I narrowly avoided bankruptcy six years ago, ostensibly due to a collapse in income and a tumultuous change in life circumstances. Really it was because of my relationship with money. I’m largely through that period of hardship and, after quite some processing, I can say that I’m grateful for what it taught me. For the lasting improvements it wrought in my character and financial posture. … Continue reading A financial gift born of hardship

You can write it up a few ways, some will sound kind and others won’t. As with many things, the emphasis you hear and the emphasis you take away may not be the same. “Keeps turning up when she can.” “Not as regular as he could be.” “Makes every effort, despite their circumstances.” “Attended only sporadically while overwhelmed by events.” “Exhausted but still pushing, he … Continue reading Consistently inconsistent

Being very pressed for time lately, daytime meals became perfunctory affairs. Since I’m also working on mindfulness, the hit and run approach to eating felt inappropriate. I decided to experiment. Some lunches I’d act as had become the norm – the last mouthful (especially) being crammed in and chewed as I washed my hands and quickly got back to the computer. Other lunches I took … Continue reading Chow or ciao

Juggling a number of requests and without enough time to give each its due, you can engage with two different styles of thinking. If you can’t cover all the bases, why even try? Do what looks like enough, as you have the excuse that you’re overstretched and can’t meet demand? Or, work out where you can best contribute with the time that you do have? … Continue reading When there’s not enough time

Reading an article about Big Tech this morning, I noted the author’s words about oligopolistic competition supplanting current monopolies. “It could raise standards as platforms differentiate themselves by trust.” It could, and I hope it does. Trust is important, and we rightly expect it in our interpersonal relationships. We trade it all too readily in the tech space, to save a bit of money, be … Continue reading Trust and differentiation in tech

“I will seek motivation, instead of lamenting its lack.” I wrote these words in my journal, having acknowledged the feeling that a day of forlorn activity beckoned. A quick look around at my life offered nothing in particular to get revved up about. No joyous event or pursuit leapt to mind. So I went searching. Actively enquiring. Looking for things to be grateful for and … Continue reading Searching, instead of merely looking

I quote here directly from James Clear’s weekly 3-2-1 newsletter, which I love: “Improvement is a battle that must be fought anew each day.Your next workout doesn’t care how strong your last one was.Your next essay doesn’t care how popular your last one was.Your next investment doesn’t care how smart your last one was.Your best effort, again.” (Subscribe on James Clear’s website) Absolutely spot on. … Continue reading Your best effort, on this, again

Today I was pleased to read about carefully noting how our emotions drive us, in three different forums. Each was a independent variation on the same theme. This wasn’t a waste, because the theme is important and my brain, being an associative machine, absorbed the message better for quickly comparing, contrasting, and building connections across the different words. If there’s a message you want to … Continue reading Same thing, different words

One of the most helpful things I find with colleagues, is when I know they’ll just take care of something. Aligning expectations and setting up feedback loops helps, of course, but some people more readily demonstrate ownership of their work. Given a little direction they go a long way, checking in only for course correction and without a blow-by-blow account of the obstacles. They roam … Continue reading Taken care of

While out for a run this morning I listened to an auto-generated playlist based on one song that I love. Trotting along, I realised I hadn’t heard anything that grabbed me and thought about switching to a curated list I’ve created instead. That one song I love I only stumbled across on a different auto-generated list a couple of years back, I remembered. There aren’t … Continue reading One hit wondrous