This is different. I was looking at the email from James Clear and each thing I saw I thought “that would be good to write about.” So in the end I am including the lot. In some cases there may be a slight variation.
The first three are ideas from him. The next two are quotes from others. Lastly there is a question. "Beware the student of one teacher. A good idea spirals into dogma when it gets applied to everything and stretched beyond the areas where it is useful. Remain open and embrace a lot of teachers." (When the teacher is God I tend to listen. I do however think it is so true for other. I can tell when someone has embraced another person’s ideas only to the exclusion of valid thoughts of others. I find this disconcerting for the reasons stated above.) "Your best performances will come when you are working in a way that is a full expression of you. The work becomes a natural display of your personality. This is when you not only get better results, but also love the activity — because in doing the craft, you feel alive." "People can sometimes be held hostage by their expectations. They have a dream of something they would like to achieve or a path they intend to follow, but their mindset falls apart when things don't work out how they had hoped. The key is to reach for an extremely high bar, but to be adaptable enough [to see] the failures, disappointments, and defeats [as] fuel [and not a reason to stop] Give your best effort. Everything you are given is material for the next move. Everything." Physician and educator Maria Montessori on leading others: "The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist." But this holds true for leadership in general—give people space and they flourish." Physicist and chemist Marie Curie on the connection between fear and knowledge: "Nothing in life is to be feared, [but] understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." A question from Nick Cammarata to inspire action: "If I had 10x the agency I have, what would I do?" That last one is a variation of a question I ask myself. “If I had unlimited resources available to me, what would I do?” Anyway that is where I am at this morning. I have some things to do and I hope to veg this arvo and this evening. Then back into it.
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Weird. I woke up with a song on my mind I have been listening to. The part that is going over and over in my head is “Why does kindness seem revolutionary, when did hate become so ordinary.”
Occasionally I watch a show called “the Kindness Diaries.” A guy travels around and meets some extraordinary people and sleeps in his car unless he is offered a place to stay for the night. It occurred to me this morning how ugly hate between people is. I find it a strong word and one I do not like to use. I have no problem hating some activities which while often justified by the perpetrator hurt the doer and the receiver. But when someone expresses hatred of another, I invariably see something that I would prefer not to see. It is interesting that when I look up hate there are associated words like contempt, anger and disgust. It sort of seems appropriate that that has been in my mind. I was wrapped at Merril’s immediate positive response but I offered to help a guy take what he needed to for something he was involved in. The response was immediately affirmative and I knew it was the right thing. We ended up staying and help things get set up. Later we run a market where it is incredible value. After that we are coming home for lunch then going to help with the pack up of an event. After that we set up for something tomorrow. That’s it. But really it all comes back to what I hold to which is do to others as you would be done by. I have found that where I am willing to help others are willing to help me. To me kindness has its rewards. I do not do it to get but do it because that’s the way I would like it done to me. And I find it amazing that so often that is what happens. This is late because of what we have been doing but so worth it I reckon. Yesterday turned out differently to what I expected.
I had spoken to the people suppling the door for our dishwasher the day before and they said they would be here about lunchtime to install it. Before then I thought I could mow the lawn. I did that. It was a bit dewy and the lawn proved to be more of a challenge than I had expected it to be. But I did get it done. When I was doing the front, someone pulled up and unloaded a drone. I had never seen it before. It was someone taking pictures of a place that was for sale. I found it fascinating to watch it overhead. I ended up talking with her briefly. The person who lives across the road also ended up coming for a chat. He is around my age and talked about how he pays bills in person and gets encouraged to do it all online. I reckon that will be the way but we are not there yet. Judging by the disappearance of banks it is the way it is all heading. Our only bank is in the valley, and we must do just about everything online. Anyway after mowing, wiper snipping and blowing, I was finished and I was cactus. I thought I would wait for the installation. At around one I texted the person asking if they were still coming. Turns out someone else had grabbed the door and omitted to contact me. The installation is now set for Monday morning. I needed to get onions for a Bunnings BBQ we are having on Saturday. 25 kgs of onions needed to be prepared. I approach cutting onions like I am in a space suit. I just can’t go on if the fumes get to me, so I am masked up, wear goggles and have a fan blowing on my face. That is a today thing. Alone with doing that I have a visit to the bank. I have an appointment for it. Plus we will visit “Containers for cash” and set up for the market we run tomorrow. The electrician is also coming today to do some stuff we need done in the cabin. As well we will deliver the cut onions someplace they are being picked up from tomorrow morning. The day promises to be full and interesting. |