Month: October 2016

Be happy but never satisfied.

The phrase, “Do not be afraid,” appears in the Bible 365 times.

I think God is trying to tell us something.

Uber has completed its first delivery using a self-driving truck.

In the next 30 years, we won’t be seeing truck drivers behind the wheel delivering our goods—it will be computers, robots, VR and AI.

Using people will be too expensive and too inefficient. People need bathroom breaks, they need to eat and sleep, they cause accidents, they run from accidents, they have labor laws, they get overtime pay and benefits, they need healthcare, they make messes, they are slow, they aren’t compliant and, most of all, they make mistakes.

Truck drivers are not the only ones being replaced. Look at grocery store clerks, short order cooks, anyone in a warehouse. The more repetitive the motion, the easier it will be to replicate and replace it with a robot.

No industry will look the same as it is today. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, programmers, developers, law enforcement officers—you name it. Some of these jobs will be completely eliminated while other will change so much we won’t even recognize them.

We have never seen this much change in one lifetime. (The printing press took several generations for it to spread.) It is scaring a lot of people to think that their industry could be wiped out in the next couple of decades.

But that’s what revolutions do. They tear down the old and enable the impossible.

So what happens when all the jobs are gone?

What are we going to do with all this time we have freed up?

What will it mean to be human?

By eliminating menial tasks from our daily routine, we will free up more time to solve more interesting problems. We will have more opportunities to do work that matters.

We shouldn’t be afraid of what technology has to offer. The smart ones will be running with technology, not away from it.

The sad thing is that sometimes life can end before anything actually dies.

On paper it might seem right but your gut maybe telling you something different.

Listening to your gut is an underrated commodity.

It really comes down to faith.

Unshakable faith that at the end of the story, things will work out.

Don’t let one bad chapter ruin it.

I’m sorry your phone is spontaneously combusting. I’m not sorry for blocking your videos.

I’m sorry for creating fraudulent accounts. I’m not sorry for taking away bathroom breaks.

I’m sorry that we were hacked. I’m not sorry we stopped forwarding your email.

I’m sorry, things will be different. I’m not sorry, this is who I am.

The “I’m sorry, I’m not sorry” approach doesn’t work in a world where 3 billion people are connected.

You can’t sweep things under the rug, not talk about the elephant in the room, or pretend the Emperor has no clothes on.

I’m sorry, someone will notice. (I’m not sorry.)

Everyone has one. Each one is different.

When your timetable doesn’t match mine, it’s natural to use urgency to create importance. We can justify stepping on toes, ruffling feathers, or bulldozing the people around us if it’s for the greater good. Because it’s inconvenient to let someone in your lane when you’re late for work. It’s easier to point fingers when someone doesn’t deliver on a promise. It’s safe to say, “Read the fine print.” It’s human nature to ask someone to stand up when they just sat down.

Urgency has never been prudent.

We notice when people push pause on their timetable to help with ours. Because despite being busy, and tired, and stressed; and with the increase in noise, and distractions, and deadlines—you took the time to be their when we needed you. You saw. You acted. You cared.

It’s easy to justify our actions by saying, that the lack of preparation on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine. And you would be be right—the letter of the law says so. But compassion doesn’t work that way—it is the spirit of the law that we care about.

It’s increasingly difficult to show up. The one’s who are standing out are the one’s who are standing up.

Our perspectives change when our environment changes. We tighten our grip during bad times and we loosen it during the good times. But why let recessions, and bubbles, and stock prices, and holiday seasons dictate when we are going to be generous?

We have to take care of our survival: food, water, shelter, clothing. I get that. But most of us who are reading this are not worried about where their next meal is going to come from. Once we have taken care of our survival, we need to find ways to be generous with our money, time, and talents. Paradoxically, it’s giving these finite resources away that creates abundance. (The “not-so secret” secret: The more you give, the more you get.)

Practicing generosity is a skill. It doesn’t suddenly happen when you finally make it. Money amplifies behavior, it doesn’t change it. A generous person becomes extremely generous when she makes millions. (It’s the same with greed.) Philanthropy isn’t reserved for billionaires. Making a difference or changing someone for the better is for anyone who wants to care.

But some people will insist on checking under every rock hoping to find answers that are right in front of them. I think we can do better. Spend less time looking for a purpose and instead focus on fulfilling a purpose.

[What am I going to do with what I have been given? Am I wasting this opportunity? These are better questions to ask yourself than spending time thinking about what’s in your cup.]

People make mistakes all the time. (Including you.) We assign blame and point fingers. But does it actually make us feel better?

Maybe. But only at first. Eventually, that part wears off. It’s in the quiet moments when we put aside the shock and the hurt feelings to see what actually happened—when we can see things as the way they are. We know people are people. A bad moment doesn’t make us a bad person. (Although it can defines us.)

We could try to forgive each other a little more. It’s not easy, otherwise everyone would do it. The hard part is learning to forget. It’s easy to hold on to your world view. It’s easier to hold on to grudges, and to hold on to preconceived notions, and to assume than it is to let go.

Learn to love the unlovable. The reason that person is in your life is because you have the capabilities to care for this person. (Maybe you are the only one who can.)

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones once said, “You’re the same today as you’ll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

I love books. When I visit anyone’s home, the first thing I do is wonder over to the bookshelf. You can tell a lot about a person by what they read. Bookshelves tell stories. They can’t be filled in a day. They take a lifetime. Books give us insights in who we are, and what changes we are seeking to make, and remind us about our commitment to always be learning.

[After 500 years, books are starting to fade away. It has been the longest media medium we have ever had. It seems like few care. But there are some out there that are still fighting the good fight. Like Josh Spencer. Josh runs The Last Bookstore in downtown LA. The world needs more people like him.]

[I think if everyone built a bookshelf by hand there would more enthusiasm to fill it. So. We did. With the help of friends, Eric and Shyla Sparks, we were able to finish it in about two weeks. The bookshelf is a reminder of their generosity every time I see it. It has brought a lot of joy in our home.]