How do you prepare for the fall?

No, I don’t mean Autumn. Although metaphorically, that fits too.

Life has been going really well lately. Since about the second half of last year, I would say.

I switched jobs and moved to a new city. New job is exciting. It has its usual annoyances (remember that frustrated newsletter from 3 weeks ago?) but I quite like what I am doing and the people that I am working with.

I keep getting a new job offer every few weeks. There have been five of them so far since November. One came yesterday. People across networks reach out for this or that. My network is growing. I think my updated LinkedIn profile and increased activity on Twitter have a role to play here.

I have been consistent in my work and hobbies. Look at this newsletter – 7th week running now! I have received fan mail regarding the things I have been writing on my website. I had written an explainer for a popular Punjabi song last summer, the song became a meme recently and I ended up getting thousands of visitors on my website because of it.

I have been exercising and eating healthy. I am quite possibly in my best physical shape these days.

I seem to have great clarity about my life in the present. My mental health has been really good. I am making good money. Even my stock trading did unrealistically well this week.

Excuse my language but what the fuck is happening?

I had a running joke late last year that I was an “above average” human being. Like, I am not a genius, I am just above average in most things that I do. Anytime I’d do something that went a little bit well, I’d proclaim “Well, I am above average after all.” It was great fun. And also annoying I am sure.

This week, things escalated to a friend calling me “a god”. Entirely in jest, of course. The sudden profitability in stock trading triggered it. Some other friends have been complimenting me on my work and this or that. I always find it weird to accept compliments but right now it’s even harder to accept them because, like, I am actually doing good?

Shit’s been going too damn good. My grandparents think I am ready to be married now – so clearly I am in a good place in life going by their metrics.

It has never been this way before. It might not be this way again, for all I know. So the question that comes to my mind is – how do I prepare myself for the eventual fall?

I am certainly enjoying my “15 minutes”. But I know good things don’t last forever. Bad things don’t last forever either. Nothing lasts forever.

I recognise that I can’t prepare for things to go South. Just like how I never prepared for things to rocket up like this either. I can just keep doing that I always do and hope that my stars continue to align. Right?

I read this on my Twitter feed earlier today and this seems to give me some direction –

The small choices we make on a daily basis either work for us or against us. One choice puts time on your side. The other ensures it’s working against you. Time amplifies what you feed it.

For your choices to compound, you need to be consistent. Intensity will only carry you in the short term but if you want compounding results you need consistency.

Excelling at the small choices that compound over time perpetually leaves you in favorable circumstances. No matter what happens in the world, you’re never in a position where you are forced into a bad decision.

When you look below the surface, giant leaps aren’t really giant leaps at all. They’re a series of ordinary choices that suddenly become noticeable. If you look for the magic moment, you’ll miss how ordinary becomes extraordinary.

— Shane Parish

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P.S. - “If this isn’t nice, what is?”