#4 — Percolated Wisdoms: The Choice Forward

James Kim
James Kim
Sep 3, 2018 · 4 min read

Hello, again!! 😄

Great seeing you this week!!

Gotta say, this past week for me was a bit rough, but I hope yours was better than mine! 😁

Here’s this week’s Percolated Wisdom!!

The Excerpt

Nothing truly meaningful or lasting has ever been created in a short period of time. If you learn the story behind any great success, you realize how many years went by and how many hard choices were made to achieve it.

Reaching for more is not only an act of ambition, it also comes from passion and love. Nothing is achieved because of easy choices. I believe that people can endure any hardship if it is sensible and constructive.

Hard choices means never retiring, because the brain has to be engaged in finding new solutions in the moment, not just remembering old formulas. Hard choices make us wiser, smarter, stronger, and wealthier, and easy choices reverse our progress, focusing our energies on comfort or entertainment.

In every difficult moment ask yourself, “What is a hard choice and what is an easy choice?” and you will know instantly what is right.¹

— Jerzy Gregorek, a poet and renowned weight lifter

The Reflection

Yoga has done wonders for me, but like any other exercise, it wasn’t easy starting.

Every Wednesday after work, I would have two choices: go to yoga or unwind at home.

In this scenario, it’s easy to distinguish the hard and easy choices, but what are they really?

The Arduous Advance

A hard choice is one that demands effort and tests resolve.

It requires blood, sweat, and tears: personal sacrifice for an impassioning goal.

It evicts us from comfort zones and offers room and opportunity for growth.

It appears unexpectedly, unabashedly, peppering the pursuit of a strong desire.

In my case, I desired clarity of mind, bodily resilience, and adroit flexibility. Work and life stresses translated to attrition of the mind and body, and yoga was a means of physical and mental strengthening and by extension attaining lasting contentment and accomplishment.

The journey ahead is never easy, but would it be worth it if it was?

The Waning Wind

An easy choice is one that fosters stagnation and drowses resolve.

It welcomes and distracts patrons with instantaneous, superficial contentment and comfort.

It rejects effort with disdain and offers instant gratification.

It incites short sightedness in the belief of effortless pursuit of goals.

The decision to unwind in the comforts of home would only grant ephemeral contentment. It eventually fades away like a mirage, inevitably leaving the adventurer in exhaustion and frustration.

The Fork in the Road

The weathered path eventually branches into two paths.

To the left, we can divine difficulties ahead, but no doubt we will become even greater from them.

To the right, we can see lazy rivers and pleasant meadows, beckoning with criss-crossing, sauntering paths.

What is the driving motive for the journey and with that in mind, which path will lastingly satisfy the desire?

The Summary

This past week, I was faced with a question: should I continue pursuing my passions or opt for a lengthy detour?

I remembered a commencement speech by Neil Gaiman that addressed how to handle such choices. He would imagine … a mountain symbolizing his greatest desire: becoming a self-sustaining author.

When encountering decisions, he’d ask himself if it takes him toward or away from his mountain. He had a compass for his desire: to know the difference between an easy and hard choice.

Opt for the hard choices, and progress will follow.


Closing Remarks

Did you like reading this post? Has it helped you in some capacity?
I write these articles for fun in my spare time with a goal of weekly Monday releases.

That being said, if you are so charitably inclined, I would greatly appreciate your support on Patreon!! 😊

Thank you again for your readership!!

See you next Monday!

Disclaimer

No one has asked or paid me to sponsor this book, Tim Ferriss, or Jerzy Gregorek. I am not a representative for either in any way, shape, or form. I am simply a fan wishing to share his thoughts.

With that said, I highly recommend purchasing Tribe of Mentors and reading it yourself, but in lieu of that, I will continue to share my learnings while progressing through this book.

References

[1]Ferriss, Timothy. Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World (p. 116). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.

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