0 Volume Works

_22.6.2021_ It seems obvious that to be successful, one must work as hard as possible. In Outliers, Malcom Gladwell argues that one needs approximately ten thousand hours work to be excellent at anything. It's half of the story, to be excellent, one must do what so called deliberate practice. Just repeating the same thing over and over again won't make one become great. Yet Bruce Lee famously said, "I'm not afraid of someone who knows one thousand kicks, I'm afraid of someone who practice one kick a thousand times." As a teacher I also realize that repetition matters in memorizing. I need to repeat the concept until it is learned. Repetition creates habit. Just like this writing, I do it every single day to make it a habit until it becomes natural for me to do it. Once I have the habit, then I can go on with the improvement. Without the habit, improvement is impossible. So the first step is to work as hard as possible, as much as possible, after that improve gradually. What I learn from working as much as possible is this, it needs as much time and energy as working as least as possible. A student who studies very hard, read most of the time, compares to a student who doesn't study much, they spend three years in high school, going home tired and repeat again the next day. In all the best and worst students spend the same time and energy. The worst students don't have more time nor energy to do something extraordinary, they are not happier as well because they study less. Overall the best students have more satisfaction and better memory when they grow and become adult. People who spend time doing nothing, actually they do not really enjoy it. They will be tired just by doing a little work. Human has amazing body who can adapt to any situation. Human is the only animal who can live anywhere in this world, in a pole, a desert, mountains, cities, all kind of places. Those who work hard will gain much power and adapt, those who work little will have less power and become weak. It's possible, through exercise, an old grandma can finish a marathon while most people can barely run a hundred meters. Human's adaptability is very amazing. It's possible to finish reading one book every day. It needs about six to ten hours. Nonreader won't be able to read a page every day, for them it's tiresome. Same as running, one person can run ten kilometer every day, other person can't even finish a hundred meter distance. What actually make the difference? It's the belief and mindset. If one believes he can do something, his belief alone is the source of great energy. Very few people have ever met their limit at anything. I know that I do not operate at my best performance, just like a car who has maximum speed 200km/h and always be used at 50km/h. It's a waste of potential. And the most common potential wasted is the time. I think people do not really spend their time wisely. If my time has some value, say $10 per hour, I can earn $100 dollar in a day, $3000 in a month. But I don't put any value on my time. I waste it most of the time, watching YouTube, checking social media, for nothing at all. Because it has no value, I don't think about efficiency, about its potential. If I value my time not with money but with reading, it’s 60 pages per hour, in ten hours I can finish 600 pages. It’s two books. In a month I can finish 60 books. Now I'm thinking about putting a price tag to my time. It should be $100 per hour. I should earn $1000 per day. It's not ridiculous price. Naval Ravikant did so and he said he would do anything less than his price tag and always behave accordingly. His price tag is $5000 per hour. Therefore I always think about meeting the value of my time. Do watching YouTube will earn me $100 or am I willing to pay $100 to watch YouTube videos for one hour? If the answer is no, I should not do it. I should find the activity which match my time value. Thinking about this I will only have few activities that equal to my time value, and just do them, do nothing less than that. Now that my time is very valuable, I will use it as effective and efficient as possible. No more instagram, Facebook, and unnecessary videos on YouTube. I should spend my time to learn a skill, read books, exercise, write articles, editing videos for my YouTube channel, studying a new language, working, teaching and so on. Anyway I can't have more time than 24 hours a day. It's a lifetime. $100 is actually very cheap. I won't waste my time anymore. I'll do only importance and valuable things. I have 15 hours a day to work and 9 hours to take a rest and sleeping. I don't believe I can achieve my goal and dream as long as I use my time effectively. Writing is still difficult for me now, but if I use all my 15 hours to write, it may be equal to 15 pages per day. If so, I can finish one book every month. It's my ambition. Now it sounds ridiculous but it's doable. What is scalable is achievable. Most people do not believe in their own ability to achieve their dreams. They just don't try and say that it's impossible to do this or that. To say that something is impossible is to decide not to try at all.