Category: Thoughts

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

For me, it’s shockingly frequent. I don’t actively look for new endeavors, but with my career being what it is, I find myself in new situations quite often.

Most recently, I was overseeing the build of a faux-ice rink. Sure, why not?

I heard somewhere that time sees to move slower when faced with new experiences. As we get older, and tend to find ourselves in an unshakable routine – well, you might be familiar with the sensation of time flying by.

Sprinkling new experiences into our lives may just be the antidote for that.

I think it every Halloween. I enjoy this season.

Many of us like to be scared. By entertainment.

We don’t do so well with fear from other sources.

That’s something to think about.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said something to the effect of: “Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, so something else.”

It’s good advice. We are all pretty good about doing something.

What we could use help with is evaluating whether it works or not.

Many of us just keep doing the same thing, regardless of if works or not.

In Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, one rule they mention is “omit needless words”.

Most writers don’t always heed that rule. Myself included.

There’s a point we try to get across, so clear in our heads, but so often fumbled on the page.

So when you sit down to write, it’s important to think of the reader, and think of the rules, and think of grammar, and spelling, and everything else.

It’s also important not to think about it, and to just sit down and write.

It’s easy to bite off more than you can chew.

The trick is to separate the important from the chaff, and to develop discernment in knowing the difference.

Ah, Halloween. One of my favorite times of year.

And it’s big business. From horror-themed events, festivals, and conventions, to films, books, and entertainment – revenue for last year was estimated to be over $12 billion in the US for Halloween.

It’s not for everyone. But for the ones who do feel a part of it – it makes sense to spend money.

And that could be said of any niche.

As I’ve written here before, your best changes day to day. You can’t always be on. But I or can consistently show up.

And the decisions are made by those who show up.

There are two ways to make it in the world. First, filling a void as is – a cog to fill a cog-sized hole.

Second, you can see that void as part of the whole, and then find a solution that solves the problem, perhaps even without a cog.

Nearly everything out there can be improved upon.

Figuring out the way to do so let’s you plot your own course.

I think we don’t consider this enough. Covid notwithstanding, the world is constantly undergoing shifts in understanding, cultural norms, legality, common practices, whatever.

Very few elements are immune to these changes. (Off the top of my head, morality seems to be a relative constant – though its interpretations and practices may be subjected by individualized biases and alterations).

That we attempt to stagnate or fight against change is as productive as trying to hold back the waves crashing along the shore.

Willingly accepting that change will occur gives us the opportunity to ride that wave or, and possibly better, to get ahead of it.

Success is the result of putting in work.

Continuous and uncompromising work doesn’t guarantee success, but success cannot be achieved without it.