Chris Goode

Quotes From Aristotle: Part Three

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

-- Aristotle

I wonder how many times we’ve discussed habits on this blog.

As you should know by now, habits are everything. You can’t succeed without strong habits, and you can’t continue succeeding without a habit of that. Because of this, it’s important to stick to your habits, and if you don’t have good habits, to change them.

Habits are everything. We have thousands, if not millions, of habits that we engage in every day. We have a habit for the way we walk, talk, act, eat, sleep, move, think, decide, choose, predict, so on and so forth. Because of this, habits must be thought of as a necessary force to help us achieve our goals.

We need to go out of our way to repeatedly do things that we know are going to be good for us. Aristotle knows that those who succeed do so repeatedly, and therefore success is a habit and not an act.

Same goes for excellence. You aren’t excellent at something every once in a while. If you’re really and truly excellent at something, you can do it at any time and any place. People will know you as the person to go to for help on the subject, and your reputation will reflect your actions and personality. This is important because then you can open up possibilities to become more excellent, and if you’re really lucky you’ll end up in a room where you’re excellent is everybody else’s average. This might seem like a downgrade at first, but then you realize that it gives you opportunities for learning, and if not that, competition.

Other people can show us how to do better at what we’re already good at, meaning other people are simply reflections of our true selves. Make a habit of doing excellent, and soon enough excellence will reflect in your own life.

You’ve read this far, why not share this article with a friend? I’m sure they’ll enjoy it too. By the way, feel free to let me know in the comment section what you want to hear about next. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you shared this with your friends and followed my blog -- it’s totally free, and you can always unfollow me later if you change your mind. Other than that, stay tuned for future blog posts every Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and try to be the reason someone smiles today :)

by Chris Goode

Quotes From Aristotle: Part Two

“A friend to all is a friend to none.”

-- Aristotle

To those who have watched a movie called The Incredibles, this quote might seem oddly familiar.

Syndrome says something similar when he has Mr. Incredible confined with these big heavy weights on his hands and feet, which are attached to a ring around him using some kind of technology that we haven’t developed yet. It’s a scene where Mr. Incredible is angry (or rather, incredibly angry), and Syndrome tells him that he’s going to use his technology to give everybody powers, because “when everybody is super, nobody is.”

The same logic applies to our friendships. When one person is friends with everyone, the quality of their relationships takes a nosedive. The reason for this isn’t necessarily because the person doesn’t care, but it’s more because they literally can’t. There’s no possible way that they can be friends with everybody they come across and truly care about all of them. They can’t check on everyone they meet and they can’t be there for everybody. This is an extreme case of course, but extreme cases allow us to imagine and perceive what things can look like.

In our day to day live, a person who has too many friends most likely seems like they’re a nice person, but it’s fake. Again, they might genuinely care, but no matter how hard they try it will seem like it’s fake.

We can take this back to an evolutionary standpoint. Our ancestors would have flourished in reasonably sized groups, with some to hunt, some to gather, and some to find shelter. The smart thing to do then would be get a lot of friends so that you have less work to do.

I could be wrong, but I think something prevented us from doing that -- that’s why society has so many problems nowadays. We crave division because we don’t want to have to care for others, whether we like it or not.

The solution to this isn’t to divide -- the solution is to take care of ourselves, our family, and our close friends. Of course, I encourage you to have some kind of… well, drive. Have something you fight for and stand up for, because it’s important to stand up for what you think is right.

Aristotle reminds us that you simply can not befriend everyone -- and to try to do otherwise would be unwise. CHoose your friends wisely.

by Chris Goode

Quotes from Aristotle: Part One

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” -- Aristotle

According to psychologists, most of our responses are learned.

This goes back to Pavlov’s experiments with dogs. He conditioned them to salivate at the sound of a bell by ringing it and then giving them food. This opened up a whole new set of ideas revolving around the central idea of conditioned response.

Funnily enough, these ideas weren’t exactly thought up when stoicism was founded. Despite this, they were still practiced. The reason this is possible is because observations for actions are easier to acknowledge and predict than actions in thought. In other words: you can read someone’s actions, but not their minds.

The ancient Stoics knew this. However, they also knew that although they can’t read or truly change the minds of others, they can do so for themselves.

Aristotle’s quote reminds us that happiness is a choice, and it’s one we can choose to put on ourselves. Now this doesn’t mean to always look on the bright side -- obviously there are bad times and to pretend like they’re good things would be foolish. It is however saying that we should pursue happiness even when we’re not in a happy place. You can’t always be outside of a tunnel, but you can always look towards the light at the end of it.

Happiness is a choice, and at the end of the day it’s up to us to choose it.

by Chris Goode

A Kind Reputation: Part Three

“Men must be decided on what they will not do, and then they are able to act with vigor in what they ought to do.” -- Mencius

We often get caught up in what to do.

We get nervous about whether or not we’re making the right moves, and it makes us freeze up.

But what would you do if there was a bull coming at you at it’s top speed? Take a minute to really think about it. Would you freeze up? Would you jump out of the way? Would you worry about which way to jump? Or would you try and dodge the horns like a professional?

Those are some tricky questions to answer. It’s difficult to think about something that’s never happened, and even if you could it might still be confusing.

So since it would be difficult to imagine what TO do, why don’t you imagine what NOT to do? It brings the number of questions down to none, and replaces it with an answer -- don’t get hit by the horns.

The same logic applies to life. You can spend time worrying about how to get rich and how to choose the right bank… or you could just not get into debt in the first place. This would not only save you time and energy in the moment, but it would also keep you from reading through a bunch of books and spending a ton of time learning about what to avoid.

Once we know what NOT to do, it becomes much easier to start moving. When we know NOT to sit down at work, it becomes easy to fill our time with something else. As functioning members of society we have such a tendency to focus on making the right decision that we forget there isn’t one. Well, there is, but it’s simply to not make the wrong decision. You already know what you should be doing, and if you don’t then you know what you shouldn’t be doing. When you flip the script it becomes a lot easier to think of solutions to your problems -- because you’ll have less problems in the first place!

by Chris Goode

A Kind Reputation: Part Two

“The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.” -- Mencius

Hatred is taught, not learned.

By this I mean that hatred is something we aren’t born with, and it’s other people that teach us to hate instead.

This is why having the heart of a child is important. A child’s heart, or psyche, is pure. It isn’t ruined by hate for others, and doesn’t put itself higher up than others. Unfortunately, some people are taught to hate. Perhaps even more unfortunately, it’s a normal and natural part of development for people to form an ego. I couldn’t tell you why this is, but it’s true.

Later on in life, if we’re fortunate enough, we stumble across something or someone that teaches us to be humble. This teacher reminds us that everybody is made of the same things, and everybody is capable of things that others do. One tidbit of wisdom I heard somewhere is that the people you look up to are manifestations of one's' self -- I am you, you are me, and together we rise. This also goes both ways; the people you look down on are just like you, and you look down on them because they highlight something you don’t like about yourself.

Mencius tells us that great men have the heart of a child. We now understand why; these men have forgotten hate and they find joy in everything. They recognize good and evil and know what to avoid, but they only take things at face value. They don’t read between the lines when there’s nothing to see, and as a result they become much happier.

Think about areas where you can apply this knowledge. What parts of your life do you tend to overthink? Do you place titles onto things that don’t hold them? By that I’m asking if you think of things as worse than they really are. Take some time today to step back and recognize where you might be doing this.

On top of lacking hatred and finding joy in everything, children are kind to others. If they aren’t taught to do otherwise, they share. They check on their friends. They’re considerate of others and kind, and they don’t even recognize it!

Think about where you can apply some childlike wisdom. It’s more important than you might understand.

by Chris Goode

A Kind Reputation: Part One

“Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.” -- Mencius

Mencius is another Chinese philosopher from around 300 B.C. He contributed to the traditions of Confucianism, and is the equivalent of a St.

I’ve said it more times than I can count: kindness matters, and unfortunately we live in a world where it’s uncommon to be kind.

Using this knowledge, we can manipulate others. We can get whatever we want, whenever we want it, as long as we use kindness. Although this seems grim, it’s true. People use kindness for unkind things. Because of this, it’s important to prioritize being genuinely kind and truly caring. It’s important for us to go out of our way to help others and be kind to them, because we never know just how much they need it. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy tells us this when Batman is speaking to Commissioner Gordon if my memory serves me right. Let me know in the comments if I’m wrong.

This is good to know. Kindness matters. Being kind to others is important and heavily impacts others. You know what impacts them even more though? A reputation for kindness. Think about an evil villain telling someone that they can have whatever they want and they can do as they please. Chances are, you would assume that there’s a hidden meaning, and that the person isn’t really free to do as they please. Now imagine someone like Mr. Rogers telling you that you can have anything you want and do as you please. I don’t know about you, but one of those things seems a lot more genuine. This is because Mr. Rogers has a reputation for kindness -- the guy was literally known for checking on people who interviewed him for years afterwards.

We can apply this knowledge to our lives today. If we so choose, we can positively contribute to the world by building up our reputations for kindness, and as a result we’ll feel happier as well.

Be kind. You never know who needs it, and you never know when it’ll come back to you.

by Chris Goode

An Unstoppable Force: Part Three

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -- Confucius

You know, if I didn’t know who Confucius was, I would assume he’s a character from a comic book. Hear me out -- people in comic books seem to hold a ton of wisdom that shines through whenever the plot finds it convenient. It’s a cynical approach to their storytelling methods but hey, it works. Comic books are cool, dang it.

Unfortunately, Confucius is NOT a comic book character… as far as I know. Despite this, he still holds a lot of wisdom. Perhaps one of his greatest little tidbits of said wisdom is near the top of this article.

Think about it. Confucius is right. In your honest and genuine opinion, which is more admirable: someone who fell down and got back up, or someone who never fell? Sure, the one person never fell, but that shows that the task wasn’t that much of a challenge for them. They didn’t have to push themselves and their limits. No discipline was used. No personal records were shattered. Jordan Peterson says that we should compare ourselves to who we were yesterday, not who we are today. This coincides with our quote today.

I think it’s important to keep this in mind next time you fail. That’s right, next time you fail. Next time you fall down and your face is in the dirt. Next time you feel like nobody cares. Next time you don’t reach a goal. Failure. To pretend it doesn’t exist is foolish, because if it truly didn’t, life would have no meaning.

Failure tells us when we’re learning. If we didn’t fail, we didn’t learn. In fact, this has been proven by psychologists if my memory serves me right. Knowledge is best gained when you take a stab at getting it right, like a test. If you get it wrong and then you’re told the right answer, it teaches you better than constantly staring at the right answer because it requires you to actively think about it. This is why flashcards work so well.

If our greatest glory lies in standing up after failure, why do we choose to not seek out failure? Why do we stay in our safe little bubbles of knowledge? Why do we choose to never try anything new?

Okay I’ll be honest. I’m on a bit of a roll again. I really should stop writing all these articles in one day. I was going to let those questions be rhetoric, but realized it would be better if I answered them -- we avoid failure because it’s uncomfortable. We get a damaged ego, and we feel like we’re incapable of success. The best way to overcome this is to fail a million times. No, a billion. No… fail until you can’t fail ever again. Oh wait, that’s impossible. Silly me. Looks like we’ll just have to keep failing over and over again until we reach our potential.

Standing up is more honorable than never falling. Don’t be afraid to fall.

by Chris Goode

An Unstoppable Force: Part Two

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” -- Confucius

Work is a frustrating topic for a lot of people.

Some people hate their jobs. Others love them. Unfortunately most of the time, the people you meet don’t like their jobs. Why? Why would people actively choose to do something they dislike every day? Why would they actively choose to do something that drains them of their life and energy? It’s a question with a fairly simple answer: society is formed around jobs.

Okay, maybe the answer isn’t so simple after all. Society is formed around jobs… including those that people hate doing. Everybody who has a horrible job knows that they have a horrible job -- and yet they stay in that job because they know it benefits them.

So. The reason for not choosing jobs we love is because we’re often forced into a bad job by society. We might also have started our job when we were younger, and now we don’t know what to do without it. What’s the solution? What’s the way out?

In this case, the solution is the cheat code. (Ooohh… I’m proud of that one :D). If people approached work with a mindset that it’s something they get to choose doing, they might actually end up in a job that’s not half bad. Furthermore, if people strived toward a job they really want, they’ll end up doing something that they enjoy -- and a job done by someone who enjoys it is much better than a job done by someone who hates it. Unfortunately this is one of those things that’s simple in theory but difficult in execution. That being said, nothing is impossible unless you give it the title of such.

Confucius was way ahead of his time. It’s almost as if he knew exactly what to say for people to listen to him over 2000 years later. He tells us to choose a job we love -- which is exactly what we should do. Ideally a job that we love is something that we enjoy, something we do better than everyone else, something we’re constantly improving upon, and/or something that nobody else has thought of.

I encourage you to open up your mind to the possibilities that await you. When one door closes, another one opens… and through that door are five more doors for you to open. Keep your eyes open for opportunities, and stay wide awake for your chance.

by Chris Goode

An Unstoppable Force: Part One

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” -- Confucius

Kong Qui, otherwise known as Confucious, was a chinese philosopher from around 500 B.C. He was a huge advocate for teaching becoming a valid vocation, and his teachings formed a way of life that we now call Confucianism.

Confucianism revolves around the idea that human beings are naturally good, and if they stray from that path then they can be taught to change their ways.

Funnily enough, Confucius’ teachings still apply today. I personally believe that in most cases, people can be taught to do better and be better versions of themselves. It’s hard at times, and of course there are exceptions to this, but most of the time it applies. Some of his quotes in particular still apply today though, and right now we’re focusing on the one heading this article.

A couple months ago I wrote an article titled “Our Habits Define Us.” Throughout it I discussed different ways to make and break habits, and different ways of tracking progress. All of those things still apply, and I highly recommend you check that article out if you want to know more about changing your habits. But even if you don’t, it’s important to understand that the key to making and tracking progress is an unstoppable force.

Don’t be intimidated by this. An unstoppable force isn’t necessarily a strong force, it’s simply a force that doesn’t stop. It might only be moving a fraction of a nanometer at times, but it’s still pushing.

Here’s the thing; you’re the force. You’re the unstoppable force that can keep pushing towards a goal if you choose, but only if you choose to do so. How? By refusing to stop. This is what Confucious tries to teach us -- as long as you’re making some kind of progress, it’s still progress. Continuing to make that progress is all you need to do to succeed in your goal.

Fortunately, making progress is easy. The best way to make progress is to track it so that you can always look back and be motivated by how much progress you’ve already made. And if you’ve made no progress? Become motivated by the fact that you’re taking initiative in your own life and trying something new. That’s a brave thing to do, and something to be proud of.

by Chris Goode

Achieving Balance: Part Three

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” -- Sun Tzu

Say it with me: Defeat. Is. A. State. Of. MIND!

Excuse my excitement -- I’m on a roll today.

But seriously, defeat is a state of mind. If you read yesterday’s blog post you understand the idea behind that and why I’m insisting that it’s a state of mind. To summarize: Humans are smarter than lobsters. Confused? Good :)

Sun Tzu knew a thing or two about war… especially considering he thought of war as an art form. I suppose he was right in a way, especially when you hear the way he describes it. Because of this, we know we can trust his wisdom when it comes to combat.

This quote strongly resonates with what I wrote yesterday -- defeat is a state of mind. In fact, he’s just short of saying those exact words. As he writes, victorious warriors win first, then go to war. This means that they behave like they’re victorious and get into the proper mindset before even stepping foot on the battlefield. You have the ability to do the same thing every day. Perhaps you put yourself into the right mindset by working out first thing. Maybe you get some work done. Maybe you wake up earlier than everyone else and that alone makes you feel victorious over yourself. Maybe it’s all three. Whatever you do, it’s important to attack the day with a victorious mindset. Don’t do the inverse: attack the day in hopes of a victorious mindset. Although sometimes you get lucky and end up victorious over yourself by the end of the day, it’s much easier to start out that way.

Try to come up with something you do every morning to give yourself a victorious mindset -- a ritual, if you will. Like I said before; working out helps, waking up early helps, getting work done first thing helps… there’s a lot of ideas you can come up with if you take the time to ask yourself how you can feel victorious.

The reason for all of this is to give you the confidence needed to achieve your goals. One good way to do this is to look back on your life and think about all the goals you’ve achieved so far. This alone will start to help you feel more successful and capable of achieving the things you put your mind to.

by Chris Goode

Achieving Balance: Part Two

“The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” -- Sun Tzu

Defeat is one of those things that we try so hard to make complicated, but at the end of the day it’s really just a simple concept: you lost the fight.

Maybe it was a fight to make yourself workout or learn something new. Maybe it was a fight with a coworker. Maybe it was a fight to get out of bed. Regardless, the meaning of defeat remains the same. If you lose those battles, you’re defeated.

Jordan Peterson speaks about this a lot in his book “12 Rules For Life.” To summarize, he talks about how lobsters fight for territory, but when they’re defeated they go into a “defeated state.” Their confidence goes down. They submit easier. They’re less aggressive. You know how defeat feels. If you don’t, you need to do something challenging enough to be defeated. That’s called growth.

Funnily enough, we don’t actually have to go into a defeated state when we’re defeated. It sounds contradictory, but human minds are far more complex than lobsters. We can pick ourselves back up and motivate ourselves to try again against the same thing. In fact, some people have problems with this where they keep trying even when it’s useless to do so. Lobsters… not so much. They’re kind of stupid.

Because we’re able to convince ourselves we haven’t been defeated, we have complete control over whether or not we really are. What Sun Tzu is saying is that if we absolutely refuse to be defeated, nothing can stop that. Defeat is a state of mind, and we can opt out of going there if we so choose. The enemy however, whether it be discipline, another person, or a literal enemy that’s trying to hurt you, gives plenty of opportunities for defeat. Let’s rephrase that -- the enemy gives plenty of opportunities for you to show them who’s in charge and who deserves to win.

That’s it. Simple as that. Defeat is a state of mind, and you don’t have to submit to it.

What do you do when you want to quit and accept defeat? How do you stop yourself from doing just that? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comment section. Also, let me know what you want to hear me write about next! I would also greatly appreciate if you left a like, shared this post with your friends, and followed. It’s absolutely free, and you can always change your mind later if you decide to do so. Also, stay tuned for future blog posts every Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and try to be the reason someone smiles today :)

by Chris Goode

Achieving Balance: Part One

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” -- Sun Tzu

Looks like we’re back to some of Sun Tzu’s work.

This makes sense of course. Although nobody is really sure who exactly Sun Tzu was or if he even existed, we know he held a lot of wisdom. Today we’re going to delve beneath the surface of the quote from above.

First off, what defines war? Is it fighting? Is it two armies going against each other? Is it rage and anger going head to head? But wait, if it’s that, then can’t certain arguments be defined as war? I couldn’t tell you exactly what war is, but I do know one thing. It’s bad. War brings death and destruction to everything it touches.

So how do we end it as quickly as possible?

Well, we could take the approach of the United States: have more guns and bigger bombs than anybody else does, and threaten to use them (again) if anybody disagrees with us. That being said, we could take the Icelandic approach and simply… not have an army. The problem with both of those solutions is that… well, they work, but they’re extreme. Nobody likes being around bullies, and the same goes for those who don’t stand up for themselves. The key in this is to find and maintain balance between our aggression and submission. No, I don’t mean submission as in completely giving up, I mean submission as in not resisting.

Tzu says the best way to win is to not fight at all. In most cases… this is actually pretty true. If you run into a wall, it would be a whole lot easier to step down from that fight and just go around it. When it comes to things like discipline, however, we need to exercise our aggression.

Aggression in and of itself isn’t a bad thing -- it’s violence that ruins it’s impression. Aggression is probably our best tool as humans -- we use it to lead, make decisions, take what’s rightfully ours (that we need), defend ourselves, stand up for what’s right… the list goes on.

Keeping that in mind, let’s get back to the point. Sometimes we need to use aggression. When it comes to disciplining ourselves, for example, we need to be aggressive towards the negative thoughts in our brains that tell us we’re too tired or too weak.

Then again, sometimes we need to submit to those thoughts in order to rest and recover. So how do we achieve balance? When do we know to submit or proceed with clean, healthy aggression?

The best way to know whether to move forward or backward is to look at how you got to where you are. Are the positives and negatives balanced? Have you given and received equal amounts? Are you feeling too much of one emotion? At the end of the day, I can only guide you in the direction of balance -- but truly achieving it is something you have to do for yourself.

What do you think? How do you achieve and maintain balance? I’d love to hear what you think in the comment section. I would also greatly appreciate if you left a like, shared this post with your friends, and followed. It’s absolutely free, and you can always change your mind later if you decide to do so. Also, stay tuned for future blog posts every Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and try to be the reason someone smiles today :)

by Chris Goode

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