My Riffs

Humans seem to have some inherent belief that newer is always better. We often thing the way to fix something is to replace it or get something new. But that's not always the best. Newer often comes with unworked out defects and problems. Newer is often made from lesser materials. Newer is sometimes a lot worse. There have been many innovators in the past who were masters at refinement. Steve Jobs was hardly an inventor. He was an expert refiner. Sometimes it's better to refine what already is rather than replace with a net new system, product or anything else.

You can spend your life just living, basically just biding your time. Or... You can experience life. The first way is poor. The second way is rich. Life is meant to be experienced. Experience the ups and downs. Live in the moments. In the down times, feel the emotions and feel the pain. Bring it to yourself. In the good times, enjoy the fullness. Cry when it's time to cry. Laugh when it's time to laugh. Wring everything possible from every moment of life. There is so much richness in life if we reach out and bring life to us. Stop just biding time. Buy into life, fleece every moment (good or bad) for what's it's worth. There's so much to feel and to learn when you experience vs. live. Each moment has so much in it if we open up our senses and be aware. Experience life.

Most cities in continental North America are connected in some way by a road. That means the road you park your car on is actually connected to a city or place thousand of miles away. Getting to those destinations is a planned activity. There's a very low probability that if you drove aimlessly you would end up where you wanted to go. To end up where you want, there must be a strategy or plan. If you live in Seattle, you're not going to end up in Miami easily without some careful planning. In life we can't expect to end up somewhere without proper planning and work towards the specific destinations. Changes are we won't accidentally end up where we want. But it will be the result or work and planning. Be deliberate. Don't float along the river of life hoping it takes you where you want to go.

Not every loss is a complete loss. Sometimes things are lost in order to make room for a gain. Sometimes our lives and schedules are so full that there's no room for growth. We don't often chose loss, it's generally forced on us. Of course there's certain losses that are a loss and a hurt. But for a lot of losses, they make room for us to gain.

Remaining teachable is one of the greatest keys to continuing growth. So often you see people stagnate in their growth as they get older. It seems we come to a place in life where we feel like we have it figured out. Even if we don't actually think those exact words to ourselves, our behaviour bears this fact. The thing is, a lot of truth and knowledge is progressive. You learn little by little, and that should never end. Remaining teachable helps you stay viable in the business world, in relationships and in leadership. A childlike curiosity and willingness to learn may be the best trait in helping prevent stagnation.

The heartbeat of a movement is where the energy flows from. It's where the engine of the movement is. It's where the change agent is. Finding the heartbeat of a movement is important in understanding what's happening. The further you are removed from the heartbeat, the harder it is to understand what's happening. Heartbeats don't always happen at the centre. Sometimes the heart beat can be at the fringe.

The small things consume us, when the big things should be what is consuming us. We need to work on our filtering systems. Small things need to be strained out and big things left to work on. Small things matter; little decisions, doing the right thing, etc... But the small things that are insignificant are what occupy our resources too often, not allowing us to work on the big things. Some "small thing" examples: - What that person thinks of me - Keeping up someone else - Politics - Peer competition - Status

You never arrive somewhere with only one decision point. It takes a series of decisions to arrive at a destination. This includes both physical and metaphysical destinations. Not all decisions are weighted equally, but each one is important. If a decision is made to go somewhere, it still takes multiple decisions to get there. - Which route to take - When to start - How to start - Etc Each decision is important because each decision orients us in a direction for the next decision. An example being, if you make a decision to be kind to someone who possibly has mistreated you or you feel doesn't like you, the next time it comes time to make the decision again, you will already be oriented toward kindness and the decision will be easier. So every decision matters as they orient our feet in a direction. It's harder to made a decision that orients our feet in the opposite direction we are heading. So it's super important to make decisions, both big and small that orie...

Engagement is easy when something is being built that matters and will last. Engagement is difficult when building for the short term.  Engagement is one of the hardest things to quantify, it's more of a metric that has to be felt, not quantified. Engagement is one of the best metrics though in measuring the success of an organization, community or team.  The engagement metric can be loosely defined as the amount an individual is able to both contribute and receive, and the extent to which they are doing so. Someone would not be counted as engaging if they only receive. Yet an individual could not be counted as engaging if they are only giving. The fine balance between the two is where engagement measures best. When building for the long term, that balance between giving and receiving is oftentimes met. The giver is receiving the satisfaction in building something that may outlast them, or something that will at least stand for a long time.

Differences can make us stronger. There's magic to be had when you have a group of people operating in their diverse strengths. Finding people's strengths and allowing them to operate using them is key. Stifling people's strengths damages the unit as a whole. The wholes' strength is in the sum of each individuals parts. Let's celebrate our differences and not demand uniformity. Vision can unify a team made up of different parts. Unity doesn't equal uniformity. The strongest teams are made up of diverse teams united by a single vision.

A pivot point is place or point in time where you can make an adjustment in direction. It shouldn't have to be said, but obviously the ideal pivot is a pivot towards a better direction. Any point can be used as a pivot point. A bad event or situation can actually almost always be used as a pivot point. The bad things can be used for the good. A bad situation isn't a dead end, it's a potential pivot point. Take the situation and use it as a turning point.

The path forward is rarely well marked and obvious. Some things in life are clearly marked, but oftentimes knowing what next step to take is difficult. Sometimes the important thing is simply moving forward, rather than knowing where to go. The past is a weight, moving forward is the key.

The older we get the more stuff we tend to collect. There come times where we have to thin out our possessions and declutter. Spring cleaning is often a time where we get rid of a lot of this clutter. The same thing happens with non material things though, and we rarely declutter those things. The older we get the more clutter we carry: bitterness anger irritability grudges cynicism hatred on and on... The thing is, we can let these things go. There is no need to retain these items in our life. The weight lifted from decluttering these things from our life cannot compare to decluttering the material things. We carry these bad things and hold onto them as if they are the most precious things in our life. But they're hurting us and weighing us down. Declutter the unnecessary clutter from our beings and life will be so much better. Why live with this stuff when there is absolutely no need to do so.

In a given 24 hour time period, what percent of it do you control? Jobs and responsibilities dictate to us a lot of what our days consist of. Grabbing back as much of that time as possible though is a great goal. Grabbing the time back and using it for the more purposeful things in life. Using it for your long term goals. Using it for personal development. Claw back as much time everyday for investing in these types of things. The more of the day you control, the more of your future and destiny you control.

I wonder how our understanding would change if we dropped this one premise. Most people in most situations are coming from the point of view that "I'm right". What if we approached people, conversations and ideas from the premise of "maybe I'm wrong"? I think we would learn a whole lot more. I think we would have more friends. I think we would have more influence. I think we would be kinder and more loving. I think we would learn a whole lot more. Certainty is an obstruction to teachability. Teachability is a necessity to growth.

One of the most powerful things all humans are capable of is, decision. You get to decide who you are. You get to decide what you're gonna be. You get to decide what your values are. Certain things and circumstances influence us and our decisions for sure. Some prexisting circumstances work in our favour and some work against us. But we still get to decide. Good parents have bad kids. Bad parents have good kids. How you parent matters much, but your children still can decide who they want to be. This goes for anyone or any situation, not just parenting. You can befriend someone, but they get to decide what they do. You can give someone advice, but they get to decide what to do with it. Every decision matters. Make your next decision a good one.

Here's an interesting thought experiment.  Being as honest as you can with yourself... If you had your friends, colleagues and family write a one line summary of yourself, how would it read?

It's a problem, yes. But the problem isn't what's at the front. The heart of the matter is where the problem is. The immediate and visible problem is only the symptom. Protests, demonstrations, violence. These are all symptomatic. The heart of the issues must be found in order to address the visible and obvious problem. Ignore most of what you see when diagnosing the causation. Try and trace what you've seen back to its origin. That's the problem to address.

The person we lie to the most, by far, is ourself. These lies come in all forms. Lies about ourselves, lies about others, lies about the past, future or present. Learning to be honest with ourselves is one of the harder yet most  important things to do. Some lies we tell ourselves may include: - I don't have time for... - I can't do... - I really tried to understand that/them... - This is important... - I don't have a problem with... - I'm happy with... We often outright deny facts to ourselves. - This is good for me... - This is bad for me... - This will turn out good... - This won't hurt me... Self awareness and honesty to ourselves is so critically important to being healthy and developing  healthy. We cannot work hard enough on these things. If we would just stop telling lies to ourselves, it would open up so much room for improvement. When we lie to ourselves we are crippling our potential and development.

Every action has a preceding cause. We work to make money. We eat to have energy. We read to learn. And on and on. While the above examples are good reasons for action, if you can do something simply for the love of it, that will take you further and give you more passion than a rational reason. When we do something for the love of it, there is a passion that drives us to put our best into the action. And that's when you can really do something special.

Inspiration comes in waves. But its the down times of inspiration where true inspiration usually comes from. Without the lessons and experience in the down times, the inspiration in the up times wouldn't be there. Inspiration comes in waves, it's okay. Learning to ride the waves and use the down times to fuel the up times is what makes for a healthy balance.

Learning should be a lifelong quest, with no finish line. The more you learn and the more wisdom you are able to gather, the more you realize that you actually know less than you thought. Of course this requires honesty and humility. Learning can happen anytime, anyplace. It is not limited to one method. Here are a few ways we learn: - observation - reading - listening - asking questions - experience Each method has value, and each method has pros and cons. Experience may be the most valuable teacher, but it often is the costliest one. Observation would be the easiest and best method if one could choose. To be able to watch other people and situations and gain the same value in learning as you would through experience, would be nice. Sometimes though, you cannot replace experience. Each has it's place though. And it's the combination of all methods where real value is found. They work together, and work best when complimented by each other. Read about somethin...

Good things don't happen without some "bad" beforehand. A flower first is a seed buried in mud, drowned with water. Then it blossoms to a beautiful flower. Gold is burned at extremely high temperatures to refine it. Being in shapes requires some really hard work and discipline that isn't always a lot of fun. Becoming good at your craft or vocation requires a whole lot of boring, tedious work and overcoming discouragement and many other obstacles. So when it's the season of "bad" know you're sowing and cultivating  the seed of the rewards of coming season.

Everything matters. Including the stuff that doesn't matter. Because the stuff that doesn't matter, matters enough that it ought to be ignored or removed. Things that don't matter, don't exist. If it exists, it matters to someone or something. But maybe not you. So learn to extricate yourself from the stuff that doesn't matter to you.

One of the most difficult things in life is seeing ourselves from the outside in. Seeing ourselves how others see us. We see certain things from the inside, but miss a whole lot that others see from the outside. One of the most important characteristics we can work on is self awareness. Self awareness is a life long learning and development process. It requires escalating levels of honesty and maturity. Self awareness allows someone to assess their strengths and weakenesses honestly. This opens up so many avenues of improvement and growth. It helps us be better people and gives us the ability to help others more. Starting today, work on self awareness. It's an investment that pays some of the very highest dividends.

When it comes to finite resources you can only be more efficient with them, you cannot obtain more of them. Time isn't something you can obtain more of. You can free up more time, but you can't purchase a bigger block of it. The trick with finite resources (time, fossil fuels) is to maximize their efficiency. The good thing about time is, there's lots of ways to maximize efficiency.

The rich will buy stuff simply to feed their ego. But the poor can be just as guilty of feeding their ego. Speaking and trying to appear "smart" in order to feed the ego is the same thing, just a different way of getting there. What if we dropped the ego? I think it would benefit both ourselves and those connected to us. Remain teachable. You don't have it all figured out, and you never will. Remain genuinely humble. There's always someone doing better and someone doing worse than you. Remain a servant. Live for others, not to build your empire, bank account or status. The ego drives us to selfish behaviour that harms us and any community we're part of.

The grind can grind you down to completely nothing. Getting out and above the grind is something everyone would like to do. The way to get there isn't set, but it's possible. A series of choices, hard work, and most importantly a good attitude and larger goals will get you there. Choices: choosing a different path then the daily grind is the first step. Choosing to take control of you destiny is next. Hard work: working hard is necessary to rising above the grind. It's not always about working harder than someone else, but it is more working as hard as you can and should. To live up to what you're capable of. Good attitude: one of the most under rated traits is attitude. Attitude will get you further than talents and skills. Attitude separates you from everyone else. Your attitude will make or break you. Larger goals: if you goal is to get a pay cheque, that's all you'll ever do. If you goals are much larger than making a paycheque, you will work tow...