This is another in a series of reflections on the content of my favorite podcast of 2021: episode 110 of The Knowledge Project with Jim Collins. You need to decide: what is your opening bid when you are establishing a relationship with someone, when you are interacting with the world. Is your opening bid to assume trust? To assume that someone is trust-worthy and to grant them the full benefits of that? … Um, no? I really cannot think of an instance when I have trusted someone. Many people in the world are jerks. Even more are inconsiderate. A ridiculously percentage of us are horribly irrational. To start with an opening bid of trust, in spite of such considerations, is itself irrational. … Or is your opening bid to not trust, but the the trust can be earned? So many aspects of your life will be affected by which fork […]
This is another in a series of reflections on the content of my favorite podcast of 2021: episode 110 of The Knowledge Project with Jim Collins. A really great relationship is one where, if you ask each person independently who benefits more from the relationship, they would each say, “Well, I do.” … the reason that both people can answer that way is because both people are putting into the relationship not for what they are going to get from it but for what they can give to it. And because both people are doing that, both people would feel that they are the ones who are the ultimate beneficiary because of how much the other person gives. A great relationship isn’t measured in time or money spent. Nor can it be measured in Likes or engagement. It may include such things, but is never about such things. Relationships are […]
Social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) encourages everyone to build and show a model home. The houses look pretty on the outside and the grounds are well groomed. The insides are adorned with frames on the walls and have lovely furnishings with flowers on the table. And while they are wonderful to show, if you look closely you’ll see that the grass isn’t rooted, the pictures are lack connection, the furniture is uncomfortable, and even the flowers are fake. No one lives in a model home.
This is one of a series of reflections on the content of my favorite podcast of 2021: episode 110 of The Knowledge Project with Jim Collins. People break into 2 buckets. There are those that come at life as a series of transactions and there are people that come at life as building relationships … the only way to have a great life – you can have a successful life doing transactions – the only way to have a really great life is on the relationship side … In the end it is [all about] really deep relationships and doing things that you love with people you love (and those connections). I don’t know that this is true, but it feels like it is. I have written before of my ethical/philosophical struggles with social media/surveillance capitalism and my unsuccessful means of maintaining meaningful connections with people outside of it. The […]
In the wake of failure, avoid asking yourself if you did what you should have. Instead, ask yourself what else you could have done. The former breeds stagnation. The latter catalyzes humility, creativity, and growth. It doesn’t guarantee your success, but you’ll never fail the same way twice.
“We need to keep firmly in mind that everything we value and the people we love will someday be lost to us. If nothing else, our own death will deprive us of them … There will be – or has been! – a last time in your life that you brush your teeth, cut your hair, drive a car, mow the lawn, or play hopscotch. There will be a last time you hear the sound of snow falling, watch the moon rise, smell popcorn, feel the warmth of a child falling asleep in your arms, or make love. … If we thought that we could repeat them at will, a meal at a favorite restaurant or a kiss shared with our lover might have been unremarkable. But if we know that they cannot be repeated, they will likely become extraordinary events: The meal will be the best we ever had […]
“…this prompts me to marvel at our madness in cleaving with great affection to such a fleeting thing as the body, and in fearing lest some day we may die, when every instant means the death of our previous condition. Will you not stop fearing lest that may happen once which really happens every day?” Seneca I love this quote, which takes aim at the irrational fear of death that most people (myself included) experience. By bringing to our attention that every instant that we live necessarily brings with it the death of our previous condition, Seneca was able to strike on something over 2000 years ago that has only been further validated by science in more modern times. This is incredibly profound, and (of course) fits nicely with my own biases. It seems that most people appreciate that their middle-aged self is not the “same” person as their 20-year-old […]
I keep saying that I am going to do things differently, but I rarely do. I started running again this early summer, then quit when I developed symptoms related to a neuroma. I have started a diet on a few occasions in the last few months, but it never sticks. At best I am ambivalent. At worst, depressed. I don’t know and – frankly – it probably doesn’t matter. Of course, my saying so probably resolves some of the ambiguity surrounding my inability to enact any degree of sustainable change. There has been a myriad of excuses, but none of them carry any legitimacy. I do know what sustains me, and this – whatever THIS is – ain’t doing it. So, I gotta do something. I have been revisiting some philosophy again – listening to Stoic Meditations nearly every day and contemplating more purposefully not so much about what I want […]
I woke up at 0300 this morning and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I laid in bed at 0500 hemming and hawing about getting out with the camera. And although the sunrise forecast was weak, I could see a few breaks in the clouds, so I made a last minute decision to head out, nonetheless. Looking at the ephemeris, it seemed that the most accessible place to go and maybe capture a meaningful image was at the western shore of Oneida Lake, so I went to Oneida Shores. Let me tell you, it was windy. When I arrived, I only had 10-15 minutes to photograph. I immediately recognized that I wanted to use a portrait orientation so that I could include the varied clouds and colors in the sky. But the water was rough and I couldn’t figure out what to do with the foreground until I elected to wait […]