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Category: Thinking Clearly

Honor System

Published on January 26, 2024

When I play pickup basketball, there are no refs. Which means the rules are enforced based on the honor system and are all up for debate.

This creates a type of character reveal environment.

When you’re driving to the rim and get whacked a few times by a defender and they don’t call a foul—you remember that.

When you see clearly who the ball went out of bounds by and see them clearly argue against it—you remember that.

When you’re trying to get open for a play, but get inconspicuously held, tripped, or otherwise played dirty—you remember that.

Worth mentioning here that in some situations, it actually makes sense to foul.

The point I want to make isn’t about the fouling per se—you can strategically and respectfully foul—it’s about the character reveal.

One of the guys I play with happens to be a real estate agent.

…Who also happens to be one of the most honest, clean players on the court. Even in situations where it’s unclear who’s at fault—he’ll take blame without hesitation.

And while this might not lead to more immediate points for his team… guess what it does lead to?

Trust in who he is as a person.

And if/when I’m looking to buy a house—guess who I’m going to remember as being an honest/ clean playing guy who also happens to sell houses?

That guy.

…Don’t miss the forest for the trees.

Sometimes we fight so hard to win the immediate game that we forget about the grander game being played.

P.s. Today is the 4 year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death. Remember some of his legacy here.

Out Of Infinity

Published on January 19, 2024

There are, quite literally, an infinite number of decisions you could have made in this moment… and yet, you made this one.

One out of infinity.

Overwhelming when you try and visualize the scale.

Freeing when you realize you might not be as stuck as you’ve made yourself out to be.

Inner Work Prompt: We do what we do because of everything we’ve done. And most of what we’ve done has been because of our environments, upbringings, and various conditioning. Imagine, however, that in this next moment you got amnesia and forget everything you’ve ever learned and come to know… Which path might this “reborn” you pick (out of infinity)?

Snow Day Creativity

Published on January 17, 2024

Today, the martial arts school I teach at closed due to weather.

In the spirit of creativity and resilience, we created a Martial Arts Snow Day Scavenger Hunt for the students to do at home with their families.

We’re quite proud of the idea and expect it to lead to some great memories.

The weather might be outside of our control and it may even ruin our plans… but, nothing is stopping us from controlling what’s inside of our control and unleashing the full creativity of our minds at the obstacles in our way.

After all, the obstacles are the way.

Inner Work Prompt: What’s a creative solution you came up with that solved a problem caused by forces outside of your control? What’s a creative solution to a problem you’re currently facing that’s caused by forces outside of your control?

Unread Emails

Published on January 11, 2024

I don’t know about you, but I have a ton of unread emails.

Mostly from blogs and people I subscribe to who send valuable, but non-urgent messages.

My current system is to read and reply to the urgent first, then start making my way down the non-urgent from newest to oldest.

This process has left me hovering between 800-1,000 non-urgent unread messages for what feels like years.

This week, however, I started a new process.

Instead of reading emails from the top of my inbox down… I’ve been sorting my inbox based on person or blog and reading all of the emails sent by them first… before going to the next person or blog and so on.

For example, this past week I read through all of my unread Daily Stoic emails and now I’m making my way down all of my unread Seth Godin emails.

This has been significantly more efficient because I don’t have to keep voice/tone/context changing as I read various messages from various people who are all writing in various different ways.

I can keep the same voice/tone/and context in mind and blast through a whole series of emails with much better retention and much less mental fatigue.

It’s like reading 20 pages of one book versus reading one page of 20 different books. The difference is remarkable.

Would recommend.

P.s. Know someone who might enjoy getting these emails? This is me kindly asking if you’d forward an email you liked to a person who you think would like it, too. Thanks :)

Trust What Keeps Bubbling Up

Published on January 9, 2024

I try to write ideas down as they occur to me so I don’t forget them.

When I have a bunch of ideas oriented around the same topic, I’ll purposefully back-burner them all and let them simmer.

…Which is exactly what I did when I was trying to pick my focused goals for 2024.

A good signal that an idea might be worth pursuing—above the others competing for your time and attention—is you can’t seem to get it out of your head.

…It keeps resurfacing on walks, during commutes, in the shower, inside conversation, and even while you dream—in an unprompted fashion.

This is a sign that shouldn’t be ignored.

Not even if your conscious mind has more rational ideas about how you should act on your ideas. Because what it means is that your unconscious mind has picked.

And there’s a depth of understanding and insight that the unconscious mind references that the conscious mind only gets to touch—it’s the drop in the ocean vs the ocean itself.

And it would be wise to trust—and at the very least consider—what that deep wisdom is saying.

P.s. Dreams are NOT arbitrary. Dreams are a primary means of communication. Not convinced? Read this.

Happy Birthday, Ma

Published on January 8, 2024

Today is my mom’s birthday.

And one of my favorite lessons I’ve learned from her is that we humans age like fine wine (she loves a regular glass of red wine so as cliché as it is, it felt too appropriate).

We don’t get worse with age… we get better.

We don’t move away from our prime… we continue to grow as our definition of “prime” grows.

We don’t lose parts of ourselves as we age… we gain deeper understanding of ourselves with each reflected upon experience.

We don’t attach to some pinnacle point in our past… we keep our bags packed light and look towards our next mountain as we continue our climb.

A new decade or a new year isn’t something to be feared… it’s something to be celebrated.

There is no number of trips around the sun that’ll suddenly make you “old,” only stories you can tell yourself that’ll either cause atrophy or spark new growth.

…And there’s always a story you can tell yourself that’ll spark new growth.

Especially when today marks the milestone day when you are the wisest and most self-aware you have ever been in your entire life.

…Which, I’d say, is a cause for celebration, indeed.

P.s. We watched Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019) yesterday as part of our celebration and all thought it was really great. Would recommend.

Personal Growth via Annoying Tasks

Published on January 7, 2024

What’s one chore you find yourself doing more than any other chore?

  • Laundry?
  • Dishes?
  • Landscaping?

What if I told you that inside of this mundane, annoying, hair-pulling chore lies one of your greatest personal growth opportunities?

What if, instead of feeling dread and resentment towards this unavoidable, time-consuming task… you found a way to integrate a task you’ve been wanting/meaning to do, but never seem to have the time to do?

  • What if laundry time suddenly became audiobook time?
  • What if dishes suddenly became meditative time?
  • What if landscaping suddenly became podcast time?

Suddenly… you just made personal growth one of your most time consuming tasks via one of your most time consuming “hair-pulling” tasks.

You might not be able to change what tasks you need to get done to keep your world spinning… but you can always change your approach to these tasks.

Life is too short to spend so much time daily in resentment and annoyance. And you only have so much hair to pull before you go bald. Might as well find ways to align life tasks and change your mind about what you can. Especially if the alternative is awful… what’s there to lose?

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