My Riffs

Steps to chaos: 1. Lack of vision 2. Confusion 3. Division Steps to order: 1. Vision 2. Clarity 3. Unity

In your career you can specialize in something or generalize in multiple different things. It's a tough decision to make. Specializing done right will often pay much better, and can be less work. The downside is finding the specialty market. If you can't find the market and capitalize on it, you may end up having to switch your focus. Or if the market in your specialty changes or takes an economic hit you are left with fewer possibilities. Generalizing done right opens up many more doors and allows you to cover different markets/focuses. The downside is because you're not a specialist in any one area, you likely won't make as much in any given area. If a certain market you're competent in becomes particularly hot, you will not be able to take full advantage of it. The specialists will be able to though. Can you do both? Sort of, but you likely won't become a specialist in the area you're trying to specialize in. One option to specialize in an area ...

Helping other people is simply one of the most fulfilling and rewarding things one can do. In order to hep others, you have to be in a healthy enough state yourself. Thus, it is super important to take care of ones self. Healthiness should lead to reproduction. You cannot help/produce/develop others when you are unhealthy. A sure sign of healthiness is when there is that development happening. There should be no shame in tending to yourself. Investing in yourself. Helping yourself to the point where you can do the same for others. The reward isn't in doing it for yourself, the reward is making yourself healthy enough to where you can reach out and help others.

Maybe one of the very best universal metrics is engagement. It's naturally one of the most difficult metrics though. Engagement isn't always quantifiable. It's not often tangible. But it's super important. Teachers, marketers, leaders, parents. If we could easily access the engagement metric, we could be so much more effective. The engagement metric is usually pieced together from various clues. Body language, retention, buy in, attitude and etc. Very difficult to get accurate measurements, but when you can engament can provide invaluable insights.

Tell someone to do something. Ask something to do something. Two vastly different things with vastly different outcomes.

Words have moved people to start many great adventures and many great endeavours. Words have derailed many great adventures and endeavours too. Words have also incited much violence and even wars. Words have calmed disputes and stopped wars. Words have built. Words have destroyed. Words have caused children to become crippled adults. Words have caused crippled children to become healthy adults. Words leave wounds that can last much longer than physical wounds. Words can provide strength stronger than any physical strength. The words I speak today can change my world, the world or someone else's world. Watching what we say, being intentional with what we say can make the difference for ourselves or many others, today. What we speak today will shape our or someone else's future. Shape your own and others future's with love and respect. Almost any difficult words can be spoken with love and respect and shape a positive outcome.

Generally how you approach something determines your end result. If you go into something negative, changes are very very high you will leave it feeling negative. If you go into something with a positive approach, changes are again very high you will leave it with a positive feeling. We can learn to approach even seeming negative situations with a positive attitude. That way when the negative experience is behind us, there is still a positive silver lining to it. It's rare in life for something to be 100% good or 100% bad. In almost every "good" thing, there's some downside and in every "bad" thing there is some positive upside. Sometimes we just have to look harder for the positive. So how you approach something almost always determines what you get from it.

You only know what you know... Obvious right? This means there is much we don't know. And it means there are things we don't even realize we don't know. Our thinking is based off of what we already know. It's impossible to form our thoughts around what we don't already know. The brain used past experiences and knowledge to form opinions and thoughts around what we see. So all of our judgement is based off of past experience and knowledge. But we can't know everything. So at times our judgement and knowledge will fail us. That's why is so important to keep learning. And to have a wide knowledge base. We can more accurately judge the present and possibly predict the future with a wider knowledge base. We only know what we know, and what we know is limited. So constantly expanding that and also keeping in mind that we still have lot's to learn will allow us to make better judgements and map our world better. Gain knowledge, and make sure the kno...

Mistake's happen. We are imperfect and make mistakes of varying degrees as part of life. Mistakes aren't categorically bad though. It's the recovery from the mistakes that can make the mistake good or bad. In general owning the mistake is what makes it good. Denying or ignoring the mistake is what makes it bad. Mistakes are teachers, if we're willing to listen and learn. Mistakes are opportunities, if we're willing to take advantage of them.

The past is something. It's something that you have to deal with in some way. You can ignore it (which is in fact doing something) You can repeat it. You can disregard it. You can live in it. But maybe the best way to handle the past though is to honour it but not live in it. Brian White of Disney (a company with a storied history) has said the is how he views the history Disney has. ( Full article here ) Living in the past isn't the best option. But disregarding or ignoring it isn't the right thing either. The past cost people something. Ignoring their work and investment is a huge mistake. But living in that is a mistake too. The balance seems to be honouring the past, but not to live in it as White suggests.

"Never assume the obvious is true" - William Safire The obvious is the surface of the ocean. It may sometimes provide some clue's as to what's happening below the surface, but by percentage it provides almost no information about what's happening below the surface. It's beneath the obvious/surface where the depths of knowledge are. It's beneath the obvious where the important data resides. "To date, we have explored less than five percent of the ocean. Much remains to be learned from exploring the mysteries of the deep." (click text for link to source) We judge and make many assumptions based on the obvious. But the obvious only takes into account what I think I've seen. It takes almost nothing of intention into account. It may take nothing about context or history into account. The obvious is only a snap shot. Snapshots provide little information. Mining the depths beyond assumption or obvious is where the value is. That's where the tr...

The balance is what can be withdrawn. In life there is no overdraft. You can only get out of something what's been out into it. We can't expect much out of relationships or things we're involved in without prior investment. We can often receive the benefits of others deposits, but there comes a point it's time to make your own investments if you want to continue making withdrawals. You get out what you put it, and maybe with some interest. When we expect good returns on weak investments were setting ourselves up for failure. Other times we invest in one area and get rewarded in another entirely different area. Life investments don't always reward in the exact same area they're invested in. You get out what you put in. When we try and go into overdraft is where there's problems.

The thing about trying to get rid of problems is, it's not possible. You cannot trade a problem for a non-problem. You can only trade problems for other problems. So deciding which problem(s) you want is really the only decision. If we learned to accept the fact that we will always have problems, it would help relieve the frustration of dealing with problems. If we would remember that once we solve one problem, another will pop up, we will be less anxious about the current problem. Life is about problem solving, it keeps us engaged. It teaches us. It guides us. So rather than trying to unload your current set of problems, evaluate whether it's worth trading your current problem set for another entirely new and different problem set.

We often mistake our identity. We identify as a dentist, or a electrician, or computer programmer, etc. The mistake is finding identity in our vocation. Vocations change and we run the risk of losing our identity when those changes occur. You can change careers, roles or status, but that doesn't change who you are. You identity should be separate from you vocation or roles. Your identity is who you are, not what you do. People often search in the wrong places to find identity. Job, friends, material possessions, money... Your identity is who you are though. Those other things may shape who you are, but they are not the identifying factors. If you use those wrong things to find your identity, you will likely have a more shallow existence and are subject to bigger disappointments and likely are less able to handle change. When you know your identity change isn't as difficult. When you know your identity, you can be better in your various roles, not the other way around....

Breath, health, family, friends, food, shelter, clothing, modern conveniences like water, plumbing... These things are generally taken for granted. These "basics" are often not valued as they should be. We value likes, shares, status and money. But the things we place more value on do not bring additional joy or even satisfaction. When you begin to value what you already have, the unimportant things that consume us will become less important. And likely we will find more joy and satisfaction.

One of the most difficult things in life is accepting the things you can't change. Or another form or this coming to grips with loss. These things generally must be mourned, then in some regards, moved in from. Or else we will forever be held back. Letting go of the unchangeable allows us to latch onto what is changeable. Letting go of what's lost allows us to latch onto what exists or what's new. It's the letting go that is most difficult.

In life you will encounter things and situations that may seem unjust or unfair. It will happen. And you may never understand why. What you do with seeing and knowing this is what will make or break you though. There are times to stand up for injustice and there are times where you have to accept perceived injustice. The important thing is to never allow your unfortunate discoveries to damage you. There are times where you have to learn to allow things to roll off your back like water off a ducks back as the saying says. Letting certain things cling will only sink you. Let it go, let it go.

Mothers, maybe the most unheralded heros of history and the present day. Mothers the glue of society. Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers!

North American culture thrives on the scuttlebutt. Some of the lowest forms of consumable information. It's the junk food of consumable information.  If you make a diet of the scuttlebutt, you're gonna be unhealthy.  The healthier choice is to consume positive information. The kind of information and materials that challenge us to be better.  The kind of things that build.  Your diet and health is far much more than food. It's thoughts. It's words. It's all consumable content. It's all thoughts, words and actions spoken and digested. 

The conventions are only what loosely works for the majority for a certain period of time. Or maybe not even the majority. The convention is in place because it worked for some people. But it may no longer work. Conventions are hard to break because they upset people's apple carts so to speak... And that causes uncertainty. But conventions are only good if they help you. A convention can be broken, and in many circumstances must be broken. The convention was good to take you to where you are now, but it won't be good enough to take you to where you need to go in the future. If technology didn't disrupt conventions we wouldn't have the technology we enjoy and take for granted today. If we didn't disrupt social conventions we would be stuck with social norms such as slavery and other horrible conventions.

It takes clarity to map your world. To understand your world. Search for clarity. Honesty leads to clarity. Seek for honest feedback. Seek for honest answers. Seek for truth. This leads to clarity. Clarity leads to understanding. Understanding leads to wisdom.

Once we have labelled something or someone, it's very challenging to relabel them or it. It takes daily reshaping of our thinking. Daily reshaping of our words. Daily reshaping of our actions. Real relabelling or reshaping doesn't take place overnight. It's usually a forced process to see something in a new light. Either that or some dramatic occurance.

We all have weak points, and it's those weak points that may often snag and unravel us. I've seen rational, mature adults hit things that snag them where they become entirely irrational. Identifying that "thing" that snags us goes a long way in helping us avoid that snag in the future. The "snag" is usually a mental hurdle that needs to be overcome. If you jump the hurdle a few times, it will become less of a snag and eventually nothing.

Some things need to be owned. Others need to be shared. Praise and complements are best to be shared, not owned. Criticism is best to be owned, not deflected.

Sometimes you have to scratch at it to just get a crumb. Sometimes you reach for it and an avalanche ensues. There's seasons where just scratching and getting crumbs is okay, because a season will come when things reap fast and furiously.

Are your daily thoughts and actions making you a more beautiful person? Or ugly? Are you feeding negative ugly thoughts or kind and considerate ones? You will become one of these two. Feed one and starve the other.

Nothing is "all" good.  Everything we accept comes with two parts, good and bad. It's this balance that carefully balances life.  Nothing is "all" bad either. Everything has good and bad in it. It's when things are consumed unbalanced, or viewed unbalanced that they become negative instead of positive.  But maintaining things between good and bad is where things work positively.

Its all about you. You have to be better, you have to succeed, you have to do your best to get what you need to get. It's all about others. Living to better the world and help others is what it's all about. Reconciling the two is where the magic is.

Some things in life require simple endurance. No strategy or planning besides the simple strategy and plan of enduring. Not endurance that is a copout or weak, but a strong determined endurance. Endurance that is the pathway to the next level. Endurance that builds strength. Endurance that tackles the situation and doesn't avoid it. Learn endurance. Endurance, but endurance cannot be a permanent solution. Endurance can only be temporary. General endurance is okay, but you can't live in a state of just biding time or just making it.

There are many ways change occurs. Forced, natural, slow, fast, unintentional. The more planned and communicated the change is, the better. The large corporations have change management procedures to ensure changes are successfully implemented. So when possible planning change is best. And communicating change is always best. A big part of change management is reducing uncertainty for the people involved.

The problem has to be agreed upon before fixing it. Or else the wrong thing may get solved, or more likely a new problem created. Defining the problem is almost as difficult as solving the problem or maybe more so. Sometimes defining a problem means looking internally and admitting mistakes or oversights or other faults. Which is overwhelmingly hard. Defining the problems requires investigation and honesty. It means being uncomfortable sometimes. It's uncomfortable because it means change, and change means uncertainty.  But defining the problem is critical to fixing it. At best you will end up bandaiding the problem if you don't define it and deal with it.