Saturday, May 20: Hard Work and Leverage
So I went to my law school's graduation ceremonies yesterday: a lot of pomp and circumstance and old men wearing flowery robes: all the accoutrements you'd expect from an elite 170-some odd year old law school. Although I wasn't graduating myself, I figured it would be nice to go and support all my friends who were...I felt a little left out of everything, but they're all equally jealous of my plans to do my last semester in Sydney this Fall while they're slaving away for Big Law. They handed out a graduation pamphlet and an insert at the ceremony that listed all the additional academic honors and individual prizes that were handed out to my classmates, and I started wondering whether I had perhaps done myself a disservice by "mailing it in" during the last year or two of law school. I've sailed along earning mostly B+'s and A-'s, but never really made any effort to go the extra mile, as had many of my peers who took home magna cum laude awards, and other miscellaneous accolades...and I wondered just how different a course my life might have taken these past 3 years had I scaled back on all the fun I had partying with my friends and kept poker only as an occasional diversion instead of an admittedly-serious pastime that occupied a lot of my time. All my law school peers who slaved away such long hours in the library at the expense of their social lives would undoubtedly make better lawyers than me (if I had any inclination toward that profession), but how about in the grander scheme of life? Were the sacrifices I made, and did not make, all worth it?
Poker, as I've written before, really is an absurd anomoly among income-producing activities, in that it really doesn't require much hard work at all...that's not to say my journey from 3/6 to 100/200 hasn't been difficult. In fact, I really pride myself on the studious and intellectual approach I've taken to the game: I've spent countless hours reading a slew of books, learn about the latest electronic tools like PT, PAH and others, analyzing my game for leaks, and practicing, practicing, practicing. But the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of online poker players don't go to these lengths, and even the more time-consuming efforts of players such as myself pale starkly when compared to the long and dedicated hours my law school peers will be required to put in at their firm jobs. If I could be assured, for example, that online poker would continue in its present state for the next 30 years, there is absolutely no reason why it couldn't help me build a nestegg and retire young. That's a very, very flawed assumption, of course, but I'm just trying to illustrate the following: poker has led me to get pretty damn lazy, and I don't like it.
One of my favorite movies is Comedian, a documentary-style movie featuring Jerry Seinfeld, which chronicles his experiences as he "retires" all of his old material and writes / practices / refines a new act from scratch. I've always had a real interest in stand-up comedy (and even did a couple open-mic sets for fun, which was a blast), and one of my favorite parts of the movie is a scene in which Jerry comments on his reputation within the industry as one of the hardest-working comics, with respect to the time he puts into writing and practicing his material. He tells about a revelation that he had one day when he was in his early twenties and spending just a few hours writing every week, as was more or less the norm among comedians at the time. He describes witnessing a group of construction workers trudging back to their worksite after lunch on a cold and rainy day, and thinking to himself: "Look at those guys. They don't want to go back to work after lunch. But they're going. Because that's their job. If they can exhibit that kind of dedication to their construction jobs, there's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be able to summon the same kind of dedication for my line of work." And that's when he started sitting and writing for 6 to 8 hours every day. On the directors' commentary, the directors both admit that it's a story that really struck a chord them when they heard it as well. Comedy, like poker, is a field in which a lot of people slide by doing very minimal work -- simply because they can -- but if there's anything that I think I can take from these thoughts and the questions I asked myself watching some of my law school peers be recognized for their scholastic accomplishments, it's that nobody, myself included, should ever let the fact that they can get by in their line of work with reduced effort prevent them from applying their skill set to the fullest. I have been extraordinarily fortunate that poker and my internet business have provided me with a decent income stream without ever having to subject myself to 12 to 16-hour days, but at times like this I like to reaffirm my contempt for complacency: I don't like going to sleep at night knowing that I could have worked harder to improve any of my life domains -- be it family, friends, work, spirituality -- and it's something for which my poker successes have led me to be all the more vigilant.
The above musings on hard work led me to think about why it took an event as irrelevant as a law school graduation ceremony to influence me to re-commit myself to something that I've always had the ability to do!! I couldn't help but think about the leverage that important (and sometimes tragic) external events take in shaping the direction of our lives by impelling us towards change. The other day, for example, I had an argument with my girlfriend as I tried to convince her to give up smoking for good (even though she only smokes about a pack / week right now.) How many times have you heard the story of the 2 pack/day smoker who quits cold turkey after painfully watching his/her spouse or other close relative die after an extended and excruciating battle with lung cancer? Or how about people you might know who have had their fathers die, which led them to resolve to get healthy, be kinder to people, or otherwise take positive steps to live a more fulfilling life. It struck me that all these external events that open our minds and give us the leverage to make positive changes are all so artificial. I don't mean, of course, to trivialize the death of loved ones, but ask yourself: just where is this stoic resolve toward change coming from?? It's not some ethereal entity created when we're visited by death, or some other dramatic event. It comes, always, from within us, meaning that we must have the power to create it any time we choose. It's all about leverage. Why should we wait until a loved one contracts lung cancer to quit smoking? Why should our father have to die from a heart-attack at 45 before we resolve to start exercising more? Why should a sibling have to get killed by a drunken driver before we decide to start telling them that we love them more often?? Why, for that matter, should I need a meaningless law school graduation ceremony to remind me that hard work is sacred, and the freedom to love and work in good health is a benefit enjoyed by so very few people on the planet?? Once again: it's all about leverage, and the question, then, is how do we create leverage toward positive change in our lives without having to wait for tragedy to come knocking and do it for us? What can I say: I wish I had a good answer to this, but I don't. If I were an advanced student of neurolinguistic-programming techniques, I might go on to tell you that the first step in creating the aforementioned leverage is to assocate the idea of *not* changing with extraordinary amounts of hurt and pain, and then give you an address to which you can send $49.99 (+ S&H) to get my series of tapes so that you too can live a life as fulfilling a life as me. But I digress...another lesson for another day perhaps. All I can do for now, perhaps, is continue to do my best to recognize opportunities for growth when they present themselves, and hope that others do the same before their hand is forced, so to speak, by events beyond their control.
Poker, as I've written before, really is an absurd anomoly among income-producing activities, in that it really doesn't require much hard work at all...that's not to say my journey from 3/6 to 100/200 hasn't been difficult. In fact, I really pride myself on the studious and intellectual approach I've taken to the game: I've spent countless hours reading a slew of books, learn about the latest electronic tools like PT, PAH and others, analyzing my game for leaks, and practicing, practicing, practicing. But the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of online poker players don't go to these lengths, and even the more time-consuming efforts of players such as myself pale starkly when compared to the long and dedicated hours my law school peers will be required to put in at their firm jobs. If I could be assured, for example, that online poker would continue in its present state for the next 30 years, there is absolutely no reason why it couldn't help me build a nestegg and retire young. That's a very, very flawed assumption, of course, but I'm just trying to illustrate the following: poker has led me to get pretty damn lazy, and I don't like it.
One of my favorite movies is Comedian, a documentary-style movie featuring Jerry Seinfeld, which chronicles his experiences as he "retires" all of his old material and writes / practices / refines a new act from scratch. I've always had a real interest in stand-up comedy (and even did a couple open-mic sets for fun, which was a blast), and one of my favorite parts of the movie is a scene in which Jerry comments on his reputation within the industry as one of the hardest-working comics, with respect to the time he puts into writing and practicing his material. He tells about a revelation that he had one day when he was in his early twenties and spending just a few hours writing every week, as was more or less the norm among comedians at the time. He describes witnessing a group of construction workers trudging back to their worksite after lunch on a cold and rainy day, and thinking to himself: "Look at those guys. They don't want to go back to work after lunch. But they're going. Because that's their job. If they can exhibit that kind of dedication to their construction jobs, there's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be able to summon the same kind of dedication for my line of work." And that's when he started sitting and writing for 6 to 8 hours every day. On the directors' commentary, the directors both admit that it's a story that really struck a chord them when they heard it as well. Comedy, like poker, is a field in which a lot of people slide by doing very minimal work -- simply because they can -- but if there's anything that I think I can take from these thoughts and the questions I asked myself watching some of my law school peers be recognized for their scholastic accomplishments, it's that nobody, myself included, should ever let the fact that they can get by in their line of work with reduced effort prevent them from applying their skill set to the fullest. I have been extraordinarily fortunate that poker and my internet business have provided me with a decent income stream without ever having to subject myself to 12 to 16-hour days, but at times like this I like to reaffirm my contempt for complacency: I don't like going to sleep at night knowing that I could have worked harder to improve any of my life domains -- be it family, friends, work, spirituality -- and it's something for which my poker successes have led me to be all the more vigilant.
The above musings on hard work led me to think about why it took an event as irrelevant as a law school graduation ceremony to influence me to re-commit myself to something that I've always had the ability to do!! I couldn't help but think about the leverage that important (and sometimes tragic) external events take in shaping the direction of our lives by impelling us towards change. The other day, for example, I had an argument with my girlfriend as I tried to convince her to give up smoking for good (even though she only smokes about a pack / week right now.) How many times have you heard the story of the 2 pack/day smoker who quits cold turkey after painfully watching his/her spouse or other close relative die after an extended and excruciating battle with lung cancer? Or how about people you might know who have had their fathers die, which led them to resolve to get healthy, be kinder to people, or otherwise take positive steps to live a more fulfilling life. It struck me that all these external events that open our minds and give us the leverage to make positive changes are all so artificial. I don't mean, of course, to trivialize the death of loved ones, but ask yourself: just where is this stoic resolve toward change coming from?? It's not some ethereal entity created when we're visited by death, or some other dramatic event. It comes, always, from within us, meaning that we must have the power to create it any time we choose. It's all about leverage. Why should we wait until a loved one contracts lung cancer to quit smoking? Why should our father have to die from a heart-attack at 45 before we resolve to start exercising more? Why should a sibling have to get killed by a drunken driver before we decide to start telling them that we love them more often?? Why, for that matter, should I need a meaningless law school graduation ceremony to remind me that hard work is sacred, and the freedom to love and work in good health is a benefit enjoyed by so very few people on the planet?? Once again: it's all about leverage, and the question, then, is how do we create leverage toward positive change in our lives without having to wait for tragedy to come knocking and do it for us? What can I say: I wish I had a good answer to this, but I don't. If I were an advanced student of neurolinguistic-programming techniques, I might go on to tell you that the first step in creating the aforementioned leverage is to assocate the idea of *not* changing with extraordinary amounts of hurt and pain, and then give you an address to which you can send $49.99 (+ S&H) to get my series of tapes so that you too can live a life as fulfilling a life as me. But I digress...another lesson for another day perhaps. All I can do for now, perhaps, is continue to do my best to recognize opportunities for growth when they present themselves, and hope that others do the same before their hand is forced, so to speak, by events beyond their control.
posted by Blog Administrator at 3:18 PM
13 Comments:
LOL, you law school types.
You learn all this information, but none of it applies to daily life. For example, you want your girlfriend to quit smoking. You are fighting HER battle. You cannot make her quit anything. This is completely her choice. The other side; she may really enjoy smoking. So to her it's like giving up something that gives her pleasure.
I am not making fun of you, just trying to show you a different perspective.
You could get her to smoke dope, instead of cigerettes. It is after all the reason why people smoke: they don't realise mankind is looking for some answers in smoking, something, they just missed the mark.
But I digress.
You said: "...the question, then, is how do we create leverage toward positive change in our lives without having to wait for tragedy to come knocking and do it for us?"
The short answer is: The Spiritual Realm. There is in fact a greater dimension to this world in which Man can effect his world through. Yet no one has seen it or have any knowledge of this sort of thing, yet it's power and effectiveness, could even engulf our reality so much that it's presence would, eventually, have to be acknowledged at a global level. Sort of like a the wizard in the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, but where the wizard was found behind the curtian in the movie, we (Mankind) haven't found the curtain, in fact, we have not even seen the great spectical that is possible. There is a great Way in which Man's will becomes, and could be, a tool effecting the world in a greater capacity, one of which you are refering to. And one that which you are refering because you, on some level, let's say, at a subconscious level; expect it to exist, therefore proves it's existance (if you are faithfull to believe that).
Sadly, through immence repression and regimination inflicted by all governments around the world restricting Man's will, effectively no one knows about this.
I hope all this information will help you.
Free will seemed to be the unspoken idea that you were posting about. So, I thought I'd tell you this, there is no free will. There's cause and effect. In every other area of life people accept this to be true, that is, that without a cause there can be no effect or an effect arising without a cause. It is only in our thought life that people think that they are immuned from this law. It's not true it's a lie. People want to hold on to this because of pride. Consider this carefully, it's true. But don't take my word for this, this is what the scriptures teach though not many follow this. Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing." John 15:5
I am writing this to you not because I think I can change you. Rather, because you have impacted my life for the better with your writings. You have given me hope that the world is full of possibilities even as remote as winning in on line poker.
There is a website that I have learned the truth called Bibletruths.com This is NOT like other websites. He presents the Truth. Why Christendom believes in hell and free will etc. These things are both not true. Have a read, it will be anything but boring I promise you.
It's easy to judge what is right and what is wrong after the fact. Sure, working harder sounds great and all, but working longer might not be benefitial at all. Time to work longer has to come from somewhere.
It's also very easy to see what someone else has that you don't. But, could you fill a 10 page paper with unique details about yourself if you really wanted to? Surely.
People in our society seem to have an easy time working to make themselves feel bad, and it almost seems odd when someone works to feel good about themselves. Which seems more normal: someone looking in the mirror saying, "I'm fat, ugly, and unpopular," or someone doing the same thing but saying, "I'm handsome, fit, and people really like me." It's weird if you think about it, isn't it?
Happiness in life is highly dependent upon overall balance. You seem like you live a more balanced lives than the others that you are looking towards.
Try looking more towards the future than the past if you want to change something about yourself.
And, you have a gf now? That's big news -- congrats!
Grasshopper,
Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be answered, if you ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies.
Come to my website: www.ihavealltheanswersjustsendasmalldonation.org
The truth is there, and everywhere. You can work as hard as you want, but some dipshit will still spike a gutshot on the river who had no business in the pot in the first place. But that is results oriented thinking. But there is no other way to think, for without results, we are just playing for Sklansky dollars, which are difficult to spend. But money is not the main goal, but without it you're screwed. But you need more, like satisfaction. So get some.
What the heck is it with all these b.s. philosophers coming out of the woodwork? They might have some good points, but their articulation is all mangled. Great Blog.
Anonymous fifth comment wrote, "Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be answered, if you ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies." You start off by quoting pseudo scripture to try and make a point about a real scripture I quoted. This is just pure mockery for it's own sake.
You then lie about me wanting to get money when my intention was to convey a truth not advertise. I quote, "Come to my website: www.ihavealltheanswersjustsendasmalldonation.org" Money is what is on your mind not mine.
You then make pseudo poker aphorisms to create a straw man to shoot down. "The truth is there, and everywhere. You can work as hard as you want, but some dipshit will still spike a gutshot on the river who had no business in the pot in the first place. But that is results oriented thinking. But there is no other way to think, for without results, we are just playing for Sklansky dollars, which are difficult to spend. But money is not the main goal, but without it you're screwed. But you need more, like satisfaction. So get some."
The author of the blog was clearly bringing up philosophical points. He is talking about the meaning of life and happiness. Poker has been his means of sidestepping the path that some people follow who think that money equates with happiness. Yet you say, "What the heck is it with all these b.s. philosophers coming out of the woodwork?" Isn't it obvious?
Finally, you concede that us previous posters have made good points but make this general comment without any explanation, "They might have some good points, but their articulation is all mangled." Seriously, who cares how somebody presents a truth if it is a deep and meaningful truth. It's like rejecting a food because of it's presentation rather than the taste.
I think happiness in life can be simplified into three essential categories: relationships, health, and money. If you're doing well in each of these categories then happiness is guaranteed. If you're just focused on money at the expense of your physical fitness or relationships with friends and family, then you're missing out on 2/3 of what it takes to be happy. But if you can balance poker with those other key aspects of life, then that's great, because you'll never have to worry about that big 1/3 financial part of the equation that troubles so many people. Some people can be happy without money, but in lieu of this they must have some kind of work they enjoy, such as working for the benefit of others (like Mother Teresa or something). Basically, if you have the trifecta of a loving family and friends, a good source of income, and take good care of your health and fitness, life is perfect.
Get a life, you anonymous cowards +)
A. Grease doesn't have a life.
B. Grease is a coward.
It's freudian projection.
I'm with Grease, at least put SOME name there.
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