Question to focus your energy:

Are you trying to clean up your city before sweeping your doorstep?

In Kevin Kelly’s latest advice column, one of my favorite items was the most simple:

"To clean up your city, sweep your doorstep first."

My own interpretation of this: If you want to work on your external world, first work on your internal world.

It reminds me of one of my favorite Zen parables:

Two men come to visit a Zen teacher to inquire about moving to his village.

The first man enters and says, "I am thinking of moving to this village, how is it here?" The teacher replies, "Well, how is your current village?" The man responds, "It’s terrible, I hate it there." The Zen teacher answers, "This village is the same, you won’t like it."

The second man enters and says, "I am thinking of moving to this village, how is it here?" The teacher replies, "Well, how is your current village?" The man responds, "It’s wonderful, I love it there." The Zen teacher answers, "This village is the same, you will like it."

The lesson: Our internal reality creates our external reality.

If you want a beautiful, fulfilling external world, first turn inward and create a beautiful, fulfilling internal world.

Quote to deserve what you want:

"How to find a good spouse? The best single way is to deserve a good spouse...To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want." - Charlie Munger

You can't hope to attract a set of values that you yourself aren't embracing.

Live what you want to receive.

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Framework to avoid bad outcomes:

Boiling Frog Syndrome

If a frog is placed in boiling water, it will instinctively jump out to avoid being killed. But if a frog is placed in warm water that is slowly brought to a boil, it may not notice the creeping, subtle change in temperature until it is too late.

The Boiling Frog analogy brings to life a harsh reality:

The most dangerous habits, behaviors, and beliefs are the ones you slip into slowly, day after day, without ever realizing the damage they are doing to your life.

We think that catastrophic outcomes can be avoided by simply avoiding significant mistakes, when in reality, catastrophic outcomes are often simply the macro result of thousands of micro mistakes.

The micro mistakes can take a variety of forms:

• The diet and exercise slip-up when you didn’t feel motivated
• The tiny white lie to cover up a mistake
• The lack of appreciation voiced to the person you love

In each case, small things feel small enough to ignore in the moment—but they are silently, subtly compounding to become something big in the future.

Perform an honest assessment of your own life:

1. Where are you falling victim to Boiling Frog Syndrome?
2. Where are you allowing micro mistakes to compound quietly in the background of your life?
3. What changes can you make today to stop their future impact?

Address these questions, avoid bad outcomes, and improve your life.

Great list of short insights:

​Some Things I Think​

This is an old gem from Morgan Housel.

A few of my favorites:

• "People like you more when you are working towards something, not when you have it." - Drake
• There are two types of people: Those who want to know more and those who want to defend what they already know.
• There are two types of successful people: those with imposter syndrome, and sociopaths.

Worth a few minutes of your time!

Tweet on the power of resilience:

I loved this story.

Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way you thought it would—the battle may be lost, but with resilience and grit, you can still win the war.