No one owes you anything. No one owes us anything. Or, if they do, it’s in our interest to act as if they don’t. ~ Seth Godin, The Practice When we choose to show up generously in the world, we are not playing a reciprocity game, a quid pro quo game. We are in
Doing their best. Everyone is trying to do their best, with what they have, the resources, the skills, and especially the story that they are telling themselves. What we can do is to do our best to change the story that helps us show up as our best selves. Working on your own
Systemic advantage. If you setup an autopay where $100 from your account goes into a compounding fund automatically, you will keep building an asset effortlessly. Most of our thinking is linear. Most of our training is linear. We study for an exam and then we forget what we studied. We work on
Elegant hustle. Elegant hustle is an oxymoron. Either you are aligned with an effortless strategy, or you are not. You can’t hustle your way into elegance. Elegance is simplicity, efficiency, and effectiveness. It’s not only a solution that gets a result. It’s arguably a better solution—the least complex
Games people play. People play different games, and some even play the same game with different rules. You can adapt and try to win their game, or you can choose whether it's a game worth playing and if there's a better game for you to play. It takes emotional
Does it fit the box? If you want to send something through Fedex, it has to fit into the Fedex box. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t ship, at least not through Fedex. We have our own boxes, our own perceptual maps. Our brain perceives only the sensations (stimuli) that we are programmed to
Systemic advantage. Systemic advantages compound. They get better over time, with every iteration. In contrast, linear systems stay as they are, irrespective of how much effort we put in them over time. Systemic advantage beats heroic effort over the long run, every time.
Emotional rest day. Exerting your body physically, in the gym or otherwise, without taking sufficient rest is counter-productive. There's not much debate about it. What about emotional labour, though? Emotional fatigue is more challenging to acknowledge even though we can feel the signs. If we want, we can push through our
The minimum viable action step. Something that can lead to the next version, the next iteration. Something that can be made better. Something that gets us from zero to one. The minimum viable action step takes us away from planning and perfectionism and puts us where we need to be to move forward.
Courage in many forms. Some days, courage would take the form of shipping stuff that scares you, of raising your hand, of doing what you didn't think you can do. And on some days, courage might be just to let go and to get through the day. The latter might be more
Who else will be there? That's what determines, for most of us, whether we will show up for the party or the conference or the meeting, especially when we have a choice. This also gives us agency as the impresario to design our projects with intention. People mostly seek affiliation and status more
See what you’ve never seen before. When was the last time you did something for the first time? HT to Rosamund Zander for the game in Pathways to Possibility that inspired the title for this blog.
The one decision. What is the one decision you need to make, the one that you don't want to? Every other decision, task or chore can seem important or urgent, but most likely, becomes a safe space to avoid that one decision that can move us forward. It would take courage
Without a strategy. Some journeys have their paths defined. You don't need a compass for them. You can simply do what the map says. But most of the work that matters doesn't have a map, doesn't have paths laid out, doesn't have a herd to
Later has no date. When we have to choose "now or later?", it's tempting to choose later. Somehow we feel that later will be better. But later is not specific enough. Is it tomorrow? next week? next year? Instead of hiding behind later, we can choose to put a date
At the last moment. If you keep doing things at the last moment, you would become quite good at doing things at the last moment. What you would not become good at is doing them the right way and especially at doing the right things. It's a choice we make. What do
Lady Macbeth's perfectionism. "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" ~ Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1 Perfectionism can seem innocuous: "It's just one more detail that I care about." But it can be a trap. Seeing the spots that only you can see. A better way to spend our
In the ring. Getting punched in the face is part of being in the ring. Boxers don't complain or crib about that. You always have a choice of getting out of the ring, of not going back, of being a spectator. Yes, you would not get punched. But you won'
Owning your best self. The one who stands up for something, the one who take risks, the one who makes assertions. The one who isn't afraid of offending someone, the one who isn't trying to pacify everyone, the one who isn't trying to play safe. It takes courage
Fort or playground? When we perceive threats around us, the nervous system brings up the defenses and builds a fort. And in some extreme cases, it even shoots at (or at least ignores) anything good that might show up. In such a scenario, creativity and love takes a backseat and we are completely
Who do you want on your side? When I was young, we played cricket on the roof (I miss that a lot). One thing we used to do is to select 2 captains and then each person would select one of the players to be on their team. Who do you select first? Who do you select
Saying no. To things that don't serve you. To people that don't align with your energy. To places that don't bring you joy. Saying no to these can help create spaces for the ones that do.
Strategy is hard. Tactics are easy. They let you off the hook if they don't work. And if they do, you can always take the credit for them. Strategy is hard. It's a game of patience, of letting things happen over time, of doing it with generosity and persistence.
Engaging with tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to come, whether we want it to or not. We can either invest our time and energy in getting through today or in making tomorrow better. The culture of hustling (working all the time), bingeing (streaming, food, alcohol) and isolation (social media) is designed to keep us
Without drama. You can show up where you need to show up, without drama. You can do what you can do, without drama. You can become what you seek to become, without drama. We ship our projects without drama. Because drama doesn't make our projects better. ~ Seth Godin
