Make Your Coffee

Everyone loves the idea of healthy habits, morning rituals, mindfulness, meditation, goat yoga, and whatever else, but who's got time for that? We adhere to...

Rush Culture.

Wake up! Get outta bed! Get going!!! Whoa whoa whoa, hold your horses. Yes, do get outta bed. But ​sloww....down.​Unless you’re a firefighter who accidentally slept in, there’s no need to rush.

Relax, make your coffee.

Everything is a count down. We’re constantly saying things like, “Only 30 more minutes until this, “One more day till the weekend”, “I only have 15 min”, “I’m late!”, “Make it quick!”, “I don’t have time for that”, “I only get two weeks so I’d rather just explore Italy over Turkey”.

But I’m done. I’m done with coffee stained dress shirts, speeding tickets, and my heart beating like I’m in a horse race when I check the time.

So what do we do about it? I’ve been doing some searching and this is what’s helped me.

All we have is the present moment. Now read that again.

Yea yea I know I sound like one of those ​spiritual hippies​ but it’s the simple truth. This year has truly taught us that we can't predict anything other than what’s in front of us. Focusing on predicting the future not only robs you of being present, but it’s absolutely ridiculous to think you have that much power. This isn’t Back To The Future and you’re not Doc Brown. Stick to the present day and leave the future to the movies.

You ever watch a golfer just stare at the ball? It may look like he’s wasting time but it's the complete opposite, he’s in ​deep focus.​ Slow and focused wins the race. Time is ticking, and it’s gonna keep ticking no matter what you do so make it count. Time can be used to focus or cause tremendous distraction.

I choose to use time to concentrate and double down on tasks that I’m working on NOW, like writing this prompt. I’m sitting and typing this as we speak, fully engrossed in what I’m doing. I’m not thinking of next week, tomorrow or what my chances of getting Covid are in-case I go to Whole Foods to buy cotton candy grapes. If you haven’t tried those, they’re freakin amazing. None of that crap matters because it's not in front of me.

Unlike computers, we don’t get to have a million tabs and windows open at the same time and not crash. Sure we get more efficient with repetition but we’re living beings. We’re hired to do human tasks and expected to be as fast as computers. That only leads to subpar performance and below average products.

Disney used hand drawn images for all its timeless classics. It cost them a FORTUNE and took way longer to complete, but they weren’t in a rush. They did that for decades. They set the precedence for an entire industry and expectation for the world, they made magic. You look at a cartoon nowadays and it looks exactly how it was made, rushed.

So my advice to anyone reading this, is ​slow...down,​​calm​​down,​and make your coffee.

INADEQUATE

This quarantine has made me face my

inadequacies as a man and provider for my family.

Every day I look at my mom and sister and can't

help but to feel like a failure due to my inability to

be the economic powerhouse I SO desperately

strive to be. I thought this forced entrapment

would cause my creative juices to flow in

abundance, instead it's only caused me to go in to

a frantic internal search of how to be the man I

need to be in-order to serve my family. Man, I feel

like such a fuckin loser. Like a neutered dog,

defeated, deflated, naked and completely

exposed of all my weaknesses. This is nothing

new for me, this feeling of being inadequate, but

I've always convinced myself that through my

discipline, dedication, and commitment to staying

the course that I'd have something to show for. At

this point there is no evidence, no hiding, no

mirage of accomplishment, no pillar of excuses to

lean on, nothing of use, just me and my

inadequacies.