Month: April 2019

Debt significantly limits our ability to make choices.

Because when an emergency comes—and they always do—you are forced to stick with a job longer than you should, work overtime, take a second job, spend time away from your family, put off that book you always wanted to write…

Constantly, we make the cycle worse, by saying things like, “I don’t have time”, “I’m too tired” or “I deserve a vacation” And why not? You have been working so hard doing work you don’t want to do. You need a break. So, we charge it.

Debt is a shackle. Why are we trading so much freedom for a bigger house in a neighborhood we can’t quite afford, a fancier car that is too expensive, TV’s, phones, boats, RV’s…these are artifacts. Status symbols to show off to the Jones’s

It’s worth evaluating, Is this cycle of never-ending accumulation actually never ending?

Is life really about, “I have a car payment so I can get to work. I go to work to pay my car payment.”?

Of course not.

Debt takes away agency.

“We are where we are because of the choices we have made.”

When we can learn to accept responsibility for our actions instead of placing blame on circumstances—external forces out of our control—a whole bunch of things open up for us.

We can learn to see the framework of the circumstances we create by the choices we have made.

Not because someone or something did us wrong. Not because of the zip code we were born into. Not because of the things outside of our control. Not because of restraints.

This is about what we can control. 

And what we can control is our posture. When we can adopt this posture that “I am an agent of change” then we don’t become a victim of circumstance.

To be clear, we know that there are those that don’t have access to essential means and don’t have good examples around them. We know that things happen in nature that are completely out of our control. And we can’t discount the fact that some of us are born on third base while many are not.

No one lives without limitations.

Yet, we can still choose.

We can still choose how we will respond instead of react.

We can still choose to be present.

We can still choose to get up after scraping our knee.

We can still choose to ship our work and share it generously.

It’s not a this or that. It’s this AND that.

To know that you can choose, design and architect your life in any way, shape or form. To know that you have total control, autonomy and agency. That you get to decide what goes on your page.

We are not used to feeling that much freedom. In fact, we’re usually relieved when someone else decides for us.

Because…

Because what if we’re wrong? What if someone doesn’t like it? What if I’m seen? What if I’m judged? What if this gets me fired?

We don’t have to take responsibility if we give it away.

Deep down, we all want to fit it. Fitting in is a great way to be ordinary, to blend in with the masses, to hide, to be safe from judgement and criticism. But we waste our extraordinary opportunity to put our spin on the world. To put pen to paper.

It’s been done before. Plenty of artists have paved a path for us. It’s only scary because we have never done this before.

You don’t see anyone riding a mountain bike without a helmet.

And it is the same reason why we don’t drive without seatbelts.

Or have the internet without pop-up blockers.

We’ve evolved. We’ve learned from our mistakes and the mistakes of others.

More importantly, this experience leads to adjustments. Those adjustments, overtime, tend to be safer.

Safer in how we operate.

Safer in how we improve.

Safer in how we innovate.

But we confuse physical safety with emotional.

It is great to have warning labels on cigarette boxes. That is a great safety feature to add.

We also have warning labels come from our internal dialogue…

“You’re not good enough.”

“Who do you think you are?”

These warnings cause us to hesitate. To blink.

Steady improvements and innovations eventually lead us to safety. But safety is a box we need to step out of in order to do things that we have never done before.

You’re either a little closer or a little further away from being the person you want to be.

And if you only took a millimeter step closer to the person you want to be…

That’s a good day.

Hard work used to be defined by the weight you carried.

The heavier the load, the harder you worked.

But if someone took the initiative to ask for help, does that mean they worked less?

The hard, difficult work we get to do isn’t moving one pile of stuff from one place to the other. No, it’s having the courage to step up and stand out. To be vulnerable. To be willing to be rejected. To ship your work into the work.

Hard work isn’t measured in pounds. It’s measured by guts.

It is estimated that 80% of the known matter is made up of “dark” matter. Dark matter cannot emit light or absorb it.

What’s interesting is the other 20%.

The other 20% is often referred to as “ordinary” matter. Ironically, ordinary matter is much harder to find in the universe.

Since we are the only known human beings in the universe, it’s no coincidence then that we are made of the “ordinary” stuff.

Here is the thing about ordinary matter though: it glows continuously.

Human beings are actually emitting radiant heat (which is an infrared light) and light in the visible range to faint for our eyes to see.

The universe is so vast and it is a cold, dark, empty, desolate space. Being one of the few light sources in the known universe makes us unique.

We are not ordinary but extraordinary. Beyond what we can imagine.

Our current menu of choices today is affected by the decisions we made yesterday.

Let’s say, you give your two-year-old a snack and give them a choice between a lollipop or a carrot, it is almost certain that he will pick the lollipop every time.

A choice architect—someone that can help influence the options of others—could simply offer a carrot or an apple.

Over time these small and seemingly insignificant decisions add up. If you continue to paint yourself into a corner with the decisions you make, eventually, you will feel stuck.

What does it mean to be stuck?

It means that the system you have built doesn’t leave any room for mistakes and you can’t inject any more energy into the system to make it better.

Or

It could mean that you’ve created a problem with no end. The problem of infinity.

Either way, it’s a broken system for a reason.

The good news is that feeling stuck is not the same as not having any choices. We are rarely in situations with no choice just no easy choices left to make.

Far too often, we sit there and say here are my options (think of a menu at a restaurant or your preferred stations on your radio or A through D on the test) instead of asking ourselves why are the default settings this way?

Unfortunately, our culture shames those who chronically make bad choices again and again. Perpetuating the problem we end up lumping “those” people in a group of “poor character.” It’s a bad label and it is completely short-sighted.

The fact is if you were born in the circumstances someone else was born in and lived the life they lived and were taught the things they were taught, you would probably make the same decisions too.

If we shift our thinking just one degree to the left, we can see this isn’t an issue of character, this is an issue of a poorly built system.

A system error, not character flaws.

Instead of trying to fit everyone into a box, why don’t we simply draw a new one? A bigger one. A better one.

The actor plays the role of the script that is written. And for someone who wants to make great change happen, someone like you, you can greatly influence the people you seek to serve by creating a new narrative. By helping them build a better system that leaves them with better choices.

An apple or a carrot.

When given the chance, most people will choose to do the right thing. But when they can’t see the difference it makes then we are left with despair.

The opportunity is there for you to stand as a torch-bearer. To shine a light down a path of possibility and help others see what you see.

It’s how we can build a culture that we can all be proud of.

It’s highly unlikely.

It turns out, the wasabi that most of us eat isn’t wasabi at all. It is estimated that 99% of the world wasabi market is actually just made up of horseradish, Chinese mustard, and yes, food coloring mixed and mashed together.

Fresh wasabi, on the other hand, is one of the most expensive vegetables in the world. It can cost as high as $250 per kilo.

This 400 year old industry is now on the brink of extinction because the culture has blindly accepted the substitute.

Shigeo Iida for the last 53 years has run one of the last remaining Wasabi farms. A family tradition—his family has grown real wasabi for eight generations. Watch this true artist working day in, day out in the shadows. Changing the world one bushel of wasabi at a time.

There is no substitute of the real thing. And just because something is labeled as wasabi doesn’t make it wasabi.

(You can substitute wasabi for whatever you want.)

The quality of the experience is affected by the amount of emotional labour one puts into their craft. The more love the more the recipient is moved.

A better question is What kind of consumer are you?

Are you someone who watches cat videos or are you seeking for answers to interesting problems?

If you want to become really informed, not about everything but of something, change the way you consume.