It was unusual this time in that I was not even looking for the James Clear email.  But there was a quote in it by Virgina Wolf that had me thinking a lot about how I like to operate.
 “Writer Virginia Woolf reminds us that agency is not in controlling what happens, but in working with what we have: "Arrange whatever pieces come your way."”
I am a great believer in working with what I have got and then determining what I need.
The example that comes to mind immediately from what I have done was sleeves for stamps.  As many know I have a huge collection of stamps.  I have spent ages sorting them and reached the stage of mounting them.  It was at that point I realized I needed more sleeves for the job.  I got them and moved on.
Conversely I have seen others think something was needed, get it, and then discover it was not really needed.
I try to avoid that.  At times I am sure it makes me seem unnecessary tight, yet I have rarely experienced regret operating that way.  I do think it has saved me well and it has also utilized all I have before I move on.
Also it lends itself to discovering purpose for some items that was not immediately obvious.  I do think it is unfortunate to pass something by when all the time it was a good, though not immediately obvious, fit or what I was doing.
That is why it seems to me sometimes others  provide me with the best ideas for something I have not even considered.  I reckon feedback is great.  Laying aside my superman syndrome ofter opens the door to good ideas I have not even considered.  I am limited in my thinking and often being close to something blinkers my view.  It is way better where possible to get the thoughts and ideas of others.  To me often the impact of an idea is doubled, tripled, quadrupled and on by the import of others.
Working with what I have got is the way to go for me.  To me it is the best use of my resources.

There is a podcast I watch each week.  The person interviewed this time is a lecturer and expert on Hollywood films.  He has all sorts of statistics showing what has happened in the past and what is happening now in the film industry.  Film makers and distributors make decisions based on his research of trends.
I personally love going to a movie in a movie theatre.  That is a luxury I have forgone in recent times.  There have been a number of reasons for that including the price of tickets and food and the limited releases that had been making it to the big screen.
What I did like was the news of the latest trends.  Apparently several movie studios are abandoning streaming and going for releases in the cinema’s.  That to me is great news and it backs up the surprise I have felt at the number of movies being released to the big screens of late.  For the first time in a long time I have thought, “I would like to go to that.”
Back in the 1920’s movie companies were given a choice.  For tax purposes did they want to be seen as an arts industry or a business.  They chose being seen as a business as their bottom line is to make money.
Back in Hollywoods hey days that happened.  In more recent times the industry has fragmented.  Companies now realize that movie theatres were their cash registers.  The upshot has been a trend away from streaming services to movie theatres again.
That does make sense to me.  For the last few years I have not watched movies I normally would have as they were part of a streaming service I refused to subscribe to.  I could not justify joining a streaming service and pay a monthly amount just to watch one thing.  When faced with a choice I did not see the movie and the company missed revenue it would have received in the past.  That is not a good thing for businesses.  (I do subscribe to one expensive streaming service, but I have been amazed that I can say to them either I pay the same price or I walk away and you get nothing.  Every time I am kept and have even occasionally got more than I was getting).
Another point raised was that during the great depression much was abandoned but not going to the movies.  That was affordable but the reason it thrived was that movies tended to offer hope, and hope was in short supply in tough times.
The same is happening today.  His wife has battled cancer and was given four years to live 24 years ago.  As he says she does not want to go to a depressing movie – life is a battle as it is.  She wants to go to a movie that speaks of hope.
I love hopeful movies.  I will pay money to see them if I can.

I was considering what to write about today and had decided to make it like a potpourri of quotes.  I have a book of quotes on different subjects.  Some to me are really good and inspiring.
I had several that I was going to write on about different topics.  Then Merril told me that a group raided and trashed a shop yesterday.  That make me think deeper about one of the topics I was looking at.  It was character.
The quote I feel was most pertinent of the ones I had was, “everyone journeys through character as well as time.  The person one becomes depends on the person one has been.”  Dick Francis
That highlights to me that character is built.  If what is built is a corner store it does not suddenly become a bank.  By that I mean, what we do does not suddenly transform depending on the circumstance.  The circumstance reveals what we are. 
It is a variation of what was said the other day.  Garbage in, garbage out.  Conversely good stuff in, good stuff out.
I must confess I have a hard time hearing “I would have done better” or of someone who professes a better way but is not doing.  It is only by doing that one understands all that is involved.  The time, the effort, the getting it right and getting it wrong.  The learning of what works and what does not.  It is reflected in another quote I read. “We know what another thinks not when he tells us what he thinks, but by his actions.” Isaac Bashevis Singer.
To me actions determine future responses.  If I grow up knowing no boundaries or disciple, is it any wonder my actions reflect that.  The opposite is true too and I think a quote by John Stuart Mill says it well.  “Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or merchants, or manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers or physicians.”
To me that is true of any profession be it specialist or labourer or home keeper.  What I am is what I become.