Tag: Freedom

Categories
Blog Post

Cold Turkey Is A Lie, For Me

Restriction is freedom

I can’t seem to just do it “cold turkey.”

“It” you ask?

Well, anything. Any time someone says they just quit “x” and did it cold turkey, I am beyond impressed, because I can’t.

For it to work for me, I need to have a forcing function, something that stops me from doing anything.

My favorite now is “Freedom.” Freedom stops me from surfing the web, and when I go to a site that I use to satiate my anxiety, I get a green screen that says “you are now free.”

This is great because I am going there because I go out of habit, not out of purpose. Sometimes a second is all you need to get back on track.

How do you break it up? If you don’t, how might you find a way to?

Stats:

  • Meditate – 0
  • Read – 0
  • Exercise  – 0
  • Slept at least 8 hours – 1
  • Limited Phone Exposure – 0
  • Wrote (this blog doesn’t count) – 0
  • Shared something – 1
Categories
Blog Post

Happy July 4th

Independence Day

As I walk around on this American holiday, it makes me think why can’t every day be independence day?

Freedom.

Categories
Blog Post

Whatever it Takes To Turn it In, Do the Work

Sometimes, the ends do justify the means. Get to work.

I have apps like freedom on my phone that block out the entire internet because I know I don’t have the self-control just to sit and type.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to work.

The work I turn out because of that app doesn’t have a unique mark on it. You don’t get any bonus points for making things hard on yourself.

I don’t care if you:

  • Have to squeal
  • Listen to comedy albums out loud
  • Take an afternoon nap

You do whatever it takes to get the work done.

Categories
Blog Post

Make a Fence -Framing Makes Freedom

Create a frame

A few days ago, I heard a story on a podcast about kids, fences, and freedom.

Mainly,  they saw that kids didn’t explore when they were in a park without fences. Without any visible boundaries, the kids kept close to the middle and played it safe.

When those same kids went to another park with fences, they spread around the entire area. They felt safe enough to explore the world around them.

Have you ever worked on a project when there were “no rules?”

It is stifling.

There isn’t a starting point. Most of us emulate those kids, we stick close to the middle and try not to fail.  It is as bad as someone micromanaging. If you stick to what you know, you can’t grow.

The best leaders work to understand the work before hand. They take that knowledge and put down a “fence” when they delegate. The fence is a frame that gives people the freedom to try.

Give someone enough room, you can watch them soar.

Categories
Blog Post

Freedom is… Lessons from August

Freedom Is...

Complicated

So, I think back to the coffee shop where someone asked me “What is freedom?”

I didn’t have an answer then. I don’t have one now. Freedom in both complicated in expression and concept.

However, I spent a month thinking about it.

A few lessons:

Freedom requires clarity.

It requires commitment.

You can’t run to shiny new objects, yet you have to understand yourself.

You can’t find perfection.

Freedom means taking on problems in different ways.

You have to take a step back and understand the whole problem.

While all of this is happening, you have to keep your vices in check by listening to them.

In short, it’s pretty complicated.This month gave me better questions. Questions lead to greater understanding, which leads to empathy. There is a lot of freedom just in that.

Books – My Goodreads Account

Newsletter – Subscribe Here

Categories
Blog Post

Rest with Intent – It Compounds

High-performance-rest

Being purposeful comes with an advantage

Josh Waitzkin grew up playing chess (he was the subject of the movie Searching for Bobby Fisher). He wasn’t known as a competitive fighter. Then Josh Waitzkin won the world Tai Chi (push hands) championship.

One thing that Josh took with him from the chess world to competitive fighting was the intent.

He used it for each part of the fight. One thing that stood out to me was how he changed how he recovered between rounds.

Usually, when tired, most of us put our hands on our knees or have a seat. Josh didn’t do that.

In between rounds he laid on the ground. Flat, as if he were going to sleep.

It’s a smarter way to recover. It’s intentional.

The difference between that and the usual method is tiny. Even so, since this was a continual fight, that advantage compounded. By the time the fighters reached the end of the fight, that little edge had made a huge difference. It propelled Josh to beat his highly skilled opponent.

Sure, it looked silly to his opponents at the time.

The thing is, no one remembers how you recovered between rounds. They just remember how you fought.

When we work, we have to think about, with intent, how we rest. We have to beat back the idea of “silly” or making sure we conform to an unwritten standard.

Categories
Blog Post

Right vs. “Rightish”

right vs rightish

It’s Ugly. It’s OK.

“GET THE RIGHT ANSWER!”

The problem with that exclamation is the demand for perfection. 

That works in a school environment.

However, in life and leadership, binary thinking (right and wrong) stops us from growth.

Instead of the “right” answer, go for the “rightish” answer. Sometimes the “rightish” solution is ugly. In fact, often it is. And the beauty of “rightish” is the ability to iterate and make it better. 

As a result, pushing through the ugly with iteration makes something far better than the “perfect” first answer.

Most of the things you used started off on the “rightish” direction and grew from there.

Categories
Blog Post

Complexity and Utility – Offload When You Can

Vitamin C+

Offload when you can.

Think of your closet. It’s easy to organize your closet when it’s one piece of clothing in there.

Great. Except that one piece of clothing is boring.  So you add stuff: a pair of pants here, a sweater there. Soon, your closet is full.

Once full, everything about the closet changes, even the questions you ask when you open it. Before, clothing was a yes or no proposition.  Now it is about colors, fits, sizes, and moods.

A full closet comes with complexity. Instead of a few outfits, there are many choices, each interacting with one another.

Sometimes, this level of complexity creates something unique and fresh, however, often it creates fatigue. Anyway, we just go back to wearing the same thing we wore before.

The key here is the balance. How do you keep the art while maintaining utility?

The solution is to offload when possible.

We will talk about an exercise this week to help decide how to offload.

Today, think about how this applies to you more than your closet.

Categories
Blog Post

Get Your Head Out Of the Sand

ostrich

Don’t succumb to “bliss.”

I like looking at ostriches. They are an odd bird. Land bound. Big smiles. A little goofy. They remind me of me.

Unfortunately, most of the people know them due to an awful saying. The world knows the bird as a coward. People think ostriches put their head in the sand. They don’t! They are brave animals!

As much as I don’t like the narrative, the metaphor that springs from it is still good advice.

While our first instinct is to crawl under the bed and hope that the safe space we choose comes with “evil repellant.”

We must resist that instinct. Fight or flight is hijacking the system.

That reliance on comfort is holding you back, because our ability to deal with uncomfortability not only helps us grow as people but gives us stories that help the people following us.

Furthermore, the best case scenario of the “head in the sand” strategy is nothing moves, including you.

And as a result, if you resist movement, you welcome regression.

Regression is death.

Categories
Blog Post

Commitment Gambling

Commitment Gambling

There is no free lunch, nor is there free commitment.

Commitment isn’t free. 

Saying yes may feel “freeing,” but with each one comes with responsibility. Those obligations take time. Each represents a promise to someone. 

Each commitment you make uses your honor as collateral. As they say in hip-hop, “word is bond.” More than money or any other tangible resource, a person’s “word” gets them access to many things.

Taking a bet on committing and coming through is a surefire way to build this type of capital. 

Be careful. It takes a lifetime to build your honor and only a moment to destroy it.

Honor is a sacred thing.  Treat it that way.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started