I’ve decided to leave my phone at home more often. Sometimes, I carry my old iPod, which I dug out of a box, and listen to music or podcasts. But lately, I’ve been walking around tech naked, except for my Oura ring and a paper notebook. I figure paper and pen are some kind of tech.
At first, this was very difficult. My wonderful mechanical watch, which I may post about one day, had phantom vibrations. My pocket shook like I got a notification, though the pocket was empty. And my thoughts, geez, my thoughts, felt like bumper cars spinning around the floor and bumping into one another. Chaos.
Gradually, my quiet moments as I waited in line for my morning coffee and the silent commute became more ordered and organized. My hand stopped cramping after writing a few sentences in the notebook, and a theme kept coming back to me over and over. “What are you doing with each moment you’ve been gifted?”
I recently read this in Chris Hadfield’s An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, and several thoughts immediately connected, which happens more frequently in these newfound quiet times.
“In space flight, ‘attitude’ refers to orientation: which direction your vehicle is pointing relative to the Sun, Earth and other spacecraft. If you lose control of your attitude, two things happen: the vehicle starts to tumble and spin, disorienting everyone on board, and it also strays from its course, which, if you’re short on time or fuel, could mean the difference between life and death. In the Soyuz, for example, we use every cue from every available source—periscope, multiple sensors, the horizon—to monitor our attitude constantly and adjust if necessary. We never want to lose attitude, since maintaining attitude is fundamental to success. In my experience, something similar is true on Earth. Ultimately, I don’t determine whether I arrive at the desired professional destination. Too many variables are out of my control. There’s really just one thing I can control: my attitude during the journey, which is what keeps me feeling steady and stable, and what keeps me headed in the right direction. So I consciously monitor and correct, if necessary, because losing attitude would be far worse than not achieving my goal.”
My default mode is to press, to make things happen, to strive to achieve success. This quote showed me that my focus was misplaced. While I can’t control every outcome, I can control my attitude and actions and focus on the moment I have right now. This is what will keep me heading in the right direction.
My favorite author right now, Viktor Frankl, sums it all up better than I could. Dear readers, expect to read this quote frequently.
“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it.”