Hello! Today marks my 50th post. If you’ve been here for a while, thanks for reading along. I genuinely appreciate every like, comment, and subscribe. I’m about to start a new chapter in life and so have been in quite a philosophical frame of mind. Here are some of my more recent realisations on work and life:
Sharing information isn’t enough to drive change. If you want someone to act on the information, you must tailor your message to your audience. The overly logical and overly idealistic tend to struggle with this concept.
Similarly, where possible, show don’t tell. Model the behaviour you want to see. Sketch/demo/prototype the idea you want buy-in for. Provide a taster for the bigger event. People like to come to their own conclusions. Help them to do that.
There is a difference between caring about something generally and caring about it specifically. If you bring “caring about specifically” energy to “caring about generally” causes, you will burn yourself out. The activist-to-apathetic pipeline is real.
A lot of truths in life are paradoxical. Once you get comfortable with that reality, it’s easier to move through life with ease.
I’ve always wanted contradictory things. I used to view my duality as a weakness, something to figure out so that I could get the right non-contradictory answer, that was surely the thing I truly wanted. I’ve now accepted duality as an inherent part of me. Every box in my life doesn’t need to be neatly stacked and categorised. This had made life feel bigger, more interesting and free.
In most walks of life (work, relationships, health, healing, etc.), you can’t actually skip steps even if you intellectually know what you can do/should feel. However, you can sometimes increase the speed of the process through good techniques.
Only theorists have perfect answers. Anyone who has ever brought something to fruition in the real world has always delivered an imperfect solution. No book, product, or policy is perfect. Those who have never tried to create are the ones most likely to attack.
Similarly, most decisions in life require trade-offs. This is especially true when you live in a democracy and are deciding who to vote for. Opting out of a difficult decision is an abandonment of your own power. Choose your trade-offs. If able, try to make the system better.
Unless you are extremely offline, it’s likely your mind is filled with the commentary of others. Every TikTok, news headline, podcast, book, and tweet leaves an impression. Try to consume more content vegetables. Unplug regularly. Ask yourself why you think the things that you do.
Art is a necessity.
There is nothing more annoying than being told “deep down you know what you want” when you have no idea what you want. Most of the time, however, you do actually know what you want. You just might not want to admit it or accept the consequences. If you really don’t know what you want, then you may be in the “in-between”, a state between who you were and haven’t fully let go of, and who you’re becoming and want to be.
Bridgerton recently reminded me of the value of a “good-natured” person (Hello Lord Debling). It is a very underrated quality.
People show you who they are. You will see it clearly if you manage to observe without filtering through your fears and desires.
Similarly, people tell you what they care about and what has hurt them through the advice they give you. Never accept it blindly but do consider it. Others can often see what we can’t see about ourselves.
Every people pleaser I’ve met had a punitive streak. Repression always has a cost.
Narratives drive the world. The stories you tell yourself about yourself or the world shape your reality even if they’re not true. Choose your stories carefully.
Energy is a great guide.
A while ago, I made a decision that I only wanted to operate from a place of positive beliefs and emotions rather than acting on scarcity, fear, or anger. I feel more grounded and generally happier, but truthfully, this has come at a cost. Demons can be great drivers.
Most of life is outside of our control. Yet, developing a sense of agency is one of the best things I’ve done for my mental health. Agency doesn’t remove the systemic barriers we face but it does make it a lot easier to cope with and try to change them.
You can never take too many cat photos. Or photos in general as long as it’s not overriding “the moment”.
Truth is paradoxical because life is not cause and effect, but consists of systems. People are paradoxical because thinking/discussions frequently happen out of context, while doing is always in context.
Don't stop at duality. Duality are just two poles in a category of which there are many.
Sense of agency is critical to human wellbeing and additionally sense of value. So much of humanity fails, when those two are not sufficiently met.
Seeing the light that you provided in others, is also a good driver. It fulfills our sense of value.