Bulletproof Awesomeness

Heyo!

Welcome back to 5 Minute Masterclass, email coaching for peeps short on time and big on aspirations. 

Hey, do me a favour? I’d love to be ‘Coach Pen Pal’ with more people who need it! So if these emails float your boat, forward it on to a colleague, friend of family member who might benefit – if they write back to me, I’ll always respond!

Short on time? Skip the warmup, and jump straight to the question at the end. 

The Warmup

There’s a secret method to never ever having a bad day again in your whole life.

Etched in ancient times on sacred parchment, it was smuggled across battle-torn continents…

Stashed in hidden pockets stitched into cloaks and tunics…

Ushered through ghettos and slums by monks sworn to a vow of silence, communicating in a long-lost language of hand gestures.

Some say it was retrieved from beneath the Vatican by trusted lieutenants of the Qing dynasty in the 18^th century…

…only to be stolen by the legendary escapist and pickpocketJohn "Jack" Sheppard…

… and circulated on black markets rich with invaluable artworks and harvested organs since.

Eventually purchased by a mysterious figure known only as Buyer X.

Sought after by war lords and billionaire tech founders and titans of industry alike…

But I found it.

Sequestered away in an airtight bulletproof-glass case, where it lay on the velvet pillow it was tweezed upon decades prior.

Are you ready to share in this sacred secret to perpetual happiness?

It’s

BUH BOOOOWWWWWWW (Family Feud fail sound – obvs).

Dude.

If you’re ever reading an email from someone that kicks off with this rubbish, please immediately unsubscribe / delete / burn after reading/ wash your hands / sterilise your eyeballs.

Well, except mine, because it was in the spirit of satire.

But point being, I wouldn’t blame you if you had!

The real secret (which is in no way a secret):

Sometimes, things suck. They just do.

Even for people whose literal job is helping others live lives with less suckiness.

Case in point:

What’s got two thumbs and had a bit of a shitty week?

This guuuuuuuyyyyyyy.

Yep, it was a bit of a stinker.

But nonetheless, from this last few days …

…a block of time which, if scented, might be branded as Eau de’ 37-Day-Old-Salami-&-Blue-Cheese-Roll-Rediscovered-in-Desk-Drawer-On-Hot-Day™…

…came a realisation of something magical.

There are things in our lives that are bulletproof in their awesomeness.

I call them wormholes – because, like intergalactic wormholes, they take you somewhere else. Somewhere better.

No matter how crappy the day, week, month or year (though a year is a lot…), these little things remain incredible; and if you’re present enough to experience them, they zap you out of the suck and into a much happier place.

Important note, though: a wormhole cannot depend on someone else. It needs to be a place you personally take yourself.

Rather than, for example, a friend offering a shoulder rub (though that’s dope too, of course, just can’t be relied upon).

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Here’s just a few of my personal wormholes:

• The smell of fresh-ground coffee in the morning
• The feeling of putting moisturiser on my face straight after drying off from a shower
• Remembering the sound of my daughter’s snort laugh, which makes me snort laugh
• Raye’s song ‘Oscar Winning Tears’ – live version for the win (do yourself a favour here people)
• The texture of thick writing paper
• Ants. Just in general, they are so cool. If you’re feeling down, wander outside, find an ant and follow it around for a while. Amazing!
• Dancing in the kitchen, realising the neighbours might be able to see, confirming they cannot, but realising if they had your moves may actually have been pretty awesome and impressive.
• Tapping my fingers repeatedly in the following order: little finger, index finger, ring finger, thumb, rude finger.
• The violent sizzle of oiled and seasoned steak hitting a piping hot barbeque
• The sound and feel of popping bubble wrap (look, I know that stuff isn’t good for the environment and I’m not condoning it; but goddamn popping it really is as satisfying now as when I was a kid)
• The sound of my own breath and heartbeat in my ears after a bloody hard workout

Having a mental list of wormholes is so good – when things get rough, it’s there, anytime…

Your very own inter-dimensional portal woop woop!

Give it some thought: what are the little things in your life that are perpetually awesome – your own wormholes out of a hard time?

Holler at me.

Or don’t holler at me, and instead follow an ant around fora bit - trust me on this.

The 5 Minute Masterclass

If you're new, here's the drill – this is your 5 MinuteMasterclass in YOU.

Set a timer on your phone or computer. This week, you have EXACTLY 5 minutes to answer one question. 

Smash it out, then hit send. I'll write back to you in the next few days 🙂

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Question: What are the little things in your life that are awesome no matter what, even when things feel hard or overwhelming? (Hint: think SMALL and dependent only on YOU…and make your list LONG).

Big love!

Nick