Author: Patrick D’Entremont

Pride.

Can’t fail, too proud.

Perfection to hold up the ego, is an endless cycle that must be held to avoid shame.

Ultimately this is an impossible task to hold.

Pressure breaks through and failure occurs.

Avoidance of acceptance only deepens shame of failure.

All sourced from pride in oneself, in the pursuit of perfection.

A standard too high to cause frustration, anger and shame of not reaching a standard that pride sets.

Without pride, living a flaw filled life and failing, does not bring shame.

Only acceptance.

The total absence of ego is humility.

To see yourself as exactly who you are with flaws.

Failure is the greatest teacher when accepted.

It only gives you the opportunity to try again.

“Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.”

Uncle Iroh in Season 2, Episode 9 (“Bitter Work”) of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Someone who seems to always get the luckily break of being in the right spot at the right time. Luck is atrocious with its predictability. Yet, they get a turn with good fortune more than most. Why?

It comes down to making sure you’re there to receive the luck in the first place.

Being stuck in the same routines and hoping that a nugget of gold will come out of the sky is an optimist at best. Hopeful is a great thing, but repeating the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome is insanity.

Just because you say it’s going to rain every day and then one day it does, does not mean you’re now a forecaster of weather. That is the definition of waiting to be right, rather than actually knowing what is right.

The Luckly person may seem to be in the right place all the time, it always rains gold, and they always seem right. They just looked ahead at the forecast to change their routine and took action.

Sure, it’s not possible to always be right or lucky. However, you can consistently put yourself in the position of opportunity but looking ahead.

Notice the change and do the change.

Produce the luck from within and display it consistently with action.

Half Measures are defined as “an action that is not forceful or decisive enough”

Become fully emersed into the projects that are started. Full effort ahead, or no effort at all.

Being balanced isn’t enough, in fact I love being unbalanced. Work when I work, explore other adventures full time with no holdbacks.

That imbalance allows flexibility.

I am a man of my word, I am consistent and I am decisive with my actions.

The thing I hate the most, actually I take that back, hate is too strong of a word. The thing I dislike the most is a half-baked idea or half started project that I never came back to. Having one on the backburner is definitely acceptable, just don’t leave it unattended too long, otherwise the pot of potential and momentum will be reduced to nothing.

A robust effort at the beginning of a project can lay the foundation for massive snowball of momentum that is harder to stop than keep going.

Once it’s at the point of critical momentum, is when you can be decisive again with another project or goal.

Have satisfaction with imbalance at first, eventually it leads to the most balanced life you could ever think of.

The only way to begin is with all the energy can muster.

The tide pulls and pushes the cold ocean waters toward and away from the mainland.

Waves come crashing down, leaving stiller waters in the aftermath. The still water after the crash is pulled back out to sea. Then another wave shortly comes in repeating the same outcome.

Rocks are smoothed over, from the waves crashing down on them, till it is refined into pebbles, shards of rock, to sand and dust.

A repeated action of building up to a wave and plummeting hard to the ground. Consistent up and down. Day and night, night and day. Everyday. It doesn’t matter the season, the wind, the temperature, it all ends the same.

A repeated cycle.

The highs of waves some days might be the highest you’ve ever seen the lowest lows could be just down the beach. It’s all different but just the same. The cycle doesn’t change, just standing in a familiar place of the cycle but a different view to see.

That’s the perspective of it all.

A lagoon could only see waters reach a summit of three feet of high, and it would be the highest peak to see, if the perspective is always the same.

The great Pacific Ocean may never see such lows as they are absorbed into other mountainous waves.

All crash the same.

And the cycle repeats itself.

Waves rise and fall, the nature of it isn’t complex.

It’s only hard to understand, looking at the whole picture.

Don’t over complicate thinking that leads to action.

Just react.

Have you ever had a really simple task, like doing the dishes that haven’t gotten done in time because you were thinking about what other things are more important to get done first? Well, I think most people have.

Just thinking about doing them, takes more energy out of you, to the point that doing them in the first place would have been easier to do. Now, tired from ruminating and brainstorming excuses or bigger and better things to do, they never ended up getting done.

It sure felt like you dragged yourself through the dish pit and got all grimy. But all that actually happened was wasted time and energy towards the thought of action occurring.

Homework from college is another great example of this. A group response form, to post your discussion piece of two hundred words and respond with at least one hundred words to your classmates’ responses. This turned into a classic waste of energy for me. Putting it off till the last day to get it done and respond with little engagement because I already put time and energy into putting it off.

How does putting it off create energy lost, I put it like this. Waiting to do a task that can be done now, only lets you hold on to it in the back of your mind. It might be in the back of your mind, but you also still have to remember to do it. Thus, wasting valuable time and energy.

Whereas, if you had done the task you can forget about it because you just reacted.

I see a text, I respond, I see a dish in the sink, I clean it. If this than I do that.

It’s simple and declutters the small stuff, so you can put all your energy forward to big tasks that actually require it.

If you can just do it, why not and then forget about it.

Just keep it simple.

“The play-it-safe pessimists of the world never accomplish much of anything, because they don’t look clearly and objectively at situations, they don’t recognize or believe in their own abilities, and they won’t stretch those abilities to overcome even the smallest amount of risk.”

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

Just notice what you have and use it all to the best of your ability. By staying the same and playing it safe, is by far the riskiest thing to do. You risk, not exploring your capabilities, and internal battle of not knowing if you can. Growth can’t be achieved if you stay in the same spot.

It takes a leap of blind faith in yourself.

Start by believing you can do anything, even if it’s completely delusional. An unbridled belief in success is a strong first start to your change.

You will fail at first, and stumble off the path.

The failures you encounter are just preparing you for your next victory.

It doesn’t have to look pretty or be perfect but just do it.

Act on the ambition you feel and it will be safest risk you take.

Not for the goal, not for medal, not for the accomplishment, not for recognition, not for others, not for fame, definitely not for self-worth.

Everything you do can be for fun.

Work included, if you’re thinking there’s no way that could be fun, you’re probably work a job you already hate or don’t care for. Which is fine if you hate having fun. It also about perspective, because even those jobs that hate you still care a bit or a lot about, otherwise why are you sticking around.

Take even the smallest of wins in the most difficult or boring situations. It can change your entire outlook on how good or bad the current situation is.

The mind is powerful, and a lot can change when used correctly. Looking for the good in moments, not the negativity. Bringing light positivity, to the most negative places or people.

It not only changes you but the people around you.

Making the environment shape around you and begin to become everything you wish it could be.

Maybe you want to play an instrument but never had because you thought you would be bad it, or don’t read because you can’t stay focused enough to finish a book, or even learn another language because that would be cool to talk to the locals of a country you’ve never been in.

Thief of fun is perfectionism.

Trust me, I have been there. It is consuming, draining and tiresome to have joy taken away by being not perfect enough. It’s happened to me though school, sports and even work. It was unbearably frustrating not being able to a perfect 4.0, fastest time, or not being recognized for actually being the best at my job, or so I thought.

So much time and energy wasted on a thought that doesn’t matter. Not to others, peers or myself. It just doesn’t matter at all.

Sure, it got me pretty far, otherwise I would have quit trying to be perfect at things I did much sooner. The breaking point just comes down to not having a life that’s yours anymore. One that becomes stale, dull, and even bleak.

It’s not fair to put that pressure on yourself. I certainly shouldn’t have, it wasn’t fair to myself, friends and family to do so.

All I did was take away the fun of it all.

And that the part I needed the most was the enjoyment of doing what I love.

The best part is I got to find what I love to do again for a second time, a chance to be a better person and reexperience this all in a new perspective.

Truely enjoying every moment.

Just do it.

For Fun.

Is it just filling the schedule and checking off boxes from the do list? A structured day guiding you slowly towards a better future? Living in the moment and taking it all in? Balance towards both? Just feeling satisfaction of getting a lot done to tell others? Or is it elevating the worth of yourself in the eyes of others?

Ehm, by definition in social psychology “Productivity is the relationship between the quantity or quality of output; capacity to produce goods, services, or contributions that have value; economic, social, or personal” according to the American Psychological Association.

Well, what does that mean? In basis, they’re stating the emotional, personal and economic pull on why you do everything and how you value it. Tying worth to how productive you can be in the eyes of others.

These outside pressures directly affect the way we feel in deciding, how far we can push ourselves to be “productive”.

Causing a disruption of the pursuit of true aspirations and dreams. Ignoring the true values, we hold to instead focusing on the pursuit of superficial productivity.

I’ve certainly thought that productivity meant everything. Get the degree, check, get the job and be useful, double check. Create value from being productive, stick to the main street of thinking. Do what everyone else is doing.

Or stick to who you are, do things for fun. Be the true and best version of yourself because you can.

Be free of the outside pressures.

Self-Worth is not based in productivity but in how it makes you feel. Pursuit of satisfaction and doing all little things you wanted. It makes you feel light and effortless. Pressure comes off and the work you do is no longer a drag. You look forward to the next post and refining it, to the next book you read, and the next adventure you take.

Productivity is just a word, in one language of many thousands around the world.

Only you give it power over you and decisions you make.

My pursuit is to do what I love every day.

And I’ll never regret, not being the most productive in the eyes of others.

Because it’s just a word, not a lifestyle.

It’s just better to be the true me.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Productivity. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved September 14, 2026, from https://dictionary.apa.org/productivity

It’s an everlasting battle that fights till one eventually has to prevail.

Sticking to the plan whole heartedly can definitely help begin projects and gain massive progress on the goals you set. Rigidity of the plan can be overbearing on other aspects of life because they get put to the side for the sake of process and sticking to the plan. I had similar thoughts about school and work. It mostly just took the fun out of it by being too strict. The flow takes your imagination away into the wind. For myself, I think a mix of the two is best.

I’ve found that thirty percent plan to sixty percent flow, just brings the best out of my imagination. Just teetering on the concept of almost having no structure to help loosen the guidelines. The looseness of the guidelines helps the creative thought flow like Niagara Falls.

However, too little structure is just as bad, where do I even begin. Becoming lost in thought or just thinking about starting potential projects and getting overwhelmed by just the thought of doing it is a nightmare. It’s perpetual spiral of thinking about doing the project and draining your energy from the thought process on repeat. Leading to nothing getting done at all! Besides lost time and energy.

The outline is a necessity. Creates some goal posts to hit but enough room to branch out and fully explore the concept as a whole.

The only one who sets limits to your actions is yourself.

Push the boundaries of guidelines, so it gives the creative room you need to have. Guidelines are there to give you just enough positive anxiety and drive to complete them by the deadlines and include the must haves of the projects you start.

My only problem right now is that I have so much I want to do. My talent for finding what I want is unmatched. A snowball effect that can’t be stopped and the creative flow can’t stop. Having ten projects at once, starting two businesses and two others on the backburner, five posting accounts done from a daily to weekly basis and still working forty hours a week, social life, gym time four to six times a week, chess tournaments, track meets coming up, time with family and coaching is a lot to handle for most, maybe more than most. Having written that out and it still not being everything kind of makes me sound crazy and maybe I am. I should give myself a bit more credit, it’s definitely not easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My flow is the plan and plan is just flowing.

The art of doing nothing.

Listening can occur, waiting and doing nothing. A state of readiness that can turn to a position of power when used correctly.

The precision and timing aspect of life is often forgotten about and forced into place to quickly. Whereas, waiting for the right moment is best.

Notice what is happening around you, absorb all the information you can.

Only then a decision can be made.

“Neutral jin is the key to earthbending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike.”

Avatar: The Last Airbender’s, Episode “Return to Omashu”, said by King Bumi.