the world.

I’m proud that I’m starting on this new journey. Right now possibilities seem endless. I have this opportunity to share myself with the world one step at a time and coalesce my will with a larger group as we harness our collective potential on a global scale.

Rest is underrated.

Coming up I loved napping but never understood how valuable it was to my maturing. Napping gave me time to recover and recollect in ways I couldn’t while conscious; it was an essential form of rest.

As I’ve gotten older, other activities–meditation, reading, writing, playing the piano–have contributed in a restful manner that allows me to recharge before, during, and after activities.

In my opinion, we can never fully break away from our work. Once we’ve presented ideas, problems, and questions to our minds, it is natural for the mind to run with that information, even without active input. 

“The work you’re doing has to have access to all of your life.” –Jericho Brown

Hey! I hope you’ve had a lovely week. 💛

Here’s a list of ideas and resources I greatly appreciate from the past week:

Updates

I’ll be releasing the first two videos for my new YouTube channel starting this week! There’ll be links available for access here and on the .RNSC website (https://rnscforall.com). 

✰Top Listening List ✰

Alan Watts ~ Exploring Your Dark Side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32MiAPR2S4g

Become an intellectual explorer: Master the art of conversation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWUDFge4t-4

How I Built 7 Income Sources That Make $163,800 Per Month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px317izkJ6w

Current Reading List:

How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb

The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship (Second Edition)

Ametora by W. David Marx

How does a person build confidence? 

My initial thought is repetition; if we arrive at a certain point in time doing what we have been, then we can work our way to becoming who we want to be. Incrementalism, kaizen, habit formation--choose your methodology. To build confidence, we must build ourselves, growing both our self-confidence and self-efficacy toward a more desired holistic self-image. Repeat activities that strengthen skill along with a constructive mindset. This is how humanity has gone further throughout history. 

Ask questions driving your curiosity and seek the answers to these questions. Along the way you will find more of yourself, much of which may contribute towards cultivating a self you never imagined. 

Lastly, I believe we should enjoy this process called life as much as humanly possible. There are extenuating circumstances relative to everyone’s life that push and pull us in a number of destructive ways; my goal is to remain vigilant and optimistic through such difficult experiences. We're all sharing in an experience larger than ourselves, which means we all have something to offer each other. Difficult times are as inevitable as the wonderful. We can choose to remain aware while expanding our perspective regarding our experiences.

Today I learned about the practice of kaizen. In Japanese, the word translates to “improvement,” and is characterized by progress through small, ongoing steps over time. Beginning with this methodology is supposed to be laughably tiny requiring little to no will power; something like dedicating yourself to writing 90 seconds a day for a blog. At first, this may not seem like much, but over time these effortless attempts can mature towards a flow greatly exceeding the original time set for an activity.

However, there’s a potential caveat to kaizen in Western society: Innovation. Within a culture that’s ever-focused on change and improvement in large steps, an appropriation, rather than an integration, of the kaizen methodology may lead to a person taking on too many small tasks, trying to get better at multiple things all at once. I think I might’ve fallen into this pitfall a few times.

This morning I woke up from an odd dream where two friends told me I should be enjoying what I’m doing. I was struggling to clear my mind while working on a project and didn't seem to be going anywhere fast. That’s when I woke up, took note from my subconscious, and went for a walk. 

As my body rose, so did the sun–subtly, yet with intent. I quieted my mind, paying great attention thoughts that flowed by making sure I had fun with it. Everything from scheduling to wordplay was free to take my attention; this worked wonders for my decision making and follow-through during the day. In recent weeks, I was doing a lot of preparation in thought. Finally, I decided to put my best foot forward while seeking the most enjoyment I can out of every moment made available to me. 

There always comes the moment when you have to be done with planning, trust in yourself, and just go for it. 

For months, I’ve talked myself through cycles of ideas and potential outcomes, but thinking will only bring about so many results if any. Part of me thought that another person might come into my life and motivate me to the point that I needed to be at in order to propel myself into the world. 

When I realized this person was never going to come, I understood that I have to be that motivational somebody for myself. Every day I’ve got to meet with my “Other” self, the me that doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and never waivers when pursuing goals. I’m building my mindset so that this is my default–the unstoppable self. 

I’ve been wondering lately if I’ve been stretching myself too thin with all of my pursuits. It doesn’t feel that way just yet, but I can feel myself tending towards less structured operations and drop-offs in deliberate practice–this means fewer satisfactory returns.

It’s important to take inventory of your priorities every so often to make sure your actions remain aligned with your goals. I tend to have a lot of ideas that I’d like to follow through on, but not every idea deserves effort; plus, we’ve only got so much time in the day and so much energy to perform at our best throughout it. I tend to pace myself through projects in short bursts throughout the week, which prolongs the duration of each of my projects. This isn’t always a bad thing. Because I’m not working with a large team, spreading out my work allows me time to execute in short, deliberate bursts then return a few days later, or sometime even months later,  with added perspective. In my experience, this adds to the overall value of what I output. Some people may find my process hectic, but it allows me to view projects in detail and from the gestalt.