There’s a great story about Sir Peter Jackson on the Hobbiton set of The Lord of the Rings. When they found the location for Hobbiton in Matamata, New Zealand, the central area near the Shire had a couple of apple and pear trees.
However, Tolkien’s Shire had plum trees.
So, Peter Jackson had his crew buy and wire plums onto the trees.
The scene with those trees lasted less than six seconds. There was no way anyone would notice the plums even. And even if they did, it’s unclear if they would have cared.
But Peter Jackson did. He wanted it to be true to Tolkien’s vision. And he cared enough to sweat the details.
So much of leadership is setting a high and clear bar. That bar, then, becomes the culture because “this is how we do things here.”
This was Peter Jackson setting that bar for the Lord of the Rings crew.
Brian shared this post recently on his (new + daily) blog. Philosopher Tyson said it well – it resonated.
A year ago I watched this video of Mike Tyson, asked by a 13 year old about the legacy he wants to leave (source). I’m just going to leave his response here. It says it all.
“I don’t believe in the word legacy. I just think that’s another word for ego. Legacy doesn’t mean nothing. That’s just some word everybody grabbed on to. Someone said that word and everyone grabbed on the word, so now it’s used every five seconds. It means absolutely nothing to me.
I’m just passing through. I’m going to die and it’s going to be over. Who cares about legacy after that? What a big ego. I’m going to die, I want people to think that I’m this, I’m that. No, we’re nothing. We’re dead. We’re dust, we’re absolutely nothing. Our legacy is nothing.
Can you really imagine somebody saying, I want my legacy to be this way when I’m dead. You think they might want to think about you? You think I want people to think about me when I’m gone? Who the fuck cares about me when I’m gone? My kids maybe, my grandkids.”
Sometimes our role in life isn’t to judge something – it is to figure out how to fall in love with it, especially when it becomes part of our new reality.
The other day, I was in a conversation where someone was describing their new commute. The question that came up was, “Do you like it?” And of course, the natural instinct is to evaluate it: I don’t like this part, I don’t like that part, etc.
But if that commute is now your daily reality, what’s the point of judging it?
The only useful response is: “I’m figuring out how to fall in love with it.”
Because once something becomes part of your life – a commute, a schedule, a constraint – complaining about it doesn’t change anything. What helps is learning how to make it useful, meaningful, or even enjoyable.
It’s the same principle as complaining about gravity. It is futile.
Accepting your new reality is the first step to agency.
As a friend and I were reflecting about the end of a wonderful experience recently, this friend posed a two-part question – “What are you going to take with you, and what are you going to leave behind?”
I loved the premise of the question. Our approach to any experience is going to have aspects we should take with us to the next one. And, on the flip side, there are aspects we should consider leaving behind.
It is a question I’ve been thinking about in the context of the year that’s coming to an end (and it is, thus, the latest addition to the annual reflection list).
There’s a lot to unpack here and I’m looking forward to it.
The 10 question annual reflection is a longstanding ALearningaDay tradition. I recommend doing it in 3 steps:
i) Carve out an hour in the next week to “look back and look forward.” It helps to do this in a quiet place with no distractions or interruptions.
ii) Work with a list of 10 questions that make you think. For a starter list, I’ve shared the 10 questions I ask myself below (here’s the Google doc – you can just make a copy onto your Google Drive. Here’s a PDF if you prefer to print). I prioritize keeping my list simple – some years, I get done in an hour and in other years, I spend a few hours diving deep into a question or two. The important thing is not the length/depth, it is simply carving out the time to zoom out.
iii) Archive your questions and notes for next year. Check in with them over the course of the year and read them before you start next year’s reflection. Looking at what was top-of-mind a few years later is also guaranteed to make you smile. :-)
10 Questions – Annual Reflection 2025
“Sometimes, we need to just take a step back and look back at how the pieces fell. When we do that, we see what was important and what never was.”
What are the top 2 themes/memories/moments I will remember 2025 for?
What were the 2 biggest lessons I learnt in 2025?
We learn from a mix of 3 sources – i) taking action and reflecting on our experiences, ii) people, and iii) books/courses or synthesized information. What did my mix look like in 2025?
“Show me your schedule and I’ll show you your priorities.”
Looking back at how I spent my time in 2025, what were the top 2 themes/buckets x processes/outcomes I prioritized (Examples: Career – prioritized ABC project or getting a raise, Health – prioritized more outdoor exercise or losing 10 pounds)? Did what I prioritize align with what I intended to prioritize/were there any surprises?
What are the top 2 themes/buckets x processes/outcomes I intend to prioritize in 2026?
What are 1-2 things I’m going to take with me from 2025 and what are 1-2 things I’m going to leave behind?
“How we hope it works: Commit → Take action How it actually works: Commit → Fail → Recommit x 20 → Fail x 20 → Recommit → Take action”
What do I most need to learn in 2026 and how do I plan to do this (habits/checkpoints, etc.)?
What have I got planned in 2026 to prioritize renewal and memorable experiences (e.g. holiday plans, weekend activities, hobbies)?
Health, close relationships, and money are foundational to the quality of our lives. What are my guiding principles or habits as I think of these dimensions going into 2026?
Health: Close relationships: Money:
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
What is a set of 2-5 principles and/or values/virtues that I want to live my life by? [Note: These could include your notes from the previous question. Consider saving these on your phone so you can read them first thing in the morning. ]
I look forward to doing mine in the next days. I hope you find this useful as well.
It’s always worth reminding ourselves that while we are the central character in our own story, we are, at best, peripheral characters in the stories of most people we interact with.
No point over-interpreting or overthinking reactions, silence, delays, or passing comments.
Most people aren’t paying as much attention to us as we are to ourselves.
Dr Eric Topol had a fascinating post on his blog about a potential massive change in the treatment of Autoimmune diseases. I can’t claim to have understood all the biology nuances but I did love the following –
(1) 10% of the world’s population suffers from autoimmune diseases and these have, so far, had no cure.
(2) He goes on to explain an approach that uses inverse vaccines. So, instead of vaccines boosting the immune system, these inverse vaccines do the opposite.
(3) But, most interesting, is the fact that these diseases are the mirror image of cancer. So, while cancer causes us to lose all immunity, these result in hyperactive immune responses. So, all the progress in treating cancer with the breakthroughs in the past two decades – including mRNA vaccines and CRISPR – results in progress in treating autoimmune diseases by doing the opposite.
He closes with these concluding remarks
I hope I am able to adequately convey the excitement in this field. This represents one of the biggest shifts in a domain of medicine that we’ve seen in decades. It has been stunning to see for the first time one-shot cures in patients who were refractory to all approved treatments. There’s a paucity of true cures in medicine. Considering that 1 in 10 people have an autoimmune disease, and these conditions have never garnered the level of attention as cancer, cardiovascular, or neurodegenerative diseases, these big steps of progress are especially welcome. Mirror biology and goals of all the clinical work in cancer directly benefits autoimmune diseases, turbocharging this movement.
It’s still early, but most major autoimmune diseases are getting approached by both the engineered cell and inverse, tolerogenic vaccines. The off-the-shelf, universal engineered cell approach is ahead of the inverse vaccines so far, and the refinements in the work are extensive. Eventually, both major routes of cell therapy and tolerogenicity are very likely to pan out and we should see a big dent in autoimmune diseases in the future. Of course, for any scaling, this will require availability at low cost, limiting side effects, making in practical and accessibility to all, avoiding inequities. But given all the rapid progress I’m confident we’ll get there in the years ahead.We’re seeing the initial stages of a renaissance vs autoimmunity. Curinginstead of just treating autoimmune diseases.
A Learning a Day 