The allure of waiting. Waiting for things to get better, waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for someone to show up and magically solve the problems. If we are choosing to wait, we should be clear about what exactly are we waiting for and why waiting is a better option than acting now.
A chocolate shared... ...is worth much more than one eaten alone. And, it takes initiative to buy one and share it with someone. We all have the capability of making things better, sometimes by making better things, and sometimes by doing small things that make everything better. We get to do it. We
Are you paying attention? Attention is a currency. It's a currency that determines where our other currency go: time, energy, and of course, money. There is opportunity cost related to where we spend our attention. We can choose to be intentional with it.
Newton's first law. Newton's first law states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force. This tendency to resist changes in a state of motion is inertia. Change requires an external
Finding your centre. It won't happen by thinking. It won't happen with analysis. It won't happen by seeking advice. It happens when we act. Not big audacious actions, but small micro action steps in the right direction. It happens when we put ourselves in the uncomfortable position
Creating the conditions for intentional action... Here are the things that help me. You can find alternatives that work for you. 1. Use a visual timer. Either use the Clock app or use the Time Timer app. Better still, buy a physical analog timer. Your focus is significantly different when you have a visual timer in
Systems and gravity. Gravity makes the planets go round the sun. What’s the gravity that’s making you go round? What’s the gravity that you can create? HT to Seth Godin for teaching us about systems and gravity in purple.space
Uncomfortable beginnings... When we start something new, especially something that we want to do or something that would make our lives better, the beginnings are more or less uncomfortable. When you start a diet, you may gain a kg or two in the first couple of weeks. When you start reading, you
Things that won't take care of themselves. Your career. Your physical and mental health. Your relationships. Your community and connections. Your learning and growth. Unless we build a system, unless we put ourselves on the hook, unless we start finding incremental actions that help us grow, we would find ourselves at a distressing level for any of
Fear is a symptom... It's a symptom that we are doing something that can change things, that can make things better. It's a symptom that we are creating tension, we are initiating something that people might not have been expecting us to, that we are upending the order of the
Letting emotions drive... We don't, for the most part, create our emotions with intent. They happen to us as a consequence of our actions and our interactions with the world around us. If we let our emotions drive our actions, it becomes a feedback loop that can take our agency away.
Thinking and feeling... Thinking and feeling don't take us too far. Both are fleeting in nature. Writing on the other hand is more tangible, more resilient, more transparent. And even powerful is action, especially repeated action. Instead of Descartes' "I think therefore I am", as creatives we can
One day at a time. Resistance beats us one day at a time. It tells us that we can start working out tomorrow, we can start writing our book tomorrow, we can start eating healthier tomorrow, we can start doing whatever we want to do... tomorrow. The catch is that it will tell us the
Without getting wet. You can't swim without getting wet. You can't do boxing without getting punched. You can't lead without making mistakes. These are part of the conditions that allow us to create the change we seek to make. We can't make do without them.
Processing the emotions. It feels like a smart thing to move forward from a distressing situation or engagement and try to act as if nothing really happened. Sometimes, it's even called being "professional". But when we do that, when we leave our emotions unprocessed, they compound and make things
Do the work. Yes, you can make plans, big and small. Yes, you can have discussions and deliberations. But, nothing matters until you sit down and do the work. There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part
Simple solutions. Would eating something healthy make you feel better? Or maybe, you just need some more sleep. We sometimes tend to give into existential dilemma when the answer may be much more simple.
People who give us energy... ...and warmth and connection and belonging are a gift. A simple "Hi!" with a warm smile can make someone's day. We can be the gift. We can choose to be.
From change to status quo. There is a period of emotional turbulence that accompanies change. From the time of initiation to action and finally to getting used to it. Once we get used to the change, it becomes the new status quo. Until the next change arrives.
Finite is doable. It's easier and tempting to daydream, to think of a hundred things you want to do, and a hundred things you want to achieve. It even feels great thinking about how you'd feel once you achieve them. But, the more vague and large we make the
The generosity of contribution. The calculating self is concerned only with itself. It wants the certainty of outcome, the guarantee of results. It engages with the process only because of the results the process promises. But the process doesn't make any promises. In contrast, the central self only wants to contribute. It
What do you do? The industrial economy makes it easy. You can say, "I am a designer at Google" or "I am an investment banker" and the problem is solved, and the tension is relieved. Rather, there was no tension to begin with. But, when you do work that matters,
Moderate solutions. Emotions can make it tempting to jump to extreme solutions when faced with a problem. And they can create a sense of false urgency too. But, if we learn to separate the emotions from the actions, we can find that there may be other, more moderate, ways in which the
A few bad blogs. Write a few bad blogs. Let yourself do that. Let your fingers move on the keyboard. You don't need to publish them. You can even delete them. But, the more you are okay with writing bad ones, the more you will write and the more good ones you
On your side. We all have the voice of resistance inside our heads pushing against us, leading to self-sabotage, making us beat ourselves up over things that don't even matter. That voice may or may not have been made more powerful by others who add to the self-doubt and fear. But,
