Brady Helps

I met a blog reader, like you, the other day for coffee. Amidst sips and conversation I noticed a friend (fellow musician) out of the corner of my eye. I had to say “hi.” While we were exchanging greetings and quips, the reader noticed a person attempting to leave the coffee shop. My friends didn’t realize it, but they were blocking that person’s exit. The reader said: “I want to advocate for this lady attempting to leave, please take a step over.”I love that language. I write often about verbs and how our behaviors may tie to our perception of our life’s meaning. The verbs I often use for myself are help, connect, serve, write, or think. Clearly this reader uses advocate. What verb(s) do you use?

To quote Indigo Montoya, “I don’t think it means what you think it means.” Do you know people who like to quote that famous line from Hammurabi’s code? The famous judgment 196 reads, “If a superior man should blind the eye of another superior man, they shall blind his eye.” What’s more interesting is that if a man of lower class were to blind the eye of a man with lower class, 60 shekels of silver should be the punishment.What’s most interesting is that in many of the judgments involving women, the highest judgment is 30 shekels of silver if a woman dies because a man beats her. I believe that you and I can do more to know the history of our language - the framework we use for communicating our ideas and our history. I use questions as my starting point for the journey. Questions I’m asking myself to better understand:Why has “an eye for an eye” stood the test of time but the other judgments haven’t? Was Hammurabi wrong? By what standard? When was that standard set? Who set the standard? What if, given his worldview, his code was an appropriate and palatable framework?How might we encourage those closest to us to look at other frameworks? Or evaluate their existing frameworks for every angle possible? How might Hammurabi write that code today? Who did Hammurabi’s code best serve? If Hammurabi wrote it today, who would Hammurabi be serving? Who wins? Who loses?

Start the day with the hardest thing first — get out of bed.Perhaps I’m speaking from experience, but I wonder if “getting out of bed” is one of the hardest motions many people do each day. I wonder if the second most hardest thing is: "don’t pick up the phone.”If we lose the first and second battles, how many more battles will we lose that day? How much motivation will we have to win?

If you fold, you deny the questionee the opportunity to enjoy thinking about what it would mean for them to answer your question. If you ask, you invite someone to step into possibility. A world where imagination meets practicality. Why would you ever want to hold back the generous gift of your question?

Ask yourself: “what’s the hard part?”Describe the hard part in detail. The more, the merrier.There, now you’ve gotten it out of your head.Work through it. You’ll be ok.

I got over a cold yesterday. Sure, there’s a lingering headache, but the bad stuff past. I dislike getting sick. But this time, things were different. I was curious.I thought, “David, what if you fought a cold with cold?” It occurred to me that what tends to make us feel miserable during a cold is our body’s inflammatory response. I hypothesized (in a very not-scientific) way that cold showers may help reduce inflammation (along with fasting). It’s been hot here in Wisconsin. I don’t have air conditioning, and cold showers have been that relief I look forward to every day. But while battling a cold, a cold shower never felt so good. Perhaps it was a placebo - I’m not a scientist or a doctor (and you shouldn’t take what I wrote as medical advice). Perhaps, it was the rush of testing out something to see how it worked. Or perhaps the virus ran its course. Or perhaps my will to explore and be myself. Maybe there’s no better medicine than a open and positive spirit.

When you have done one thing your whole life and then want to do another, how do you transition to the new thing?I get asked that question a lot. I don’t know if I have a “right” answer, but I have a framework that might be helpful. Learn a new language. You know the language of your current experience. Your new industry may likely different words and concepts. Learn to translate your work into the new language. That way people will understand you. Become a customer. If a business maintains its existence through funding/revenue, learn how to inhabit the mind of the person they hope to get revenue from. Discover the hopes and worries of those your intended industry seeks to serve. Learn how to talk and see the world like your customer Know what you do. Who I think you are is largely determined by how I perceive your actions. Who you think you are may be determined by how you perceive my reactions to your actions. If all of that is true, then job satisfaction and business success will result from your actions. Inventory the actions (behaviors, verbs) that you want to get to do at work every day. What actions don’t you do enough? What actions make you feel most alive?When you can confidently do items one through three, the next step is to network and put yourself out there. You’ll find plenty of advice for how to job search on the Internet. I don’t think I can add any value to that discussion.Career transitioning is never easy. It’s hard work. But if you remember “people like us do things like this” and try to inhabit the mind and worldview of the industry you’re trying to hop to, you’ll be in stronger position than those that don’t.

My working belief on customer value: customers get value when they believe that (1) the thing they purchased does the thing it’s supposed to do 100% of the time, (2) when things go wrong there’s a proactive and quick solution and a recognition of harm, (3) they believe they make great decisions about how and where to spend money.What if more services we pay for believed what I think many customers believe?

Imagine yourself trekking through the forest. No phone, no GPS, and no guide. How would you know you're going the right away?Perhaps you'd look for the nearest hill to climb. Hopefully you'll get up high enough to get your bearings. Then you would descend to the forest floor and continue the journey.When you're in the thick of learning new things, remember to stop and climb the proverbial hill to get your bearings.

I only have this moment with you. A few seconds of your time to share an insight I had. I hope the insights help you as they help me. Because I have only these seconds, I strive to be clear, direct, and simple.

I know that I may not have this opportunity tomorrow. You might be gone. Perhaps me. I know that this may be the last email that we both read or write. I know that I want my best work to be this work I am doing now. I am at peace knowing that I gave you my best.

If I am given tomorrow, I will look forward to improving upon the life I live today. I'll identify insights into how I might improve myself. I'll look for things to share with you. I will write you.

This moment we shared was meaningful for me. I look forward to our moment tomorrow.