Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for August 30, 2013
Transcript:
WESTERN CULTURE HAS THINGS A LITTLE BACKWARDS RIGHT NOW. WE THINK THAT IF WE HAD EVERY COMFORT AVAILABLE TO US... INCOMING HEAD OFFICE ...WE'D BE HAPPY. WE EQUATE COMFORT WITH HAPPINESS. EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR Congratulations Enjoy Your New Mercedes Benz AND NOW WE'RE SO COMFORTABLE WE'RE MISERABLE. THERE'S NO STRUGGLE IN OUR LIVES. CLICK NO SENSE OF ADVENTURE. WE GET IN A CAR. WE GET IN AN ELEVATOR. IT ALL COMES EASY. DING! WHAT I’VE FOUND IS THAT I’M NEVER MORE ALIVE THAN WHEN I’M PUSHING. AND I’M IN PAIN. AND I’M STRUGGLING FOR HIGH ACHIEVEMENT. AND IN THAT STRUGGLE… …THERE’S A MAGIC. - DEAN KARNAZES Ultramarathon runner, former marketing executive
hawgowar about 11 years ago
Dude obviously has too much time on his hands.
Keith Kunz about 11 years ago
OVER DOING IT IS A DEATH WISH.
jack fairbanks about 11 years ago
how much for a pound
John Myers Premium Member about 11 years ago
Who feeds and houses that tool when he’s not running? He either won the lottery, inherited a wad or got loads of stock options in his despised marketing career. Most of us drudge on because, well, we have no other option.
MeGoNow Premium Member about 11 years ago
No. You always, always have an option. Don’t mistake your own choices for destiny.
donkie about 11 years ago
Sooo… when he’s though running around in circles in the office, he goes outside to run around in circles. Makes perfect sense (if you’re a hamster!)
jay_dallas about 11 years ago
This is true. I feel more accomplishment from the gym, even if it’s a crappy workout, than I do at work.
Thehag about 11 years ago
A choice in every moment. Struggle or let go?
Don’t have to do it exactly Karnazes’ way.
Achieve a better self.I get in the car and say ‘today I will have compassion for other drivers’a friend of mine says he has to remind himself that he does not own the road.
We are both big achievers.
dankelly57 about 11 years ago
Quite true.Learned through first hand experience.Late in life got a comfortable, well paying job,low demand, low stress,low challenge, never more bored in my life.
dogday Premium Member about 11 years ago
Agree with the initial statement that our culture has it backwards. But part of the “backwards” is, all due respect, thinking that incessant self-centered achievement is the antidote; that physical fitness is the acme of human existence. It’s just more of the same. We absolutely need challenges, but if the only challenge you can find is how much you can make yourself hurt and sweat look again. Please.
Vet Premium Member about 11 years ago
Some may miss the point.He might have been a former Marketing Executive and he just quit to work out more and more but he is a genius.He markets himself as a product.Endorsements and sponsorships…..the cream of making money AND he does what he likes to do. Win Win for him either way.His time as a Marketing Executive served him well.
vldazzle about 11 years ago
You set your goals (small or large – as you hope to achieve) and keep plugging on.
There will always be struggles not a bad thing and the most important (in my mind) is always to have a goal. And when you reach that one, set the bar higher.
That’s what I’m doing with BP right now (gradually keeping systolic 140-145) but when I manage that, aim for 120. That’s only my personal goal at this moment. as my weight and work out goals are all met
Everyone needs their own goal.
andygup about 11 years ago
You can work for 12 hours a day for a lot of money, or you can work for 8 hours for less, and see your family at the end of the day. Back when I was single, I quit my job, and travelled west living out of my car for the better part of a year while looking for work, chasing my dreams. The rewarding sense of adventure, and incredible sense of self that it gave me stays with me as one of my most positive experiences in my adult life, despite being unsucessful at the end.Now, I have a career – I’m not doing what I love, and my career progression has completely stagnated, but I get home by 4 every day, and spend the last 6 hours of the day with the people I love most in my life.
ZBicyclist Premium Member about 11 years ago
I think Dean’s just replaced one form of type-A behavior for another — the struggle to win those marketing achievements (which, in the end, few people care about) with the struggle to get somewhere farther, faster (which, in the end, few people care about). Because he has to market himself as a brand now, he’s still in marketing — sort of like switching from marketing Pepsi to marketing Cocoa Puffs.