Is it prudent? Is it wise? Is it tactful? Yes, maybe, or no. Who cares? When in doubt, always choose the right thing because when we do what is right, there is always an element of good in the decision we have made–even the difficult decisions. You’re always right to do what’s right.
How to be more healthy
The Salerno School of Medicine is simple (if you are able to read Latin.) Si tibi deficiant medici, medici tibi fiant haec tria, mens laeta, requies, moderata diaeta.
In English: If you don’t have a physician, let these three things be your medicine, joyful mood, rest, and don’t eat much.
I prefer to live without a physician as much as I am able and these rules work well. Be happy, get good sleep, and eat as little as you must.
I don’t know if they’re right, but the principles align with what makes me feel good. Therefore, I concur.
Time to fire up the engine again
Since late 2018 I’ve written a post on my blog for six days a week and hardly ever did I miss a day.
I haven’t posted a blog here since the 14th of December and today is the 31st of January. I guess you could say things are going pretty well.
There has been a bit of a shift in the workload in my life since about September and coincidentally since then, I have been more inconsistent with my blog posts (and reading in my personal life) than ever before.
The hope is to break the seal and not establish a new habit of NOT writing. I want to re-establish my reading and writing habits and I can only start one day at a time.
I’m hoping for another solid five-year run of writing and (hopefully) improving my writing as well.
The artist and the politician
“Robust is when you care more about the few who like your work than the multitude who dislike it (artists); fragile when you care more about the few who dislike your work than the multitude who like it (politicians).”
Some personal goals
To have the ability to help a friend but the nobility to conceal it and have more and more friends as I get older, yet need them less and less.
Not “getting anything done”
When I feel like I am not getting anything done, I stop trying to get anything done. The reality is usually that I am just not happy with how much I still have on my to-do list. When I stop “trying to get stuff done” I still get a lot done, but I also tend to feel more accomplished.
The more sincere offer
I forget where I saw this or who said it, but check this out:
“The more abstract the offer, the more insincere the person. People who say "call me if you need anything" or something vague are trying to get rid of you. Those who offer something concrete, such as "call me if you need tickets for Saturday's," are genuinely trying to help.”
So, how can I help?
Good news
They say “No news is good news,” but did you know that good news is also good news? I’ll take the update if I can get one and I always appreciate hearing about how well things are going.
The secret to failure
Nobody knows the secret to success, but I know the secret to failure. It’s trying to please everybody. You can’t do everything even if you want to. Become an expert at one or two things and everything else can be a hobby.
Be easy to say “goodbye” to
If you want people to pick up the phone, be easy to say goodbye to. If you want people to respond to your emails, be prompt and don’t open obligations that they will need to be annoyed by.
How to make your brain work better
Your brain is never so brilliant as when you leave it alone and don’t tell it what to do. Think about a problem–but only long enough to plant a seed in your mind. Then go for a long walk or take a long shower. You’ll figure out the rest.
Smiling when it all goes wrong
It’s easy enough to be pleasant when life sings by like a song. But the man worthwhile is the man who can smile when everything goes bad and wrong.
Totally unbothered by the critics
Robinson Jeffers wrote a poem entitled, “Wise Men in Their Bad Hours” and the final stanza goes like this:
The mountains are dead stone, the people
Admire or hate their stature, their insolent quietness,
The mountains are not softened nor troubled
And a few dead men's thoughts have the same temper.
That’s right. The mountains do their duty and stand. They are totally unbothered by the critic. So, I believe, is a great man. Who goes about his business, not for influence or gain, but rather for the purity of doing good work.
When you do what you do for a reason deeper than how people view you, you gain an invincibility to the criticisms of those who would cast stones.
Yesterday you said tomorrow
This morning you said you’d get it done before the afternoon. Then you said you’d get it done before you went to bed. Yesterday you said you’d get it done tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s here and you’re ready to push it off again.
How many days can something live on my to-do list without actually getting done?
I’m beginning to think I don’t procrastinate
For years, I’ve assumed that my problems getting the things that I need to get done stems from a problem of procrastination.
Lately, however, I think I cripple myself with a kind of content consumption obsession. Well, that and multi-tasking.
When it comes to multi-tasking, I know that I have a hard time just committing an hour to one specific thing. I always believe deep down inside that I can squeeze a little extra in everywhere. More often than not, this leads me to get much less done than if I had simply done one thing at a time.
When it comes to content consumption, I know that I am much, much more productive when I sit quietly and work. Instead, I reach for a podcast, a YouTube video, a pen in my hand, and something always lingering in the background just ensuring that I’m never quite 100% focused.
These two problems consistently have me leaving things on my to-do list that should have been done right away. Right at this moment I have two tasks that have been on my to-do list since November 2nd. Each task will take about 30 minutes and there is absolutely no reason or excuse for them to still be hanging around.
Some days I feel like I understand myself and other days I am sure I make no sense at all.
(Also, I’m in a hurry right now so I am not proofreading this blog post. There’s my built-in excuse for anything that doesn’t make sense.)
Planned days are my most productive days
When I take 15 minutes at the beginning of the day, it saves me from hours of directionless wandering through work. Planned days are better days.
This is how you know you’re losing the argument
When you’re trying to make a point or defend your position and you find yourself complaining, blaming, or explaining, you’re losing ground–and probably the argument.
When you remain calm, display how you offer value, and confidently display your understanding, you’re winning.
Blaming and complaining almost always signal that something isn’t right. Understanding and confidence often signal that you’re headed in the right direction.
Procrastination
First, we procrastinate in the morning because we can get it done in the afternoon.
Then we procrastinate in the afternoon because we’re sure we’ll get it done in the evening.
But then we procrastinate in the evening because we can do it late at night or tomorrow morning.
And as you know, the next morning we simply restart the cycle.
Then the deadline looms, and we get stressed out, overworked, and irritated. We suffer the pain of regret that we didn’t just invest a few hours each day on the project. We could have had it done with just a little bit of work done each day.
Procrastination is stupid because we convince ourselves that the future us will feel different about the work than we do right now. The work never gets easier until we start doing it. Suffer the pain of working, or the pain of regret when you still have to do the work, but without the time to do it well or at a relaxed pace.
Why do we mistake confidence for competence?
Don’t let the smoke screens distract you. The opportunist will try to blind you and confuse you into making a decision quickly or without having your senses about yourself.
The opportunist is the guy who hands out baloney disguised as food for thought. He has confidence, but not competence.
Get started first and you don’t have to run as fast
Get up early and get started fast. I’ve never been much for getting up early because getting up early is no better than just getting your hours of effective work in each day–whether that is early or late.
However, if we get started first, we don’t have to run the fastest to win the race. Getting started first establishes you as competent, confident, and someone who others can rely on. Getting started first is valuable for this reason alone.
The way people perceive you is more important than nearly anything else about your relationship with customers, clients, and co-workers.