Month: December 2025

From medical to auto, symptoms help indicate what’s wrong. Intuitively, we look inward for answers. It’s sometimes worth looking externally for answers, too. What’s coming in? From food to stress to social media. We may not be able to control what’s going inside but we can shut down our phones, choose what we eat, and decide which battles to fight.

It is so difficult to create things in this world. You have to see a need, have imagination, build intuition, and build it so that someone will use it.

What’s easier? It isn’t to destroy or tear down but to criticize. Critique. And yes, give a suggestion.

Feedback isn’t a problem, of course. From those who care, show up, and understand the intent, by all means, tell the creator what you think. But for everyone else, criticism is just another form of gossip.

Humans are storytelling creatures. Someone who strongly believes in mythology, legends, and mysticism can see coincidences as miracles. Someone else who anchors in statistics and empirical data might see it as chance, luck, or something as statistically unlikely but not impossible.

But either way, we see a story. Because while the search for capital T Truth may not be obtainable, we do a good job of finding and defining our own truth.

What’s important to remember is that humans don’t always hold the same truths. We do, however, a better job sharing our ideals. Perhaps then, we can reframe our search for truth as our search for ideals. Once ideals are established, maybe then we can search for truth.

It’s easy to type something online and post it. And it’s even easier to stay in the shadows and not have a name next to what it is you say. I do not doubt that, after nearly a decade of blogging, there are things I have said that are dated and inconsistent with today’s standards. But my name is still there to stand by what I said, or more importantly, I have an opportunity to address it and yes, change it if it needs to be. As a result, there is an opportunity to grow my ideas. Not hide from them.

One of my favorite websites, Mountain Projects, lets you post a comment without a name, but they are very clear about marking you as “Anonymous Coward.” Creating a standard if you are not going to stand by what you post. More importantly, sending the signal to the rest that you don’t need to treat this comment as if it came from someone who matters as much.

What if it is possible to create that same sorta feedback loop on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X? How would it change if whatever you posted was also featured on your LinkedIn? Would you act differently? Would you share something else?

Anonymously posting kills the public discord in the long run. Because what is being rewarded isn’t facts or truth, but what is viral.

Seth Godin had a post yesterday that got me thinking about the filtered self. I completely agree that, over time, the incentive structure of our digital lives has flipped from a filtered self to an unfiltered one. To the point now, many will say something online (even anonymously) that they would never have the guts to say in person to a neighbor, co-worker, boss, spouse, child, friend, etc. What’s interesting is how this has evolved into being “authentic.” And what continues to fascinate me is how humans create a moral framework to justify violence. Not all violence is led with a fist.

The iPhone changed the world. But was it a positive change? It made life very efficient when you can have talk and text in your pocket. Add in email, calendar, weather, GPS—what a tool! But now, we have data. We are always online. So much so, many of us are staring at a screen longer than seeing what is actually happening in the world. The person who invented the ship also accidentally invented the ship wreck. And now we are experiencing a shipwreck in our mental health.

Most of us set out to change the world for the better. But rarely do we stop to ask if this is something humanity wants? Are we ready for it? And with AI being supercharged with the help of the market—no one stopped to ask if this is something we wanted. It’s showing up. Time will tell if it will be the last great invention or if it will be a glorified chat box.

AI can replicate a script. And can give directors notes. And even set the schedule. But it can’t go on stage. It can’t do everything, no matter what people say is possible. There is no substitute for play.

Seems like a reasonable option when something will never work. That’s what makes relationships so difficult to end when there has been such an investment. Not only is there the investment piece, but when you squint, you can see a path where it could work. So, we need to be clear—when is it a good time to throw in the towel with a job, a relationship, a project, or whatever?

Be clear if it is possible or not. It is possible to lose weight with a high-protein diet, exercise (lifting weights), 10,000 steps per day, and 8 hours of sleep consistently for an extended period. It’s impossible to defy gravity and fly. You can’t break the laws of physics. Juxtapose that with the fact that it probably isn’t possible to start a nonprofit that will change the entire world or to develop a vaccine that’ll cure cancer. Someone may do that. But it probably won’t be you either.

Hope is necessary. But a Hail Mary isn’t a good strategy either.

One explanation for erratic behavior is framing. Why would someone do something that seems, from the outside, so erratic? Because it is easier to do than the thing they most fear. In other words, it might be easier to have an affair than it is to break up with your spouse. It seems easier to have another treat and convince yourself to start dieting next week. It seems reasonable to stick an iPad in front of the kid who won’t stop yelling at a restaurant. And on and on. It’s all about a point-of-view problem. When we live within the struggle, the best option can seem the most daunting. And we can trick ourselves into believing we need to wait for a miracle, which isn’t much of a strategy, since you’ll be waiting a long time for nothing to change. The power is in us. Always has been.

In sports such as hockey, basketball, and football, the tendency is to think about moving forward. When you get better, side-to-side opens new doors. Elite athletes, however, know how to change pace and step back to go forward.

It’s counterintuitive to think this way. But it’s useful when navigating the field/court.

The culture has trained us to move forward constantly. Sometimes stepping back allows us to step forward. Because it is drilled into us to always move forward, it can feel like we are being left behind. This isn’t true. In fact, it’s just a lie we are telling ourselves when we feel uncomfortable with slowing down.