The perfect idea. That's what you might be waiting for. The idea that will just work. That will not get rejected. That won't need any change. The one that all the devil's advocates would nod to. The perfect idea might be perfect, but it's an
Changing the culture. It's tempting to want to do that. Changing the way everyone behaves. And sometimes the change is worth fighting for. Though it might require persistence over years to make it happen. If it feels right, that might be the path for you. The other choice, though, is choosing
Setbacks. Setbacks rarely happen when you are sitting at home and waiting. It's only when you make an assertion and move forward that they show up. A setback is a sign that you are on the right track. The best response to a setback is to step forward.
Play to win. No one plays to lose. We play to win. But play to win puts the focus on the win, away from the play. Play to play allows us to lose on the way to becoming better. Over time, play to play always wins.
Seeing the water. There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over
Off mode. On mode is effective only when you have an off mode. Sleeping well makes the body more effective. A vacation makes our work more effective. Resting makes workouts more effective. We are living more and more in an always on world. And that's making us less and less
What would they think? "What would they think?" - The actions and decisions of the social self are mostly based on this one question. They could be one person or many. The essential self rarely asks this. It asks "What feels right to me?" and then calmly moves in that
On sale. The sale in the garment stores seems to be about you getting a discount or the store moving the inventory. But it's more about putting on a show. The sale is for these two weeks. You either buy and take advantage or you miss out. Things that are
Choices. There is your current life. And there is your ideal life. Between the two lie choices. Most people keep choosing what they have been choosing. And they keep getting what they have been getting. It's challenging to choose differently. To break the patterns. But one choice can lead
Google Maps. One view is the bird's eye view. Showing the way to where you seek to go. And the other is the ant's eye view. Showing what's next. If the ant keeps moving in the right direction, sooner or later, we reach our destination. Is
Something new. I started going to the gym two years ago. At the time, my health was a total mess - weight, blood markers, everything. The first day in the gym, I was completely lost. I didn't know what to do. I felt like everyone was looking at me. I
What do you do? "What do you do?" implies "Who are you?" and means "How do you earn money?" This entangles our identity with the way we earn money. This limits us in two ways. We lose our agency in choosing the most effective way to earn money.
Status games. Status games can only be played with other people, even though they might exist just in your head. These games are about comparison, about finding your position relative to the others. Status games take us away from our core, our values, and our yearning to bring the change we seek
Please adjust. When I was growing up, it was usual for people to ask you to adjust so that four could sit in a seat meant for three. It doesn't stop there, of course. You learn to adjust to your sibling's old clothes that don't fit
"But, I already..." "I want to do this thing. It makes the most sense for me. But I already..." This is what sunk costs sound like. Sunk costs aren't free. They cost something. It's in the name after all. The question is: Are you willing to pay
Billboards. Billboards don't cost you much, do they? You are driving, and they are just there. You can drive right past them. Each one, though, costs you some attention, maybe a tiny bit. It might also bring up some emotions and desires. That's what it is designed
Good, bad and ugly. If I only write when I know a blog will be good, I won't write anything. Bad allows me to write. And good slips in some of the time. And just like good, sometimes ugly may slip in. The fear of ugly stops us from creating something good.
What's next? At any point, there are only one to three things that would move your life or career forward. In most cases, there's only one next thing. But also, at any point, we are working on several other things - most of them distracting us from the ones that
What do you think? "What do you think?" is not a helpful question. It doesn't tell the person what you need. Are you looking for strategic insights, critical analysis, grammatical errors or something else? Seeking better feedback requires asking better questions. Some examples: * Can you share how this makes you
The Prisoner of Azkaban. In the third Harry Potter book, no one was surprised by magic the way they were in book one. It had become the background, the norm. The story weaved forward now with this reality. It doesn't take long for magic to become normal. The question that matters is
Too something. "If I do this, people will think that I am too (something)." The something could be loud, selfish, greedy, ambitious, boring, or any other negative quality that the mind may conjure. And as this thought comes up, we shrink ourselves, we rationalise, we stop being our Self. Over
When & where? We should definitely do this sometime. Sure! When and where? "When & where" transforms a vague idea into a project - something that's likely to happen. The how then takes care of itself. The constraints of when & where help give it shape. Adding a who
Anxiety-zero Inbox-zero is something most of us have heard of and aspire to. Few are able to reach there consistently. But what is anxiety-zero? Is it even possible to get there? And to stay there? Martha Beck teaches us some tools that can help us do that in her book Beyond
The decision before. There's a hierarchy of decisions at play when we are in the middle of any game, including the games that matter - our work, our relationships, our health. You might think the current decision determines where you go. But it's the decision before that led to
Strategy games. You collect gems at every turn. From those gems, you start building assets. You start with the smaller assets, and then they help you get the bigger ones. Most freelancers end up focusing only on collecting gems at every turn. The successful ones build assets. The 3 assets most relevant
