Making my daily nightmare

Be motivated by your dream of the future, and be invigorated to start by the nightmare of today.

The great ones find the doubters and the haters and generate their own “daily nightmare” to fuel their dream for the future.

When your commitment wavers or when doubt creeps in or when you start feeling tired or stressed out, don’t look to the future. Look at where you’ve come from and how much you have done already. Think about today’s nightmare and the beauty of tomorrow when you pressed on and finished the job.

When we feel strong and committed, then we must look to the future. Let us be filled with inspiration and aspiration when we look at the gap between where we stand and where we want to be.

Can you see the beauty?

 
“Some people could be given an entire field of roses and only see the thorns in it. Others could be given a single weed and only see the wildflower in it.”
— Amy Weatherly
 

The power of negative thinking

The big weakness of positive thinking is that it often blinds us to the pitfalls that we might face. We rush in brimming with confidence and when the first thing goes wrong, we don’t know how to react.

The power of negative thinking is that we work all this out in our heads. We’ve already embarrassed ourselves by tripping over our words and we’ve faced the calamity of absolute failure… in our own minds.

Then when we hit the stage and it’s time to get to work, we can better face the challenges and difficulties of doing work in the real world.

Our negative thinking must not stop us from starting, but it should be the motivator for better preparation. In that way, negative thinking and doubting yourself is one of the best things you can do to get ready for the next big thing you’re trying to do.

Eternal optimists fail to see their own weaknesses, and therefore they don’t improve them.

Optimism is good, but negative thinking can be one of the most effective things you do for yourself if you are trying to get better at what you do.

Artificial Intelligence and man

One interesting topic to explore is the recent advancements in artificial intelligence and its potential impact on society. With breakthroughs in natural language processing and computer vision, AI is becoming increasingly sophisticated and capable of tasks previously thought to be exclusive to humans. This has led to exciting applications in fields such as healthcare, finance, and transportation.

For example, AI algorithms can analyze medical images and predict disease progression with high accuracy, helping doctors make more informed diagnoses and treatment plans. In the finance industry, AI is used to identify patterns in financial data and make better investment decisions. And in transportation, self-driving cars are poised to revolutionize the way we move around cities and could potentially reduce accidents caused by human error.

Another fascinating topic to explore is the concept of time and how it is perceived by humans. Time is a fundamental aspect of our lives, but our understanding of it is limited by our subjective experience.

Recent research has shown that our perception of time is not fixed but can vary depending on our surroundings and circumstances. For example, time seems to pass more quickly when we are engaged in an enjoyable activity and more slowly when we are bored or anxious. Furthermore, our perception of time can be influenced by external factors such as the color of a room or the amount of light in a space.

Understanding how we perceive time can have practical applications in fields such as psychology and design, as well as help us gain a deeper understanding of our own consciousness.

Artificial Intelligence coupled with the human touch will form a robust and streamlined set of tools for those who use it well.

Hate losing more than you love winning

When the fear of failing outweighs the fear of failing or the fear of criticism, then you can act without delay. Fear of starting and procrastination will quickly fall by the wayside when you hate failure more than you love winning.

Valid criticism and how not to be a cult

Valid criticism and minority viewpoints are important because they make us stop and address the issue. We’re forced to think around the problem and re-examine our position from different angles.

Even bad criticism or bad minority arguments are valuable in this regard.

When the consensus is disrupted, we almost always will come to a better or more creative solution for the problem at hand.

A CEO surrounded by “yes-men” and a culture of groupthink, is a CEO that will not have a company for very long.

Promoting dissent and allowing people to question things for themselves is one hallmark sign that you have a culture, not a cult. In a cult, dissension is swiftly crushed and no examination or questioning is allowed.

The value of mistakes

When we try not to make mistakes, we avoid all risks and, eventually, we become paralyzed by a fear of failure. Thus we cease doing anything that could fail.

This is the greatest failure of all.

Success is not avoiding making mistakes. It is to venture and risk and make mistakes, but only to make the mistake once.

Mistakes are valuable when we take them, examine them, and learn from them.

Otherwise, they’re useless and very harmful. Take hold of your mistakes and figure out why they happened and use them to make yourself better.

You win big or you lose big

Sometimes it’s valuable to take on projects that we’re likely to fail at. There is a value in “getting in over our heads.” Becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Because when we reach higher than our toes can lift us, we dare to be great. While that will often leave us with a failed objective, it will, at times, deliver us success on the grandest scale.

Take the risks, jump into the deep end, and dare to be great.

Most conversations are simply monologues

Many conversations lack true interaction and understanding. In such conversations, one person is usually dominating the discussion, while the other person is passively listening without actively engaging. True communication requires a back-and-forth exchange of ideas and perspectives, where both parties actively listen and respond to each other.

Think about how often in conversations we think more about what we want to say, rather than listening while the other person is speaking.

The lack of genuine communication in many conversations can not only lead to misunderstandings but could also prevent connections from forming. To have a successful conversation, it is important to put aside one’s own agenda and actively listen to the other person’s perspective, allowing for a more equal and productive exchange of ideas.

“Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness.”

Praising the character and the process

There are many different cyclists with whom I ride bikes (when the weather is warm and nice.) Among cyclists online, there is generally a healthy community of positive encouragement and it’s all quite nice.

I have noticed that particularly talented riders often get praised for the outcome of their rides and not the ride itself.

The example would be, “Wow, John, you averaged 20mph on that ride! Incredible!” Or something like, “You rode over 100 miles today! That’s a huge accomplishment!”

These are all nice things and things that I very rarely do. I can’t help but wonder if it takes some of the joy away from the process of just riding your bike when you feel labeled as “the guy who always goes 20mph” or any other label that is thrust upon you.

I’ve learned that when I pay compliments to my children, friends, or colleagues in work, I try to praise the thought that goes into something and the process that made the result possible.

I think praising the creative for their creativity or thoughtfulness is more valuable to them than praising work they did that happens to be “creative.”

For the cyclists, I try to praise their toughness, tenacity, willingness to train and get in shape, and determination to ride long or fast. You can be tough and only ride 35 miles, or willing to train hard and still not break 17mph.

You may also be ultra-talented and creative and not yet have the most incredible work. Not yet, at least.

It’s better to know how it affects the people around us

If we want to motivate somebody to do something good, we should explain to them how it helps others, not simply how it helps them.

You could say, “when we wash our hands, we help to prevent ourselves from getting sick.” Or you could say, “when you wash your hands, you help prevent others from getting sick.”

When we think about consequences toward ourselves, we invoke the logic of consequence in the decision-making process. But when we think about the consequence toward others, we invoke the logic of appropriateness.

This logic of appropriateness shifts our focus to a contemplation of our values, what is morally right, and our obligation of right and wrong. This would include both personal and professional moral obligations.

For ourselves and others, it’s good to know how it affects us, but it’s better to understand how it affects those around us.

The value you bring is more important than your portfolio

The value we bring is the most important element that we can take to a new job or a new project.

The client wants to see your portfolio or your degree before they hire you, but both of those things are relics of the past. Tomorrow is a new day and there is no guarantee that your best work is still ahead of you.

However, both the degree and the portfolio give prospective clients (or bosses) some sense of security in hiring you for the job.

For the artist, it is important to use the portfolio as a tool to gain more work, not as something that gives a sense of entitlement. That was yesterday’s work. The best and most valuable people don’t rest on the laurels of what they’ve done in the past.

The important thing is the value you bring today and the success you foster for tomorrow. Work hard on important things.

You should laugh at my joke (because I laughed at my joke?)

Laughter is contagious, but when you laugh at your own jokes, it makes them less funny and causes you to appear self-conscious.

So the quote by French novelist, Honoré de Balzac rings true. “To provoke laughter without joining in it greatly heightens the effect.”

You only need to have the confidence that the audience will see that your joke is funny.

Introducing novel ideas and shifting the Overton Window

The Overton Window has to do with what policies are acceptable to the mainstream at any given time. There is a sort of Overton Window effect with all creative ideas.

You might approach your boss, or a client, with a brilliant idea. However, even the boss who loves creative solutions might not understand the idea if it’s “too unique.”

There is a sweet spot with introducing new ideas. Not so normal that it’s boring, but not so creative that it’s confusing.

Introducing brilliant or new ideas is like blowing a soap bubble. Be gentle and shift the window of acceptable ideas. If you push too hard, the bubble will burst.

Familiarity helps explain stuff

One of the most difficult things about creative work is convincing other people that your idea is a good one.

We, too often, fall into the trap of assuming that everybody sees the breadth and depth of our “ingenious” idea exactly as we do. After all, we know our idea inside and out.

However, selling an abstract idea is difficult. Selling a novel solution you’ve come up with is even more difficult.

The solution is familiarity. Connect your solution to commonly known items, processes, and ideas to quickly explain (and generate a level of comfort about) your idea.

Find commonalities in books, history, technology, behavior, sports, etc… and explain your ideas and solutions that way to help bridge the gap from an abstract idea to something concrete in the mind of the person listening to your idea.

Start small. Start now.

Make small changes. It’s all you can do today anyway. Big changes happen because you’ve spent weeks, months, and years making small improvements every day.

Small bad habits each day also compound over time. So focus on doing one small thing today and you have 365 drips of water in your bucket after one year.

Start small. Start now.

Contempt for authority

Shaking your fist in the face of (lawful and good) authority is popular, but humility (even when you’re sure you are right) is far more beneficial.

“To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself,” –Albert Einstein

It’s a hard life to be a leader when you have never been willing to be led.

The to-do list is stressing us out

We all think to-do lists are essential. But they may also prevent us from maximizing our effectiveness.

It’s comfortable to see all our work laid out on a list in front of us. However, I have found that I am much more effective and open to changes throughout the workday if I only keep a loose collection of general projects I want to make some progress on each day.

The goal is to get started with work right away, not dream about work to be done. Once I am started with work, I am more open to the reality of the day and what I can handle. It is at that point that I lock in a to-do list.

This keeps me open to the flexibility that I need throughout the workday. It also helps eliminate the stress of being an hour behind schedule by lunchtime on my to-do list.

Note: The same holds true for time blocking a day of work. Instead of scheduling tasks into rigid 15-30 minute blocks, I instead reserve hour-at-a-time blocks for either “deep” or “shallow” work and just fill those hours with productive work on whatever projects I choose.