Month: June 2024

When you buy a good camera, you don’t just buy the camera. You buy lenses, a slew of accessories, a camera bag, and a subscription to Adobe Lightroom.

When you buy a home, you don’t just pay for the home. You pay for property taxes, maintenance and upkeep. The more the square footage, the more the maintenance.

Similarly, you don’t just pay for a car. You pay for the occasional nail in the tire, the service, and the insurance.

This doesn’t mean any of the above are bad purchases. Each of these could be a great purchase – depending on your circumstances.

It is just worth remembering that the true cost of something isn’t just on the price tag.

“Patience isn’t in the waiting, it’s in how you deal with having to wait.”

It resonated.

“Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle. And if you really wanna see what people are, all you have to do is look.” | Auggie, Wonder

Canon conducted a fascinating experiment recently. They asked 6 photographers to shoot a portrait of one man. The twist was that each photographer was told something different about the man’s background – he was a fisherman, an alcoholic, a millionaire, a convict, a lifesaver, and a psychic.

Michael, of course, was none of these things. He was just an actor who played his part. These were the photos that the photographers took.

Fisherman

Alcoholic

Millionaire

Convict

Lifesaver

Psychic

“A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what’s in front of it” was Canon’s note to creatives.

To me, it simply highlights the incredible power of perspective.

We bought the $10 Ikea toolbox 8 or so years ago. Its impact continues to amaze me. With the addition of an electric screwdriver, this toolbox has helped assemble and disassemble pieces of furniture and fix various issues around the home.

These tools don’t solve every issue around the home – the more challenging the problem, the more custom components are required.

But they are a good reminder of the fact that a set of simple tools can go a long to solve many of the problems we face.

It works the same way in other facets of our lives – understanding the core principles in any subject or art or problem area often helps us make the headway we need.

Once we dig deep enough on the why behind our actions, all answers that come back tend to be a result of a conscious or unconscious answer to two questions –

What game are you playing?

How will you measure your life?

If you aren’t actively spending time and energy optimizing toward an outcome, don’t be surprised when someone else is getting said outcome as a result of time they’ve spent optimizing toward it.

For the most part, outcomes – good and bad – are a result of our processes. Our processes, in turn, are a result of what we’re optimizing toward. And, if we’re thoughtful, what we’re optimizing toward is a combination of our awareness about the possibilities and of how we’ll measure our lives.

When we’re faced with a sense of FOMO or envy or surprise about a surprising outcome that someone else managed, that’s the place to start.

Are we aware that process is a possibility?

Would we want to do it / would doing it align with how we’d measure our lives?

“It’s remarkable how often the real problem is not what happened, but how it was communicated.” | James Clear

 This resonated.

“Most of the time, it isn’t about having a gift. It is about having grit.” | Roger Federer’s commencement address at Dartmouth College

I watched Federer’s warm and humorous commencement address and noticed he made the point about overcoming fierce competition and hard moments multiple times. He started by sharing that his effortless style is a myth. It took a lot of effort to make it look effortless.

He also didn’t read off a printed piece of paper – I’m sure no effort was spared to make it look effortless.

He then went onto make a beautiful point about playing points. Federer won 80% of his matches but only 54% of his points.

“When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you.”

“This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point… and the next one after that… with intensity, clarity and focus. The truth is, whatever game you play in life… sometimes you’re going to lose. A point, a match, a season, a job… it’s a roller coaster, with many ups and downs. And it’s natural, when you’re down, to doubt yourself. To feel sorry for yourself. And by the way, your opponents have self-doubt, too. Don’t ever forget that.

But negative energy is wasted energy. You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That to me is the sign of a champion.”

Develop your grit. Focus on the point. And if you do both and put in enough effort, you might just make it all look effortless.

Thanks Roger.

I first heard and wrote about this idea a year ago and have found myself repeating it many times since – both for the benefit of others and as reminders to self.

It is tempting to find ourselves over-reacting when faced with change. Change often heightens our insecurities and those insecurities often have us reaching for security and self-preservation.

These instincts are simultaneously understandable and counter productive. Change means navigating muddy waters and it just isn’t a good idea to fish in muddy waters

It is best to summon our reserves of patience and wait for things to play out.

Don’t fish in muddy waters.