I want to rise.

I want to be a better husband, father, brother, son, friend, employee, coworker,  writer, creator, coder, artist, you get the picture. I want to be the best human being I can be. I think most people do.

How does one go about doing it though?

I would love to say there is a magic formula, that if you just do A then B then C then you will improve at everything. I know that many people would say that the answer is hard work, while others would say “Work smarter, not harder”, and yet others would say to just “accept yourself and be happy”. What is the right answer?

I don’t think there is one right answer. Everyone has to find their path.

The most basic thing you have to do is to learn. Want to be better? You have to learn, right?

In the past knowledge was in many ways reserved for the elite, not everyone could read, not everyone could get into the best schools, not everyone had access. With the advent of the Internet, mobile devices, and omnipresent video that is changing and now the problem is almost the opposite. There is too much available to learn. We are drowning in an embarrassment of riches.

So what do you learn from? EVERYTHING. Take away what is important to you and make it your own. Adapt.

Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own. – Bruce Lee

Figure out where you want to go and learn from everything and everyone. You can gain value from almost anything you are presented with, good or bad, if you are looking for it.  Adapt what you learn to your situation and as you grow, internalize it and make it your own.

This is what I plan to write about, to explore this from lots of angles and look at many different techniques. To learn on purpose, adapt that knowledge to what I need, and then put it to work to improve.

In a word, to Rise.

Featured Image: Nature Forest Trees Fog by Jmantri