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The full collection of explorations.

Seasons of Optimal

Published on May 5, 2023

I obsess over finding ways to do things optimally. If there’s a way to save even a pinch of time, energy, or money… I want to know about it and I want to make it a part of my lifestyle asap.

Because of this obsession, I have a very redundant typical day. I have optimal:

  • Sleep and wake times
  • Chore and personal care days
  • Workout strategies and regimes
  • Eating windows and food choices
  • Work flows and compartmentalized work times

…If there aren’t any extenuating circumstances or unique variables in the day, I could very well live the same day, day-in and day-out without missing a beat. And I would be totally fine with it because in my mind, I’m doing things in an optimal way… why change things to a less than optimal way?

…Here’s the catch.

It isn’t very long until an extenuating circumstance intervenes or a unique variable interrupts.

These past several weeks in particular have thrown my normal, redundant schedule for a loop. I’ve travelled to California and Pittsburgh; attended Martial Arts tournaments and music festivals; slept in cars, at friend’s houses, and in hotel rooms; etc…

Optimal exits the conversation real quick under circumstances like these.

And what I’ve had to remind myself these past few weeks is that optimal doesn’t have to be defined within the confines of one day. Optimal can be defined within the context of seasons.

Some days you reap; some days you sow…

Some days you produce; some days you recharge…

Some days you get it all done optimally; some days you’re better off optimizing for one thing in particular based on the season you’re in… like sow, recharge, or rest.

W-O-R-T-H

Published on May 4, 2023

Today, while typing a quote to be uploaded to MoveMe Quotes, my eyes saw “W-O-R-T-H” and my fingers typed “W-O-R-K.”

Normally, typos are no big deal and are fixed just as fast as they’re made—but, this typo hit different. It almost felt like a message being sent.

For context, I can type fast—about as fast as I can read when I’m uploaded quotes from books or other sources. Which means typing is largely an unconscious task for me. I don’t have to think about where the “K” key is or the “T” and “H” keys are… my fingers just know after having punched them a bajillion times.

Which makes me think… did my subconscious take momentary control over my fingers to illustrate a point reminding me not to tie my worth too intimately to my work? Was it a signal that I’ve been devoting too much time to my work endeavors and that I needed to do other things that fulfill my feelings of worth as a person?

…Or was it just a stupid typo and I’m overthinking this whole thing?

I digress.

P.s. For those who aren’t aware of the insightful depth and/or communication methods of the subconscious, read this.

Messy, Mistaken, Odd

Published on May 3, 2023

Very few forms of social media give us the feeling of being more connected.

In fact, most social media use tends to have the opposite effect—it makes us feel more socially isolated.

And if I had to speculate, I’d say it’s because what most of us are optimizing for on social media is popularity—posts that get the most “likes,” comments, saves, etc.

But, optimizing for popularity doesn’t bring you closer to individual people. Just like trying to be liked by everyone is a great strategy to not be particularly liked by anyone. Lack of connection isn’t a byproduct of a lack of breadth of connections… it’s the result of the lack of depth.

In other words, what we’re missing isn’t popularity signals—we’re missing deep conversation opportunities.

If I think back to my school days, nobody wanted to be unpopular, but neither was anybody managing their social appearance profiles full-time behind a screen. When you take the screens away, people don’t get to edit themselves—they simply present who they are in real time. No filters, no perfect angles or lighting, no refined and uncharacteristically profound language.

Just people being their imperfect selves who are all figuring it out as they go.

This is what’s missing.

And if you’re feeling lonely, might I recommend a healthy decrease in screen time and a healthy increase in reality time. Allow yourself to be messy, mistaken, and odd. You might turn away the “clean,” “correct,” “popular” ones. But, the other messy, mistaken, and odd ones will find you and be so damn happy you showed up as you did.

P.s. Have you ever been on this kind of blind date?

Never Done

Published on May 2, 2023

There’s always something that can be improved.

Which means there’s never going to be a time when the work will be “done.”

Understand this and remember to do just what you can today. And when you’ve done what you can within the confines of your allotted time for work that day—and this is the important part—leave the rest for tomorrow.

Go home, rest, invest time with friends and family, decompress, explore hobbies, and create art… go and do what you need to do so you can return to work the next day recharged and ready.

Better that than trying to fix it all immediately and having nothing left give the next day—especially when there are countless days of work yet ahead.

From Eyes To Soul

Published on May 1, 2023

What’s further: the length from Earth to Moon or the length from eyes to soul?

Something inside me says that the length from eyes to soul is infinitely further.

It feels to me to be boundless, filled with a lifetime of experiences known and yet to be discovered that is only continuing to expand outward with each passing moment we’re alive.

And yet, in a world packed with and overly focused on commodities, the eyes of another can be mistaken as such—just another object blended into the world of things that lie outside of ourselves that has no depth beyond what’s immediately seen.

But, the same depth that’s inherently known to be buried behind our own eyes exists in the hidden space behind the eyes of every other, too.

Realizing this, we might begin to explore that space a little differently. Rather than quick glances and convenient redundant conversations—we might look into the eyes of another as an opportunity for other-worldly exploration.

…Because that’s exactly what it is when we commit fully to exploring that great beyond.

We are far more deep than we portray each other to be.

Get Some Rest

Published on April 30, 2023

It’s amazing how seamless doom scrolling is for me when I’m tired.

I’m sitting here trying to catch up on work after a long weekend and it’s like… I can’t help but scratch every damn itch for distraction that peeps into my mind. It’s as if the self-discipline and focus has been drained right out of me. And auto-play videos? Forget it. It isn’t until the stupid things end that I realize they had my full and undivided attention the whole time they played. I was shook how long it took me to get out of that hole and finish the work I had at hand.

Don’t get it twisted: Being well rested is top tier productivity advice.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

More Important Than Winning

Published on April 29, 2023

What’s more important than winning?

  • Honor (cheating to win isn’t a win).
  • Learning (winning and not learning isn’t a win).
  • Respect (rubbing a win in somebody’s face isn’t a win).
  • Grace (If a win doesn’t make you more grateful, more humble, more giving, more kind, more elegant etc.—it isn’t a win).
  • Connection (none of us wins alone—every win is a team effort in some way. Winning without a deepened connection to those who helped us win, isn’t a win).

I have seen many competitors get 1st place who definitely did not win.

And I have seen many competitors get last place who, in every respect, most certainly won.

Be careful how you define winning and success in life—it’ll end up defining your identity and journey in life.