Passive Learning
One of the most effective ways to consume knowledge is to do so through passive learning. This means that you are consuming information while also performing other tasks or just living life. The best example of this that you can try is instead of listening to music while in the car or at work listen to an audiobook or podcast in an area where your knowledge lacks. Being able to continually learn new information throughout the day is a very powerful tool that can give you a huge advantage. Most people stop learning entirely after high school, and I believe this is where most downfalls begin. Passive learning also has other advantages. Sometimes while listening to a podcast or audiobook it can put you into a “flow state” where you can perform your task almost effortlessly because your brain is focused on what you’re listening to. I personally find that this makes time go by a lot faster as well. Simply put, the more knowledge you can consume in a passive manner the better off you are going to be and the greater advantage you will have over everyone else.
Learning, however, is only the first step. Knowledge without action has very little value. Once you begin filling your mind with better ideas, the next challenge becomes applying them consistently, especially on the days when you don’t feel like it.
The Art of Showing Up: Vol. 1
Doing what you need to do EVEN when you don’t feel like it is most commonly known as discipline, everyone knows this by now. BUT at the end of the day we are all human. No matter how disciplined we think we may be there will be those times where it fails you, and this is ok. What I’m arguing is the main factor that is going to contribute to your success is not discipline, motivation, or passion, it is showing up day after day (consistency). Don’t get this confused though! This does not mean that each day you “show up” you are going to be giving the same amount of effort. In reality your effort to a certain task will be up and down like a heart rate monitor. Yes effort is very important for achieving success in any area but showing up must always come before effort. Meaning, that showing up and giving 1% effort is better than not showing up, taking a couple days off than giving 100% effort again. For example, let’s say you’re tired and don’t feel like going to the gym. GO TO THE GYM and lay down. This is 100% more effective than doing the same thing at home because you are building your habits and your character as someone that shows up on bad days.
This idea sounds simple on paper, but it’s much harder when you’re actually tested. It’s easy to believe in consistency when life is going well. The real question is: what happens when life gets in the way?
The Art of Showing Up: Vol. 2
Last week I posted a blog on the importance of showing up (The Art of Showing Up: Vol. 1). My point was, even when you are feeling tired, unmotivated, or in pain you NEED to show up anyway. A couple days ago (August 2, 2026) I was suffering from a back injury that occurred several days before. Despite the pain I was experiencing I showed up to the gym anyway KNOWING that my effort was not going to be 110% and that is ok. The important thing is I showed up to the gym on a “bad” day which helps to reinforce and build good habits. Showing up on the days when you’re tired, in pain, or you just don’t want to are the most important days to show up.
With this being said, everything needs to be in moderation. Of course, if you have a broken leg right now don’t go to the gym, that would simply be silly. What you need to do though, is take a few moments to reflect and REALLY reflect on how you’re feeling right now. Ask yourself, “Can I go to the gym today?” (or whatever task you’re facing). I believe that if you are truly honest with yourself you CAN perform that task, you either just don’t want to, you’re tired, unmotivated, or slightly in pain. What I’m saying is, despite these things you need to get up and go do it anyway. The Art of Showing Up is doing the thing that needs to get done when you don’t want to do it. I hope this example from my own life helps.
The interesting thing is that once you become someone who consistently shows up, failure starts to look different. It stops being something to fear and instead becomes another step forward. That shift in perspective changed the way I think about success entirely.
If You DON’T Quit YOU Won’t FAIL
This is a concept that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time now. If you don’t quit you won’t fail. How I picture it, there are only so many attempts you can take at something before you succeed and the more you fail (attempt) the closer you get to succeeding. For example, let’s say you want to get into med school and your path has been decided by some higher power that it’s going to take you four attempts to get in.
NOW, each time you attempt to get into med school and fail you are knocking these attempts out of the way, bringing you closer to entering med school. If you were to quit then you would bring the process of removing the “attempts to success” to a grinding halt leading to absolute failure.
When we look at things from this perspective absolute failure is not possible if we just don’t quit. Each attempt/failure is simply bringing us closer to finally achieving what we want. I believe this helps to reinforce the importance of failing and its positive nature.
The more I think about these ideas, the more I realize they all point to the same conclusion. Keep learning. Keep showing up. Keep failing. Just don’t quit. Do those four things long enough, and you’ll become someone capable of achieving far more than you ever thought possible.
-Evan Rosborough
Founder of E. North
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