When I was in elementary school I collected top grades in everything, except for one subject. All the others where top notch (I know I can say this just to impress, but the fact is: I had top notch grades when leaving elementary school
).
Those top grades paved a guaranteed road into the hardest program to get into in high school (the program where you studied physics, chemistry, math, biology etc. Subjects suitable for rocket scientists and other academical geniuses).
In order to get those top notch grades I worked day and night with impressing the teachers and my school comrades.
But from the time after I left high school to pursue business ventures and until this very day I have thought, to and from, about this subject of "ambition".
Is "over-ambition" really necessary to succeed at all? Is "over-motivation" really the way to succeed? Is it really necessary to be this over-crazed and sleep deprived person just to be a success? Is it, like many people seem to think, necessary to do more than what is really necessary to succeed (or what is really asked for)?
What I mean is: That year, when I was accepted to high school and to this "hard" program they had there, that year I could have attended the very same program with the lowest of grades. How so? Because that particular year there was a big program vacancy so even if I had had one of the lowest grades I would have been fully accepted to attend that very same program.
So that begs the question: Why do so many of us (worldwide) work harder than what is actually necessary when we could really be much more lazy and still accomplish the very same goals?
I will send my application to a couple of programs at the local university, February 23rd 2009. I will do this just to test the thing mentioned above. I want to see if I can get a G (the lowest acceptance grade you can recieve in the swedish school system) grade in all of the subjects so as to pass with minimal effort. The lower your grade aim, the less stuff you really need to accomplish. The thing is, I will get the same candidate diploma as those with higher grades. Though I guess I will be much happier in the end.
I remember, when I was in high school, that the only real requirements for getting a G grade in, say, the swedish language was for me to sit on my a$$ in the classroom and ace a G grade on every test. No need to be active at all in the discussions. No need to be over ambitious at all. If I just did those two things, then I was a G student and I was on to my next level of swedish (the next level had the same requirements). Isn't that amazing or what?
As soon as we notice what the fine print says (Tim Ferriss got me to think a lot about this and actually gave me some more meat to work with after all of those years of thinking and thinking about it) our lifes takes a rather sharp shift for the better. That is the moment when we start to control our lifes and when life transforms itself to being our personal "bitch".
I can attest to the good nature of knowing the fine print. I took myself out of a $20,000 debt once, because of a mere technicality in the fine print of an agreement. I am very happy because it was me who found the technicality so I never did have to bring in a lawyer to defend me.
So next time you start to "over-work" things, please just sit down and think: "what does the fine print say? What am I actually required to do?
I think that, if you just took a close look at your business life, your personal life etc and did a "fine print" search and then acted upon those "fine print" obligations, then you would sleep better tonight, be richer (because of false obligations being lifted from your shoulders) and I guess you would feel overall better because you now have a much better control over your life.
).Those top grades paved a guaranteed road into the hardest program to get into in high school (the program where you studied physics, chemistry, math, biology etc. Subjects suitable for rocket scientists and other academical geniuses).
In order to get those top notch grades I worked day and night with impressing the teachers and my school comrades.
But from the time after I left high school to pursue business ventures and until this very day I have thought, to and from, about this subject of "ambition".
Is "over-ambition" really necessary to succeed at all? Is "over-motivation" really the way to succeed? Is it really necessary to be this over-crazed and sleep deprived person just to be a success? Is it, like many people seem to think, necessary to do more than what is really necessary to succeed (or what is really asked for)?
What I mean is: That year, when I was accepted to high school and to this "hard" program they had there, that year I could have attended the very same program with the lowest of grades. How so? Because that particular year there was a big program vacancy so even if I had had one of the lowest grades I would have been fully accepted to attend that very same program.
So that begs the question: Why do so many of us (worldwide) work harder than what is actually necessary when we could really be much more lazy and still accomplish the very same goals?
I will send my application to a couple of programs at the local university, February 23rd 2009. I will do this just to test the thing mentioned above. I want to see if I can get a G (the lowest acceptance grade you can recieve in the swedish school system) grade in all of the subjects so as to pass with minimal effort. The lower your grade aim, the less stuff you really need to accomplish. The thing is, I will get the same candidate diploma as those with higher grades. Though I guess I will be much happier in the end
.I remember, when I was in high school, that the only real requirements for getting a G grade in, say, the swedish language was for me to sit on my a$$ in the classroom and ace a G grade on every test. No need to be active at all in the discussions. No need to be over ambitious at all. If I just did those two things, then I was a G student and I was on to my next level of swedish (the next level had the same requirements). Isn't that amazing or what
?As soon as we notice what the fine print says (Tim Ferriss got me to think a lot about this and actually gave me some more meat to work with after all of those years of thinking and thinking about it) our lifes takes a rather sharp shift for the better. That is the moment when we start to control our lifes and when life transforms itself to being our personal "bitch"
.I can attest to the good nature of knowing the fine print. I took myself out of a $20,000 debt once, because of a mere technicality in the fine print of an agreement. I am very happy because it was me who found the technicality so I never did have to bring in a lawyer to defend me.
So next time you start to "over-work" things, please just sit down and think: "what does the fine print say? What am I actually required to do?
I think that, if you just took a close look at your business life, your personal life etc and did a "fine print" search and then acted upon those "fine print" obligations, then you would sleep better tonight, be richer (because of false obligations being lifted from your shoulders) and I guess you would feel overall better because you now have a much better control over your life.
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