A Learning a Day

Over the past few years, I’ve begun calling the period between Thanksgiving and new year “Reflection Season.”

This is a special time of year for me – one I really look forward to. The days leading up to Thanksgiving serve as a reminder to give thanks – to the people who’ve had a positive impact on my life, to non profit organizations I’m grateful for, and to products and services I love.

The next phase is a slow down of activity at work followed by time off in December. This time is focused entirely on self-care and family.

It is the time I get to ask interesting questions, triage some long overdue admin tasks, prioritize rest, and renew commitments to things that matter. As part of this process, I hope to reflect on what I’ve learn this year and synthesize these lessons in time for 2021.

2020 has been a unique year for all of us. And, if you, like many others, haven’t found time to catch a break and have the luxury to afford it, I hope you’ll prioritize some time at the end of the year for reflection and rest as well.

It is never as good or bad as it seems.

Awareness of our luck and privilege when we experience the good and compassion to ourselves when we experience the bad go a long way in smoothing the inevitable bumps along the way.

Assiduity means constant or close attention to what one is doing.

I chuckled when I heard it is one of Charlie Munger’s favorite words thanks to his literal sounding interpretation of its meaning – “Sit down on your ass until you do it.”

Here’s wishing all of us some assiduity today.

My wife and I were attempting to fix the pedals back on our kid’s bike today. We struggled and fumbled around for about two minutes.

Despite all our efforts, the pedals just didn’t seem to be going in.

Then, my wife spotted that we were each attempting to fix the pedal designed for the opposite side.

30 seconds after exchanging pedals, we were all done.

It was a good reminder that applying a lot of effort in wrong direction can never compensate for taking the time to think through the right direction.

Spend more time figuring out how to do the right thing vs. doing the thing right.

Why are we talking about sentences?
Why no talk about the work as a whole, about shape, form, genre, the book, the feature story, the profile, even the paragraph?

The answer is simple.
Your job as a writer is making sentences.
Most of your time will be spent making sentences in your head.
In your head.
Did no one ever tell you this?
That is the writer’s life.
Never imagine you’ve left the level of the sentence behind.

| Verlyn Klinkenborg in Several short sentences about writing

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Fundamentals.

They form the basis of any and all expertise we build.

“Never imagine you’ve left the level of the fundamentals behind” is an important reminder – no matter the craft.

An amateur player on a pool table faces one particular choice often – do I focus on just hitting this ball in? Or, do I try to hit it while setting up the next shot?

There are trade-offs either way.

If I focus on just the ball in front of me, I could hit it in a way that makes it impossible to land the next.

And, if I’m focused on landing the next, I could make a mistake with the ball in hand.

There is no right answer to this question. It depends on the context – the state of the game, how confident you feel, how focused you are, and so on.

Either answer could be right – depending on the context.

Much like life.

A close someone who works in a diagnostic lab in India shared a story of a father and a 30 or so year old son who walked into the lab recently.

The son was suffering from breathlessness. Everyone in the lab immediately suspected he was suffering from COVID-19 and suggested they test him immediately.

The father, however, had other ideas. Despite a doctor’s recommendation a week earlier to get a COVID test and X-rays, he decided to dither for an extra week. It cannot be COVID, right? Who knows if it is even real?

After folks in the lab insisted they proceed with a test, he reluctantly agreed.

The test confirmed everyone’s suspicions and the boy was finally rushed to a hospital.

Sadly, it came too late. He died a few hours later.

Then, there was another story from a family friend’s wedding. Even though they tried keeping to family only, someone showed up with a fever. They tested positive for COVID the next day.

A majority of the group then tested positive the following day.

But, somehow, when an elder in the family complained of fever and breathing trouble, they attributed it to something else.

Two days later, they finally took the elder to the hospital. She passed away within an hour of being admitted.

Sadly, I’ve heard many similar stories in the past months. They all involve one or more people in the family refusing to believe it could be a case of COVID-19. Their favorite politician told them not to worry after all.

I feel very bad for the families of these folks. It is a sad consequence of blind faith in leaders who lie about the dangers of what we’re facing for their own personal benefit.

Denying a physical reality is nearly always a bad idea.

Our savings = Our earnings – Cost of essentials – Cost of our ego (all expenses related to looking good)

This equation from Morgan Housel’s book was both funny and on point. :-)

You have made your list of five priorities for the day. There’s a simple question you can ask to make sure the order is right.

If the first task took significantly longer than you expected and you could complete no other task in the day, would you feel the day was successful?

If yes, proceed to priority 2. And so on.

High impact execution starts by getting the order of the priorities right.

A Netflix drama we’ve enjoyed watching over the years is “The Crown.” It does a nice job telling the story of the life of Queen Elizabeth.

There are a few lessons I’ve taken away from the show over the years. None, however, have hit home more often than the idea that things are often not what they seem.

The latest reminder of that idea was in a powerful episode that told the story of the aftermath of Prince Charles’ proposing to the late Princess Diana. The episodes starts with Diana’s delight at her good luck. She describes the proposal as the happiest moment of her life, celebrates it with her friends, and is giddy with excitement.

By the end of the episode, she begins to suspect that there’s little love in the marriage and begins to feel lonely and depressed.

The arc of the episode is beautiful. It is characteristically subtle and understated – a powerful example of great storytelling.

The lesson hits home as well.

Things are often not what they seem.