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“Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

—-

Special Olympics motto

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“There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win.”

—

Elie Wiesel

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Okay. Competitiveness is a tricky thing.

No one wants “them to win.” And, surely, the bottom line for most people? “I want to win.” Which leads to an overall desire of “so I don’t lose.”

The tricky part is that winning doesn’t belong to you. It’s not just attitude I am talking about here.  Everyone has every right to it — to “the win”. Everyone. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to win, but at some point you need to remember that it isn’t everything. Winning isn’t as important as doing your best (even if best doesn’t equal winning).

So. Sounds easy? Sounds like common sense? Sure.

Those are the facts.

We know the facts.

We understand the facts.

We accept the facts.

That said. Facts being facts, everyone still has to deal with the personal feelings. Because the transition between “I want to win therefore I won’t lose” to “I lost.”, well, THAT is a humdinger of a personal transition.

Worse?

When winning is familiar (like … you win a lot … often enough that a part of you kind of expects to win). Why? Because familiar winning is addictive.

So. Daring to ask yourself “what if I lose?” or “what if the other team wins?” is huge.

And there begets the victory of soul and spirit and character.

We never know the answers to these questions. Mostly because most of us cannot not only picture losing ,but don’t want to (for fear it impedes the possibility of winning), No one wants to envision watching the other team win or maybe better said … “a win that has always belonged to me.”

That means finding victory in a loss is all about character.

Not being too proud to even think about those things as well as accept loss.

To find victory in the attempt is actually the thought.

Oh. And then there is the bigger picture. Life or long term victory.

First. Finding victory in the loss.

Downsizing. Decluttering life. Renting instead of owning. All those things sound an awful lot like “loss.”

And, yet, within each resides a victory. Independence? Freedom to move forward? Financial freedom? Renewed progress? Any and all those things.

A practical definition of ‘victory in loss’? Sure it is.

A true definition? You bet. And I don’t even call this “taking a step back to take two steps forward.” This is simply shedding to gain victory from. Maybe this is simply addition through subtraction. Whatever. It is victory. Period.

Anyway.

Second. The reality is we all need some victories.

Simply being brave in the attempt without ANY winning is difficult .. really difficult. This is where celebrating the small victories starts to matter. Yeah. I know much of the time we focus on lofty goals (and I admit … I write a lot about dreaming the impossible and dreams and aspirations). And those things are good.

But it’s equally important to focus on the small things you’ve achieved. It’s true because to sustain yourself over the long haul, you need to find happiness to motivate yourself along the long haul. So celebrate the victories of small goals for they add up to big goals.

What this all means is we don’t have to focus only on the huge earth-shattering goals and targets (BHAGs – big hairy audacious goals). It helps to seek out the little accomplishments you achieve for they represent being brave in the attempt. They may not seem like much to other people, but they’re huge to you (your soul & spirit).

Personal victories:

–          Kicking a bad habit

–          Losing 5 pounds

–          Overcoming a fear

–          Pushing yourself past your limits

–          Doing something uncomfortable  that you know is good for you (like public speaking)

–          Completing an assignment on time

–          Making your son smile after a tough day

–          Creating a business success (such as getting a business out of the red)

–          Creating a life turnaround (like losing weight and increasing your fitness level)

–          Getting out of debt and taking control of your financial life

And I would argue some of these are semi-huge victories. They are possibly only less ‘huge’ because they are personal, or internal, rather than public.

So maybe we should all reflect a little on what we have accomplished in the past months and days. And make sure you celebrate the small victories and make sure you actually celebrate the victory of the “brave attempt.”

Celebrate the victory of soul & spirit. And feel good about yourself a little more than maybe you may when you look in the mirror. I would argue the person in the mirror is more important than any trophy, ribbon or accolade you could receive by “winning.”

Oh. And don’t forget to lose with character. Because i can guarantee you the one thing you NEVER want to lose is your character because, in the end, whether you have more wins then losses or more losses than wins, you will ultimately be measured, be self & by others, by your character. So don’t lose it along the way.

Here you go. An odd close for me in one of my posts, but I found a Todd Rundgren song that had some nice lyrics:

We’ve been waiting so long,
we’ve been waiting for the sun to rise and shine
Shining still, give us the will
Bright as the day, show us the way.
Somehow, someday,
We need just one victory and we’re on our way.
Prayin’ for it all day and fightin’ for it all night
Give us just one victory, it will be all right.
You may feel about to fall but we go down fighting,
You will hear the call if you only listen
Underneath it all we are here together,
Shining still, give us the will
Bright as the day, show us the way.
Somehow, someday,
we need just one victory and we’re on our way
Prayin’ for it all day and fightin’ for it all night
Give us just one victory, it will be all right.

Just One Victory – Todd Rundgren

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“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”

―

Walter H. Cottingham

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“It occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true, because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again.”

―

John Green

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“Oh, it’s delightful to have ambitions. I’m so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them– that’s the best of it.

Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.”

―

L.M. Montgomery

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I sometimes believe one of the hardest things you can learn in your career is that your best is not particularly special.

Learning the fact that your talent, in reality, is matched by a shitload of people.

Learning that your best is relatively easily matched by a shitload of people.

I thought of this when I recently saw the fabulous documentary about Janis Joplin < Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue> and I scribbled down something she said:

“… at 27 i realized there are a lot of people with talent, the difference is ambition.”

Talent is talent.

Smarts are smarts.

Expertise is almost always relative.

At any given point in Life and your career you can look around you and, if you are self aware, you will note you are rarely the most talented, rarely the smartest one in the room and rarely the only expert. Yeah. Even on your best day you may not actually be the best.

I imagine that is a tough thing to get your head wrapped around.

Okay. Let me say it is a tough thing to wrap your head around. Its not that you truly want to be the most talented, the smartest or the most expert, most of us don’t really care, you just want to feel that at some point you are smart, talented and an expert at something. And when surrounded by people of similar talents, smarts and expertise … well … it is hard to feel that.

And what may be worse <to someone like me who would like to be judged on the raw capabilities> is that often the difference is ambition.

Look. I think anyone with any amount of talent or smarts or some expertise wants to reach a place where you are not only the best you can be but just, well, be good. I mean be really good at something. It doesn’t have to be some high falutin’ title or gobs of money thrown at you, you just want to feel a glimmer of being the best at some moment.

And even with all of the talent swirling around out there in the world I do believe it is attainable. But in achieving this I believe you actually have to get as close to the soul of who & what you are.

Talent only takes you so far.

Smarts only take you so far.

Even the drive of ambition can only really take you so far.

You gotta let your ambition be ignited by that little flame inside you which ends up firing the ambition to greater heights than just the talent & smarts you have. But. This means you have to “give” a little to “get” a little <if not a lot>.

Now. This is kind of dangerous from a personal perspective.

You may not initially think accessing this little flame space inside you would be dangerous, but it really is kind of a dangerous place, or at least fraught with peril, that place inside you where your soul, passion for what you desire & ambition resides.

And maybe worse? It is a little dangerous even if you balance it all fairly well. It is dangerous because to be as good as you can be you gotta give a little of yourself up to feed your talent and ambition to grow it beyond the normal levels. And each level can be so addictive or pleasurable you have a tendency to want to feed it a little more.

That is the price one must pay to reach the heights of ‘as good as you can be.’

Of course in doing so it becomes doubly dangerous:

You can easily make the flame inside burn a little too bright and you get fried from the inside out <or you simply get blinded and lose perspective>.

You can reach a height where you end up getting burned <you reach beyond your natural smarts, talent & expertise>.

And that is where the balance of talent & ambition comes into play.

When and where to stop.

And this is hard.

Really hard.

You would think there would be some stop signs or, like growing up, you recognize you have stopped growing and are at the height you will be for the rest of your Life.

But you don’t.

Heights with regard to ambition and being a good as you can be is something where you always feel like you can grow another inch, foot, or yard.

To be clear. I do not believe ambition is the most important tool to achieving success. I do not believe ambition is more important than talent, smarts/savviness or access to the proper resources. But I do believe ambition can be the difference maker all things being equal.

That said I do get tired of all the self-help books suggesting that ambition and determination alone will help you achieve your desired success regardless of talent and ability. It is a silly if not misguided idea. Think about it.

While we certainly can find some people who overreached their talent & smarts we also all know people who are aspiring to something which they simply do not have the ability to achieve. I read somewhere: “highly motivated people without ability can do stupid things.”

An ambitious attitude can engender the perseverance to guide one to some success and, ultimately, I imagine some version of self-satisfaction … as well as some stupidity.

The will, the desire, maybe even the dream to be & do something is absolutely a powerful personal engine. And sometimes, maybe even often, it can get you a little farther than your natural abilities may have taken you all on their own. Ambition can certainly help in maximizing talent because it can sometimes be the motivation to not only work hard … but maybe work a little harder than you may have wanted to.

Ambition does have a nice habit of insuring you don’t waste what talent you do have, but it doesn’t guarantee maximizing potential. It doesn’t because more often than not ambition isn’t born with a naturally smart compass … it simply powers you in the direction you choose <which is not always the direction you should go>.

Hey. I am not anti-ambition. In fact I think the way society looks at ambition is misguided. Far too often it suggests ambition as a bad thing as it mistakenly always ties it to greed, narcissism or desire for power. More often ambition is just a desire to not be mediocre. A desire to be the best one can be.

Certainly ambition can drive someone to cut corners and to assume “you do what you need to do to get where you want.” Ambition can, not always, muffle the voice of ethical behavior.

But making that a blanket generalization is a mistake.

Here is what I can tell you from a personal point of view.

I was not, and am not, particularly ambitious, but I did recognize that being in the zone in work was the best thing that ever happened to me. Leaving that zone was always a little emptier than when in that zone. And all I could often think of was getting back into the zone. My only real ambition was to be in the game and the best game I could be in.

I also realized that for me to play that game well I had to ‘give a little of me’ to ‘get the best out of me.’

Did I balance it well?

Shit.

I don’t know.

I doubt it.

All I know is that while I may not have acted like it in my career and Life <and I am sure I often miscommunicated this feeling many times> I have known there is always someone smarter, more talented and have significantly more expertise than I in any given situation and at any given time. And because of that I was consistently humbled and challenged — equally.

That was my balance.

As for everyone else?

When I look around in the workplace and tables in some bar as people debate issues and problems I am fairly sure that this balancing talent & ambition & reality is hard.

Ambition, and talent as well, demands a lot of you.

It would be far too easy for me to suggest that ambition demands some sort of dedication to hard work, focus, some sacrifice and honing of some expertise.

I actually think ambition, not blind ambition, demands you to not settle. And that is a big demand.

“You are only as much as you settle for.”

Janis Joplin

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“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them.”

–  

Napoleon Bonaparte

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“Do you admire men of principle? That would depend, I suppose, upon what set of principles you’re speaking of.”

 Well.  Don’t you find that principles inject an almost moribund inflexibility in the people who subscribe to them?” 

–

The Hollow Men

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So. This is about ambition (which is good) and principles (which is even better). That said. Let us begin by reminding ourselves that Napoleon crowned himself emperor. Uhm. Yeah. Crowned himself. By that I mean to show he was even above the church <and the pope> instead of having the crown bestowed upon him and placed on his head by a representative from Rome he took the crown in in his own hands from the church guy and placed it on his own head.

My point? THAT is ambition.

As for principals?  Liberté, égalité, fraternité: “liberty, equality, fraternity <brotherhood>” — the national motto of France. Or. “Any man aspires to liberty, to equality, but he cannot achieve it without the assistance of other men, without fraternity.”

He drew a line.

Well. Then he redrew the line. And that is the difficulty with ambition. Drawing lines.

Because principles are not meant to be redrawn. They are not fleeting nor casual. And they certainly do not ‘inject an almost moribund inflexibility in the people who subscribe to them’ as one of the opening quotes suggests. Principles are almost like moral guard rails or maybe a foundation upon which represents the ground you stand upon. You get it. Something solid. In a way I imagine that is what character is all about – an inner moral compass. Principles by which to live.

I will also point out character is really about drawing lines. Lines you won’t cross. Boundaries within which you, your soul and pride and esteem and self belief, resides within. Is that inflexibility? Gosh. Maybe. I tend to believe it is more about insuring you keep some sense of self as defined by what is right and what is wrong.

“Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.”

Oscar Wilde

Ok. Try having this discussion <ambition and principles> with young people, say high school kids, and maybe even some young adults entering the work place. This is a very difficult discussion to have.

There is a lot of discussion around how to fulfill their ambitions <and by the way if you have any doubts that kids these days aren’t ambitious or have some very well defined ambitions go to school for a day>.

Anyway. In other words the discussion revolves around how do they get to where they want to go. And this discussion isn’t around schooling or skills or picking a career; it is about principles.

They have principles they just worry <a lot> that the world they are entering does not.

They worry that if they live by their principles, doing what they believe is right and the right thing to do in what they perceive is a ‘dog eat dog’ world, they will get chewed up.

They worry that doing the right thing and having principles will actually hinder them in their journey toward their ambition.

Think about what I just wrote.

I suggest you do so because we older folk spend a shitload of time ranting about the altruism focus of the young … and they want to ‘do good’ and don’t want to ‘do work.’

We are missing the point. In fact we may be missing something we should be paying attention to.

Most young people don’t want to compromise their principles. They are not being dreamers nor are they being Pollyannaish with a perspective to the world, in fact, they are possibly seeing the world better than we old folk are.

They want to work.

They want to run businesses.

They want to be productive and be part of some company <or larger entity> where they can be part of a them doing and making something.

They just don’t want to compromise their principles.

So what do they do? They start seeking opportunities in places where they perceive they will not have to compromise their principles. In fact they are aiming toward opportunities that they believe embrace their principles so much so that they can tout them as some sort of ‘value’ <or justification> in their decision and choice to fulfill their ambition. I tend to believe older people who scoff at the importance of social responsibility in business or the importance of being environmentally conscious take a moment and think about this. Whether it REALLY matters in decision making/choices or not it DOES represent something tangible to a young person to attach their intangible principles to. Is it a representation of “whole cloth” importance? Probably not. But it is like grabbing onto a lifeline from a principle standpoint.

Think about it. This is choice by avoidance rather than choice by true ambition.

Parts of what I am saying are sad.

Sad in that some great young minds which could make the world a better place through business and ideas and innovations … are veering away.

We, as in society & productivity, are worse off because of this.

And we, as in older folk, kind of need to get our heads out of our asses and recognize what is happening. Stop thinking things like “kid, there is a real world out there you are gonna have to face … and you need to pay the bills … so assume some responsibility.” <or some derivative of that>

They are absolutely assuming some responsibility.

I fear that they only believe they can change the world through more altruistic pursuits. And, yes, they are important and good pursuits but from a larger perspective business drives the world. Business makes shit that makes lives easier and healthier and impacts the home and life in ways that it is difficult to imagine let alone outline in a few words. Somehow, someway, we need to insert the ‘believers of principles’ into the business world with all of their ambition and hope … and remind them – and empower them – that they can change the world.

They can make the world a better place.

They can make society and people and lives better.

And they can do it in business … not just altruistic career opportunities.

Look. Young people absolutely recognize that ambition i s good.

And you know what? It is. Ambition doesn’t mean having the biggest title or the biggest salary or the biggest anything, ambition is simply declaring you want to maximize your potential.

Ambition just needs to be tempered with principles mainly because you don’t live in a cocoon so you cannot truly fulfill your ambition ‘without the assistance of other people … without fraternity.’

I imagine my real point here is that ambition is always a personal struggle. It isn’t easy <no matter what anyone says>. Everyone walks a line. The good get tugged toward the side of bad and, yes, the bad get tugged toward the side of good.

Anyway.

This was a sad piece for me to write. Sad in that we have forgotten the power of people and I sometimes we believe the system is driving behavior and success … and worse … principles. And, yet, people build and make up the system.

We older folk appear to cynically view the system as ‘it is what it is, deal with it, or you will lose.’ And the younger people view the system as ‘it is what it is, I don’t like it, I will not compromise’  and they are electing to try and avoid it.

How is that in any way a successful formula for the future?

I began with Napoleon. He was from a relatively humble background on the island of Corsica for gods sake. And he ended up leading France to heights that seem unimaginable.

Did he reach too high and too far? Sure. Absolutely.

Life makes dealing with your principles a constant struggle. The real point is that you can fulfill your ambition & maintain your principles.

I believe we have forgotten this.

We have forgotten how to draw lines.

Well. Maybe the young haven’t forgotten and maybe we should get out of their way and let them change the world with their ambition & principles.

—————

“And the nights, bigger than imagining: black and gusty and enormous, disordered and wild with stars.”

—–

Donna Tartt 

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“This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.”

―

T.S. Eliot

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Well. Despite the fact most nights remain the same amount of hours, minutes and seconds day to day, a sleepless night can often look bigger than imagined. I have found that sleepless nights are less about restless minds and more about capacity in a squeezed space.

Huh?

Let me tackle squeezed first.

In general the world is a pretty vast place and our lives can seem fairly inconsequential.

The good news about this is that within all that vastness there is a lot of room to let some of the more horrible or horribly mundane crap just slip by.

The bad news occurs when all of a sudden Life, and the world, shrinks and you feel squeezed. And this can happen a lot easier than one may think.

Ponder what I am going to say as “the big squeeze.”

Everyday everyone faces some naturally occurring ‘shrinking’ aspects which in and of themselves can’t shrink your Life enough to matter. Let’s just say this is the daily grind of work, chores and family & Life commitments. Some things go well and some things don’t.

And then, of course, there will be a day or two where the things that “don’t” significantly outnumber the things that “do.” because this is day to day shit I view this as getting squeezed from the sides. They kind of suffocate you a little.

But set that aside for a moment.

And then there will be some days where you have that ad hoc shit you have to plan to get done — the faucet is dripping, the car engine light is on, someone hit the mailbox, crap like that. 95% of the time this kind of shit never goes as planned. It takes too long or it doesn’t get done right the first time or … well … suffice it to say … the easy stuff never gets done as easily as you would want.

And then, of course, there will be a day or two where the things that never get done as easily as you want actually end up just not going right. This is stupid little shit … but maybe think about it as maybe getting squeezed from underneath – an unexpected aggravating shift on the ground below you.

But set that aside for a moment.

And then there will be some days where you turn on the TV or maybe scan the internet news breaks and … well … some shit has hit the fan. Your country has made some monumental decision that seems to shift its place in the world.

Some nutjob terrorist has committed some heinous act to innocent people.

Some “thing” happens that feel like a shift in the bedrock of ‘what is.’ It may not directly affect you but you sense that it is a monumental thing which will most likely affect you <even though you aren’t sure how yet>. This is big shit … this just makes you feel a little like the weight of the world has gotten a little heavier and the world as you have known it has become a little murkier. You are getting squeezed from above.

But set that aside for a moment.

Now. I will now get to capacity.

Let’s assume on one day all there of things happen … you get squeezed all on one day. Oddly, this becomes a test of your capacity <which implies largeness>. And, yes, maybe it is about largeness. As in how large you can remain as you get squeezed.

Some nights it isn’t easy to not get suffocated.

Other nights you find your capacity and push back a little.

Most nights you find just enough largeness to not get, well, too little.

But the nights in which all three aspects I outlined squeezed you I would suggest the word ‘forlorn’ comes to mind. 

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“Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

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I use forlorn because I associate it with capacity as I am discussing it today. Forlorn has a sense of shrinking to it in that the good in Life seems to shrink and that which is bad seems to grow and you are left with that wretched forlorn feeling which dogs you throughout a sleepless night. Forlorn seems like it is more appropriate than lonely or lonesome in that it specifically embraces a senses of wretchedness and desertion or abandonment … in my mind … ‘despairing of the arrival of a friend … in this case … a friend called Hope.”

To me all of what I just shared with regard to squeezing and capacity captures the essence of the worst of the worst sleepless nights. And, if I were a betting man, I would bet we have all had a few of these.

Ok. Here is what I know.

Most of us get through these nights. Despite the vast emptiness of a night, more vast than we imagined it should be, we cast about among the chaos of the stars and find some light. I like to think of it as we clamber through the clouds and exist.

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“I will clamber through the clouds and exist.”

John Keats

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And the outcome of most of these nights, in addition to being tired, is out of the gauntlet of forlornness we seem to come out with a degree of hope. Hope for a better day <at minimum> and maybe Hope for something better <at maximum>.

In other words, out of the bigness which seems to squeeze us, if but for a moment, we rummage through a sleepless night … one black and gusty and enormous, disordered and wild with stars … and come out a little less black, a little more calm, a little more ordered and a little more focused on some star.

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Pope Francis saying No to An Economy of Exclusion

—-

Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw away” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.

========================

This is about jobs., working, productivity and meaning. I will begin by leveraging off the opening quote and discuss exclusion & inclusion.

Exclusion in work is working in a detached way. You are not really being exploited you are just scraps in the business world. The ones doing the “mindless work.” Unfortunately, disengagement numbers suggest a shitload of people feel like they are in this category.

Inclusion in work, to me, is meaning or finding ‘joy in the task.’

In 1949 Harry F Harlow, Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, outlined an alternative  … something he called ‘intrinsic motivation’: “The performance of the task provided intrinsic reward. The joy of the task was its own reward.”

Beyond motivation this idea is also linked to productivity. Inclusion matters because economic knowledge exists in bits & pieces within an organization scattered amongst systems, process & people. This means value creation is often a dynamic discovery process, not a more static system driven process. In other words. The more workers are included in the discovery process the more dynamic the value creation.

Contribution.

Meaning at work truly comes down to one thing – contribution. What I mean by that is, if the response to your job/doing (the stimulus) is “I have contributed” <with tangible proof or intangible reward>, you will have meaning. Now. Meaning can come to you in a variety of degrees – all powerful in their own way, but in totality is most likely attaining the highest order of contribution.

The most basic is “I” have just become better. This is an internalization of personal improvement suggesting “I am not stagnant, I am growing.” The second phase is if you view that your ‘growth’ has contributed to the people most important to you – your team, tribe or department. The third phase is to the organization itself. Something you have done, like a pebble in a pond sending out ripples, has contributed to the larger success of the organization & business. It makes one part of the ‘productivity enterprise’ so one doesn’t feel inconsequential even if the enterprise is massive. Lastly, is society or community or global. Your little contribution was part of a big contribution positively affecting someone, or some-ones, outside the selling aspect of your business.

Progress.

Simplistically, we all want to get better. Better at being a person, our skills, socially, professionally, for our kids, morally, etc. Therefore. The progress measurement is most likely, at its simplest, “better today than I was yesterday, better tomorrow than I am today.” I am not a motivation expert, but if I set up a feedback loop to show this to a worker <doesn’t have to be daily but maybe weekly at minimum> then a worker sees progress tied to ‘contribution’ <value & meaning increase with this alignment>.

To be clear. This is different than milestones, sprints & any measured activity. While those things can be useful to get things done, they do not insure meaningful progress. They are completion checkmarks and meaning needs progress checkmarks.

Decision utility.

To me decision utility, especially when it comes to workplace productivity, is a mix of doing & thinking. Most people focus on the doing aspect of decision utility, but I believe everyone likes to ‘think’ in terms of ‘my thoughts matter’ <the harsher version is “I know I’m not stupid and having my thinking contribute to what I do and we do proves I am not”>.

That said. It was Clotaire Rapaille who pointed out in America our heroes are athletes, entrepreneurs, police officers, firefighters, and soldiers – all people who take action. We may respect thinkers, but we don’t celebrate them nearly as much as we do our ‘doers’. As Rapaille said: the American Culture Code for work is WHO YOU ARE. We often seek so much meaning in our jobs, if our job feels meaningless, then “who we are” is meaningless as well <at least in some dimension>.  If we feel inspired by our job, if we believe that we are doing something worthwhile in our work, that belief bolsters our sense of identity in that we feel like we have some grander Purpose.

Our work ethic is so strong because at the unconscious level, we believe that if we work hard and improve our professional standing, we become better people <note: that’s not particularly healthy but its good to recognize it>.

I bring in work ethic because this is where game theory plays a role (Jason Fox speaks of game theory as a way of viewing employee motivation). As a reminder, I see decision utility as in thinking & doing. Thinking as in ‘solving a complex issue/problem AND doing something about it.” I first began discussing game theory in 2010 when crafting critical thinking games for children. The fact kids like thinking & game theory ratchets up complexity of problems sequentially as one is solved. Critical thinking at its most basic level is trial & error. However. Game theory also ‘dials down’ complexity to insure one doesn’t get too frustrated with failure. A child gets rewarded for failed attempts as well as successful attempts. In other words, you get value off of decision utility where marginal units are rewarded with higher value <and standard units get rewarded despite failed attempts>. I envision workers would respond just as positively to this activity – a combination of thinking and doing to create some progress.

Lastly, with regard to decision utility, let me lean into ‘marginal units‘ and the economic concept of marginalism. The fact that prices don’t correspond to the total value of all goods in existence, but rather the marginal unit (the value of the next unit>. I am not a behavior expert, but I would suggest meaning in work would seem to be of more value to the worker if they were constantly being rewarded for the marginal unit and not just the costs of doing.

Lastly.

Values.

I was tempted to call this ethics, but I tend to believe work is more meaningful when it feel substantive of values (to increase value) and virtue (which is a feeling outcome of doing things with value substance).

“Striving to meet the deepest moral needs of the person also has important and beneficial repercussions at the level of economics. The economy needs ethics in order to function correctly — not any ethics whatsoever, but an ethics which is people-centred.”

Vatican (encyclical Caritas in Veritate)

Values is, well, the good stuff that infuses all the doing and thinking. As I have said numerous times before, winning the right way creates the highest satisfaction possible <versus just winning>. People feel ‘fuller progress’ if they know they did it ethically, within the rules/laws & with a sense of dignity. I could suggest this values orieneted work feeds the moral soul, but I will not. I will just say we sleep better at night when we do it this way.

Anyway.

Self management permits the internal to be maximized on an individual basis permitting the whole, the business itself, to intervene with regard to eternal problems. This matters because the most basic economic problem is allocation – how the business can allocate its scare resources so as to best serve the interests of the business as a whole. Business should seek to maximize its people resources, minds & bodies, t maximize its inherent other scarce resources.

This leads me to systems & processes (often called best practices) which are based on restrictive assumptions to create an equilibrium between inputs & outputs for efficiencies.

If the individual is empowered to maximize their productive (on all measures listed above) the internal maximization of resources naturally occurs so that the organization itself can assess external challenges which may demand resources. This ying & yang insures maximum use of people, process & resources.

So. Here is what I think.

We are a doing people. People inherently enjoy thinking & doing and when it is visible <showing progress> we actually derive meaning. As a corollary, When our doing doesn’t seem to offer value, or meaning, it strikes at us emotionally – in a negative way. Our soul is in doing. We find our way by saying “let’s go to work” on something. This includes even pursing the seemingly impossible. Because in the end we are dreamers. We do because we dream and dream big, i.e., give us an impossible assignment and let us go do it.

For in the end, for all the culture code speak and thoughts about what makes us happy, People are pretty simple. We like making the impossible possible. And that is what makes People, well, People. At the heart of dreams and making the impossible possible is, well, doing. In the end I struggle to find a better meaningful value than “doing a dream.”

==

“There are no secrets in life just truths that lie beneath the surface.”

–

Dexter

===

I love this quote. To me it seems to put a highlight on the inner struggle we seem to have between:

• trying to make life so ‘mysterious’, or convinced there is some invisible hand out of our control manipulating things, and (simultaneously)
• a lack of desire to control, or assume responsibility for, our own life.

I would suggest that at it’s harshest this is simply ‘shirking responsibility.’

Yeah.

Some people choose to call it destiny.

Sometimes people suggest it is “god’s will.’

Some people are comfortable calling it fate.

All of which imply there is some excuse to not doing things, or getting things, ot attaining thing in Life. All of which imply there is some secret to life that unless we are Sherlock Holmes we will never know or understand.

Its all bullshit.

The fact is that life is just truths ‘that lie beneath the surface.’

And if you are willing to hold your breath a little while and dip down under the surface you can see truth.

Ah.

But truth is a scary thing <particularly when it comes to Life from a personal perspective>.

It means recognizing strengths & weaknesses <real ones … not societal ones>.

It means recognizing perfections & flaws.

It means recognizing past failures and lies.

It means recognizing what is real hope and what is false hope <being truly realistic>.

It means recognizing that we have some limits to what will be <and limits vary at what point in Life you assess the boundaries>.

It means, well, there are no secrets, just some harsh truths which unlock Life.

Look. I imagine we all hide from some of the harsh truths and inevitably retreat into some layer of ‘self lie.’ And while it may not be out & out lying the fact is we adapt socially to maintain some façade of what we “wish we could be.”

Freud suggests that we have a “hidden self” lying in our subconscious that is often too much of a struggle for our conscious minds to handle. To me that’s kind of his version of ‘there are no secrets, just truths beneath the surface.” Now. Because of that we do some cognitive gymnastics creating defense mechanisms twisting reality just enough to create justification to ourselves for our behavior.

Freud <no matter what I may think about some of the wacky things he said> is correct.

We all have either a hidden self or aspects of our self we would rather ‘hide from’ just because we would rather not face them.

Part of our defense mechanism is creating these mysterious “secrets of life.’

Well.

Sorry, my friends, there is no real secret to Life. Just truths hidden below the surface, if you are willing to look … and face them. That means, uhm, the secrets of Life are actually found in truths. Maybe that’s not a secret to Life but rather a non-secret we simply do not want to face.

Ponder this new year. Maybe stop seeking some secret and seek truth and it will, well, set you free.

=========

“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.

—-

Niels Bohr

——-

“The future is purchased by the present.”

—

Samuel Johnson

===========

“If the people in this room were right just 1 percent of the time, we’d all be telecommuting from Tahiti, eating dinner in pill form and having literal sex with our virtual selves.”

The Futurist (James Othmer)

==============

Around the new year everyone gets into the prediction business. Basically, a shitload of people become “futurists.” Well. I wrote in 2011 the whole ‘futurist’ career was bullshit and suggested I could never be one. Let me begin by explaining where “Futurist” began.

The “Manifesto of Futurism,” written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was published on the front page of the French newspaper Le Figaro on February 20, 1909. It proclaimed the desire of the author, and his fellow Futurists, to abandon the past and embrace the future.

The point here on the whole concept of a “Futurist” is that their very existence is disdainful of the present.

Anyway.

Should we have an eye to the future? Absolutely. To not do so is to remain stagnant with regard to thinking.

Should we ignore the present? Absolutely not. If there was ever a time that a Futurist discussed the present, now would be the time.

Future thinking is purchased in the present. In other words, something existing within the present – most likely some type of behavior is the future opportunity. Saying that permits me to say that I believe Futurists, or the label/title, is kind of silly. Suffice it to say looking at trends and envisioning ‘what could be’ doesn’t need a title. And you certainly cannot earn a living doing it if you get paid for successful futuristic prognostication.

Why? Because the probability of being right is very very low. Pretty much every so called futurist <excepting maybe Toffler & Drucker … who never called themselves Futurists> has had an incredibly poor success rate in outlining future trends & behavior <and sometimes even attitudes>.

“The futurist was never cutting edge or far ahead of the curve. He was often only just a few minutes in front of the pack, or a couple seconds ahead of the global zeitgeist, or at least of the middle american one. It is rare, and a gift, to be able to see something was going to be big in a mainstream way months and sometimes years before your hipsters, your early adapters, your so called thought leaders embraced it.”

The Futurist

Moving beyond simply slamming futurists, in my mind I believe futurists shouldn’t predict they should inspire thinking <which could beget the future>. This kind of career activity is sort of like NASA, i.e., unintended innovations and learning.

The truth of a trend spotter or a ‘futurist’ is that they steal <reassemble> the thoughts of others and repurpose them for slightly different purposes under the guise of ‘recognizing disparate facts that impact the bigger picture.’ Once again, I do not begrudge them. That takes a skill (I highly recommend both Mike Walsh books, Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas & The Algorithmic Leader as he is what I envision a Futurist SHOULD do). Its just that many of the so-called Futurists take advantage of a world where it is acceptable to not to know the answers to the questions that the world asks every second of the day. It’s okay to not know what you want, where you want to go and who you want to become.

It’s okay to wonder.

It’s okay to question and ask.

And it is okay to not to know<although those listening then take it as gospel>.

And what’s not okay is to stop wondering. So the faux Futurist steps in and uses all of those to create answers (to unanswerable questions) and create a made up future world everyone can think about.

Ok. All that said.

Here is a truth <and Futurists clearly understand this>. The people they are talking to don’t really want wisdom. Those people just want shortcuts to getting more. Therefore if the message doesn’t match the ‘more’ desires ultimately it doesn’t engage the listeners because it doesn’t contain the inevitability of something positive.

It may sound cynical but nowadays a message needs a sense of some guarantee that prosperity will never end <that is a thought from the book>. And therein lies my biggest issue, the fact that trend watchers are seeking future prosperity versus discussing empowering present prosperity.

That “seek future vs. empower present” is the issue we should skewer 99% of so-called Futurist, predictors, over.

The truth is that the future is actually found in the now. Uhm. I mean that future ideas are actually found in the now. Note that this ‘now’ is not just in thinking, but in doing.

Thinking about what is happening now <attitudes>.

Thinking about what is being done today <behavior>.

Say what? How can it be futuristic if it is just a derivative of something in the present?

Well. To me real futuristic trending type thinking has to have a slightly pragmatic foundation residing somewhere in the minds of the rising generation. The real, the truly meaningful, behavior shifts occur not within a generation, but within transition of generations. Therefore any pie in the sky type thinking has to be made up of some pie that <simplistically> the kids of the present have an interest in eating of. For any future type ideation will live or die not with existing attitude generations but more so in evolving attitude generations.

To be clear. People’s attitudes do, and can, evolve as they age and experience things <and they are exposed to new and different attitudes and behavior>. But that isn’t futuristic thinking, that is simply critical mass thinking (I recommend Mark Earls “Herd” for this).

It’s a different ability. That is someone who can look at existing trends and attitudes … mostly looking at those that reside in fractions or in the minority of minds … and figuring out which ones will actually gain enough traction to attain the critical mass to ‘evolve’ the majority of attitudes.

I say that but also suggest that this is often a Sisyphean task.

Attitudes are imprints. They are almost like tattoos. Once established they are almost impossible to remove.

Think about how the past minority point of views have shifted to a majority more mainstream view acceptance and, yet, there still remains a solid steadfast unrelenting minority attitude system in place. Evolution of attitudes is like glaciers. And they also tend to follow generations … and not single generations. Early adopter generation transitioning to a vocal minority generation to a majority acceptance generation and ultimately a generation who not only has the attitudes but behavior is established.

Ok. Last thought on predictions.

Toffler co-wrote the 1970 book Future Shock and also Power Shift and also The Adaptive Corporation <all of which I have sourced so often it is embarrassing>. And while some of his writings were off base and some a little bit of a stretch, most of his writings were incredibly insightful and we are living much of what he outlined then – today. He predicted the rise of the internet, the impact of the internet on the workplace, how technology would affect sociological norms as well as labor needs and he even discussed the decline of the nuclear family.

In general, he foresaw the larger impact related to technological advancement.

And far too often we ignore what he wrote and had the foresight to point out. My point is far too often today’s experts and pontificators act like what is happening today is some seismic shift reflective of an earthquake happening before our eyes.

They are wrong.

What is happening today is the tsunami occurring on our shores from the earthquake which occurred under some deep ocean decades ago. And that is what Toffler outlined for us. And that is what I wish far more people would invest the energy researching to better understand why things are happening in the here & now (not just Toffler but the underlying attitudinal shifts).

As I write I can look up on the closest bookshelf and see my well worn copies of Future Shock and PowerShift. Toffler writing should be mandatory for anyone who wants to discuss current trends and current business issues. And you, and I, should demand that they do so. To not do so is to commit professional malpractice. At its least worst it reflects intellectual laziness to discuss what is happening today without the proper background.

Well. Paradoxically … future ideas are actually best found in looking backwards — at those who are coming up behind … the young. Futurists have to look forward, but seek truth in the young. Their predictions will never come true if there isn’t a pragmatic realistic foundation to be found within the youth. With no traction, the idea, shit, any future type idea will die.

As I type that it sounds so obvious, yet, it seems like futurists and trend identifiers seem to focus on today’s people and gaze at the horizon.

Shit. What do I know.

I am not a futurist. I am not a predictor. I like to live in the present & make sure I have a future to be doing something in. I also know that past behavior is NOT a predictor of future behavior. So what do I know? Predictions are shit.

===========

“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

—

J.K. Rowling

===============

“How do we forgive ourselves for all of the things we did not become?”

—

David ‘Doc’ Luben

====================

Ok. Have you ever noticed that rock bottom is actually relative?

It is actually not a ‘bottom’, but rather like floors in a high rise building.

Someone can see a homeless person and think “rock bottom” and, yet, that homeless person, if asked, would say “oh, I have been lower.”

Someone can hear a millionaire recount when they were bankrupt and ‘it was rock bottom’ and, yet, two years later they were a millionaire again.

I am not suggesting that a wealthy person cannot see a starving child in a poverty stricken neighborhood as rock bottom  just that they cannot ever envision it is a viable rock bottom for themselves – ‘couldn’t happen to me’ syndrome.

I will not argue that people use their own versions of rock bottom as leverage points for progress and moving upwards away from that bottom. JK Rowling is certainly a great example of that <although … it would behoove us to acknowledge that she is an exception and not the rule>. But if you ever want to truly understand how fucked up we tend to view rock bottom just take a second and ponder the wealthy view and how they discuss ‘entitlements’ and monetary safety nets.

It drives me a little nuts to hear some millionaire talking about the time they ‘lost it all’ and, yet, they sit in some plush chair wearing a hundred+ dollar tie discussing their comeback from rock bottom as a ‘self-made millionaire who fought his way back’.

Uhm.

Real rock bottom doesn’t permit you to go from less than zero to multi-millionaire unless you live in some privileged world or you win the lottery.

My real point is that rock bottom is relative.

The 50something C-level experienced person out of work for several years with dwindling bank balances and no discernible path off of the slippery slope certainly feels rock bottom. But their bottom is measured by what they had and what they lost … and what they believe they will be able to gain again <if given the opportunity>. And “opportunity”, even at their bottom, certainly seems within a ‘hopeful grasp.’

Conversely, the hard working blue collar worker constantly on the edge of poverty or “making do” deems rock bottom as losing whatever they have gained … maybe a house or maybe just an apartment in which the adult has their own room and dinner food 6 days a week for everyone in the family. They may not view “opportunity” as hopeful but rather some small step toward relief from some worry.

The wealthy talk about ‘understanding’ that kind of rock bottom, but they don’t. There is no way they do. In their world rock bottom is significantly different and the path out of that rock bottom hole looks significantly different.

=============

“She destroyed too many good things in society, and created too many bad ones, then left a social and moral vacuum in which the selfishly rich and unimaginatively fortunate could too easily destroy still more of what they don’t need and can’t see that everyone else does need.”

Emma Darwin

=======================

I am picking on the wealthy <mostly because many of them live in some absurd world view in which everyone has the same opportunity to attain the wealth that they have> but everyone views rock bottom thru their own relativity lens.

And, in general, that is okay.

It is mostly okay because it is our own self calibration, and motivation, mechanism to challenge ourselves to get what we want. The difficulty happens when you start applying your own self calibration to others.

Look.

Rock bottom is fairly easy to see if you look around without cynicism.

Look around.

Entitlement programs represent almost 2/3rds of the American federal budget. Almost half of American households receive some assistance from the government. When we see numbers like this most of us get grumpy and many of us think there is some underlying problem <which is difficult to put a finger on>. Simplistically the biggest problem is that nobody thinks they’re the problem.

Shit. To be fair. Nobody ever wants to think they’re the problem.

Unfortunately, the truth is as long as we continue to think of the rising cultural reliance on government assistance as someone else’s problem, and someone else’s fault, we’ll never truly understand it and we’ll have absolutely zero chance of fixing it.

Unfortunately, the truth is that an America assistance culture is far more pervasive than people realize – even beyond the lazy moochers and deserving poor <of which there are certainly lazy moochers but far less than what we perceive>.

Even the wealthy rely on government assistance … just in different ways.

Here is the truth. People want more stuff than what they have and everyone hates losing what they have. Therefore rock bottom relativity centers on that understanding – what I have, what I have lost, what I could gain.

That formula works if you earn $100 a week or $1000 an hour.

The truth is that … well … now everyone feels like they are entitled – even the wealthy — which is driven by a belief everyone is getting rich, or richer, but them. This makes people become resentful, jealous, angry, and a little selfish. They are working hard and they want their share and they are at their rock bottom and see someone getting what they believe they deserve.

Now. People, in general, know this is wrong and people, in general, don’t like this feeling and they resent feeling this way <and acting this way>. They get a little pissed that the definition of rock bottom isn’t some simple ‘same for everyone’ so they start lashing out and blaming other people.

People are milking the system.

People in government <whichever party you want> are creating the problem.

People who don’t look like us are to blame.

People think their rock bottom is more important than everyone else’s rock bottom.

And all people want a simple thing to point at and say ”fuck you, I am at rock bottom and I do not want to be here.”

Here is a truth.

The truth is that it is a systemic issue and, I would argue, our failing to truly understand rock bottom.

I will offer a quasi-contradictory thought to end this.

As a generalization … wealthy people <say 90% of them> have an absurd concept of rock bottom and fairly consistently misjudge attitudes & behaviors of poorer people who really are at their rock bottoms.

Conversely … it is a massive mistake to generalize the non-wealthy and their rock bottoms. While I felt comfortable generalizing with the wealthy <because I believe overall they have more opportunities within their grasp more easily graspable> I am not comfortable doing so with less wealthy people. And I say that to go back to my original opening point – rock bottom is relative and personal.

That point is pretty important.

It is important because we tend to want to create some sweeping program and solution which misses the fact that it is more likely to be successful if we go one-on-one and help individuals assess their rock bottom and help them get somewhere other than a bottom.

What I would feel comfortable making a generalization on is the fact that any less-than-wealthy person at their rock bottom has no desire to remain there.

They may have no clue how to get out of their hole.

They may have absolutely no hope of getting out of their hole.

They may exhibit no behaviors that suggest they want to get out of their hole.

But exactly 0% wants to remain in their bed at the rock bottom of their hole.

We should never permit anyone to make a bed at the rock bottom. Never.

================ 

“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”

―

Paulo Coelho

—–

“I think as you grow older your Christmas list gets smaller and the things you really want for the holidays can’t be bought.”

=

(via hefuckin)

—–

Merry Christmas. Well. It’s scary how true this quote is.

Christmas sometimes seems simpler when thinking about the past. But it most likely wasn’t. It is just when young your list was long filled with things you wanted and the list was, well, a clear cut black & white list.

Today? Beyond the fact an ‘adult list’ is shorter … it sometimes seems like Christmas has descended into a trashy, crass, excessive, shallow <or hollow>, lighted plastic capitalistic driven spectacle. From a broader perspective Christmas has become a ‘retail event’ from which a lot of people step back from the joy of giving and assess the economy <not happiness>.

Yet. From a purely economic perspective Christmas spending is an inefficient way to drive growth. In 1993 an economist named Joel Waldfogel described what he called the “deadweight loss of Christmas” which is the concept of the fact that everybody pays too much for what nobody wants.

Anyway. But when you get past all that cynical pragmatic crap you see lots of the things you really want for the holidays which can’t be bought. The raw, non corporate branded, humane, caring and kind things.

————–

Dorey Walker: I don’t think that there’s any harm in not believing in a figure that many do acknowledge to be a fiction.

Kris Kringle: Oh, but there is. I’m not just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit and affects a jolly demeanor. You know, I… I… I’m a symbol. I’m a symbol of the human ability to be able to suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives. If… you can’t believe, if you can’t accept anything on faith, then you’re doomed for a life dominated by doubt.”

Miracle on 34th Street – 1947

—————

Let’s call them ‘the little big things.’

I reflect on this thought knowing that gifts have never mattered to me even when I was really young. But that doesn’t mean I ‘got’ Christmas. I imagine, at my best, it was just an event where you were able to develop thoughtful lists which expressed something beyond simply ‘giving a gift.’ This elevated me above Scrooge status, but never really elevated me to an ‘understanding what Christmas was really all about’ status.

Today? Well. As usual. I am a work in progress. But I do see my list shrinking and I seem to get closer to one thing. One idea. Hope.

I think many people may treat the event & time as a gift giving occasion or a time to gather or even a time to reflect … but I am beginning to think Christmas offers a glimmer of ‘what could be’ more than anything else. Sometimes it may simply be a small glimmer but it is …well … a glimmer.

A small piece of hope for the future.

A small spotlight on when hope appeared in the past year or so.

And while context matters, in that whatever is happening in the world around us, I tend to think regardless of the context as we get older our lists get smaller because we get closer to the one thing that really matters. This also means that the closer you get to that one thing the less important all the other things become.

Oh. I also began to realize that if I am only to give one gift to the people I know it is to insure they see Hope even if it is for but one minute. This is not to suggest I believe I can make anyone actually believe in Hope.

You cannot.

However, I do believe you can show that Hope is there … possible … and attainable <in some form or fashion>.

It can be found in taking one minute to show a young employee that the best version of whatever they can be is attainable.

It can be found in taking one minute to tell a good friend that the dark<er> bridge they are walking on does have an end <and there is good solid ground with some grass & trees on it to stand on>.

It can be found in taking one minute to hand that homeless person you have seen for the last 11 months standing there at the corner a $10 bill instead of a $1 bill <and say ‘I hope it gets better’ … uhm … when do you think is the last time they have heard a stranger say they have hope for them??>.

None of those things have really cost me a thing, and I have given one little gift that I doubt was on their list of ‘what I want this Christmas.’

Just think about it.

Ok. Beyond Hope and believing and speaking of big … and small … let me shift to “the big man”. Santa Claus himself.

It’s a small thing … but believing in Santa Claus is important. It creates a smallish type hope that good resides and visits everyone. And, yes, the best example of this is “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” And, yet, there continue to be millions who not only doubt Santa Claus … they deny his existence. They are called Santa deniers <and it is called Santa Denial>.

Silly people.

I say that because a writer recently took on Santa denial quite well. And this writer offers us a great reminder why we should believe in Santa Claus:

=

Addressing Santa Denial:

Santa-denial has existed for far too long and I cannot understand how Santa deniers are allowed to promote their views. Why are these people tolerated in today’s modern media?  Science has long shown that Santa Claus is real, and those who claim otherwise are invariably in the pocket of the big toy companies, who don’t want people thinking they can get free playthings and so will pay for their products.

But the evidence is beyond any reasonable doubt, and the arguments of the Santa deniers have been repeatedly debunked. But, just to refresh your memory, here are some of the more typical ones and why they’re wrong:

===

If Santa has a workshop at the north pole, why has nobody ever seen it?

Santa’s workshop is located in a very snowy region that very few people can access, so it’s unlikely that many people would get to see it. It would theoretically be possible to view it from above, via an aircraft or satellite in a polar orbit, but what would Santa’s workshop look like from this perspective? A snow-covered building on a background of ice and snow? That’s basically just blank whiteness. And infrared scans can be tricky with snow. It’s a fallacy to assume that something isn’t there because you haven’t seen it. You can’t see oxygen either, but try denying that it exists and see how far you get.

=

How can a human survive prolonged periods in sub-zero conditions?

Santa has several features and properties clearly adapted for cold weather survival. His large girth and dense beard and hair are obviously meant for insulation, in the manner of polar bears. Of course, enduring below-freezing temperatures for months on end requires a lot of calories for a warm-blooded mammal, hence Santa needs to get through millions of mince pies and glasses of milk in one evening; he’s building up resources for another frosty year.

How is it possible for a sleigh with millions of toys in it, pulled by reindeer, to fly?

Admittedly, the whole “flying reindeer” thing does seem very far-fetched, and this is a fair accusation. Investigations suggest that the flying reindeer image is a distortion of the truth, in that reindeer are native to the Arctic so Santa may well keep reindeer on his premises and perhaps they did pull his sleigh originally. But there is substantial evidence now to suggest that Santa powers his sled with the energy obtained from a precisely controlled quantum singularity.

Basically, Santa has access to a small black hole, which he uses to perform his duties. It’s likely that a miniature black hole struck Earth at some point in the past (don’t worry, this wouldn’t have been as disastrous as many think). Some argue that it came down in the arctic regions, hence its discoverer (Santa Claus) built his workshop on top of it. A black hole singularity can provide a lot of power, so this is the most likely explanation for the energy consumption of a busy workshop.

Once a year, Santa fits the singularity to his vehicle and uses it to travel the world. Black holes have exotic properties that allow them to distort space and gravity, so traveling with millions of toys in a confined space won’t be as impractical as it would be under normal spacetime rules.

=

It’s impossible to visit every child on Earth in a single night!

You’d think so, but remember the singularity mentioned above? They distort time too. The time period might feel like months for Santa in his own personal gravity well, but it’s mere minutes to anyone observing from the outside.

So, regardless, How can Santa keep track of every child being naughty or nice? As uncomfortable to realize as it may be, Santa’s approach hasn’t always been the most rational. It is traditional for every child to send Santa a gift list they have written themselves, so in the old days Santa was able to use the questionable science of handwriting analysis to determine who had less-than-pleasant personality traits (along with some educated guesswork based on the list itself; a child who asks for live scorpions or chainsaws is likely to have suspect motivations).

However, with the arrival of the internet and surveillance culture, it’s relatively easy to keep track of everyone. Especially if you’re a powerful industrialist like Santa.

=====

Why does Santa deliver toys and items with the branding of corporations?

Outsourcing!

Duh.

Plus, most children these days ask for specific items made by corporations, who jealously protect their copyrights by legal means. So either Santa sources the toy from the original makers, or the child goes without.

Is that what you want, Santa deniers? Children waking up empty-handed on Christmas morning? Despicable!

===

Why are there so many Santas in shops and grottos?

Those aren’t all Santa. They’re men in costumes. How gullible are you?

===

<note: If you still deny there is someone called Santa Claus … well … you have no soul>

<source: a delightful writer named Dean Burnett >

————

And, everyone, please have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

—

“Now to escape involves not just running away, but arriving somewhere.”

===

Bernhard Schlink

————————

“Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity.”

====

Lao Tzu

——————-

I could be a real jerk and say that people should stand their ground more often rather than flee <run away>.

But I won’t.

I won’t because all of us have run away from something at some point in our lives.

Yeah.

Pick your poison but we have run away from it.

However.

Where we get running away wrong <90+% of the time> is that we just flee with no destination or ‘somewhere’ in mind. We simply run ‘away.’ And in doing so we run … well … nowhere in particular. We end up ‘away’, but no closer to arriving at some meaningful destination.

I will never advocate not running away. I simply suggest that if you do run away you should actually attempt to arrive somewhere.

This distinction may actually be the difference between panic and thoughtful retreat.

It may also be the difference between lack of clarity and clarity in a stressful situation.

It may also be the difference between successful people and less successful people.

That said. I will admit.

Maybe 80% of the time we run away we should remain and be still. Because stillness, more often than not, reveals the secret to survival. Survival in the moment, but it also reveals knowledge you can use for eternity. Running away deprives you of that knowledge. However, while I flippantly tossed out the 80% number, I will warn you that the 20% of the times you SHOULD run away look an awful lot like the 80% of the times you should stay and remain still.

Therein lies Life’s dilemma with regard to fleeing. Stillness can give you extraordinary knowledge and could just as well kill you.

So lies the coin flips in Life.

Regardless.

Here is the real reason why running away to somewhere matters.

If you run to nowhere you are … well … nowhere <from a personal growth standpoint>.

If you run to somewhere you grow a little, and inevitably you return taller.

=====

“I will come back to you, I swear I will;

And you will know me still.

I shall be only a little taller

Than when I went.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay

=====

Look. We all run away from shit.

It can be fear … it can be pain … it can be a person .. it can simply be the unknown … but we all run away. Accept that. And at the same time make a conscious effort to insure you arrive somewhere when you run. That is the trick to running away.