Month: November 2021

No one says it’s time for a new car when things are working. We convince ourselves it’s time for a new vehicle when we have car problems.

We have a tendency to take problems and make them bigger. Creating drama in the process. And it isn’t just with cars. We do this with consumer goods, jobs and relationships. Out with the old and in with the new.

More often than not, we don’t need a new car to solve our problems (inheriting another set in the process). What we need is to recognize the scale of the problem–clarity to what the problem actually is.

You don’t need a new life but likely just need to fix a few things to get back up and running.

Each of us carries an irrational, small view of the world. How could we possibly know everything that is going on at this moment? All the pain and joy everyone is feeling?

Instead, we shrink the world down to a size that we find palpable. Easy to digest. Make shortcuts. Until we make the world too small. Not enough possibilities or opportunities. If someone gets a bigger slice it must mean mine is smaller.

The world is small in the scheme of the universe, and yet, much larger playing field than we tend to operate in.

When I go skiing, there is a difference in the experience when:

1. I have a time I need to be done by.
2. There is an objective (particulary a bigger one) that is at hand.
3. I am just out there with no particular plan.

When I have structure and deadlines there is a need for efficiency. Perhaps, when I even pick up the pace and move a half-step quicker.

When I am just lackadaisical with my time, less gets done.

It’s not a bad thing. We all need unstructured time. Time to let our minds wander, get lost in the mountains, or have leisure. But when we choose to be mindful, there is no question more can be accomplished.

If you don’t like the sound of Radiohead, it doesn’t mean they have a bad sound.

It just doesn’t align with your taste in music. It doesn’t match how you think music should sound.

It might just mean you have bad taste. It might mean you like something more mainstream. Or you simply don’t get the joke.

The internet is so vast. You can discover just about any artist in recorded history. We don’t need to spend our time on those who don’t get what it is we are trying to sell. Move on and find the others.

Do we do this pain to ourselves or is it an outside force?

Is it really the boss’s fault or is it yours for sticking around at a place that doesn’t appreciate you?

Is it the market or economy’s fault or did you make a bad bet?

Is it the emergencies fault or did you not plan for a rainy day?

When we have a more resilient system in place we tend to blame outside forces less. That’s because the pain we feel in this moment stings much less if we planned for it.

Today, when you discover The Beatles, you don’t just get one song but a whole catalog. That’s the magic of recording our history. We all get to benefit from those before us.

This is why you should write a journal or blog each day. Those who care about you will benefit from what you have learned.

My oldest started online kindergarten. It has been a multi-hour commitment for our family each day. It didn’t seem possible to do, and yet, we found a way to do it. That’s because we don’t need more time to accomplish our goals, we just need to prioritize them.

Most days there is an excuse to not sit down and write or paint or compose. “The dog ate my homework” is a powerful story we tell ourselves. It never feels like the right time to show up. It never feels like the right moment. Tomorrow maybe things will change.

What’s normal is walking around feeling a bit tired. The alternative is to complete something. Because when you do, you might get a sense of accomplishment and feel more motivated to do something else. And maybe not. You might still be tired afterward. At least now you got something done with that tired.

We find time to eat and sleep. We need to find time to do art too.

Have you ever been so immersed in a videogame that when disruption comes you realize that you were playing a simulation not living it?

Life is a pause from reality.

We’re so immersed in this experience that we forget what happened before and what goes on after is the reality, not the temporary one we experience.

I’m not sure what happens next but…

If you have nothing to die for, you have everything to live for.

Eventually, you are going to hit a wall. Humans are only capable of running so fast before you can’t improve on time anymore. You can climb only so hard before the holds are so small it would be impossible for anyone to pull on. You can only power lift so much before your bones would break.

The giant leap in physical achievement is over. In the last 50 years or so, every major record has been broken thanks to technology, diet, and training. So, where do we go from here? Because the records being broken today are often measured by tenths of a second.

Perhaps, this is one of the reasons we are seeing a rise in popularity of E-Sports. Either way, finding ways to make a giant leap forward are more difficult than ever.

The bottom line: Don’t scoff at incremental improvement because that’s likely the path ahead that’s available. Making the next leap is likely going to be assisted with more technology than we ever imagined.

Originally coined by George Orwell in his famous dystopian novel, 1984, doublethinking is the process of indoctrination where people begin to accept ideas as fact even when these ideas contradict each other.

Orwell describes our strong desires to fit in and to gain status in the community. That we will lead lives of contradiction if it means we will be seen, accepted and loved. But it comes with a price. Eventually, reality kicks in and it’s difficult to escape a world where truth is suspended.

Going against party lines or family and friends is difficult. Peer pressure is a powerful force and we are all biologically wired to fit in. It’s the way we survived for thousands of years. Thrown out of the tribe and you will not survive.

“If you are not with us, you must be against us.” When we have lost our ability to discern, temporarily suspend reality and turn over our decision-making to someone who is promising a “better future”–we begin to make dystopias a reality.