My Riffs

Life is always revolving through seasons. But we have to learn to read the season. Sometimes it’s time to plant and sometimes it’s time to sow. We have to use wisdom to determine the season and appropriate action for the season. 

It's not worth fighting battles you won't win. There really aren't moral victories. I went for a run today and saw my first brown leaves on the ground. It was a reminder that some things are just out of your control. As much as I don't want cold weather and winter to come, it's coming. Fighting it or letting it bring me down would be a waste of time. This lesson extends to many things in life. 

I have a five month old son. If you could ask his thoughts of the world he would probably make a few of the following assertions: - It's always snowing (this feels pretty true in Calgary lol) - The world is loud and ruled by Princesses - Diapers are cool - Who needs teeth? His perspective is limited by what he has seen and experienced so far. We can lose perspective even at a mature age. In this unprecedented season it's easy to lose perspective. Especially when no clear end dates are in sight. But we know, this will pass. It's just a season. Each season has its purpose and place. Make sure you find the purpose of this season and you will reap the rewards in the following seasons.

Your time to market matters. If your product is the best but takes forever to get to market, nobody will buy yours because it's too late. You have to strike a balance between perfection and action. If you wait to perfect something, you'll likely miss out on opportunity. But if you don't put any quality together, nobody will buy it even if you're first.

There's times when it's best to wait and delay, and then there's times when it's best to act quickly. It seems if it's a difficult tasks and less than desirable task, it may be worth doing immediately. If its a task that you just can't wait to do, it may be one worth delaying. Gratification often seems better delayed and hard work is better confronted head on.

Sometimes we allow the small picture to dictate our views. The small picture at times isn't what we want, but it's important to always keep the big picture in mind. The big picture helps level out the bumps we feel when following the small picture. It helps us ride those bumps out and realize they're just an inconvenience. Forgetting the big picture can make current situations feel worse (or better) than they actually are. So when the small picture is discouraging, look at the big picture, there's likely something positive to grasp onto there.

Knowing when is one of the most difficult things to know in life. Many products have failed, simply because it wasn't the right time. Many ideas have failed, simply because it wasn't the right time. Unfortunately there's no guidebook or formula to knowing when. It takes knowledge, wisdom, sensitivity and courage to make our best guess at when.