A note about willpower

We don’t have much of it. By the time we get out of bed, head to work, make dinner, rinse, and repeat—there isn’t much left to spare.

In fact, it’s better to pretend it isn’t there. In the modern world of distractions and convenience, there is no willpower left.

The alternative is to think about the systems we build. Where we live, for instance, significantly impacts our lives. What’s the commute to work? Is it walkable to amenities? Are you connected with your neighbors? And so on.

Automatic withdrawal from a 401k is a decision you make once, and then you make do with what’s left in your budget.

Opal makes the decision easy to how we consume social media.

I published this post today because that’s the deadline set. I’ve been doing it long enough, and there is no decision.

We build systems to remove cognitive decision-making.

Epiphany 

We understand the state of flow. But you might not realize what it is until you read the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

In other words…

The Aha, eureka moment is often not a piece of knowledge that we didn’t know before. It’s the discovery of something we have always known but didn’t know the language around it.

Alone or together

We can choose to go alone or to go together.

The price for doing things on our own in isolation.

Perhaps the path forward must be done alone. Disappointing your family, for instance, might not have much support. That’s the path of unpopular decisions. These are reserved for what is important. Because the wind will not be sustainable going against it, you’ll need to paddle, and that is a lot of work.

I’m not sure why we can’t just go together for everything else. Life is just easier when we can pick a direction and go together.

The golden rule needs another stipulation

The golden rule is to treat others as one would be treated.

In this age of social media, it would be wise to adopt the Greek philosophy of the golden mean.

The golden mean is simply finding the middle between two extremes.

For example, between corruption and legalism, you find integrity. Between cowardice and recklessness, you find courage. You can find love, respect, discernment, honesty, temperance, self-control, diligence, and so on in these spaces.

In the age of convenience, it isn’t enough to treat others like how we see ourselves or the world. In fact, at the dawn of AI, we need more middle ground for what is ahead.

Gurus

The gurus have learned the meaning of life but they don’t talk about it.

The reason?

Because the meaning of life is to live it.

We talk so much (even gossip) in search of the right frame of reference instead of just taking the path before us.

Disorder

Disorder is everywhere. It’s a miracle that people organize the way they do to act generously toward something or someone bigger than themselves.

But because we are so used to this level of chaos, because it is so ubiquitous, we try to find patterns to make sense of things.

Patterns ground humans and give us a more predictable future. But we can’t be seduced into believing that patterns mean the absence of disorder.

The bottom line: Our brains are so trained to find a pattern that we ignore the explanation right before us.

A little more magic is what the world is missing

It’s easy to use the excuse that the world is too big and too complicated and doesn’t need me.

But the world needs the opposite. Now more than ever, we need your magic, even if it’s just a little bit.

Not the kind of magic where a wizard raises a wand and says, “Abra Kadabra.” The type of magic you bring to the table when you say yes to whatever is in front of you. To create a connection. A piece of art. Whatever it might be.

Reflecting back

Many have such a distrust and disconnection with our culture and the people in it today. It has led to historical levels of loneliness.

Its difficult to change the culture to make it more inviting. But the promise each of us can make is to take action and make the world how you imagine it.

Most of us can agree to want more peace and justice.