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Busy at the other site

But here is a thought:

Ask yourself, “what good thing could happen if more people read my writing?”

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Good morning

After the Pentathlon and after the LRS, the “five minutes a day” abruptly stopped. There is a lesson in this: gentle, voluntary guardrails are useful to keep momentum.

However, the professional writing has continued. More interesting is the evolution of the professional publishing backend. That has started to move.

In any event, let’s get back to these little posts: pre-dawn (usually) coffee companions, with a contented, well-fed dog at my feet.

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Oh hey

Posting something now. The trip to Atlanta threw me off schedule.

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Lack of talent (self-diagnosed)

“Yes, yes, never mind that,” he said, waving me away. “But have you ever considered, what’s the assumption that someone makes if they say they have no talent?

I kept quiet.

“It means that they think their problem is technical.They believe they do not have the skills.”

“Oh,” I said.

“And so I thought that your problem was technical! I trained you as if your problem was technical. But it wasn’t! No matter what I taught you, you didn’t seem to improve. Your problem is a matter of will, not a matter of skill. I taught you everything you needed to know in the first two months, but you just didn’t seem to apply it! You were not willing to apply it.”

https://commoncog.com/mental-strength-judo-life/

Memo to self. “I’m not smart enough” or “I’m not good enough” masks an underlying assumption and uncovering that assumption—“I’m not willing to will my way forward”—is essential to progress.

I wonder if the inverse also is true. The self-talk of “I’m a fart in a windstorm” masking some deeper truth?

Also true: “I’m not talented enough”. But that’s a realization you get after you have applied extreme will and still have not reached your goal.

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Back to the basics

It’s time to stop learning the new. Mastery does not come from learning new things. Mastery comes from returning to basic principles and mastering them even more — which causes the new.

This is a “wet roads cause rain” problem.

I like the new. The shiny. The new software that will suddenly make everything better. The new best-seller that will of course have that blinding flash of insight that makes all the difference and transforms my life.

No.

If you are having trouble performing to the highest standards, it is not a signal that you lack sufficient knowledge or the latest tools. It is a signal that you do not have sufficient mastery over the applicable basic principles.

Don’t worry so much about latest developments. Study the basics. Learn, teach, and by doing so learn again.

As usual this is an exhortation to self.

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Parsifal is God-tier

1981 Berliner Philharmoniker recording, Herbert von Karajan conducting.

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Not what you say

“By their deeds you will know them. Does a man gather grapes from thorns or figs from briars?”

Matthew 7:16

What am I doing?

Memo to self: STFU. Just do.

Get as close to unmediated truth as possible. Not interpreted. Not collated. Not curated for me. This music playing. Curated. This carpet. Designed. That food. Pre-decided by bureaucrats. Not that there is anything wrong with it, except it’s all a facsimile of what someone thought would be good.

Is. Just look for what is.

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LAX scheduling notes for future me

  • Security opens for business at 4:00 a.m.
  • Delta Skyclub in T3 opens for business at 4:15 a.m.
  • Take care of your state of mind at 4:00 a.m. Life is not as bleak and pointless as it appears to be at that time of day, on little sleep and no food.
  • So many of us, stone-faced, trudging towards the gates. Where are you going?
  • Why? No, really — why?
  • I do not have a good answer to that.
  • Atlanta.
  • Why?
  • Conference.
  • Why?
  • Learn stuff, I hope.
  • Why?
  • Do a thing I better — a thing I don’t really like doing.
  • Why?

There is a reason for first class seats, Skyclubs, fancy hotels to exist. It’s to entice you to do things you don’t want to do. To keep your soul quiet.

Why?

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Well that’s interesting

The LRS daily practice chain breaks and then the daily posting chain breaks.

Again, it’s before dawn. I had a rocky sleep night, including the dog whining to get outside at 3 am for (I guess—I didn’t check) biological imperatives. The rocky sleep, I suspect, is in part from the mid-afternoon nap on Sunday.

Today is the day to be methodical. What is my most important thing? It’s on the calendar now. What is the second most important thing? Research the email question yesterday. What is the third most important thing? Take action based on the answer discovered for the email—there are probably two. What is the fourth most important thing? Don’t know—there might not be time for them.

During the day, do not add to the project list. Keep the project list open on the right monitor.