Month: April 2018

Alone, the world can be a dark place.

But when someone comes along to share their light with ours, the world becomes brighter.

There is no short supply of opportunities to light the world. What we need is more torchbearers with guts to light the way for others, to help people see where it is they want to go.

Those who light the world are the ones who change it.

[This post is dedicated to one of the finest young men I have ever met, Carson Koch. It’s too soon to lose a light as bright yours. But our torches burn brighter for how you touched our lives. Thank you for your generosity and for making our world (my world) a better place. Not many could have accomplished so much at the age of seventeen. We will miss you.]

Have you ever glanced at your watch and then looked at it again two seconds later?

Closed an app and then reopen it?

Or noticed when something is different when you walk into your home?

That is because human beings are wired to focus on change.

We notice when something is different. And we ignore the banal, same old same old.

Worldview is a term used to encompass our biases, prejudices, values and beliefs an individual brings to a situation.

It is how people see and simplify a complex world.

The question is: how do we get around it? Is our worldview holding us back from leveling up?

Probably.

Because we all believe in things that are not true. We internalize and compartmentalize each experience while ignoring evidence that contradicts the story we have constructed.

Getting around it means admitting that we are wrong. Often.

Difficult to do.

No, with buts…

Or

Yes, with ifs…

Maybe you’re more cautious. Maybe you’re fine with the status-quo and want to stay the course.

Or maybe the challenge is you’ve been too cautious. You haven’t been willing to take a chance on something worth reaching for.

Study after study shows that willpower is like a muscle. As the day wears on, our ability to make difficult decisions declines.

Agency, on the other hand, is the ability of an actor to act in a given environment.

Tired of making decisions in not the same as someone who is unable to make one. And too often, we label these groups as indolent.

People say lots of things–out loud and internally.

Yet, most of the things we say are not actually true.

They are true because we believe they are true.

And once we believe in something, we turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Because human beings are story tellers. 

We internalize and simplify what we see to make sense of a complicated world.

Saying the right things, telling a story that enrolls the people around is a valuable skill.

Far easier to enroll the people around us once our body of work shows we can get things done.

Turn a house into a home.

Volunteer to make a community.

Write words to make a story.

String notes together to make a song.

Place paint on a canvas to make a picture.

Make a difference to create change.

When the sum is greater than all the parts, its art.

Most people focus on bad drivers. But no one ever notices good drivers.

Why?

Because people choose what they want to see.

It’s a story, a narrative we tell ourselves.

If you believe the we didn’t land on the moon, you are going to zero in on the evidence that supports it.

The problem with most conspiracy theories is they are often the shortest connection between what we see and what we believe.

It’s far easier to tell ourselves a story that we don’t ever win anything than doing the math to understand how probability works.

No one looks at a new-born baby and says, “She’s a great writer.”

That would be silly.

No one is born a great writer, you become one with the choices you make along the way.

[Note: That doesn’t mean with enough practice you are going to be the next Stephen King or JK Rowling. Not everyone is going to write something that is popular. But I think each of us have the words to write something important.]

There is a difference between figuring out which tactics are the right ones to use and using the right tactic long enough in order for them to work.

Too often, we are too quick to abandon something before our efforts pay off.