Be Brave

How often are you brave?

How brave are you in general?

How do you feel before it?

How do you feel after it?

What are the results for you?

Bravery is an age-old virtue.

Bravery can reap amazing results.

Bravery can also launch you into disasters.

Being brave can feel awesome.

Being brave is not easy.

Being brave is a roller coaster.

Being brave has consequences.

What does productivity look like?

How do you define a productive day?

How immediate are the outcomes?

How is the ratio of time to output?

A productive day can come in many forms.

Long-term work has no immediate outcomes.

Immediate outcomes often have a small impact.

Sometimes we invest a lot of time for little output.

Other times, we get a huge amount done in little time.

Not every day is a home run, and that is ok.

The Tower of Strength

How often do you feel uncomfortable?

When do you feel uncomfortable?

What happens when you feel so?

How do you handle the feeling?

We all feel uncomfortable at times.

There is always a good reason.

Sometimes obvious, sometimes less so.

It is ok to feel this way.

Yet, often we will be ashamed.

We will compare with others who are not.

Discomfort is individual.

When are you the tower of strength?

Contract Termination

How do you behave after a contract termination?

How do others behave after one?

What is the difference?

How does this make you feel?

Not everyone behaves the same.

Some people finish the work as required.

Others drop their pencil at termination notice.

Honor if it is the prior.

Do not force the issue if it is the latter.

Immediate termination is preferable to bad work.

A good handover is preferable to an immediate end.

Cleanliness

How clean do you like it?

How pedantic are you about it?

How do you define clean or dirty?

How do others perceive this?

We all have different cleanliness thresholds.

What you find clean, someone else finds dirty.

What you find dirty, someone else finds clean.

Do not judge others for their threshold.

Completion vs Oblivion

How often do you push a task along?

What happens if you wait too long?

How often will life force you to do it?

How often will the task become obsolete?

We all tend to postpone doing things.

Sometimes life will force the delivery upon you.

Other times you will postpone into oblivion.

Truly important tasks will get completed.

The unimportant is well placed in nirvana.

Life will tell you through pressure what is important.

Confidence in Yourself

How confident are you in yourself?

What are you good at?

What are you bad at?

What are you the best at?

Do you acknowledge these?

Humility and confidence are important.

Arrogance and self-abnegation are your downfall.

Be confident in your strengths.

Be proud to communicate them.

Be wary of your weaknesses.

Be honest about them.

Especially to yourself, not just others.

Reputation Precedes

How good is your reputation?

How important is it for you?

How aware are you of it?

How conscious are you about it?

Your reputation precedes you.

For better and for worse.

Building it requires effort and intention.

Destroying it is easy.

A good reputation creates opportunities.

A good reputation creates access.

A good reputation creates relationships.

Never underestimate the value of your reputation.

Paradoxical Intention

How focused are you on outcomes?

How do you set your goals?

How well do you know the required path?

How often do you reach your goals?

We tend to overly focus on outcomes.

We also tend to focus on non-goals.

Formulating goals as what we do not want.

This creates paradoxical intention.

We will end up “achieving” exactly the opposite.

A better way is to focus on the process.

And to never use non-goal formulas.

Slowly Then Suddenly

How fast do things progress for you?

How steady is this progress?

How often is there no progress?

How often do you have sudden action?

We often believe progress to be linear.

Yet, progress is anything but linear.

Usually, nothing much happens for a while.

Then suddenly progress shoots upwards.

We plan, tinker, and do, often till frustration.

One day, it all pays off, and we break through.

Don’t give up before this day.

Yet, don’t keep trying for eternity.

Right Action, Wrong Time

How often do you do the right thing?

Yet, how often is it at the wrong time?

How valuable is the action then?

How often is it negative?

The right action at the wrong time,

may still amount to the wrong action.

Timing is often a crucial component.

We might do more harm than good,

when our timing is bad.

However, some actions are good, irrespective of timing.

Find these and do more of them.

Too much good

How often do you overdo it?

When does good stop being good?

How easy is it to overstep it?

How can good be too much?

The dosage makes the poison.

This goes both ways.

Good things can become detrimental.

Too much of anything is bad.

Too little of anything is pointless.

Getting the amount right can be a challenge.

Your body and mind will tell you.

Often less is more, so take a step back.

Good is not equal Good

How often do you treat yourself?

How good are your treats?

How healthy are your habits?

How do you feel after these?

What may be good for one area

can be horrible for another.

What can help one ailment

may be catastrophic for another.

Good is not always good.

“Good” is situational.

“Good” is a question of perspective.

Choose the right good for the moment.

Humouristic Mishaps

How do you handle mishaps?

Is there a difference between your own and others’?

How about the mishaps of others that impact you?

How do you feel after your reaction?

What can you do better?

Mishaps happen all the time.

Sometimes it is we who make them.

Sometimes it is others who do.

Sometimes others' mishaps have consequences for us.

Laize afair and humour are the best choice.

Anger, outrage and pity are the worst choices.

After all, you never know where a mishap shall lead.

Excitement Decay

How much does anticipation excite you?

How does the excitement develop over time?

How much is left just before the event?

How do you feel when it is all gone?

When we anticipate something, we get excited.

Some of us lose excitement over time.

When the event arrives, we want to stay home.

We wonder why we suffer from excitement decay.

While some people experience excitement growth.

Solo vs Group

How do you solve problems?

Do you prefer to think on your own?

Do you prefer to consult a group?

What happens when you do both?

Sometimes we can find an answer on our own.

Sometimes we need help from others.

The magic happens when we do both.

Everyone has their blind spots.

And groupthink may lack innovation.

Use each method accordingly.

Theory vs Praxis

How important is education?

How important is experience?

How important are results?

What do you choose?

Education is important,

yet it is not essential.

Experience is crucial.

Some things can only be learnt through praxis.

Others need to be learnt through education.

Ideally, you have both,

yet most important are the results.

Hitting a Wall

How often do you hit a wall?

How do you react to it?

What works to break through?

How much effort does it take?

Progress comes with hitting walls.

Breaking through is the only option.

We can bang our heads against it.

We can take a step back.

We can jump over them.

We can dig under them.

Often it serves to change the approach.

There is always a way to the other side.

Connecting People

How often do you connect people?

How do you know if they fit?

How do you know if they are worthy?

What is the result when they are not?

What is the result when they are?

We all connect people,

some more frequently than others.

Yet, not every connection works out.

Some people do not value your attempt.

And others will feel honored for your effort.

It is paramount to vet people for worthiness.

The unworthy will always disappoint.

Taking the extra step

How often do you take an extra step?

When do you take the extra step?

Why do you do it then?

How does this affect the outcome?

We tend to do exactly what is requested.

Yet, going the extra mile can be impactful.

It improves the impression we leave.

It can be the difference between success and failure.

The extra step can save us time and effort.

Just take 5 minutes to think a little more before executing.