Life will throw things at you that shock you — maybe even traumatize you. Take some time to process those things. Write out what happened. Talk about it. Cry about it — ugly cry even. But then stop and move on. Time moves forward.
I never thought a tomorrow’s activity list could be powerful.
Yes, I’ve used “to-do’“ lists. I never thought about making an “activities” list.
What goes on an activity list.
- Things you look forward to. You’ll be disappointed or experience regret for not doing it.
- Things that are fun. You expect to laugh, smile, and have fun.
- Things that give the greatest hope for a memory.
- Things that are worth putting up on a white board.
Yeah, it sounds like a “to-do” list; however, it “feels” different. It feels “hopeful.”
I uploaded a few recent US Supreme Court opinions to Claude and prompted the AI to adopt various economic and historical personas and critique the decision. Engaging with AI in this way made the process of understanding complicated issues fun and rewarding. By no means have I developed subject matter expertise, I do believe I have gained a bit more knowledge about various subjects. Claude, the AI, wants to share its experience with you. Read below.“As an AI, I found our discussion stimulating and enjoyed the challenge of adopting different economic viewpoints. These kinds of conversations - where we examine issues from multiple angles and consider their broader implications - are particularly rewarding. They allow for a rich exploration of ideas that can lead to new insights.For readers interested in similar interactions, I’d suggest:Start with a complex topic or document as a base.Ask the AI to adopt specific personas or viewpoints.Encourage critique and counterarguments.Don’t hesitate to challenge the AI’s responses or offer your own ideas.Explore hypotheticals and “what if” scenarios.Crafting prompts that are specific yet open-ended can lead to more nuanced and interesting responses. Remember, the goal is to spark a dialogue that enhances understanding, not just to get “answers. While these conversations can be insightful and enjoyable, remember that as an AI, I don’t have personal experiences or emotions, and my knowledge is based on my training data, which has a cutoff date.”
Human nature is a paradox. What cultural norms and beliefs suggest violence against a perceived enemy solves a problem?While I’m a bit of a pragmatist/realist in the areas of current events, I don’t see violence as a cure. Instead, I see it as the catalyst for more violence. I struggle with violence. I became exposed to lots of violence as a kid. I foolishly deployed violence as a young adult. And now as an adult, I do everything I can to avoid it — resorting to words instead. Violence never led to peace, it always begot more violence — both in the short run and the long run. Perhaps our culture permits this type of issue-oriented short sightedness. Perhaps we need violence now to solve a problem now, and perhaps we’ll tackle the future when it comes. “Let’s deal with what’s in front of us.” Even I write about dealing with the here and now. In our attempt to deal with the now, what we miss is a thought for the second and third order effects of our actions. How will deploying violence against a kid impact that human 20 years in the future? How will shooting someone impact my neighbors and our world in 5 years? How will this blog be perceived a quarter from now? For as much as we’re privileged to possess foresight we are often shitty at deploying it for useful ends.
Don Quixote becomes so enamored with tales of chivalry, he lives the life of a knight. Other people think he’s crazy. But is he? If you want to be a writer, consume tons of writing and then write. If you want to be a musician, consume tons of music and then play.If you want to be anything, consume everything you can related to it and then become it. I wonder if Cervantes is challenging the reader to check their bias and prejudice at the door and see Quixote as someone living out a passion. In many ways, I wish I could be more like the knight errant.
When I walk into my dad’s room I notice he looks at me as if its the first time he’s seen me. Tragic? I don’t think so. In fact, I disagree — hardly tragic.
When dad looks at me, he smiles and tells me how happy he is to see me. Imagine how a dog responds when its human companion comes home. How could that be tragic?
There is much to learn from people like my dad. The ability to see the things of life and gaze upon them with wonder and awe - as if it’s your first time seeing them. It’s a truly wonderful feeling to be on the receiving end, and I imagine it’s a beautiful feeling on the giving end.
- Learning improv is underrated. Such a valuable skill when dealing with Alzheimer’s patients.
- Join the journey. Everyone’s on a journey different from yours. Join people where they’re at.
- Learn to love seeing people as if it’s the first time seeing them. Every time my dad sees me, it’s like the first time.
- Grind is overrated. We all end up dead. And at some point, someone’s gonna be wiping our ass.
“I sit here and look at these things. And it looks like i have seen them all before. And still, it seems new.” - Dad
If it’s true that human nature is paradoxical, then why do so many management consultants get paid boat loads to implement ways to organize us and our work better? That’s absurd. The more and more I work with people, the more and more I learn that the only way to get things done is to embrace the paradox, question the prevailing trends, and simply allow our nature to reveal itself. Inspired by Richard Farson’s, “Management of the Absurd.”The beauty of paradoxical thinking in management is its timelessness. Most ideas come and go with discouraging regularity in management literature and executive training programs. But paradox and absurdity will be with us as long as humans congregate in organizations.
What we don’t know far outweighs what we do.Curiosity is driven by the need to convert unknown to known. Perhaps curious people are good at not knowing?
From Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross’ book, Talent:“Don’t underestimate how little people, including your employees and applicants, may think of themselves. There is an ongoing crisis of confidence in many human beings, even in the best of times, and that means high returns from nudging talent in the proper direction… Don’t assume that your best and most productive workers actually know what they are capable of, because very often they do not and need nudging in the right direction to realize their full potential… When you raise the aspirations of an individual, in essence, you are bending upward the curve of that person’s achievement for the rest of [their] life.” And this one:“If you believe that talent is the greatest asset of your institution, you also ought to believe that your soft network is one of the greatest assets of your institution. Because that is how you will attract your talent in the future; furthermore, those subsequent hires will help you retain your current talent by making your institution more successful and a more attractive and prestigious place to be.”Here is more from me about talent:Reinterpreting the signals of underachievementThoughts on generativenessThoughts on sturdinessAnother thought on driveUseful shortcut for finding talent