Author: Shearer

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Carry on Engineers

The humans behind the circuits

I have spent 25 years building silicon. I’ve built every IP, and I’ve built every kind of chip. I’ve learned how to build them bigger and faster, smaller and cheaper. I’ve learned how to optimize for one application or another. In the end, the physical product is just a beautifully polished piece of sand … how that chip is used, is what changes the world.

What excites me; is how we can impact a human, by simply manipulating electrons. That is a God-like power.

I have loved yesterday’s products, I am impressed by today’s products, and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s products.

Ultimately I am driven by how we can work together as humans, to keep inventing better ways to shuffle fewer and fewer electrons around to do more and more magical things.

The potential is still beyond the horizon. As we push the limits, we keep finding that they are not limits after all; there is still more we can do. Our job will never be done; our customers will always want more; and our job is to invent a way to give it to them.

Carry on Engineers – you are changing the world for the better.

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I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life

Quote

To my daughters:

Whatever you do.
Wherever you go
Embrace the unpredictable.
Enjoy the little random curve balls that life throws at you.
This is what makes life worth living
It is not the planned events and adventures. It is the moments in between.
It is the “stuff” that fills in the gaps of your life that you will tell stories about.
You have to work hard and plan and act to make the kind of life that enables you to have these moments.
But it is those random moments that you will treasure.

Talking to a random person on the street.

Running into someone who knows an old friend.

Watching a child explore their world.

Drinking a cold glass of lemonade, sitting in the sun after working hard in the yard while smelling barbeque on the grill and hearing your favorite song on the radio.

Listening to your child play piano, glass of wine in your hand, lover sitting next to you, and looking at a painting in the wall.

You can’t plan these moments, you can only prepare yourself to experience them, and embrace the moment to appreciate them.

These are the times of your life.
These are what life is about.
Be prepared to recognize them.
Enjoy them.
Live them.

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The Secret

girls whispering

I’d like to share a secret with you.
Just one thing.
This is the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your fitness.
And your life.
Consistency.
That’s it.
Be Consistent.
Show up.
Do the work.
That’s the difference between being successful and not.
Some days we don’t have 110% to give.
But we still need to show up.
Reduce the scope, but stick to the schedule.
Scale. Row. Work on a goat.
Just stick to the commitment.
Trust the consistency.
Get to the gym.
Eat real food.
Consistently.
This is a commitment to yourself.
This is about the discipline to follow through.
No excuses.
Don’t play the victim of what life throws at you.
Don’t let shit get in your way.
The secret to success.
Inside the gym and out.
Show up.
Do the work.
Then do it again tomorrow.
Consistently.
That’s it.
I never said it would be easy.
But it’s not that hard.

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Die Empty

Empty road

Forget about the old adage “You can’t take it with you when you go”
I prefer the phrase “Die Empty”

Those of you who know me, know that I intend to live forever.
That is just one reason I manage what I eat and I bust my ass in the gym.

I refuse to die.
I have too much I want to do, and too many ideas to pursue.
I will not be ready to go until I am empty.
Empty of ideas.
Empty of goals.
Empty of causes.
Empty of drive.
As far as I can see, these are all growing bigger and bigger for me, not smaller and smaller.

Every day I learn a little more.

Which spawns new ideas.

Every day I meet someone new.

Who helps me understand humankind better.
And gives me another cause to care about.

Every day I see a new problem to solve.

And I make a goal to solve it.

How about you?
Do you have more you want to do?
Are you the person you want to be?
Have you seen everything you want to see?

Don’t give up now.
Don’t give up ever.

Try to use it all up, try to die empty.
I’ll bet you find that you can’t.
I’ll wager even more that you will find that you have lived more in the process

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Psychological and Physiological Fitness

Brain

Our culture has shifted into a world where more people are considered “Knowledge Workers” than “Laborers”

Many of us don’t use our bodies for our work anymore.
We are thinkers and talkers and writers and planners.
Unfortunately, this has led to an abandonment of balance.
You are more than your brain.

I see people that are treating their body as a tool for nothing more than transporting their brain from place to place.
This makes me sad.
I am sad because of the lost opportunity for efficacy.
I am sad because they will not live and contribute as long as they could have.

We don’t all need to be competitive athletes.
We just need to understand that our bodies and our brains are linked.
Our brains differentiate us from other animals.
But still…
Our brain needs nutrition to operate.
Our brain is affected by hormones.
Our brain thrives when our bodies are active.

If you are a knowledge worker and value your mind.
Take care of it!
Work your body and improve your brain.
Each needs the other more than we realize.

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What is holding you back?

Holding you back

What are you waiting for?
You haven’t started yet.
You’re waiting for something.
What is it?
…
That thing, the thing you just thought.
It’s not really what you are waiting for.
It is a secondary rationale that you have given yourself.
Let’s dig a little deeper.
…
What are you waiting for?
…
What is stopping you from having the life you want
Right now?
…
It’s ok, I know you are afraid.
We have all been there.
Change is scary.
Change is the unknown.
Change is exciting.
Change is beautiful.
…
Are you really going to be able to do it this time?
Maybe you failed the last time.
And the time before that?
What makes this time different?
Everything!
You are a new person today.
You are going to join a group of people who are motivated
They will hold you accountable.
And you will hold them accountable.
You will see the joy in helping others succeed while succeeding yourself.
You will have a team of people helping you reach your goals.
You can’t fail this time.
We won’t let you.
…
Now, what are you waiting for?

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The Truth Within a Goal

Goals

I went through a period in my life where I did not believe in goals.

I felt that they left people wishing for something, but never acting.

I understand better now that this is not a failing of goals.

It is a failing of the individual.

If we spend too much time living in the future.

Dwelling on the goal.

Wishing and waiting for that “better life”

Then we don’t put enough focus and energy into actions necessary to reach the goal.

Build a clear vision of the goal.

Contrive a plan to get there.

Structure your life around core principles that guide your daily decisions.

Then live in the now.

Apply your energy today.

Be in the moment.

The future does not exist.

Until you build it in this moment.

Do you have a goal?

Life is going to happen.

The difference between winners and losers is who has the discipline to stay the course.

Your past has developed your principles.

Those principles drive your actions in the now.

Those actions now allow you to react and navigate the real world.

Navigation is what we do in the present moment to find a path to the goal.

Everything revolves around what you do right here, right now.

Make a mistake?

Course correct.

Don’t look back and dwell – or you will go further off track.

A series of those little mistake are all filtered out by time.

As long as you make corrections when they are identified.

We have to look up and check in on the goal from time to time.

But we can’t obsess over it.

If we only watch the horizon chasing the goal

we will get hung up on the near obstacles.

Believe in the goal, and know that it will change as you get closer.

Learn from the past and then leave it behind.

Discipline in the present.

What is your goal?

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They Are Watching You

Baby

Every parent has been there.
Sacrificing everything for our kids.
This is what we were told that good parents do.
Give up everything to serve.
Our children are our future.
Our children deserve our undivided attention.

Who told us that?
Where did that come from?
Is this attitude really serving our children?
What will they grow up to believe that life is about?

They are watching you.
They are learning from you.
Children are brilliant.
Children are powerful.
Children know far more than we give them credit for.
Children are full of dreams.

They have more ideas in in an hour than you have all week.
Most of them cannot be realized in the real world.
They will figure that part out later.
But it only takes one.
One amazing idea, and a dream.

Are you teaching them how to follow those dreams?
When they watch you, are they learning how to succeed?
Or are they learning something else?
Are they learning that being an adult means giving up on themselves?
Are they learning that being an adult means being tired and grumpy?

Don’t let your children be your excuse.
Let your children be your inspiration for greatness.
They are watching you.
They are watching you work hard to build the future.
They are watching you rebuild your body.
They are watching you take the time to eat healthy.

There are many ways to serve.
Serve by setting an example.
They are watching you.

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The Highest Priority

Priorit exclamation

Priorities can be a funny thing

They can help serve as guiding principles in our lives. Or they can cripple us and direct decisions the wrong way.

We can get paralyzed when things don’t fit nicely within the priorities that we have defined.

We get hung up on which choice to take right now, and so we do nothing, or we take the easier choice and claim it is a priority.

The problem is that there are multiple parallel threads in our lives that are competing for our thoughts, our time, and our emotions.

We simplify our decisions by holding firmly to one thread.

Far too often at the expense of another.

Remember, that you have a life, and a body, and a mind.

You have to take care of all of them.

Your life is your family, friends, job, charities, hobbies.

Your mind is your inner self, your spirit, your soul, your experience of now.

Your body is your physical being, your heart, muscles, bones, and tendons.

These are all weaved together to create who you are.

Are any of your threads coming unraveled?

Have you neglected any of them for too long?

Priority #1 is taking care of yourself.

Otherwise, you will fail at everything else.

Priority #1 is keeping the fabric of your existence strong and tightly knit.

Take some time today to look at your life.

Are you taking care of yourself?

If you let your body go, your mind will follow.

How much more could you accomplish if you felt better?

How much more could you do if you had more energy?

Take an hour today to get to the gym.

Take 15 minutes tomorrow to do some yoga at home before work.

Take care of your body.

Strengthen your fabric.

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There Will Always Be Something

To Happiness

Are you chasing a dream?

Telling yourself that “I will be happy when I…”

Maybe you just want to lose 10 pounds

Or get that promotion.

Or gain muscle.

Or improve your blood test numbers.

Or look good enough that the cute guy at the corner coffee shop will notice you.

There will always be a Thing.

A Thing that you are waiting for.

A Thing that you think will make you happy.

So the motivation will fade.

Maybe it will take too long to get the Thing.

You will get the Thing and you won’t be as happy as you thought.

Or you will find a new Thing.

So you will slip back into your old ways.

Successful people learn to enjoy the process.

Love the process and be happy now.

Love the process and get more than that one Thing.

There are so many more Things!

You really can have them all.

Just learn to work.

Work Today.

Work Tomorrow.

Work Next Week.

Find a place where you enjoy the people, the atmosphere, and the work.

Then get yourself there consistently.

It is a law of nature that you must do difficult things to gain strength and power. As with working out, after a while you make the connection between doing difficult things and the benefits you get from doing them, and you come to look forward to doing these difficult things.

–Principles by Ray Dalio

Do the difficult things, to get the Things.