Hello friends,
Greetings from Austin!👋
One of my favorite things to do, whenever I get the chance, is to listen and analyze leaders who share their stories or life experiences. There is usually insight to learn how they got to the position they’re in.
When our company got acquired, the director of the new company shared his expectations and one thing that struct to me was the way he communicated about growth.
Rather than talking about numbers or speaking on “businessy” terms like KPIs (Key performance indicators) or OKRs (Objectives and key results), he shared 3 simple steps that he lived out in the organization - 3 ways he believed each of us could adopt in order to bring change and impact to others:
Dream Big 💭
Start Small 🌱
Scale Up 🌳
And though he shared other cool things about the company, I was fixated by his statement to impact others through this framework:
Dream Big, because in order to know where you go in life, you need a big goal or vision.
Start Small, because you need to get good at consistency in taking small steps.
Scale Up, because once you can do something small really well, you can grow into a greater capacity.
These steps are ways I’m trying to slowly live out different goals in my own personal life:
For my faith, I want to cherish & own my personal relationship with God, so I’m trying to dedicate the mornings to devotions and prayer.
For my health, I want to have a set of clean teeth for as long as possible, so I’m trying to floss and brush my teeth every morning and evening.
For my practical skills, I hope one day to be able to cook a 7-8 course meal to (selfishly) bless my future family and friends, so I’m trying to learn to cook a different dish every week for my roommates.
By having a set goal, building up the habits, and learning to be consistent, though it can be mundane at times, I know that these small steps are necessary in order to live out a belief I have - the belief that what I do influences and changes lives, and ultimately glorifies God.
Through what we build, what we say, and how we live, I believe each of us has the ability to inspire and change the world.
To share a quote I was reflecting on this past week:
And in order to bring about change, we must learn to build up habits that better ourselves and sets an example for others.
So if you have goals that you want to see come to fruition, have a big dream for the end goal, start making small steps consistently towards that goal, and scale up your impact once the habit is set.
Questions to ponder: 🤔
What is one big dream that you want to see happen?
What is one small step you can commit to consistently (daily, weekly, monthly) in order to see that dream come to fruition?
Weekly Update
This past week, I’ve been working on habits, and it’s been both interesting and boring trying to figure out my morning and evening routine. Habits are slow to pick up and don’t really work well when I stay up reading manga or watching YouTube, but it is what it is. 😪
Speaking about YouTube, I’ve been watching this Venture Capitalist (investor of startups) on YouTube, Garry Tan, and I’ve started to feel that itch/scratch to start something new.
To build something. 🔨
I scratched that itch by adding a new feature to my personal website (the code was more hassle than it was worth, but you can now go to the previous and next blog post at the end of a blog post - ex. here).
But because a lot of my friends have been doing YouTube channels, I’ve been playing with the idea of starting one myself. (still debating… 🤔)
If you have any ideas about what I should talk about, please share your thoughts!
Anyways, here are several photos from the past week: 📷
Thanks for checking in!
If you want, leave a comment on thoughts, feedback, and prayer! 🙏
With that, stay safe, keep it savvy, and I’ll see y’all in the next update 😊
Eric
Weekly Collections
A collection of articles I enjoyed…
Faith
“Suppose somebody is asleep, and you want to wake them up. What do you do?
They’re sound asleep. You bend over them and you say, “Wake up!” And they bolt right upright.
Now, what are the dynamics of that moment? They were sound asleep, and then they were awake. Did they hear the call and say, “I’ll think about that before I wake up, and then I’ll decide if I want to wake up”? That is a good analogy.
When God issues a call to your dead heart and says, “Wake up!” you wake up. You did not make yourself a Christian. Just face it: you didn’t make yourself a Christian, which is why you should feel so incredibly loved.”
—How Did God Call Me to Himself? | Ask Pastor John
Leadership
You'll very likely overestimate what you can do in the short term, while underestimate what God can do over a lifetime of faithfulness
The greatest obstacle to success is current success, because success feeds pride, pride kills urgency, and nothing fails like success.
Urgency is not the default mode. Complacency is. Complacency is different to see in the mirror.
If you find any source of complacency, declare war on it. We cannot change what we're willing to tolerate.
Outside position + divine calling + limited time = sustained urgency.
Embody healthy skepticism. Because what may work today may not work tomorrow.
As an organization grows, movement slows. Bias for discussion instead of bias for action.
We must be leaders that have a bias for action.
Questions to ponder:
1. What are 5 external forces that could significantly and negatively impact your organization? What should you change with these based on how you're leading?
2. Since you lead with a bias toward action, what are two things that you ve considered doing that you've continued to procrastinate?
3. What are you doing that's busywork, and not productive work? What do you need to change in order to get desired results? If you're not changing you're not growing.
—Notes from Institutionalizing Urgency Part 1. | Craig Groeschel
Productivity
"Everyone needs to feel appreciated"
People need to be seen for who they are, and appreciated for what they give.
When you have that gut feeling, go for it.
Don't forget to check if your wife is okay with it.
Send a past tense "Design of the Day" at the beginning of the day in order to believe by the end of the day.
Being tense will not be your friend - need to put 85% rule - don’t be 100% but be looser and put in 85%.
—Notes on Interview with Hugh Jackman | Tim Ferris
Weekly Tidbits
Learnings, verses, & quotes to chew on…
Verse of the Week
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."
—Philippians 2:3
Challenging Quote
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.
You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”
— Maya Angelou
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