Month: December 2021

Draw a box.

Imagine every decision you’ve made at this point has fit inside that box.

Now, the question is, when are you going to make a decision outside your comfort zone? One that doesn’t fit in that box.

No time better than now to start.

Happy New Year.

When Ringo Starr was drumming for The Beatles, they were pioneering the use of sampling, artificial double-tracking and the use of multitrack recording machines.

Fast forward to today, it is much more technical to record a soundtrack.

Just look at the rigs and the playing styles of back then and today:

The point is that everything is so much more technical and precise than it used to be. It can be overwhelming to start something new because how could you ever be that good?

For one, you shouldn’t compare your start to someone’s best moment. And two, just cause you probably won’t be as proficient as a prodigy, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for you. Find the why you are doing this–if you are doing it for money, you might be behind. If you are doing it for something else, start where you are.

I read about this idea of how you should be careful who you share your good news with. The idea is that not everyone is actually rooting for you.

That sort of makes sense to a degree. Is everyone really rooting for you? I’m sure after WWII allied forces were not asking for a pat on the back from Switzerland.

If it’s generous share it, which means exercising vulnerability. Vulnerability by definition is facing risk, uncertainty, and exposure. Precisely because we don’t know how someone will react is why we share something. But if you are looking for reassurance, you’ll never find enough of it.

2020 wasn’t the right time to start a project. How could you?

2021 has felt like a year of recovery from the chaos of 2020.

And 2022, well, that can feel like a recovery from 2021. And so on.

Do good work despite the conditions. Despite how we feel in this moment. Forcing ourselves to do something inspires us to do more.

Not in the mood is an easy excuse to grab.

There are real limits and things we can’t control. And yet, humans have this extraordinary ability to overcome odds. We are resilient.

Don’t let another year go by without a plan.

Social media reactions are usually an overreaction to any given situation. It’s the only way to stand out amongst the noise.

Those who have been around the sun a few times have the patience to wait and see how things play out. It probably is not as bad as we imagine.

You don’t brush your teeth or pay the bills or do the dishes forever. Only for 100 years at most.

Then you will never have to do it again. The things that feel boring and monotonous don’t actually last forever, it’s just the story we tell ourselves.

Which means we make things feel more dramatic or longer than they actually are.

The old adage:

If you have the money, you don’t have the time. If you have the time, you don’t have the money.

Many, if you were born in the right circumstances and are lucky enough and work hard enough, can achieve both means and time. But what happens when you have both the time and money? What then?

What now? What will you build?

What gets you up in the morning to change things and make them better? Because once you can’t make things better for yourself, the natural question to ask is, How can you make things better for others?

Alta Ski Lift recently implemented paid parking to “preserve the weekend experience”. Anyone who has been up there knows the parking situation is a mess.

There are a lot of ways to preserve an experience though. One doesn’t have to charge to preserve anything in this situation. Now, ASL is charging people to ski in the backcountry.

The story doesn’t align.

What you say has to match with what you do.

René Magritte painted this fantastic piece of a pipe. On the bottom, it reads, “This is not a pipe.”

If it isn’t a pipe then it must be a picture of a pipe. But as it states it’s not a pipe. But clearly, there is a pipe. But it says it’s not a pipe. And on and on and on. It’s a paradox.

I woke up this morning to the awful news of candle factory workers being told to get back to work or they would be fired if they left their post while tornado sirens were going off. 8 people died!

That is what indoctrination of compliance does to us. It turns middle managers into murders. The fear of getting fired is so strong–where will we go? How does that look on my resume? I don’t know the whole story of what happened but I can say this:

This is not a pipe.

(I’m obviously not talking about a pipe here.)

Worry about the next step before it has happened causes two problems:

One, you are experiencing the outcomes before it has even happened. Which is likely imagining the worst thing.

And two, you are hiding from the present moment.

Focus on what you can control–which is very little. And work on the next step when it arrives on your doorstep.

The next step is always the most important step.