Reducing ambiguity. That's the hard part. Making assertions, choosing. It might work. It might not. But you have to start somewhere. You have to pick something or someone. It's tempting to want someone else to do this for you, human or AI. But, emotional labour cannot be outsourced.
Without the mess. "Tell me what to do and I will do it." That rarely works. Especially for the things that matter. Projects are messy. Taking an idea, converting it into something meaningful, getting it out the door, everything is messy. There are no instructions. There is no procedure. The only
Speed without direction. It's natural to get off-track. Bad health, social complications, emotional heaviness, or any expected or unexpected situation can take us off our track. The thing with being off track is that we don't remember how we got there. And have no clue how to get back.
Anywhere and anytime. If you can workout anywhere and anytime, you are unlikely to workout anywhere or anytime. Having a space and time for things makes it likely that they'll happen, especially things that make our lives better. This is why "work from home" doesn't really work.
The gift of books. Martha Beck worked for 5 years to write, "Beyond Anxiety" in addition to the 30+ year career that enabled her to write it. She is going above and beyond to teach us to live a full-life beyond anxiety by holding our hand through the journey. Seth Godin wrote
The illusion of control. The desire to control outcomes creates anxiety. Especially outcomes we have little agency over. This doesn't change the outcomes, doesn't affect their likelihood, but it does make the time we spend during the entire process quite miserable. The alternate is to trust. To trust ourselves and
Being busy. Maintaining the status quo is a busy job. It's a cul-de-sac, a dead end. No matter what you do and how much you do, it's never done. Changing the status quo, on the other hand, is different. It requires intention and courage. It's about
Calm as a superpower. There are for sure going to be things that would ruffle your feathers. People behaving in ways that won't make sense. The rub of the green not going your way. Bureaucratic hassles, people driving wrong, things just not going right and whatnot. That's a given. What&
Fill your cup. There is no dearth of things to consume in the world, especially on the internet. There are posts, reels, Netflix documentaries, YouTube videos and what not. You can spend hours, if not days, watching stuff and you won't even scratch the surface. The challenge, though, is that most
Forward motion. Forward motion requires intention. To take a step in the right direction, no matter how small it is. A lot of distractions stand in the way. Most technology businesses are designed to do that. To make a profit from our time, energy and attention. Forward motion can become a habit.
Games without agency. Once you roll the dice, you have little agency over what the outcome's gonna be. However, you can get stuck, vying for a particular outcome, especially when you can't do much to affect it. That's a trap. And it takes your attention away from
Rushing the recovery. If your MacBook stops working and it would take 14 days to repair it, would you rush them and be happy with one that works only 80% of the time? Same with your car. You wouldn't want to rush its service and end up driving something that'
Go or no-go? Is the decision in front of you a go or no-go decision? Do you have a choice? If yes, decide without worrying about the how and when. Figure out if you can choose to not go ahead. Only once it's a go, work on the the logistics, the
Misaligned strategy. You are dependent on or engaging with systems that don't lead to where you seek to go. They create the illusion that you are in-charge and you are buying into the illusion. You are playing games you are not aware of or have little agency over. The games
Good decision, bad outcome. Let's say it looks like it's gonna rain. You decide to take your umbrella with you. And it doesn't end up raining. Did you make a bad decision? Should you not have carried the umbrella? Well, in this case, you might ask, "It
What's pulling you? There are tasks, events, people who you push yourself to go to. You convince, cajole, persuade yourself that it matters and that you can't skip. And in most cases, you come back saying "Never again". But what are the things that pull you? That you can&
Without The Beatles. "Yesterday" is one of my favorite songs from The Beatles. It's beautiful. I don't know how to feel that emotion better if that song isn't there. Four men got together in the 1960s, that's more than 55 years ago now.
Parts and whole. We all have parts. Some good ones. Some, we might feel, not so good ones. Some parts of us are afraid to be vulnerable. They might show up at times. But go back soon enough. Some parts try to protect us. They try their best. It's just that
Something worth looking forward to. Yes, there are challenges, and troubles along the way. Yes, there are distractions too. But the thing that keeps us going is something worth looking forward to. It might be a goal or an achievement. But, more importantly, it's the people who make our life worth living. Here&
Seen and heard. That's what we need mostly. To feel seen and heard. And that's what's rare. What we can do is to show up in a way to make others feel seen and heard. And when we do it, we will realise that we feel seen
Doing one thing really well. That's the key to great products and services. Focus on doing one thing really well. If you can't say clearly what that one thing is, you probably don't have one. Great books do the same. Atomic Habits is about... habits. This is Strategy teaches.
Without the asset. Assets make our lives better. They keep providing value over time. But mostly they become invisible. They can be tangible like a vehicle or an effective tool, but the most valuable assets are relationships and trust. And the people with whom we build them. Would you realise if the asset
False agency. People who go to casinos to win think they are making choices, but most of their choices have been designed by default by the setup. Same goes with social media apps, streaming apps and food companies. The most dangerous games are the ones where we feel we have agency but
What I wish I knew earlier. Some books and concepts I wish I knew earlier. And I am grateful that I do now. The Art of Possibility & The Pathways to Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Ben Zander - These books teach us how to engage with possibility, how to move away from a fixed
No floor under the feet. My swimming coach took me to the deep end of the pool today. There was no floor under my feet, at least where I can stand and breathe. It was scary. What I realized is that having the floor under my feet was actually stopping me from learning how to
