Month: November 2025

Implementing a new system can be tricky, not because of the change. Change is inevitable. But the change going forward in any organization is difficult for those who have been there. Everyone who is new coming in doesn’t know any different. Take the extra time with the people who have been there the longest. Not because they are not capable. It’s because they are the most capable. And will be able to help set the culture in the future.

Getting from zero pullups to one is a significant accomplishment. Pretty soon you’ll be to two, then three, and then five. And so on. But the most challenging part is the first one. Starting a business is the same as making the first dollar: it takes a foundation of work to get there. It’s much easier to make money with money than it is to get the first pile. Debt works the opposite.

Compounding our problems makes problems worse. However, compounding our good decisions can also scale.

Black Friday is a term Philadelphia police used to describe the mayhem on the day after Thanksgiving in the 1950s, caused by the influx of shoppers. Perhaps racial tension played a role in the naming of the day. Either way, somebody (a retailer or marketer) decided to take the original story and put a spin on it to make a buck. Using the term “in the black” in the profit column. Either way, the idea stuck. Changing the culture in a primarily negative way and creating status through consumption.

These ideas are so powerful that they change human behavior about when to shop—embracing the chaos. And yes, even get violent to get what you want. It’s capitalism’s finest day. And one of humanity’s ugliest.

I can’t help but think about these things like money, time, status, assimilation, story, etc.—the lengths people will go to fit in, even when the behavior isn’t good for us.

What’s remarkable is thinking about all the rules and laws we subscribe to without a single course on what they are. The tax code is the same. This idea that we need an expert to navigate these minefields is a bit boggling when you think about it. Humans have survived for most of history without such rules and regulations. Perhaps some is needed. But maybe we have lost something in the translation of complex systems into what they do to our everyday lives. Humans first. Not systems. While systems are essential, complexity is no substitute for community and culture. In fact, complexity becomes the perfect excuse to hide.

Everything feels risky. A risk manager will always find something unsafe. Even bubble wrap can be a choking hazard. So the key then is to identify it. Talk about it. Verbalize with someone. See if they see what you see. Next, we need to mitigate it. The temptation is to wait until the risk is gone. But that just isn’t possible. So we must decide how much risk I am willing to tolerate.

In climbing, we all need the reminder that if you relax, you won’t fall. The more tense we get, the quicker we are to pump out.

The only reassurance we need is the quiet kind. The one we whisper to ourselves.

Culture is what enables everything we do.

We also need infrastructure to organize.

Infrastructure without culture, however, turns into the bureaucracy.

And for most of the time, it is. How we treat ourselves each day makes that number more daunting. Part of the anxiety we feel comes from nostalgia. We yearn for a time that is gone—a time with less responsibility, where we could live. I will say the biggest hack to feeling younger is treating your body as such. Stay active. Eat well. Invest in your mental health.

Defeat isn’t a moment. It sometimes looms for years—even decades. And to rebuild after a defeat can be daunting.

Defeat is a process that we should better recognizea a long road. But the good news is, the holes are not so deep that you can’t get out of them.

I’ve been drawn to this idea lately and have been thinking about whether we are a defeated people who don’t recognize it.

The funny thing about security, happiness, joy, comfort, safety, and so on is that they may require a certain amount of money to achieve. But it doesn’t need millions of dollars either. The best times of my life were when I was most broke. And that certainly isn’t the case with children in the mix. However, the best memories didn’t require spending money either.

It’s worth taking note: why do I need more money at the moment? Is it to save for a house or new wardrobe or a vacation? All fine pursuits. But is it to make you happier? That’s really the million dollar question.