SNAILS!

A few months ago we got a fish tank at my house. We filled it with fish and got a couple of small snails. The little ecosystem reminds me of the local comedy scene that I am a part of. There are so many just frantically swimming around the tank desperately grabbing at food and just back and forth side to side. It’s a blur of activity and even some of the first few fish we got did not get along — they picked at one another establishing a hierarchy — but the small snails just did their own thing. The snails are the most inspiring in the tank. They move so smoothly and effortlessly around. Every time I look at the tank they are in a different place — they are in constant motion. They are scanning and cleaning every single surface. I have not noticed much growth of the fish, but the snails have easily tripled in size in the few months of having the tank. I’ve seen them touch basically every inch of the tank. Even going upside down on the log or up out of the water. Today I decided I want to be like the snail. Slow steady growth. Pick a pace that I know that I can keep for the long haul. I so often get caught up in the flurry and see all the other fish moving so fast and all over the tank, but realize that when I take my time and I will see that part of the tank eventually but I do not need to get there by darting across to it. I just keep myself in motion and keep showing up every day.

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” Bobby Unser.

I believe that success is a reflection of what we do every day. It's inevitable for the ones who show up and do the work. There are some exceptions for quick short term success that comes from random opportunities. But I have witnessed more failures to capitalize on a good opportunity when it comes. So for me I just spend every day preparing for my opportunity. I believe that if I am not ready for that opportunity when it comes, then it’s not an opportunity. I spend my days building the habits that will make me successful when I have an opportunity.

I have been learning to ride a motorcycle. Why? I do not know exactly why. I do not have any specific goal with riding my motorcycle other than just the pure joy that it gives me each time I get on it. It’s the recontextualization of the roads I drive every day. I have always found joy in flow state, even something as silly as a perfect run in a mario kart level hitting a boost on every corner and executing it perfectly. But the motorcycle has real life, real wind and real consequences. This feeling is probably why I am so obsessed with learning to ride. At the end of the day for me it’s the forced presence of it. The way I am forced to be in the moment of the road I am on and not thinking about any other road. It is just another way for me to practice the joy of living right now in this moment.  Right now in my current state of learning process I am the snail. I am just riding every day that I can, slowly increasing my time in the saddle. With each ride I am going further, smoother, and, without realizing it, faster. When I look back on my progress from where I started to where I am now I have become a much better rider in ways I never even fully realized. I think back on the first time I took skyline road (a very challenging twisty road outside of Portland, OR) I was not smooth and now I can go faster and smoother around every corner.

One of my favorite movies is Groundhog Day. I also love any movie or show that uses this device of someone who must repeat the same day over and over. I love it because it's how I like to approach my life. It really is how we as humans live our lives. We are a reflection of what we do every day. So what does it look like to approach every day like I have to repeat this for the next decade. Will I do it differently? The beauty of this is the truth behind it. So if we choose to procrastinate every day, in 10 years I will likely spend every day procrastinating. If I choose to take action on the things I want to create every day what does it look like with 10 years of that? Success is inevitable. I also use this to determine if the work is too much. I want it to be the path of least resistance. So what is the smallest amount of this I can do to sustain it every day for the next 10 years? That is the amount I am going to do today. The beauty of this is energy is left on the table. Just like the snail can stay in constant motion because it's not exerting itself too much and it's able to sustain that level of movement for longer. That steady pace is crucial. With that I am going to go take my motorcycle out for a ride.

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Thank you for reading, You’re doing great. 

Bjorn RG.