My Riffs

We need more builders. There’s too many destroyers.  You’ll accomplish so much more by building than tearing down. Tearing down is easy. Building is difficult but better. 

Are you okay with repetition? If not, discipline won’t be something in your skill set.  If you’re not okay with repetition you won’t go deep in any practice.  Building great things (including yourself) takes much repetition.  Of course make sure you’re repeating the right things. A rut is repetitive and non productive. Repeat good habits and it will be building blocks to greatness. 

The best way to build yourself isn't by tearing down others. If you build something good you will succeed without tearing others down. Build your thing, don't worry about others and whether they like it, agree or disagree. Find your tribe and build your thing to the best of your ability.

You know those people who you really enjoy being around? It’s safe to say those people are optimistic people. They’re people who make you feel safe to share your thoughts and feelings. They’re people who listen. They lift you up and speak words that build and encourage. We need those people and we each can be one of those people. 

When I tear you down we both suffer. When I build you up we both benefit. Tearing someone down never builds you up. What helps everyone is building people up.

When we learn something new, there are always fundamentals. You learn the fundamentals, then you can build on them. We get in trouble when we get away from the fundamentals. They are intended to be more or less static. Things break down when you get away from the fundamentals as it becomes something it wasn't intended to be.

You don’t move a mountain whole. You move it piece by piece. Anything worth doing is gonna take time. Large endeavours take time. Moving a mountain begins with one small piece. Easy come, easy go. If something is easy to do, it’s easy to end. Mountains move piece by piece. 

When things get complicated, that's an indication to simplify what you can. When things get really simple, maybe you can add complexities to help things evolve. But don't add complexities to complexities. It's better to keep things simple than to add needless complexities.

The future is created by those who have a vision for it. It may not turn out 100% what the vision is, but it will be crafted by those with vision.  Everything we see started as an idea in someone’s head. The had vision and crafted it into reality.  We all have that power in our lives and our world. 

If you want it to grow, give it energy.  This works two ways though. If you give the wrong things energy, they sure enough will grow. Don't put energy into the wrong things and put all your energy into the right things. 

We're hearing lots of pictures and stories about what should be.  Right now the most important questions are "how do we get there?". It's easy to point out what's wrong and how things should be. It's a lot more difficult to figure out how to get there.

In the last 2 months the United States has undone the last 10 years of job creation. It took 2 months to undo what took 10 years. Destruction is easy. It doesn't take as much effort to destruct something and it does to construct. This means we need to be extremely careful when destroying something. A lot went into creating it, and it will take a lot to rebuild. Make absolutely sure what you're doing is a net benefit.

Some people live life just going around trying to destroy. It’s such a underwhelming way to live. Building is so much more fun. It may be harder (criticism and destroying is somewhat easier), but it’s much more rewarding. If you don’t like something someone is doing, build something better. That’s the better way of “destroying”. And be kind while doing so :)

Be careful what you tear down. It's a whole lot easier and quicker to tear down than to build it. If something has been built up, there usually was/is a good reason. So know the history and know why you're tearing it down. Tearing down should be used on things that are causing harm.

When you get good collaboration you can accomplish so much. You get the the best skills from a variety of people to compensate for your own weaknesses. Then you can build something better than you can build yourself.

Building isn’t a linear process. There’s setbacks and roadblocks. You have to figure out how to get through them to complete what you’re building.

A solid foundation provides for a strong structure. Your ability to stand is greatly dependent on what your foundation is built of. Make sure you fully know what your foundation is made of.  Make sure that foundation is something solid and reliable. 

It takes a long time to build something good. It takes mere moments to destroy something good. Be careful what you let in. It's often what is allowed in that destroys.

Finding the silver lining is a choice. There's is always a silver lining. Those who decide to ignore the silver lining find life is against them. Those who choose to find the silver lining find life forms them.

Systems need to be updated and changed constantly or else they become outdated. Their original purpose and intent may not change but the implementation needs to be updated or the system will stray from it's original purpose. I've seen people buck up against the system from the outside. And they rarely make a dent. They fight the system from the outside and aren't able to make the changes they attempt. But those who change and update the system do so from the inside. Inside is where they can push, bend and change the system. I'm not referring to undermining something, but pushing to make the system more relevant and better. Pushing to enhance and grow the system. Systems have in place a certain amount of inertia that can be tapped into. Outside the system you won’t find the same inertia to tap into. Creating that inertia from scratch can be slow, cumbersome and almost insurmountable. Tap the system and make it better when possible. Bucking up against it is a a ve...