So my friend's wife rang me. It was late in the Night. I'd already retired in bed.

It's very unusual that any of my friend's wife would call. That should be her first time.

So I quickly answered the call.

"Hello! Our wife..."

"Daddy Desire, Pls is your friend with you?!"

"No! He is not. Is he not back?!"

"I haven't seen my husband. And it's already late"

"Have you tried reaching him?"

"Yes, his phones are switched off"

I looked at the time, it was 10:47 pm already.

That's very unusual of my friend, staying out late at night. He closes 5:00pm everyday. Apart from our seasonal hang out; i don't think he keeps late at night.

I got worried too.

"Hello dear, Just relax! He should be okay where he is, and I know he will soon be home. I am coming too"

"Okay! Please we are Expecting you"

She has begin to feel so worried.

My friend lives in a very far place. So, I left so quickly.

She was already outside. Looking cluttered.

Heavily pregnant; with three year old Anny!

The little girl was crying and asking where her Daddy is after seeing her mom in such a sorry state.

Stagnation in this life is death.

8 Reasons Why You're Struggling To Improve & How To Fix Them

(#3 is a game changer)

// A THREAD //

1. You're not scaling

You've never been a gym person.
So why is your first step going to the gym 5 days a week?

Start small:
→ Walk 2x / week
→ 10 push-ups everyday

Then Jog 3x / week
Lift 3x / week
Lift 5x / week

It's not a one-round fight; scale to your endgame.

2. You're relying on motivation

Your brain is efficient; motivation isn't.

Conserve energy & stack your desired behavior.

→ Hit the gym after class
→ Read 10 pages after you brush your teeth

Don't be like me: walking across campus on cold mornings to lift.

3. You don't have a quality system

Your direction =/= Your endgame
Your actions. Routine. Lifestyle. Are all lacking.

Your average day should point you in the right direction.
Not your best day.

Create a plan of action. Implement. Adjust. Improve.

3a. You don't have a quality system

To create the right ingredients:

- Actions
- Mindset
- Routine

Work inverse.

"What's my goal?"
→ What behaviors could get in my way?
→ How could my mindset affect my effort?

THEN DO THE OPPOSITE.

There are a lot of people in this world who beat themselves up over being uncontrollably "lazy", and they don't understand why they've spent their whole lives struggling with something that seems to not even be a slight issue for most "normal" people. Please allow me to alleviate

So my neighbor is a Driver’s Ed teacher and from my office window, I can see he’s trying to teach parallel parking... This kid has made three attempts with no success.

I feel this kids pain and am rooting for him.

Every time he misses, he pulls out and they head around the block to line up and try it again.

We are lined up for attempt number 4... Come on kid, you got this!!

Attempt 4 was a failure... He cut the wheel the wrong way. I do that all the time... With 25 years of driving under my belt, I can say the key is to not overthink it and have good insurance. Works for me.

Around the block we go again.

Drove right by, didn’t even try to land it. I’m thinking he was just doing recon, vaguely hoping his practice spot has been taken up by our other neighbors and one of their 3,762 cars. No such luck.

Ok, here we go... Lined up for attempt number 5. Kid means business. Every window in the car is down (it’s 30 degrees out, so that’s commitment), he is tweaking the mirrors, and he’s at perfect 10-and-2.

Feeling super good about this. He has got it.

certain industries, you should genuinely ask yourself if you are a salaried employee whether it is a workplace you should be organizing or if it's a workplace you should quit and stop being complicit in, to be honest.

I don't think you can organize a defense contractor for fair labor rights, I don't think you can organize a monolithic tech surveillance/ad sales behemoth for labor Rights if you're building that union first and foremost for the employees building that very architecture.

This doesn't apply to warehouse workers & production workers & people making low wages doing the most important stuff- you don't have to feel bad for that, everyone is exploiting you & you should organize.

But if youre programming their tools, writing their copy, making slick videos for them, project managing, making good money doing it- youre complicit. I dont say that lightly, Ive done that, I have that blood on my hands. You should quit if that's you, you can't reform this.

This is not anti-organizing, it is asking workers who are organizing to honestly assess the role they play in their company's function which is critical to power. if they follow up these demands re: surveillance in their organizing with a full work stoppage, then we're talking--

Boys open this thread:)

Get a journal✍️

Being broke is better than making money illegally!

You don't have to be handsome,Get RICH!

Don't do DRUGS!

Young Professional?

If you don’t have a year plan yet, come let’s look at:

'20 Practical Ways To Improve Oneself in 2021'.

First, thanks for being a part of 2020.

To those who continue to take self development and self improvement a personal goal, 2021 will be a better year. 🙏🏾

Remain consistent, persevere and never let go of your hopes and aspirations.

1. SELF REFLECTION

1st thing you want to do really is reflect.

This is very important as it lays down the foundation for any step you are willing to take regarding your career or self development.

It helps you understand:

- Where you are coming from.
- Where you want to be.

Self reflection speaks the truth to you without sugar coating it.

While working in Mushin back then, I asked myself a lot of questions.

- What is the end goal of this path?
- Am I maximizing my full potential and capacity as a person?

2. OUTLINE YOUR GOALS

Once you've reflected on what you really want and where you want to be, it is time to turn your intentions into clearly defined goals.

Always remember that having goals without having a plan in black and white is still a dream.

Outline you goals clearly.

#Illuminare - ON FAITH PART 10: NINETY-NINE PLUS ONE

Begins now 👇

1. In the last few weeks, we’ve been treating the subject of faith. There are many dimensions to faith. In this article, we’re going to be looking at faith for venture and innovation. Happy reading. #Illuminare

2. The Jewish society in the day of Jesus wasn’t much different from our society today. The elites were segmented. #Illuminare

3. The first segment was the political class. In the main, this consisted of the two major parties – the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. #Illuminare

4. The liberals were the Pharisees. The party was populist and largely made up of middleclass businessmen and leaders of the synagogue. #Illuminare

I am a wife.

You know why?

Because I’m a married woman.

So the controversy over the “gendered” language in the new House Rules is as follows.

1. The House Rules contain an anti-nepotism (you can’t hire your own relatives) provision.

2. To make that make sense, there’s a definition of who is included in the meaning of a relative.

/1

3. That definition is found in Rule XXIII, clause 8(c)(3). This👇🏻is what the definition said in the Rules for the last Congress (the 116th). It uses words like mother, father, wife, husband, daughter, son, etc. Words that convey gender. /2

4. The proposal for the new Congress (the 117th) was to change that definition to “non-gendered” language. Each new Congress adopts its own Rules at the beginning of its session, shortly after being sworn in. The *changes* to the old Rules are proposed in a House Resolution. /3

5. This year that was House Resolution 8. It proposed to change that definition of “relative” in section XXIII.8(c)(3) - & only in that section - to “non-gendered” language. 👇🏻

/4

Here's the simple truth that most folk don't believe: traffic isn't inevitable.

We're not stuck with a set number of cars on our roads. We can control more than simply which streets cars can and cannot travel on and who has to suffer congestion.

We can give people the option to leave their car at home for one, some or all of their journeys.

We can build neighbourhoods that allow people to get rid of their cars altogether.

We can free ourselves from the car trap.

How do we do it? By providing alternatives.

Safe, effective, efficient and reliable public transportation.

Safe, direct, protected cycle routes.

Pleasant places to walk.

The next time you go for a drive -- look around you.

Every person you see on a bike, on a bus, or on their feet is someone who made the decision not to use a car.

Because of that choice, there's one less car in the queue ahead of you.

I have a little story that I have now drafted and deleted multiple times because I can't seem to do it justice.

So, I am going to strip it down to the barest of details and just let it fly unedited.

Bear with me. It will be worth the ride, I hope.

1/

If you follow me, you have probably seen my endless posts about trying to find a PlayStation 5 (PS5).

Originally, I was looking for one for my son. I found one for him two weeks ago.

Since then, I have been looking for one for someone else.

An old friend.

2/

Jen and I have known each other 30 years.

We shared a mutual close friend in our 20s. We weren't close but hung out when we all met up at bars.

I've seen her once in 15 yrs. Bumped into her at Starbucks.

Were it not for Facebook, we would have entirely lost touch long ago.

3/

We're Facebook friends. That's what we are.

And as a result, I had that gauzy sense of her life you get from seeing only the passing glimpses that cross your timeline.

I knew the broad strokes.

4/

Like me, she's a single parent to a son she adores.

Went into the travel industry.

Never seemed to be in a relationship. Not married.

Was close with her father until he passed away suddenly a few years ago.

5/

A few dozen tips/things that have worked for me and you might to implement in your lives.

(Have to justify Gareebo ka James Clear bio somehow. And also generate content for my blog)

/thread starts

1. Think about keystone decisions a lot.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about how his decision to just SIP in MFs and not individual stocks have helped him avoid 100s of subsequent decisions on buying/selling individual stocks, days of research, and also worry.

Now compare this to me who has read a dozen + books on investing, is still confused about when to buy and sell stocks, always paranoid about the market crashes. I could have saved days/months of my life by just SIPing. Probably would have even made more money.

Some keystone decisions for me:
A. Wearing only company tees, a few random colored hoodies. I have 0 interest in fashion. I don't want to waste my time thinking about what to wear every day.

B. Saying No by default to most catchups, webinars, random engagements.

I don't want to think about who to say yes to and who to decline and feel guilty later. Think about all your keystone decisions. They will save you months over your lifetime.

Other people!

They'll tell you what to do, how to feel, before you know it, you're pouring your life out in search of something other people told you to go look for. Soon, you're lost in the search of what's not yours in the first place.

The irony of the world we live in.

When you're young, an infant, when you were very much cute and cuddly, everybody is nice to you.

You life is carefree, and you feel unconditional love from all over.

You're surrounded by your peers, and everyone is basically doing the same.

Soon enough life begins. You get a bit older & start going to school.

Nothing really changed except now you have a certain place you need to be for a good portion of the day to 'learn things' you may or may not be interested in. Odd but hey - life isn't asking too much of you.

From here, things start snowballing.

- Get good grades, so longer school hours,
- Getting physically stronger and more capable to care for yourself,
- The pressures to fit in and conform increase,
- After graduation, you have some big life choices to make, to some extent.

Now, you're entering adulthood, and everyone is willing to cut you some slack, but at the same time you are now held accountable as an adult for your actions, 80% of which is influenced by society & other factors.

You quickly learn to conform to what's expected of you.

Six ways to remove sadness and depression through Qur’an and Sunnah; a thread

1. Life is a test, Never give up Allah mentioned all of it in the Qur'an. And whoever passes this test will enter the Paradise.

“And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient.”

“Who, when disaster strikes them, say, "Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.”

“Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the [rightly] guided.”

-Quran | 2:155-157

2. Always be positive even if you are sad, try to become a positive thinker, and overthinking will lead you to the extreme depression.

Narrated by ibn-Jaz: i have not seen anyone who smiled more than the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)

-Tirmidhi Book 49, Hadith 4002

3. Never be afraid, Always remember that Allah is with you, & He never wants the worst but the best for you.

“Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty.

Motivation, Mindset, Failure and Luck

Losing in order to win - thoughts for new investors

[Thread]

I started investing in July 2017

I had £20,000 / $25,000 saved

I had realised that we were in a middle-class trap & wanted to change our future

MOTIVATION

I spent my 20s working on a business idea that failed

The saga had cost a lot of time, energy & money. It put a big strain on my relationship

It put me in a financial hole that had taken years to dig out from. I ended up at a big consulting firm

I consulted to the UK's National Health Service but I wasn't always convinced about the value for money being delivered through our projects

I ended up switching sides & working for the NHS

Less travel, more relationship time

Job security & a stable income

There were tradeoffs though

A smaller salary for one

Got married. Bought a house. Had kids.

The kids changed everything. Your worldview shifts

I was scared for their future

The cost of living, the cost of education, the cost of property

All. Going. Up.

I turned to investing to improve our future.

Waiting till I was 68 years old to pay off our mortgage and collect a pension was not what I wanted from life

A family friend had talked to me about investing when I was a teenager. But I had never taken action.

A night I hope I never forget. ✨
[Thread]

I knew going into a class where a single Qirā’ah is completed will usually be quite emotional (let alone one where all 10 will be complete).

I mean I’ve watched countless Ijazah videos...

I pretend I’m a tough cookie sometimes, but really I know for sure that (if Allah swt gives me life) I’ll definitely break down during my last lesson.

So I knew these students were going to be emotional. And they were, two broke down, one didn’t. She (perhaps wisely) didn’t say much.

What caught me by surprise was I was also feeling emotional??

I’ll never forget all their names.

I’ll never forget the weird and wonderful circumstances in which I joined the class.

Somebody needs to tell a few people that, a general “policy” argument, telling a court that it has no right to decide an issue when the matter falls squarely within the case and controversy requirements of Art 3, and the Constitution specifically provides for jurisdiction of the=

parties; additionally, the court has federal question jurisdiction, is not a good take, and is not persuasive. Next, an argument of disenfranchisement of voters (a) is weak in countering the Bush v Gore equal protection opinion; (b) is beside the point, when the issues is the=

issue is not issues is

constitutional validity of votes cast by state appointed electors, especially in context of serious allegations that State officials unconstitutionally nullified provisions of statutes passed pursuant to the plenary power of the legislatures and thereby threw into chaos by=

dilution or nullification of their own citizens votes. More on this later-I am studying briefs because someone said “their brief is weak.” The person could not have referred to the TX brief. IMO, Tx did a fine, outstanding job in a case of first=

1/ A LONG LOUD SIGH

genius?
sometimes you are in its minimal spotted light
sometimes
other times you just know you've been touched and you freeze
moved but frozen
like a stranger it moves in
does its work and leaves

2/

maybe it's been a while since you two spoke
when the dead sea still hosted life
the hanging gardens of babylon grew in sinc with the breath of the planet
before the tower of pisa started to lean
or mayan buildings were in ruin

3/

so you write words
any words
they might at least soothe your hurt
hold your heart in a protective shield
you know how crippling unrequited love can be
do you still dream of its hug

genius?

4/

life and love share more than a first letter

(like the first letter you wrote under the veil of inspiration)

they also share good and evil
it's a flip of the coin
either way is fine with you
you'd bathe in holy water or sell your soul

5/

life love passion
somewhere in there -it lives
genius

all of nature a reflection through its transparent figure glows dark
like the shadows live in the radiant illumination of evening rays

so let me speak of us

I have now been meditating for ~30 days in a row.

Here are 10 things i've observed so far.

1. The habit is more important than the ritual. I don't have a fancy setup, i don't sit down on the floor, i don't do mantras, i don't count my breathes or how long i breathe for. I sit on a chair, put a calm playlist on, let my brain run free. It hurts, but it works.

2. People tell me their main objection to giving it a go is they're afraid of what might surface. But this is entirely the point of meditating, to see whatever repressed feelings are unresolved. On that note...

3. Meditation for me is the art of being a little bit less afraid. And of feeling a little bit less hurt. And of normalising pain. And of understanding where our ego is coming from. We're so curious about the world, we forget to be curious about ourselves.

4. I started with 10 minutes, then 15, 20, now at 25 (soon i might move to 30). I couldn't imagine starting with 30 minutes, but now i barely see the time flying and couldn't go back to 10. It's the runner's high for people who don't like running (✋).