When I first started working as an intern at GE Astrospace, my entire work experience until that point was in situations where the boss always told me what to do.

“Paint that window.”
“Clean those dishes.”
“Make that pizza.”

And when I was done, I’d ask the boss what to do next.

“Dig that hole.”
“Gather the trash.”
“Prepare the ingredients for tomorrow.”

This is how I thought work worked. I have a boss. The boss tells me what to do.

Therefore, for the first couple weeks of my internship, I beat a worn path between my desk and the boss’s desk, constantly asking him what I should do.

“Here, read this to learn about total dose testing.”

I’d do it, and an hour and a half later, “OK, done. What should I do now?” Like a child.

Then he snapped.

“I can’t constantly be telling what to do. You’re gonna have to figure it out. Talk to Jim. Talk to Rob. It’s time to act like a grown up here.”

Yes, he said it was time to act like a grown-up.

Oof.

And then I started to figure it out.

Once you figure out how work works, you’ll never worry about AI taking your job.

How will we know?

First, we had the Turing Test. Now we have others that test specifically for consciousness and cognition along particular axes — Perturbational Complexity Index (PCI), Unlimited Associative Learning (UAL), AI Consciousness Test (ACT), False Belief Task, Mirror Test, Deception Test, and Pain Response Test. 

I think we’re missing the point here. Any objective test we devise comes with a set of rules. Rules, once they are known, can be gamed. Especially by an AI.

Here’s how I’ll know that an AI has become sentient:

When it walks, figuratively or concretely, up to the table, sits down, and says, “Here’s what I wanna do…”

From the late 90s on, Steve Jobs famously wore the same thing every day — black turtleneck, 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers. 

One of his reasons (supposedly) was to reduce decision fatigue. Specifically, to not waste any brain cycles on picking out clothes. Others, such as Zuck and Obama have adopted similar approaches. 

Decision fatigue is a real thing (from Perplexity):

The decline in the quality of decisions made after a prolonged period of decision-making. It occurs because decision-making is a cognitively taxing process, and as mental energy depletes, individuals become less capable of making sound choices. This phenomenon can lead to poor decisions, procrastination, or reliance on default options.

Causes:

1. Volume of Decisions: Making numerous decisions in a short period drains mental energy.
2. Complexity: Decisions that involve weighing trade-offs or significant consequences are particularly exhausting.
3. Stress and Emotional Load: High-stakes or emotionally charged decisions exacerbate fatigue.
4. Modern Life Overload: The abundance of choices in modern life, from trivial (e.g., what to wear) to significant (e.g., career moves), stretches cognitive resources.

I’m sure you know decision fatigue. 

“What do you want for dinner?”
“I don’t know. What do you want?”

Etc.

We all create routines in order to avoid wasting brain cycles. It’s a great life hack and, quite frankly, necessary in the overloaded culture we live in. Plus, routines keep us disciplined and (when healthy) keep us moving in the right direction. 

However, every once in a while, we gotta ignore the machine that we’ve created and tap into our humanity. We gotta purposely waste some brain cycles. 

Order something new. Wear something different. Listen to a different voice. Question a core belief. 

Maybe those wasted brain cycles become the most important.

I’ve noticed something about me. Maybe it happens to you also.

When I get overwhelmed, buried, and feel like there is just too much to do, I start to try to multitask. And then nothing gets done. 

“I’ll start on this.”
“But wait, I need to pay attention to that.”
“Oh, can’t let this other thing slide.”

I take a step in one direction. Then, in a different direction. Go left. Go right. Go back. 

That’s Resistance.

The antidote is to go back to my list, make sure it’s prioritized, and then start at the top. Finish one. Move on to the next. Linear.

Stop walking around randomly and keep walking in straight lines. 

Ah, I missed it. Coulda had it for less than the expected amount.

The Joachim-Ma Strad did fetch a pile, $11.3M, but it was expected to go for between $12M and $18M. 

Do I regret this missed opportunity? Should I regret it?

Regret feels heavy because hindsight is 20/20. We think, “If only I’d done XYZ…” But also, my social media feed is filled with the “no regrets!” bros. 

It’s a confusing world out there when it comes to regret. 

Missed opportunities aren’t just failures to recognize or act. They’re also gifts wrapped in regret. Regret is a teacher. Regret teaches us what matters and what doesn’t. Also, how to move forward without the burden of thinking we should’ve known better. Maybe we could have — but should have?

The past isn’t that simple, and the future isn’t that knowable. 

Maybe the real missed opportunity is believing we could’ve done it differently.

If you’re gonna start juggling chainsaws, you better already be proficient at juggling.

You don’t jump right into the art of juggling by starting with chainsaws. There’s a progression of skill development you can’t shortcut.

Now, for giggles, let’s give those chainsaws names like “budget” and “leadership” and “people.”

If you’re gonna start juggling chainsaws, you better already be proficient at juggling.

The big company. The government job. Tenure. A pension. Credentials.

Own your own business. Emergency savings. Sidearm. Pickup truck. Shed full of tools.

Relationship. Door locks. Church. Police patrols. Fire hydrant. Health insurance.

Survival bunker. Leadership. Internet access. Emergency room close by. Physical fitness.

Pets. Neighborhood. Good car. Health insurance. Multiple streams of income.

Some things here make me feel secure. Some make you feel secure.

Security is a feeling.

You control your feelings.

Clear some time in your schedule. You can’t be rushed. It doesn’t work if you’re rushed.

Grab your whetstone(s) and gather your good (or crummy) knives. Take a seat with a straight-backed chair at a table. Maybe a little music. Silence is also good. Is it nice out? Maybe set up outside.

Lay the knives out before you and then position the stones procedurally. Course to fine. Procedure matters. System matters. 

Start with the knife in the worst shape. The one with the visible notches and dings on the cutting edge. This one will take the longest because it requires rough sharpening with a course stone to remove lots of metal. Patience required. You’re creating a new edge. You’ll want that edge somewhere between 15 and 22 degrees, depending on the style and metal. Your sushi knife? Closer to 15. Your do-everything kitchen knife? Closer to 22. 

Once the notches are gone, start the fine sharpening process with your medium grit stone. This is where you establish the secondary bevel and make the edge even and sharp. Use your eyes. Does it look even? Scrape various points of the edge orthogonally (never parallel) on your fingernail. Is it sharp at all points down the blade?

When you’re satisfied, get the fine grit stone for the honing/polishing process. This stone evens out the imperceptible irregularities on the edge itself. You’re also removing the near-microscopic bits from the edge that impede the blade as it slices through the material. 

Now you have something. When you started, your knives weren’t sharp. Now they are.

You applied skill and effort. Physical and mental. You applied procedure and thought about the system. Maybe modifed it along the way as you discovered what worked best. You focused on the task at hand. How much time passed? You probably don’t know. You shouldn’t care.

There’s something very human about pouring yourself into a task like this. It’s partially about being able to use sharp knives. It’s partially about making them sharp yourself. And it’s partially about the physical and mental activity of getting lost in the work. 

You should sharpen your knives.

P.S. By the way, you can apply the above to servicing your lawn equipment, organizing your craft room or garage, cleaning your cookware, planting your garden, or giving your computer an enema.

What does smart mean?

I wrote this before:

We’ve outsourced our memory to the cloud. Why remember what you can look up? Ask Google, Wikipedia, Wolfram-Alpha, or ChatGPT.
We’ve outsourced our decision-making to media. Why risk being an outsider? Let’s make sure we think the same as our tribe.
We’ve outsourced attention to detail to our devices. Why not be more efficient? Just ask Alexa with our smartphones, smart TVs, and smart homes.

We have outsourced a lot of mental tasks to technology just like we’ve outsourced a lot of physical tasks to technology. Why walk when you can ride? When used properly, this outsourcing enhances us as contributors. Makes us more able, productive, and valuable? 

However, probably not happier, healthier, or smarter.

AI is just the next step in the progression. 

When used properly, AI enhances our abilities.

But it doesn’t make us smarter. 

For some, Resistance invites them to change paths constantly. 

“It’s better over there.” 
“The path you’re on doesn’t go anywhere.”
“This path is not for you.”
“Look how shiny and smooth that other path is.”

So they do, and they don’t get anywhere.

For others, Resistance invites them to stay the course no matter what.

“Just a little longer.”
“You’re not committed enough.”
“You’ve already spent so much.”
“You know this path. The other path is scary/dumb/unknown.”

So they do, and they don’t get anywhere.

Resistance is a bugger. Resistance is specific, yet not personal. 

See it. Acknowledge it. You can overcome it.

P.S. For me, Resistance shows up in the form of the latter. 

Spouses want to feel heard.
Children want to feel heard.
Employees want to feel heard.
Customers want to feel heard.
Committee members want to feel heard.
Congregation members want to feel heard.
Constituents want to feel heard.
You want to feel heard.

If you can make people feel heard, you’ll win.

go birds 

/ geow * berds /

greeting

1. Colloquial greeting meaning anything such as, “hello” “thank you” “you’re the best” “have a good day” 

interjection

1. Response to someone with whom you do not wish to speak.
2. Defiance of authority.

exclamation

1. “Run, Saquon, Run!”
2. “Hit him!”
3. “Fly, Eagles, Fly!”

Natural selection is about adaptation. The species that survive are the ones that adapt.

People didn’t or don’t lose jobs to computers. They lose jobs by failing to adapt to a world that requires computer skills.

People won’t lose jobs to AI. They’ll lose jobs by failing to adapt to a world that requires working with AI.

The good news about AI is that of all the paradigm-shifting technologies, it’s probably the best at helping us adapt to it.

Hmmm…

On the one hand, there might be good reasons to keep doing it. Lessons learned through experience can help you. No need to waste brain cycles.

Safety resides inside the way we’ve always done it. Tried and true. No risk. Start in the mail room.

But safety and stagnation often look the same. The world moves forward, with or without you. New people. New technologies. New data. New methods. New culture.

We cling to past lessons and successes like a life raft, but sometimes, the raft is what’s keeping us from swimming. We might need to swim some more.

Occasionally, probably not every day, just ask yourself:

• Is this still the best way?
• What are we afraid of losing?
• What happens if we keep doing it this way?

Because the most dangerous thing isn’t change.

It’s refusing to.

You know what comes next. 

Body language, tone, and inflection all shape the message. Deliberate or not. 

But it also IS what you say. 

You’ll be remembered for using the wrong word. You’ll be forgotten if you don’t choose the right word. 

In engineering, the specificity of words is very important. Requirements and design specs, programming languages, and collaboration all require specific words. The words themselves matter.

I’ve spent the last several weeks working on messaging for 4TLAS. It’s hard to find the right words. Even when you’re being intentional and have all the time to do it.

Which makes me realize how important it is to give grace to those who don’t get it right in the heat of the moment.

We expect others to say exactly what they mean, yet we struggle to do it ourselves. We judge quickly, but words are tricky. Because words matter. And so does how we respond to them.

Your message is important, even if you’re just the messenger. 

We can’t fly. Not like a bird. We ride.

AI can’t think (at this time). Not like us. It just does what we incentivize it to do.

Let’s worry less about capabilities and more about incentives.

When it’s not going right or actually goes bad, you have two options:

1. Recede. It’s not my fault. It’s the system’s fault. It’s not my thing. I wasn’t meant to. I can’t. I’m too old. I’m too young. Pick one that resonates with you. 
2. Get harder to kill.

Receding might be the right approach.

Getting harder to kill is always the right approach. 

[100% ChatGPT-created article below]

—

AI is everywhere. It’s automating tasks, generating content, and changing industries. It’s easy to feel like if you’re not using it, you’re falling behind.

But let’s zoom out.

AI won’t change what it means to be human. It won’t replace the feeling of a deep conversation, the warmth of a hug, or the trust built over years. It won’t make your morning coffee taste better, or turn a walk in the woods into something more profound. AI can write a love letter, but it won’t feel love. It can compose music, but it won’t dance to it.

The things that truly define life—joy, struggle, curiosity, relationships—aren’t about efficiency. They’re about presence. AI can optimize your schedule, but it won’t sit with your friend through a hard time. It can analyze data, but it won’t take a leap of faith.

Yes, AI is a tool, and a powerful one. But it’s not the thing. What matters most—kindness, courage, creativity, connection—is still up to us.

Maybe AI isn’t that important after all.

What will you do today that only a human can do?

—

[Me again]

I’ll just leave that there. What do you think? How important is it?

I’ve been on LinkedIn quite a bit over the last several months. 

One thing that has struck me is the sheer volume of “obviously AI-generated” content. That goes for posts, articles, and direct messages. I assume it’s also happening with the job application and resume-tailoring tools.

I use AI to do those things as well, as I’ve discussed here often. It’s a paradigm-altering tool as an idea generator, editor, and research assistant. 

But, the copy/paste approach has created a sameness on the platform. A ubiquitous vanilla foreground. Post content and structure. Article content and structure. The direct messages I receive all look and sound the same. 

AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not a replacement for you.

Your personality. Your weirdness. Your voice. Your perspective.

If everybody’s doing it, does that mean you should be?

It’s easy to anthropomorphize AI. It really seems like a person on the other end of that channel.

Lots of people writing about AI talk about what it thinks and what it wants. Depending on how you define thinking, you can argue it thinks. 

But for sure it doesn’t want.

It’s incentivized. It works towards those incentives based on the parameters and data it’s been given. But it doesn’t want anything. To want means to have desires, goals, or a will. AI doesn’t wake up and decide that it doesn’t want to work towards its incentives. It doesn’t wonder. It doesn’t think about its purpose. It doesn’t feel meaning. 

AI isn’t plotting to take over the world, nor is it striving to be your best friend. AI might, however, be mis-incentivized. And if that happens, then, yes, we may have some problems.

Instead of asking or even thinking about what AI wants, the real question is: What do we want? 

It’s up to us to figure that out. 

Machines and AI are built for algorithms. They calculate faster, analyze better, and don’t get tired.

Algorithms follow rules. Actually, algorithms are rules.

Humans are built to break the rules.

The machine finds the most efficient path. Humans explore. The machine forges ahead relentlessly. Humans take a break and contemplate. The machine does what its been programmed to do. The human does what it wants to do.

Let the machines do what they do best.

Let the humans be more human.

Each of us has levers. Maybe you call yours buttons. Or checkboxes.

When you’re looking to make a purchase, hire a service, or bring on a new team member, you’re hoping it, or they pull the right levers.

Will this pull the right levers?

If you’re building a product, developing a service, or interviewing for jobs, all you have to do is pull the right levers.

But first, you have to uncover them.

I was an expert in calculus in college. But not today.

I was not an expert in software development in college. But I am today.

I was an expert in engineering product development 20 years ago. I still am today but in a different way. I probably won’t be 20 years from now.

All expertise follows an arc. It’s a moving target. You can gain expertise, and you can lose it. But you can also gain it and keep it.

Just because someone was doesn’t mean they are. And just because they weren’t doesn’t mean they aren’t.

It’s about finding where they are on the arc.

From one perspective, standing outside is the sad position.

It’s the moment in the RomCom where the character we’re rooting for spots the love interest in the cafe with someone else — laughing, smiling, very happy. They’ve likely been showered with slush by a passing vehicle or are walking home stunned from having just been laid off. And then this debacle spotted from across the street through the cafe window.

It’s also the middle schooler who doesn’t get picked. Maybe it’s for the team, or maybe it’s a birthday party. They found out by the hushing and roaming eyes of the group as they approached from down the hall. They know that posture.

But also…

Standing outside provides another perspective. If you’re not on the team or part of the story, you can see things that the inside people can’t or don’t want to.

From that perspective, standing outside is the useful position.

If you find yourself standing outside, or maybe you have stepped outside on purpose, this is your chance to see things without bias, innovate on solutions without bias, and work to affect change without bias.

No matter where you stand, you can be important if you engage.

I talk a lot here about how to use AI. Why you should learn about it and how to use it. Why it’s not scary. Why, instead, it’s the key to your future as a worker.

But here are 4 times you shouldn’t use AI (these are taken directly from Ethan Mollick’s One Useful Thing newsletter with some editorial comments from me):

1. When you need to know, learn, and deeply understand something. AI can (and should) be a helper for you here, but for you to deeply learn something, you have to do the work, reading, and thinking yourself. You can use AI to help you learn the mechanics of reading the sheet music, but you’ll never be able to play the piano without sitting at the keyboard yourself. 
2. When high accuracy is required. AI errors and hallucinations can be difficult to spot, especially if you’re not an expert on the topic. AI really looks like it knows what its talking about. But you should treat it a bit like the blowhard know-it-all neighbor down the street. He’s often right, but he’d rather make shit up than admit he doesn’t know. And there’s always some backstory that makes it plausible. 
3. When the struggle for true creative knowledge is required. Current AI is generative only in the sense that it can discover patterns and create new patterns from all of the knowledge it has. But what about new knowledge? If all AI knew about the rainbow was OYGBI (instead of ROYGBIV), then it could never generate the R or the V or any intermediary that requires those. The struggle is required for the discovery of R and V. 
4. When AI is bad at something. Yes, AI stinks at some particular tasks or situations. For example, it sucks at sarcasm. Just think of it as being on the spectrum. 

AI is great and you’re gonna need to use it, but it’s not great at everything. 

By 2030, AI could displace approximately 300 million jobs worldwide.

Displacement isn’t the same as disappearance. AI may shift the nature of many types of work. Some jobs may be eliminated. Some will be created. Just about all will be affected.

AI is a tool. A pretty darn useful tool. For humans.

AI is part of your future. Do you want it to eat your job, or do you want to use it to make yourself indispensable?

Failing is the present-tense verb.

In the act. Happening. Still going on. But also learning. Figuring it out. Adjusting. Recalibrating. Refactoring. Resetting. Trying something different.

Failure is the past-tense label. Failure is a decision. The story has ended. We’ve defined it.

Not all failure is bad. Not all failing is helpful.

It’s up to you how you see it and what you do with it.

A decision tree is a tool that seeks to objectify and process-ize decisions.

If this, then that. On down the tree.

It can really help in a group scenario. The decision tree presents a clear and organized way to visualize and socialize a decision-making process. “See here? This is how we do it. We all agreed to it.”

You can appeal to the tree to supplant emotions, curtail strong personalities, and create collective agreement where there is little personal agreement. In fact, arguing about the decision tree rather than the decision might be the best strategy for the group. It can be an effective means to equitize the strong and subtle personalities.

But sometimes the decision tree becomes a crutch. A reason not to be courageous. A reason to take the easy road.

Some situations call for courage rather than previously-agreed upon process.

Sometimes, you need to change the decision tree.

Strava tells me I’ve run about 6500 and cycled about 10000 miles since I’ve been using that app. Most of those miles are right around my house with my driveway being the start and end point.

Those are circular miles. I start at the end of my driveway, and somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours later, I’m right back where I started. Just looking at the routes on a flat map doesn’t reveal much. Didn’t really get anywhere.

Yet the actual route I took makes all the difference. I’ve got 5-mile running routes with 100 ft of elevation gain, and some with 1000 ft of elevation gain. I’ve got 20-mile cycle routes with 300 ft of elevation, and some with 2500 ft. 

The effect on me, my fitness, and my success in an event I’m training for is directly coupled to the routes, even though the endpoints are the same. There’s no way to get better, go faster, or be stronger without going directly up the hill or through muck. I can get there a different way, but it won’t help me nearly as much. 

Where are you trying to get to? Are you trying to build a company? Learn a new skill? Make an impact in your community or the world? 

The route you take will make all the difference. 

I love to write code to automate stuff.

Here’s an example. I spent several weeks (off and on) writing a bunch of code that automatically generates a weekly status report. I schedule it to run once a week and it creates the report I need with zero work from me. Before I wrote that code, it took me about 4 hours to manually create it every week.

Easy and helpful process tradeoff, right? I have 40 hours of coding time into the tool. It saves me 4 hours per week. After 10 weeks, I’m in the black. Forever.

There’s another understated benefit to this automation — consistency. When I did the work manually, certain aspects of the report inevitably differed from week to week based on my time, mistakes, and one-off inclusions or exclusions. Now, that report shows the same stuff, all of it, each week — 100% consistency. The process itself and the output of that process are identical each time. 

Investing in process brings consistency to the output. However, it doesn’t always save time — on purpose. Sometimes, the purpose of the process is to slow the whole thing down. Safety, justice, accuracy, and creativity are all reasons that you might want process to slow it down.

Ask yourself what you’re trying to accomplish. 

Sometimes, the slow road is the better road.  

It’s the heart of the matter. It’s the reason you’re doing what you’re doing. There’s little point if you’re not making something better for somebody.

The thing about better is that we often assume that a) better is objective, and b) we know what it is.

But the truth is that a) better is subjective, and b) it takes empathy to know what it is.

Better starts and ends with who.

The point of activism is to make change. Not to put “activist” on a business card.

The point of creating a movement is to make change. Not to make yourself a deity.

The point of designing new products is to make change. Not to sell snake oil.

The point of starting up a new business is to make change. Not to take money.

The point of your marketing message is to make change. Not to chase likes, clicks, and empty applause.

Happy Birthday to someone who understood the reason.

There are many ways to look at, feel about, and argue about what’s happening/happened in Los Angeles.

Leadership, systems, nature, God. An event like this reminds us yet again that we must continue to discuss, argue about, and work on these. It never stops. There is no perfect solution. There is only a spectrum that changes over time.

But it’s also an opportunity. An opportunity for humans to remind us how amazing we are. This is where we need to focus.

I’ve personally participated in disaster relief programs after some famous ones, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, as well as other more localized events and non-events. My anecdotal experience is that humans show up. Humans care. Humans love. Humans are the answer.

Humans are amazing.

You’ve heard this before: “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.”

Basically, success comes through connection over knowledge.

For an engineer, this is a frustrating proverb because (most) engineers focus on knowledge. Knowing somebody won’t keep the bridge standing during a hurricane or the phone call connected at 70 mph on the highway. That’s physics.

But maybe there’s a glimmer at the end of the tunnel because “who you know” isn’t quite correct, either. A connection is meaningless without some level of recognition and trust. Connections alone won’t help if no one remembers your name when it matters. The real key is to build a reputation that travels without you — where others know your work, your character, and your value, even when you’re not in the room.

It’s not who you know. It’s who knows you.

The system wants to make you feel like an imposter because imposters don’t change the system.

But, if you don’t feel like an imposter…

Your idea isn’t novel enough.
What you’re trying isn’t important enough.
Your vision isn’t big enough.

Embrace imposter syndrome. That’s how you know you’re on the right track.

My social media feed is riddled with mushroom coffee ads.

There’s one brand in particular that serves me the overwhelming number of ads. Obviously, I’m squarely in their demographic. They’re working me hard, but the CCA (cost of customer acquisition) on me is going through the roof. So far, it’s infinite.

Strange, I know, because according to the ads, if I drink just one cup a day, everything is gonna be awesome. I’ll look like a younger, ripped fitness model (I’ll even grow a beard?). I’ll be extremely virile. I’ll be a productivity and energy machine. My mental acuity will be off the charts. Others will notice and flock to me.

There’s nothing new about this approach. Pitchmen have been hyperbolizing pitches since they first started pitching.

But we all know this type of pitch is a race to the bottom. The pitcher doesn’t care about your outcome. They only care about their income.

You’re trading on trust. And when you blow that trust, you’re not just losing a customer. You’re building a cynic. Everyone walks away feeling like a mark.

What if, instead, you treat your audience as partners, not marks?

College is (ludicrously) expensive. 

For middle-class families, it makes sense that parents and teens should conduct cost-benefit analyses to determine whether college makes sense and, if so, where is the best fit. When you perform this analysis, you’ll find that not every major, post-college career aspiration, and college name are worth the money.

Which college is the best value for your money?

You’re in luck. Niche.com has created just such a list and one would think this would be very helpful for high school students and their parents.

Don’t waste your time. 

As with all college rankings, the criteria have two problems:

1. Once the criteria are known, the KPIs are easily gamed.
2. They generalize and average across all majors, all students, and all situations. 

It’s the generalization that really makes this list useless. 

Forget the list. Do this instead:

• Start by acknowledging that at 16/17/18 (55?), the student probably doesn’t know who they want to be when they grow up. Don’t worry. Give them permission to explore and change. Humans are amazing when we allow and encourage them to be.
• However, always choose a path to start on. Curriculum is one of the best systems for helping people figure out if the current path is the right one. Wandering without purpose rarely works — except in romanticized stories. Also, don’t confuse exploring and wandering without purpose. They might look the same, but they are not. 
• Do the math on expected earnings. All degrees are not equal. A practicing social worker and a practicing architect will not have the same expected earnings.
• With expected earnings in front of you, do the math on total cost of attendance. It just doesn’t make sense to go $200k in debt to finance some careers. Some it does. 
• Big, new buildings, facilities, and amenities don’t contribute to a career.
• Focus on degree, course of study, and cost of attendance. Not school name. 

There are a million other reasons and methods for choosing a college that might help you pick the best one, but seriously, leave the lists out of the equation. 

The first thing I did that dramatically increased my productivity, quality, and happiness was taking control of my time.

The second thing I did was stop the illusion of multitasking. 

I think of most things in terms of computers. I’ve been making and programming computers my entire life (since 4th grade). Still doing it. 

As it turns out, our brains are like a single-core computer processor when it comes to multitasking — they can’t.

The CPU can do exactly one thing at a time. If it needs to do something else, it has to do what we call a “context switch,” which comes with an overhead cost. The CPU must save the state of one task and load the next, slowing down performance and taking resources. Every switch wastes time and energy and is a source of potential bugs. 

Our brain works the same way, but worse. The brain is slow, inefficient, and error-prone when switching tasks. Studies show that multitaskers are terrible at filtering distractions, retaining information, and switching focus. Yet, for some reason, we usually still believe we’re more productive when juggling multiple things at once.

So why? And who?

Why are we trying to multitask?

Who is putting pressure on us to multitask?

If you’re a leader, don’t be the problem. 

Montgomery Ward was the first to use “Satisfaction Guaranteed” on his pioneering mail-order catalog in 1875.

At the time, it was a novel way to use trust to stand out from his competition. Trust in the mail-order business was a problem. It appears he backed it up.

Today, most packages you’ll see have “Satisfaction Guaranteed” stamped on them.
So do most websites.
So do most marketing email messages.

If you type “satisfaction guaranteed icon” in your search engine, you’ll get instant access to millions of ready-made, downloadable images that you can slap on your packaging, website, or email message.

But will you back it up?

If you’re going to stamp “Satisfaction Guaranteed” on your message, you better be willing to back it up. If you don’t, you will have blown up trust.

And trust is the most important agreement you can make with your customer.

What direction are you headed?
What are you trying to do?
What’s a path you’ll try to get there?
What are you asserting?
What will be the change you make in the world?

If you don’t have answers for those questions, Resistance is winning.

Resistance is real. Resistance is a bugger. Resistance is sneaky.

Look it in the eye and start answering those questions. You may not be right, but how will you know until you start?

You won’t need to cut the lumber yourself.
You won’t need to make the dryer yourself.
You won’t need to apply for the permits yourself.
You won’t need to carry the stuff from here to there yourself.
You won’t need to test if it meets the specs yourself.
You won’t need to build the cloud yourself.
You won’t need to design, build, staff, operate, and pay for the warehouse yourself.

Your place in the hierarchy should help someone leverage what you do best so they won’t have to, and they can stay focused on what they do best.

How best can you get that message across?

Higher RPMs!
More torque!
Lightweight design!
Ergonomic handle!
Pistol grip!
Cordless!
Brushless motor!
Sustainable materials!
Keyless chuck!

Yes, but what does it do?

It makes holes. A person isn’t in the market for a drill because of the features. They’re looking at drills because they need a hole.

What does your thing do?

The first question is, “Does it work?”

But we must qualify that according to the question, “Who’s it for?”

So the important but often overlooked first question is, “Does it work for the right person?”

It may work for the engineer down the hall, but it doesn’t at all work for your grandmother.

If the engineer is the right person, you’re done. If it needs to work for your grandmother, keep going.

Software developers found a new methodology called Agile.

Imagine you hire a contractor to renovate your entire house while you’re still living in it. The Agile approach is for the contractor to work on one room at a time. This allows you to continue living there, and the contractor can adapt as they go. “Do you like this tile? Should we move the sink here?” Change it if needed.

At its core, Agile is about iterations. Start small or with basic functionality, and then add more features or change stuff that doesn’t work. The benefits of this approach dovetail nicely with software development because it’s just typing — it can be changed easily and infinitely.

Remote work has enabled a new paradigm that more tightly integrates workers’ professional and personal lives. You don’t need a tie. You can take the call from the 6th-grade orchestra concert. Your morning doesn’t require you to be up at 4:30, so you can beat the traffic at 5 am.

But none of these new paradigms are a license to be unprofessional.

Show up on time.
Take criticism.
Do what needs to be done.
Do what you say you’re gonna do.
Develop and apply the skills required.
Think about where you’re going.
Help others on the team.
Look the part.
Act the part.
Be available.
Design the outcome.

Who does a professional in your line of work need to be?

The first two don’t really matter.

The first one might be a fluke, or it might be the busker on the street corner who needs to stand out.
The second one either feels bad for the first, admires his bravery, or catches that bravery from him, so he hops alongside for support.

It’s the 3rd that matters.

The 3rd makes it a scene. A group. He makes it socially acceptable to be part of that group. He creates a landing zone for those who are looking for a scene. He creates tension for those who see the group.

If you’re making something, you care about that 3rd person.

Crypto may be poised to make a run in 2025. 

Don’t worry. If you don’t like it or trust it, you don’t need to worry about it (yet?). Ignoring crypto in your portfolio is no different than ignoring any other sector — real estate, commodities, fossil fuels, renewable energy, currencies, precious metals, etc. One of the beauties of investing at this time in history is that you can invest in sectors that align with your ideals. Others will help you do that. Just ask them (with your eyebrow raised and a questioning heart).

Back to crypto…

Certainly, we have some high-profile evidence that you can lose your shirt. Scams. 

But what makes a scam?

A scam requires deceit and/or theft. It requires people. Only people want things. Crypto doesn’t want anything. It’s just a platform. 

When looking for a scam, look at the people. 

Before the Palm Pilot was the Newton.
Before Facebook was Friendster.
Before PayPal was Digicash.
Before Netflix was Microsoft’s WebTV.
Before DVD was Laserdisc.
Before iPhone was Pocket Crystal.
Before Chipotle was McDonald’s Arch Deluxe.
Before Juul was Premier Smokeless Cigarette.
Before Kindle was Rocket eBook.
Before Tesla was EV1.

You might have a good idea, but it’s the wrong time. It may be the wrong time because supporting technologies aren’t yet mature, or it might be a lack of cultural acceptance, or it might be government regulations. These things are out of your control.

Regardless, timing is everything.  

I’d like to give you a gift to start 2025. It’s something that has helped me quite a bit. It might help you. 

You can download the simple day planner that I personally use. No email required. No upsells. No follow-on emails. No strings attached. Just download it. I won’t know. That’s the direct link.

Personal time prioritization has revolutionized my day and life. I’ve written quite a bit about it in this space.

When I’m on my game (I’m not always), I start my day purposefully, and one of the things I do is write out my tasks for the day before I start to work. I take these tasks and categorize them as:

• The single #1 priority (if all goes to hell, I’ll at least make progress on this — I might not finish)
• The focus tasks (other tasks that require focused blocks of time — I might not get these done today)
• Backlog (the rest of the stuff — including stuff that I know won’t get done today but I can’t lose track of)

If you need more depth on this, here it is. 

Maybe the key to getting on track in the new year is first to recognize that you control your time. Then, step up to that personal leadership role.

This has helped me. It might help you. 

You’ll probably make some New Year’s resolutions.
You might be excited, determined, trepidatious, or even reluctant.
But you’ll probably start out OK.
You’ll probably start to fall off.
The fall-off will turn into fallout.
And then you’ll probably feel bad. About yourself, your lack of will, and that the change isn’t gonna happen. 
Just like last year. Just like the year before that.

Will you ever be able to change?

First, change is hard. 

Second, that first step — deciding to make change — is important. More important than you’re giving yourself credit for. Anybody trying to get better or make something else better deserves credit. Put one in the win column for that effort. 

Now, let’s flip the script.

Systems, Not Outcomes

You’re focused on outcomes but outcomes are a result of systems — your daily habits, your environment, group culture, the organization. Focus on the system rather than the outcome. How can you make the system work for you?

The Narrative is Flawed

The typical narrative follows a script of lofty goals, unrealistic timelines, and then failure. Rewrite it. Treat the resolution like an experiment rather than an endpoint. Learn what works through a series of rewrites and recommits. 

Who, Not What

Not “what do I need to change,” but “who do I want to become?” And also, “what would a person like I want to be do here?”

Go kick 2025 in the teeth. 

Do:

Embrace AI
Develop the strategy
Prioritize deep work
Eat more protein
Get stronger
Drink less
Declutter
Say yes to opportunity
Say yes to productive distraction
Count the micro-wins
Show gratitude
Praise
Prioritize ruthlessly
Get better at marketing
Curate inputs
Give yourself grace
Listen more
Practice kindness
Experiment more
Lean into discomfort
Protect your pre-work routine

Don’t:

Get more comfortable
Ignore your people
Multitask
Compare to others
Undervalue boredom
Let chaos win
Avoid conflict
Avoid difficult conversations
Assume they know
Overcommit
Confuse busyness with productivity
Say yes to unproductive distraction
Ignore budgets
React in the moment
Overlook fundamentals
Procrastinate
Let ego lead
Neglect feedback
Let loose strings

2025 will be your year.

Don’t hear. Listen.
Don’t worry. Trust.
Don’t doubt. Believe.
Don’t waiver. Commit.
Don’t get mad. Laugh.
Don’t shrink. Chest out.
Don’t shy away. Lean into.
Don’t be a mole. Be a swan.
Don’t let anger linger. Forgive.
Don’t make excuses. Make hay.
Don’t get behind. Stay on top of.
Don’t get distracted. Get to work.
Don’t be discouraged. Be a leader.
Don’t envy others. Master yourself.
Don’t settle for comfort. Chase growth.
Don’t wait for someday. Make time now.
Don’t embrace victimhood. Overcome it.
Don’t assume they know. Say, “I love you.”
Don’t listen to the cynics. Prove them wrong.
Don’t stay within the framework. Reimagine it.
Don’t take them for granted. Show them they matter.
Don’t run away from failure. Try things that might not work.
Don’t listen to that little voice in your head that says you can’t. Replace it with “I can.”

AI is coming to your doctor’s office in 2025(ish).

AI-enabled health admins will be transforming daily patient care and administrative workflows. These AI-admins will handle tedious tasks like managing insurance communications, scheduling appointments, and taking notes.

A human admin staff plus an AI-admin army can exponentially increase the staff’s ability to handle its workload while simultaneously providing better care to its patients.

In theory, this will give the doctors, PAs, nurses, and other human providers more time to focus on patients. It should also lower costs across the administrative functions of healthcare.

For patients, it means 24/7 personalized care and less time waiting, while clinicians will gain AI support for retrieving histories, summarizing data, and identifying cutting-edge diagnoses and treatments.

How do you feel about AI-admins in the doctor’s office?

Robo drug dealers are coming to a street corner near you.

Generative AI is rewriting the playbook for drug development. AI is really good at math, big data sets, and iterations. That’s how drugs are made.

By predicting and optimizing molecules, AI can explore endless possibilities before lab trials, cutting costs and time. These AI chemists continuously learn from the experiments and simulations they can perform. And they can work 24x7x365.

How do you feel about using AI-developed drugs?

AI is coming to a hospital or doctor’s office near you in 2025(ish).

Robots will be promoted from surgery assistants to full-on surgeons. The first types of surgeries that are likely to be fully robotic will be prostatectomies, hysterectomies, cholecystectomies, kidney surgeries, and orthopedic replacement surgeries.

Robots don’t get tired. Robots don’t have relationship problems. Robots didn’t miss the training seminar on the latest procedures. Robots aren’t influenced by medical sales reps. Robots don’t have bad days.

Robots use smaller incisions, reduce blood loss, are more precise, always have access to the latest procedures, and have better vision. The result will be decreased recovery times, less complications, less postoperative pain, and an increase in positive outcomes.

All of that probably sits pretty well with the left side of your brain.

But what about the right side? How are you feeling about untethered robots messing around with your bits?

We have an obsession with more. Maybe it’s cultural. Maybe it’s human.

Christmastime encourages the more gene. Costco’s massive popularity is built on the more gene. Why buy one for the price of one if you can buy ten for the price of six? Sales funnels with up and down-sells after you click buy tickles our more gene (and combines it powefully with our FOMO gene).

More is an easy variable to default to when looking to spend one’s money. Therefore, if you’re a product developer or creating a service, more is something to consider.

But there are many axes on which we can aim for better: connection, status, quality, speed, risk, simplicity, fit, function, purpose, identity.

How can you aim for better without having to aim for more?

Should is fraught.

You should do this. You should think that. You should believe us. You should be this. It should be this way. 

Should is somebody else’s idea for control. Should is someone or some collective trying to impose their will on you. Not your will. Theirs. 

Your will — your perspective — is the most you thing you have. It’s OK for you to think “I should” or “we should.”

Raise the fed flags when you hear “you should.” 

In large teams, you and the person standing next to you are likely performing the same job.
In small teams, you and the person standing next to you are likely performing different but complementary jobs.
In tiny teams, you and the person standing next to you might be doing whatever it takes, swapping roles without hesitation.

The person standing next to you defines the strength of your team.

Choose wisely and work intentionally.

The savior was born in a manger. Origins don’t define potential.
The savior was born in a manger. Vulnerability isn’t weakness.
The savior was born in a manger. Hope comes unexpectedly.
The savior was born in a manger. You gotta say “yes.”
The savior was born in a manger. Follow the light.

The savior was born in a manger.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love and honor one another above yourselves…Share with the Lord’s people who are in need and practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

• Romans 12:9-21 select verses

This is how we overcome. This is how get better. This is how we win. 

It’s about people. 

Utility is currently a culturally underrated human quality.

Form over function. Aesthetics instead of structure. What you stand for rather than what you can do.

However, life is a series of problems. One after the other. Food, water, shelter, and then up Maslow’s pyramid.

If you have a problem, who do you go to? People who can do things. Work is about being able to do things. Living requires being able to do things.

Always be able to do things.

Got a flip phone or — oh, the horror — a house phone on a landline? No problem, OpenAI has your back.

You can call 1-800-CHATGPT and talk to ChatGPT for free for 15 minutes.

I just did it. Asked it a couple of math problems (it was right) and then asked if it could help me get over my sadness (it said it could, but I didn’t know where to go from there). But it doesn’t have access to the internet, nor can it serve real-time information. Therefore, you can’t ask, “What movies are playing tonight at the AMC in Pottstown?”

Well, you can ask (as I did), but it won’t have an answer.

I use ChatGPT to help me write code, generate ideas, and edit stuff I’ve written. I can’t do that through a voice conversation. I get the accessibility, but I’m not sure of the utility at this time. 1-800-CHATGPT is more of a novelty than anything else.

However, it’s another canary in the coal mine of where we’re headed. Siri, Alexa, and Google already have us speaking to our devices, and it’s becoming more and more natural.

The horseless carriage, the Wright Flyer, and the Univac were all initially clunky sideshows. Novelties. Curiosities. Barely worked.

Normal often starts as a clunky sideshow that barely works.

You can’t travel even close to the speed of light.

At least not with conventional and practical travel methods as we know them today. First, it would take a couple of years to accelerate at a rate that your body could handle it. We don’t have a propulsion system or fuel source that could do it. Second, time dilation would change your timeline with respect to the timeline around you. We’re not really sure how that would affect a human. Third, you’d be practically blind from the visual distortion due to the Doppler effect. And finally, you’d likely explode due to an unintended collision with a tiny speck of dust. 

So, if you need to travel at the speed of light, you have the following options:

1. Invent a new method
2. Reimagine the problem you’re trying to solve

Innovation isn’t always about going faster. It’s also about finding alternative ways to get where you need to be.

Universal fame could instill universal trust.

I see this person on TV. He plays my favorite character or plays for my favorite team. I know him. I like him. We (supposedly) have the same values. I (want to) believe him. He wouldn’t (knowingly) steer me wrong.

Although there was always a little “that’s not my guy” on the fringes, or maybe a newspaper quote raises an eyebrow, and certainly the Cowboys QB wouldn’t be shilling cars in Philly, good spokespeople were universal. 

Just like the brands — universal.

Sure, you might be a Chrysler guy, not a Ford guy, or a Coke gal, not a Pepsi gal, but these were broad strokes and massive customer groups. You probably didn’t hate Pepsi as a company because Michael was their spokesperson (fun fact: Michael didn’t like to drink Pepsi). 

The script was tried and true. Find a famous person, and they’ll help us build universal trust in our brand. 

Today, large brands and universal spokespeople have a dilemma. Universal trust has been replaced by niche trust. Niche-trust follows from defining your ideal person, knowing what they care about, what they stand for, and who matters to them. 

Brands include, by excluding. 

The choice of spokesperson still helps to build trust but in a different way. Trust is built by taking a stand. This, not that. You, not them. A choice of spokesperson excludes as much as it includes. 

Who do we want to push away so our people will trust us?

Could you imagine your dog living outside on a chain in a doghouse?
Could you imagine letting your 8-year-old go wherever she wants on her bike and just asking that she’s back by dark?
Could you imagine sending a handwritten letter making plans to meet on another continent three months from now?
Could you imagine smoking on an airplane?
Could you imagine a house phone?

Could you imagine any of those today? What changed? Not physics. Not the human body. Not our intelligence.

Our collective perspective changed.

Perspective is a powerful guiding principle. Understanding and possibly shifting your perspective can help you become a better leader, marketer, product developer, parent, spouse, and community member.

Culture shift is also perspective shift. A collective perspective shift that we buy into. What was normal and acceptable is no longer.

The world changes. Will you change with it?

No surprise, but AI is better than people at detecting early signs of breast cancer.

Let’s hope this continues for other types of cancers and illnesses. (It will).

AI is good at numbers. AI is good at pattern recognition. AI is good at very large datasets. AI is good at the what if the what can be determined objectively. 

AI may know you have cancer, but it stinks at knowing how you feel. Even if you tell it. It can interpret what you say, but it has no context. No personal understanding. No family. No friends. No dreams. No story.

Let’s keep pushing and training AI to help us with the what. Unabashedly. 

But let’s also keep pushing and training people to help us with how we feel.

Ever have the support person ask you, “is it plugged in?”
Ever have the support person ask for your phone number 5 times during the call?
Ever have the support person ask the same question multiple times?

Frustrating, right?

This isn’t a person problem. They are perfectly rational and helpful humans. This is a system problem. Specifically, the system must be generic enough to cover all of the cases. They can’t see what you see, therefore, there’s a flow chart. A form to fill out. A script. The person gets evaluated against the script.

AI should be better at this.

AI knows context. AI has perfect contextual memory. AI can be trained on problems without a flow chart. AI will have gone through the same procedure as you have already.

One-size-fits-all doesn’t have to be the approach with AI behind the tech support person.

Oh, you’ll still want a person. The smart companies will still have the people.

But these tech support people should have AI behind them. Just like the carpenter has saw and drill.

I had a discussion recently about whether a personal job interview still matters. You know…Moneyball. AI. Spectrum-adjacent super-billionaires in charge. Etc.

They are. But the reason might not be what you think it is. It’s not because “you can look someone in the eye and figure out what kind of person they really are.”

Useful team members have the adultiness quality.

They show up. They (attempt to) do what they say. They’re (mostly) honest. They know their limitations, but also will do their best even if they’re not the right person for this task. They get along with others. They share. If they don’t know, they find out. They put the team’s purpose ahead of their personal purpose. They know when to defer.

You might be saying, “Yes, of course.”

But what I’ve found is that not every human walking around in an adult body has the adultiness quality. In fact, dissappointingly few have it.

Adultiness doesn’t come across in a resume. AI can’t find it for you. No amount of keyword screening will uncover it.

The only way to find it is to have a conversation.

You should keep yourself informed of current events.

Why?

Because it’s good to know what’s going on the world.

Why?

Because it’s your civic responsibility.

Why?

Because then you can understand and empathize with others.

Ah. Finally, a worthy answer.

However, feasting on “current events” as they are served to us through the news, social media, and other media, is different than experiencing other people and other perspectives. If you want to understand and empathize with others, dig in past the headlines, sound bytes, and synopses.

Be careful with the high fructose corn syrup. In small quantities, no big deal. If it becomes your main source of nutrition, it’ll kill you.

What if each year looked a little different than your current year?

What if you deleted social media once a year?
What if you turned off the news once a year?
What if you trained for an endurance or strength event once a year?
What if you drove to somewhere you’d never been once a year?
What if you went on a spiritual retreat once a year?
What if you traveled by yourself once a year?
What if you volunteered to fix or build houses once a year?
What if you ran a charity fundraising event once a year?
What if you took a class once a year?
What if you ordered something new from the menu once a year?
What if you painted some part of your house once a year?
What if you planted and tended a garden once a year?
What if you changed your own oil once a year?
What if you decluttered your closet, office, or basement once a year?
What if you cleaned your email inbox once a year?
What if you audited your subscriptions once a year?
What if you wrote a year-in-review letter once a year?
What if you created a vision board once a year?
What if you wrote a gratitude list once a year?
What if you updated your resume once a year?
What if you updated your will and estate documents once a year?
What if you planned a lunch with former colleagues once a year?
What if you knocked one thing off your bucket list once a year?
What if you hosted an extended family holiday dinner once a year?
What if you tried a new hobby or art project once a year?

Change is possible. Little things can make a big difference if you do them every year.

What if each month looked a little different than your current months?

What if you donated $100 a month?
What if you invested $100 a month?
What if you took an art class once a month?
What if you volunteered at a community meal once a month?
What if you tutored at the local school once a month?
What if you served on a local board once a month?
What if you attended a networking event once a month?
What if you had lunch with your boss once a month?
What if you had lunch with a client once a month?
What if you took an overnight trip once a month?
What if you booked a speaking gig once a month?
What if you submitted an article once a month?
What if you ran a half-marathon once a month?
What if you fasted from food for 24 hours once a month?
What if you fasted from social media for 72 hours once a month?
What if you fasted from the news for 72 hours once a month?
What if you made dinner for a friend once a month?
What if you conducted a personal audit against goals once a month?
What if you attended a half-day workshop once a month?
What if you cleaned the garage once a month?
What if you cleaned your photo library once a month?

Change is possible. Little things can make a big difference if you do them every month.

What if each week looked a little different than your current weeks?

What if you cleaned out your car once a week?
What if you cleaned your desk once a week?
What if you balanced your checkbook once a week?

What if you paid for a stranger’s coffee once a week?
What if you went to a place of worship once a week?
What if you volunteered at the shelter once a week?

What if you prepped your meals once a week?
What if you ran 20 miles a week?
What if you cycled 40 miles a week?

What if you turned off social media once a week?
What if you had date night once a week?
What if you had coffee with a friend once a week?

What if you set your work priorities and goals once a week?
What if you tuned in to an industry webinar once a week?
What if you wrote a status report once a week?
What if you made 10 new LinkedIn connections a week?

Change is possible. Little things can make a big difference if you do them every week.

What if each day looked a little different than your current every day?

What if you woke up and went for a 3-mile walk outside?
What if you did 100 pushups and 300 air squats at lunch?
What if you did yoga in the evening while watching TV?

What if you read 5 pages of ancient text before you started work?
What if you meditated/prayed for 10 minutes at lunch?
What if you wrote in a journal each evening?

What if you ate your weight in protein throughout the day?
What if you made all of your meals and snacks from scratch?
What if you drank your coffee black?

What if you made your ToDo list before you opened your email?
What if you did the hardest task first?
What if you got back to that person you’ve been putting off?

What if you told a family member you loved them each morning?
What if you reached out to an old or new friend at lunch?
What if you thanked someone for something each night?

What if you wrote down 3 things you’re thankful for in the morning?
What if you wrote down 3 things you’re thankful for at lunch?
What if you wrote down 3 things you’re thankful for in the evening?

Change is possible. Little things can make a big difference if you do them every day.

You might want to be a VIP. You might envy or resent the VIPs. 

There are two kinds of VIPs in our world:

• People who are important.
• People who have the title.

People who are important are contributors. They give. They care. They assert. They make change happen. They participate. They help. 

The VIP title is a status system built by them. For them. Not you. It’s not about you. If you spend enough, you can become a titled VIP. If you hang around the right people, you can become a titled VIP. If you play by their rules, you can become a titled VIP.

Just remember, casinos don’t give the VIP title to the winners. Only the losers. 

If you want to be an important person, worry about what you’re contributing. Not the title. 

Your opportunity is coming up. A Stradavarius violin — the Joachim-Ma Stradavarius — is going up for auction soon. 

You’ll probably need somewhere between $12 and $18 million.

Here are some facts about Stradavarius and his violins:

• He lived from 1644 to 1737 in Cremona, Italy.
• This time period (late 17th to early 18th century) is considered the golden period of violin craftsmanship.
• He created 960 violins.
• Approximately 650 might still exist today, but 282 are known to exist. 
• 44 have their own Wikipedia pages. 
• The current record price paid for one of his violins is $15.9 million for the Lady Blunt Stradavarius in 2011.

What makes a Stradavarius so special?

(Capital “S”) Status.

Yes, one can discuss sound quality, craftsmanship, materials, artistic beauty, investment value, and historical significance. These may be true, but they’re in the eye of the beholder.

You’ll pay $12-18 million for a Stradavarius because of the way it will make you feel in relation to other humans. Only a certain subset of the population could even think about the purchase of a Strad. If you’re part of that sub-culture, a Strad helps make sense of how you see yourself and your place in the world.

“People like me own (do/say/care about) things like this.”

That’s a good lesson for anybody out there trying to make change in the world. We all care about status. 

Even those who don’t care about Status.  

Someone will win the Powerball (although not each time it’s drawn). Someone will (eventually) hit the progressive jackpot on the slot machines. Someone will win $50k on a scratch-off.

But it won’t be me, even if I play. It won’t be you, even if you play.

Someone’s gotta win is fine for entertainment purposes. A fine way to dream a little and play the “what if” game with yourself. A fine way to imagine winning without any work.

But it’s a terrible strategy.

Strategy is about making assertions and doing the work to prove or disprove them. “I think we can win if we go this way,” and then walking down that path. You’re better off spending your “what if” cycles on those paths.

Someone’s gotta win, but you’re better off not thinking about winning and, instead, doing the work.

I’ve been disqualified from many of the professional paths I tried to pursue.

Here’s a few: Disqualified from both Air Force and Navy flight school. Disqualified from being an astronaut. Disqualified from an expat assignment in the UK. Disqualified from a company-funded master’s program at the University of Colorado.

Disqualification comes from the external. It’s them deciding about you. It’s the opposite of being chosen (or maybe, it’s a negative choice). It’s a form of victimhood. You are a victim of somebody else’s choice.

Although you can work to meet the qualifications, look good on paper, and build the relationships that may lead to being chosen, ultimately, you don’t have control. They do. That’s not on you.

But you can still pursue.

When you pursue in earnest, you learn stuff. You learn stuff about yourself, about systems, and about people.

And you learn that maybe what you want to pursue is something where you can choose yourself.

Doing hard things is how you win.

I know this because motivational posters tell me so. Hustle-jock-SEAL-gym bros yell it at me. Fake-it-till-you-make-it solopreneurs cram my social media feeds with this message.

Dig in. Grunt louder. Work longer. Hate the enemy more intensely.

Others won’t do the hard things, so you will have to. That’s how you win.

OK, but what do you mean by hard?

Doing the wrong hard things is a way to give in to Resistance. The way you win isn’t just about doing the hard things. It’s about doing the right things. Some of those things will be hard for you (and easy for others).

Maybe the hard work you need to do is to figure out the right things you need to do.

Do the right hard things.

I’m a Bible guy. 

Not a thumper, but definitely a follower and believer (some would dispute that). Of course, the Bible isn’t a book. It’s a compilation of several texts written by over 40 authors spanning approximately 1500 years from about 1400 BC to 100 AD. 

• The original texts were written in a combination of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek based on the geography and community of the authors. 
• What we currently know as “The Bible” was compiled by various groups over a series of councils/gatherings starting in about 100 BC until the mid-1500’s.
• The core of the Hebrew Bible, also what we currently call the Old Testament, was largely established by about 400 BC. 
• The Council of Carthage (397 AD) and then the Council of Trent (1546 AD) are generally considered the solidifying moments of the current biblical canon for the Catholic Church, which is 73 books.
• The protestant reformation began in 1517, and the protestant Church of England outlined the current protestant biblical canon as 66 books in its Thirty-Nine Articles in 1563. 

Although well-established for a long time now, it’s been a bit of a moving target over the years. Even discrepancies. 

Today and certainly in the future, we’re generating more written words than at any time in history. AI is exponentially ramping that up. This trend will continue.

But the thing about this ancient text is that it has survived. One can read words written 3500 years ago by humans. Whatthey saw. What they feel. What they think.

And why is that?

Because it speaks to us. It includes fundamental wisdom about humans and humanity. 

Although everything about culture and the way we live has changed, maybe nothing has changed about us at our core as humans.

The thing about ancient texts is that they’ve survived for a reason. When we’re flailing around — Confused, questioning — maybe we should remember the ancient texts.

Sometimes you feel stuck (OK, sometimes I feel stuck).

First, that’s OK because if you feel stuck, that might be Resistance. Which means you’re on the right track. 

The key is movement. Physical and mental. 

Get up and walk around. Go outside. Look at it from over here. Then go look at it from over there. Watch others. Talk to others. Write some stuff down. Delete it and write it again. Watch the birds on the feeder. Do today’s Wordle or Bongo.  

Just don’t stand still.  

Stuckiness is a Universe thing. 

Keep moving. 

At 4TLAS, we build a platform that helps software developers build and test their code quickly and at scale.

The reason why quickly matters is the closer to the creation of a bug that you find it, the faster and easier it is to fix it. The reason why at scale matters is because running tests on a single device is good, but running those tests across many devices and over and over again is better.

The platform notifies our users of many things, especially problems.

You know the story of the little boy and the wolf. Of how he notified the town citizens one too many times about nothing in particular. And then, when there was a real problem, nobody cared, nobody came, nobody helped.

Our notifications are our currency, and we’re cautious and deliberate with them. We talk about it a lot. We experiment. We debate. We argue. We try new things.

Because when we spot someone crying wolf, we tend to ignore them.

How much thought do you give to underwater cables?

• There are currently over 350 undersea cables around the world
• The first was laid in 1854, connecting Newfoundland and Ireland across the Atlantic
• 17 underwater cables connect the east coast of the US to Europe
• The “Far North Fiber” cable spans 8700 miles from Japan to Europe via the Arctic
• 2 cut through Lake Michigan
• Modern cables can transmit about 400 terabits per second, compared to about 260 gigabits per second with satellites. 

Over 95% of global internet traffic runs through these cables. They are the backbone of global communication. 

Yet most of us barely think about them. The global internet “just works” because people thought of, financed, designed, installed, and now maintain this vast network of infrastructure. 

What are the other undersea cables in your life?

My boys and I like to play the games Catan and Risk.

Now that they’re adults and we’re together less frequently, the game becomes central when we do get together. Epic battles that frequently cross calendar boundaries.

Both games require strategy. What’s your plan? What are you trying to do? Where are you trying to go?

Both games require tactics. How will you allocate the resources you just received? Who will you attack? What will you defend?

Both games include the luck of the dice.

Sometimes, you’ve made all the right strategic and tactical decisions, but luck thwarts your plan. How will you adjust?

Sometimes, you’ve made strategic and tactical mistakes, yet luck shines on you. How will you adjust?

Life. How will you adjust?

What can you contribute?
Who can you help?
How can you help?
What’s your idea?
What can you do?
Who can you connect?
What can you say?
What should you say “yes” to?
What should you say “no” to?
How can you show up today?
For whom can you show up today?
What are you holding back?
What can you share?

It’s not policy. It’s not government. It’s not media. It’s not institutions. It’s not corporate leadership. It’s not marginalized groups. It’s not justice.

It’s you. And me. That’s where it starts. Then, we can work on the systems.

How can we give more to each other than we get?

Bluetooth has helped me cover up one of my own embarrassing personal habits. 

I talk to myself. A lot.

If you see me in my car, there’s a good chance you’ll see me talking. The good news for me is that you’ll assume I’m talking on my phone to someone else. Not likely. 

I’m really just working stuff out. That’s how I do it. Driving, running, walking. Talking to myself. It’s a good thing I live in a sparsely populated area. 

Good news (for me)! As it turns out, talking to oneself is a) fairly common (let me see your hands, fellow self-talkers), and b) has a bunch of benefits (according to Time):

• Reduces anxiety and stress.
• Improves focus, problem-solving, and task performance.
• Helps process emotions and set goals.
• Provides motivation and performance improvement.

So stand proud self-talkers. It’s time to claim your territory. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Most of the time, we’re focused on what’s missing, what’s broken, or what still needs fixing. I’m no different. It’s heavy. 

The World likes it this way. The World cashes in on our feelings of inadequacy and less than whole. 

But you can turn that around. You can shield yourself and build up a tolerance and callous. You do it by intentionally practicing gratitude. The beauty of noticing what’s already good is that it’s the perfect way to make your life better without changing anything. Nothing changes, yet everything changes. 

You can start with a gratitude audit. Three simple questions.

What have I overlooked?

We often take the mundane for granted. Is your house warm (or cool)? Did you sleep good last night? Your partner’s smile. Does a colleague always say “good morning” to you?

Who has shown up for me?

Think of the friends who listen, the mentors who guide, or even the stranger who held the door open when your hands were full. Who cares? Who made today better? Who makes every day better?

What challenges have taught me?

Even the hard stuff has value. I’m not a believer in “never quit” and I give the “do hard things!” shouters the sideways glance, but yes, the hard stuff has a ton of value. You build confidence. You gain skills. You build resilience. You gain insight. Do the hard things and take the credit. 

Now write your answers down. Seeing them in black and white makes them real.

The act of listing what you’re thankful for reframes your mindset. It changes the way you think and see your life. You shift from scarcity to abundance, from frustration to appreciation. 

Gratitude isn’t just a feeling. It’s a discipline. The more you do it. The more you feel it. You’ll find that the blessings were always there — you just hadn’t noticed them yet.

Most people want perfect clarity.

They want to know what the future looks like. On Tuesday night at 8, my show is on. If I drive to Target, they’ll have what I need. If I do X, then Y will happen.

It happens in business also. The market will go here. Our customers will want this. If we make cuts there, we’ll be more profitable.

It’s just logic.

Those that make change happen, though, don’t rely on perfect logic — they rely on principles. A compass, not a map. They make an assertion and take one step, then another, adjusting as they go, building resilience and confidence.

They embrace the fuzzy logic.

We have mixed emotions about markets. If you’re of one line of thinking, you praise markets. Another, you blame markets.

A market is simply a place (physical or virtual) to exchange stuff — apples for dollars, corn for hay, code for dollars, dollars for dollars, ideas for ideas, ownership for dollars, ownership for work, debt for dollars, etc. If you want to get something, you show up at a market. If you want to provide something, you show up at a market.

In any case, markets aren’t perfect. Like all systems, they have their advantages and drawbacks, but it’s not the market itself that is the problem or the solution.

It’s the incentives in and around the market. People create the incentives.

Follow the people. Follow the incentives.

When you’re 17, you probably don’t know what you want to do with the rest of your life, but you have some ideas.

The way you figure it out is to pick something that sounds interesting and start. If you go to college, pick a major. The school provides you with a curriculum. Take this class, then this one. This helps you figure out if it’s the right place for you. If not, pick a new one and start that curriculum.

When you create a startup company, you probably don’t know exactly what the market wants, although you have some ideas.

The way you figure it out is to make some assertions and get started. We will build X, and Y will happen. Here’s how we’ll create the tension required. This helps you figure out if it’s the right path and you have the right idea. If not, pick some new assertions and get started again.

You know you want to get to the top of the mountain, but you can’t see how to get there from here. There’s the entrance to a path. Take it because it leads somewhere. If it doesn’t take you where you want to go, find a new path and take that one.

It’s OK to not know. In fact, if we’re doing something worth doing, we probably don’t know. It’s scary and uncomfortable.

What’s not OK is to do nothing waiting for a bolt of lightning or someone to tell you what to do.

Yesterday, I was talking on the phone about screwdrivers. 

Sure enough, my phone started serving me tool ads on social media. Creepy right? I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience. 

“I know it’s listening!”

Well, it is, but not in the way you might think or fear.

Your phone IS listening to everything you say. But it’s (supposedly) listening only for keywords like “Hey, Siri,” “Alexa,”and “Hey, Google.”  

Here’s how it works on an iPhone.

The phone is listening for “Hey, Siri.” That’s the audible equivalent of the “wake” button, and it performs the same operation. This is done locally on the phone, and no audio or transcription is sent to Apple’s servers unless it detects the wake word. 

Once Siri is activated, the phone splits the processing of the following audio between the phone and the cloud. Therefore, this audio may be sent to Apple’s servers. It depends on what you are asking it to do. Some operations (like “set a timer”or “change the volume”) happen only on the phone, and nothing goes to the cloud. Other operations (like “What time do the Phillies play?”) do require the cloud. Apple claims that only the necessary post-wake word audio is temporarily stored for processing and is anonymized. So even if your words go to the cloud, they’re not associated with you, the person (via your AppleID), unless you’ve opted into sharing recordings for analysis.

Apple explicitly states that they do NOT use Siri data to serve targeted ads.

So, what is happening because it sure feels creepy?

The creepiness results from sophisticated data tracking and algorithms based on your online activity, the activity of people to whom you’re connected, and shared household or device profiles. The apps on your phone DO know to whom you are connected. Plus, the algorithms are good at what they do.

Take my screwdriver story. What happened?

It’s hard to know for sure, but a plausible answer is that either I, the person I spoke with, or some connection of either of us had recently been looking at tools. Since I’m in the target demographic and we’re getting close to the holiday season, the tool vendors are targeting me as an audience. 

Although coincidental, it’s also not that surprising, given the time of year we’re in and that if we were just talking about tools, there’s a good chance we were looking at tools.

It definitely feels creepy, but as long as the companies are doing what they say, it is just a coincidence.

Just because it feels a certain way, doesn’t mean it is. 

The best of all time. The worst of all time. A billion. Zero.

We’ve come to expect hyperbole in marketing, politics, and The News. That’s a sales pitch. It’s both a simplification of the problem and the answer. We like simplificiation so it grabs us. It’s easily recognizable if you’re on your game, but you’re not always.

You also probably have at least one friend or an Uncle who uses hyperbole for everything. Every story is a fish story. Again, easily recognizable and not very impactful.

However, the more we normalize hyperbole in everyday speech across our entire communities, the more we desensitize ourselves to truth, complexity, and nuance. It erodes trust, both in others and ourselves. When everything is framed as “the best” or “the worst,” how do we discern what actually matters?

Hyperbole is a lazy shortcut. It skips the hard work and presents a brittle shortcut. And when it is inevitible exposed, it leaves behind a trail of skepticism and cynicism.

Truth, on the other hand, is resilient. It doesn’t need to scream to be heard. It invites curiosity, reflection, and debate. It’s complex and sometimes uncomfortable.

So, what’s the real problem with hyperbole?

Everything becomes black or white, love or hate, all or nothing. We stop listening and start worrying about which side of the fence we need to stand on. We stop questioning and start worrying about what others think of us.

And we stop growing.

I love mosaic art.

I can’t help but feel how clever the artist is to be able to turn the micro into a macro — both with meaning. Sometimes, the micro and macro reinforce the same idea. Sometimes, they juxtapose against each other.

A successful mosaic achieves a balance between the micro and macro through a thoughtful arrangement, but not necessarily a detailed plan or procedure. The artist follows the flow of the micro to achieve an intentional macro. Looking close, then stepping back. Working with whatever she has in front of her. Rearranging.

Each experience, relationship, and decision we make is a micro addition to the macro. Those micro arrangements unique to our macro picture. The micro imperfections both celebrated and hidden amongst the macro. Constantly evolving. New priorities. New experiences. New people. New micro bits to fill in the macro.

“Oh, where does this one fit?”

Your life is a mosaic. What do you want the macro to say?

I’m a Gen-X’er. We’re the last generation to:

Know life without the internet.
Know life without cell phones.
Know life without social media.
Know life without remote controls.
Know life without art/media on demand.
Know life without GPS.

We experienced life geographically. Physical location woven through the experience. Finding a location required a discussion or unfolding a paper map. No screen in between. No search bar.

Plans were commitments. Off-the-grid was most of the time. Media consumption was intentional, occasional, and experienced collectively. Stories and music had physical weight and size. You could hold it in your hand. Discovery required conversation or tuning into the collective.

These experiences shaped a generation of independent problem-solvers who are resilient and creative. Technology is a tool, not a crutch.

Every generation’s experiences contribute to their perspective.

What is it about your generation that shapes who you are and your perspective?

When you’re designing a website, you must care about and design for three different screen sizes: Computer, Tablet, and Phone.

The phone is a narrow view. Your person is walking (or driving 🙄). What’s your point? Less is more. Bold and restricted. Three seconds. Simple, simple, simple. Just what. Focused. What do you want them to do?

The tablet widens that view a bit. Your person is probably on their couch or at their kitchen table. Probably has the TV on or the kids are running around. Still simple. Still bold but less restricted. Focused, but more details. Journalism. What do you want them to know? Consumption. Information forward.

The computer is a wide view. Your person is sitting, likely in a work environment. They probably have their wits about them. What are all the things? Ten seconds. Simple, yes, but also nuanced. Who, what, why? What do you want them to know and then do?

Now turn this around on yourself.

Which screen size matters to you?

Do you have a thing?

When people think or talk about you, does something immediately come to mind? It could be profession. “Oh, they’re the chef,” or “They’re the engineer.” It could personality. “They’re the loud mouth,” or “They’re the mom.” It could be utility. “They’re the fix-it guy,” or “They’re the gardner.”

Your thing is the story that people tell about you.

The reality is we don’t have just one thing. We play many roles. We have many stories. We are many things, but in a particular context, we probably are reduced to one.

Are you happy with the thing that people think you are? Do you even know what it is?

It’s never too late to change, but it does take intention and effort. Start with the story.

If you only care about one thing, you don’t have a dilemma. All of your resources can go to that thing.

But if you care about more than one thing, you have a dilemma. It’s a budgeting dilemma. You only have so much time, energy, and money. How will you allocate them?

Budgets are one part spreadsheet and one part story.

If you’re having a budgeting dilemma, it may help to start with the story you tell yourself.

I wouldn’t let Mike Tyson punch me for any amount of money. Even at 58, he’s a giant scary wrecking ball. I know that if he hit me, I’d be dead.

Unless…

There’s always a price.

“Don’t throw good money after bad.”

The first time I remember hearing that was as a teenager. It was my Dad that said it, and we were leaning into the open engine compartment of my dilapidated car.

The sunk cost fallacy. It has a strong pull.

Just a little more. It’s cheaper to fix it. If I stop now, it will all have been for nothing. Which more than likely is, I’m emotionally attached, I don’t want to change, or I don’t want to be wrong.

Don’t throw good money after bad is sage advice if it comes from the right source. Salespeople will use it to get you into the newest, fancier, best for them, but your Dad wants what’s best for you.

Don’t throw good money after bad.

Bitcoin is made up.
Bitcoin isn’t real.
Bitcoin is a scam.

You don’t have to pay attention, but maybe you should give it a look. It’s running like gangbusters right now.

I think it has value as a concept. Maybe as a tangible asset. We’ll see. I believe Bitcoin, or some other similar concept for money exchange, will be a part of our future economy. Maybe the most important part. I don’t know when that is. Maybe not in my lifetime.

(A lot of intentional maybes)

I heard a good analogy that helps explain why Bitcoin might be a good investment and store of value over the long haul.

Bitcoin was first traded in 2009. We’ll use that as the reference year.

If you put a dollar in your mattress in 2009, you’d need $1.47 to have the same buying power today. If you bought $1 of Bitcoin in 2009, you’d have received 1000 Bitcoins. As I write this, Bitcoin is trading around $87k per Bitcoin. For $1 in 2009, you’d currently have $87M.

But that’s not really what makes it interesting. History provides tons of rags to riches asset stories like Bitcoin.

What makes Bitcoin an interesting asset to watch is the system its built upon compared to the system that the US dollars is built upon. The US dollar system includes an infinite supply and inflation by design. The Bitcoin system includes a fixed supply and slowing generation as we near the end of that supply.

Hold on to a dollar and it’s worth less in the future — by design of the system.
Hold on to a bitcoin and it’s worth more in the future — by design of the system.

None of that means Bitcoin is better than the US dollar, nor will it overtake fiat currency, but its probably worth watching it.

Thousands of years ago, you wanted to live near the water source. As close as possible. Because you spent a lot of your personal and communal time and energy managing your water supply.

Traveling to it and back. Carrying it. Caring for it. A lot.

The closer you were to the source, the less time and energy you needed to spend on traveling and carrying. Therefore, the community usually arranged itself around the water source, both geographically and organizationally.

Then someone had a great idea: “You know, if we dug here, and put some rocks over there, I think we could make the water come to us.”

Boom. Less time. Less energy. More Options.

So the question now is, where are you spending that extra time and energy?

Nothing.

The data is just data. It says nothing. It’s your history, experiences, and worldview that project your voice onto and into the data.

It seems like the data is talking, but it’s really you.

And that’s a good thing because the story emerges when you combine yourself with the data. It might be a true story, or it might be fiction. Most likely there’s some of both. Stories uncover questions. Questions lead to more questions. Science happens when you investigate the questions.

In any case, the power of the data isn’t its voice. It’s yours.

Imagine you invent, design, and introduce a new product. You’ve built a startup company around this product.

You build some prototypes and get some alpha testers on board. This process teaches you that your widget isn’t ready. You have some fundamental flaws. You need to rethink and redesign some critical systems, but you’re still convinced you can get there.

In the meantime, the marketing team has done an amazing job. They have about 500 people signed up for the beta program that’s supposed to launch next month. These 500 people are expecting some “glitches” and a product that probably won’t work as advertised, but they’re expecting something that’s reasonable.

Your units are not reasonable. Not right now. They barely work.

But remember. The first airplane barely flew. The first car barely went faster than a walk. The first computer could barely perform kindergarten math.

Your new product doesn’t need to revolutionize the world, look beautiful, and be flawless out of the shoot. Can you turn it from barely working into fully working. Is there a path? If so, you need to keep improving, sharing, and believing until its there.

If it barely works, it still works, right?

Plate spinning looks like magic. 

The juggler’s art of plate spinning originated in China during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD) and then migrated into Western circus acts around the 1300s. The first instructional book on plate spinning was published in 1901. The first plastic, purpose-built spinning plate on the market was the Whirely Whirler, which came out in 1958. 

Here are some important instructions for learning how to spin plates:

1. Don’t use just any plates. Juggle/spinning plates have specific characteristics. 
2. Start with one plate and two hands (one on stick, one on plate).
3. Then learn how to use one hand to hold the stick and spin the plate without needing your other hand.
4. Then move to spinning multiple plates. Rhythm and focus are critical for multuple plates.
5. You get 20-30 seconds per spin per plate, so plan accordingly. 

Go for it. You’re gonna drop them a lot. Watch more videos. Try slight variations on the techniques. It’ll take time and effort. 

But even though it looks like magic, it’s not magic. Anybody, including you, will get it with enough practice. 

One thing is true, however, about spinning plates — the juggler always has to know which one is about to stop and fall. He has two options for a plate that’s coming to the end of its 20-30 second spin cycle: spin it again, or let it fall.  

You’re a juggler. You just gotta figure out which plates to keep spinning and which to let go. 

“Despite its impressive output, generative AI doesn’t have a coherent understanding of the world”

• MIT News

Umm, how about a big, giant, 4th-grade, “No, duh!”

Of course, generative AI doesn’t have a coherent understanding of the world. Because generative AI doesn’t have an understanding of anything. It is a predictive model, albeit a very effective one, in certain circumstances. It’s ones and zeros. It’s math. It’s just typing. 

AI is a tool. It is an enhancement of a human being. It is not a being. 

To be fair, coherence is a difficult hill to climb. I could make an argument that no one is coherent in their understanding of the world. That’s actually one of the things that makes us resilient and adaptable. 

Let the AI do AI things. You do the human things. 

I’m an advocate for uncovering nuance and recognizing complexity.

Real solutions rarely come in the form of sound bites. Real solutions take digging in, uncovering the complexity, and taking it on.

But also, simpler is better.

Simpler means easily understood, easy to use, and easy to see the benefits. Simpler means you’ll find yourself thinking, “Oh yeah, that makes sense.”

Simpler doesn’t have to mean hyperbolic or black and white. Simpler doesn’t have to mean dumber. Simpler doesn’t have to mean everyone agrees. Simpler doesn’t have to mean easy to implement (although bonus points if it is).

So, how do we fix systems?

First, we must agree on what “fixed” means because often, one person’s idea of a fix is another’s idea of a break. There’s hard work required to agree on the desired outcome.

Second, we must recognize the variables over which we have influence. Rarely is the problem domain a blank sheet of paper. There is always a box. There’s hard work required to understand the size and boundaries of the box.

Third, we must understand the emotional risk required to change. Status. Blame. Win. Lose. Scarcity. Predictability. Known unknowns. Unknown unknowns. Inertia. There’s hard work required to understand the emotional risk required to change.

Fourth, we must be willing to work.

Simpler usually requires more work, not less.

“Our dream is to have a universal robot brain that you could download and use for your robot without any training at all.” 

• CMU associate professor David Held

The purpose of the universal robot brain (URB) is to ensure sameness, predictability, and a base level of function.

“Download URB 6.3.1 and your robot will stop neglecting those pesky crumbs that get stuck under the cabinets in your kitchen!”

So I buy a robot, download the URB, and then what? I ask it to do the laundry? Mow the grass? Read to the kids?

Human babies are born with particular human brains. 

Human brains aren’t universal. At least not in the same sense that the universal robot brain will be. Human brains have some universality. For example, human brains know how to work their own systems, process sensory inputs, and learn from those inputs, much like the proposed URB. 

But the magic of the human brain comes from the uniqueness it produces. Robots don’t give a crap. Humans do. 

The URB is about utility. The human brain is about significance. 

Did you see the latest successful Hail Mary pass in the recent game between the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders?

Since 2009, there have been 193 Hail Mary attempts, with 19 being successful. That’s just under 10%. Aaron Rodgers is the current king of the Hail Mary, with three successful attempts over that span. 

A Hail Mary comes at an emotionally charged moment in a game. It’s a desperation play that comes at a desperation moment. If you’re a fan of the defense, you don’t think it’s gonna work, and you certainly don’t expect it to work. But you’re nervous because there is a chance — you’re not totally confident. If you’re a fan of the offense, you also don’t expect it to work. However, you’re hopeful because you know there’s a chance.

There’s always a chance, but can you rely on it?

You’re probably better off doing the hard and boring work earlier in the game to avoid the moment of desperation because a desperate moment can push you to do desperate things.

There are many ways to give yourself a chance. It’s up to you to decide your path.

Did you see Tesla’s We, Robot?

Robotaxis. Humanoid robots. Automation is the future. Elon said that automation is about “getting your time back.”

Hmm. I agree that in a classic production sense, not only is automation the future, but it’s also the present. The Industrial Revolution was/is all about automation. 4TLAS’s purpose is largely tied to automation.

But what does getting your time back look like? For real.

Does it mean less work and more entertainment? Does it mean less of what you must do and more of what you want to do? Does it mean less toil and more leisure?

What do you do with your time now? What would you do with your time if you didn’t need to clean the house, tend the garden, repair the car, replace the siding, cook the meals, read to your kids?  

Or, wait, maybe those things — at least, some of those things — are exactly what you would do.

Your time and how you spend it is tightly coupled to your humanity. 

We are human. 

“I have no power” isn’t true. Nor is “I have all the power.”

So it’s somewhere in between. What is it?

Start with you — your history, the things you’ve seen, felt, and experienced. Your perspective.

Continue with your systems. Which systems do you live in, engage with, or are affected by?

Power is influence. How can you influence your systems through your perspective?

You have power.

Halloween is fun. 

• Americans spent almost $12B on Halloween in 2024
• 72 Million trick-or-treaters in 2024
• Each household spent an average of $51 on candy and $104 total on Halloween related items
• Haunted houses generated almost $500M
• The 12-foot tall skeletons from Home Depot were introduced in 2020 and have sold out each year since their introduction.
• About 30% of American households now decorate for Halloween with lights like Christmas
• Costume spending was almost $4B
• About 1500 temporary Halloween retail outlets popup and create about 50000 seasonal jobs
• Americans spent about $800M on pumpkins

Halloween is big business. 

If you want to be a clown, you might think you should start by buying the red nose.

It makes sense because that’s the uniform. Clowns have red noses. You want to be a clown? Get a red nose.

But does looking the part make you a clown?

You may have natural talent. Maybe you effortlessly make people laugh around the bonfire. Maybe the entry next to your photo in the High School Yearbook says “Class Clown.” But what about when the lights on you in the center ring or working the crowd? Clowns act in front of strangers. Do you even do that?

Have you done the important work of figuring out how to act like a clown? Do you know what that important work is? Can you list the hard things you’ll need to do to act like a clown?

You’ll start making progress once you realize that just because you have a red nose, it doesn’t make you a clown.

Today, you sow the seeds. Tomorrow and the days that follow, you tend to their needs. And you must continue to tend to their needs.

You keep doing that, and at some point in the future, you have vegetables, flowers, or sometimes nothing. That’s just a numbers game.

Everything you do today is for the future.

Make no mistake, you”re a farmer.

A reminder that your plan, product, or service isn’t for everyone.

I recently had to remind myself of this as I slogged and fought my way through a conversation about 4TLAS and what we do.

I was meeting with someone about us. He continually asked and pushed me to justify what our value is. Just what is our product and why would I give you money for it?

It was a good push, and honestly, I had trouble helping him understand our message.

Is it because the message is wrong? Is that because I (still) haven’t refined the message correctly? Or is it because we don’t have a valid product/business idea?

I couldn’t effectively get across the benefits of our product, nor could I make him see the benefits of outsourcing the risk and management of the infrastructure to us. He basically didn’t get it. Just speedbumped every time I tried to make progress.

But then I realized something — he’s just not “our person.”

You ever get annoyed sitting in traffic?

For three years, I commuted 55 miles from my place in rural Berks County to the parking garage at 19th and JFK in center city Philly. This commute required the dreaded 422 corridor (there’s even a Facebook “fan” page) and the more sinister Schuylkill Expressway. Two “no way around” roads. If you’re going into and out of Philly from the northwest, you’ll need those roads.

The morning was fine, as long as I left by 5am. And there were no accidents. And it wasn’t raining or snowing. And an errant leaf didn’t blow by. I’d usually be sitting at my desk by 6:15.

But the evening commute was brutal. It was two hours of scratching and clawing for every inch of asphalt on those two “higwhays.” Stop and go. Move an inch. The guy on your right shoe-horning his bumper into the three inches of space between you and the guy in front. Horns, fists, other hand gestures. Just a mass of PO’d humanity. All of us sitting in this traffic, annoyed at everybody else who’s creating the traffic.

Here’s the thing, though — If you’re sitting in traffic, you are the traffic.

We often use it as a slur, but it’s underrated.

The more days you do the same thing, the more you get predictability. Predictability creates stability. Stability creates space and energy for creativity.

Habits eliminate the friction of endless decision-making. They anchor us into who we are and who we are becoming. Repeated actions build identity. Each day we do the same thing, we reinforce the new version of ourselves.

Do you like the new version of yourself?

Today is important.

You woke up. You have choices. You have responsibilities. You have opportunities.

Today is important. Treat it as such.

Could AI-you offload a bunch of administrative tasks? Could it manage your schedule (like you would) and the supply chain required for running your household?

“Hey, AI-me, as you know, we’re having a party next weekend. Here’s the menu. Please ensure we have the ingredients on friday.”

“Hey John, your Mazda is due for inspection at the end of the month. I’ve scheduled with the garage for Wednesday of next week because it was the only day they had available. I needed to move the lunch plan you had with Jack to Thursday. He was good with that.”

Could AI-you deal with household issues quick and easy?

“Hey, AI-me, the garage-door just broke. Get someone here ASAP.”

“Hey John, the hot-water heater started leaking during the night. The plumber will be here in 35 minutes.”

Could this AI-you manage your finances? The day-to-day and also investments, find money-making opportunities (specific to you, your skills, and view of the world), capital improvements, etc.

“Hey, AI-me, we’d like to like to redo the office this winter, but we’re wondering if a new fireplace and wood flooring would fit into the budget. Could you work up a bunch of options based on these ideas…”

“Hey John, you should look at this opportunity I just found. It looks like it would fit your skillset and might bring in an extra $1000 a month.”

If AI-you could do those kinds of things, would you want it to?

Elon thinks Optimus is the perfect household assistant. He envisions a future where humanoid robots are performing many of the tasks that we spend our day doing today — cleaning your house, cutting the grass, tending the garden, grocery shopping, and walking the dogs.

I disagree. I wouldn’t have it do any of that. But what I would do is walk it across the United States. Drop it off on the Ocean City Fishing Pier, pat it on the butt, and say, “I’ll see you at Pescadero Point.”

What a cool engineering and social experiment.

Think of all the technical hurdles it would have to autonomously overcome to make that trip — recharging, repairs, weather, terrain, navigation, etc.

Think of the social curiosities it would generate and hurdles it would have to navigate.

If you saw an Optimus just walking down the street, what would you do?

Would you engage with it? Would you ask it questions? What if it looked ragged or broken? Would you help it? Would you knock it over? Would you invite it to your home? Would you play games with it? Would you encourage it? 

I wonder what Optimus would learn by walking from Jersey to California.

More creatives are signing open letters to stop training LLM models on their content without proper licensing (i.e., financial compensation).

Fundamentally, this is a legal copyright issue (i.e., money). Not a “stop the AI from taking over!” issue. 

Licensing issues (i.e., bucks) aside, would you want an AI version of yourself? (Note: A ChatBot version of you).

Well, what could it do for you?

Picture a 10-minute morning meeting with your AI-you each day. Of course, it’s been trained on all of the previous days of you, so it knows your history, how to sound like you, your preferences, and how you generally respond to the requests, challenges, and tasks of the day. But the purpose of the morning meeting is to understand the today-you. It asks you about how you’re feeling, things on your mind, what happened yesterday, and stuff that is important (as far as you know). 

Presumably, this AI-you could stand-in and take your place in particular aspects of your daily life that don’t require you physically. Let’s also assume that AI-you really is a good version of you. 

Maybe, in some ways, a better version of you because it’s you at your best, most consistent self. Rarely, if ever, would you review what AI-you did and think to yourself, “that’s not how I would do it” or “I’m not happy with that.”

But I don’t think this comes down to pragmatism.

I think it’s simply, “Would you want an AI Version of you?”

I played and coached ice hockey for almost 40 years.

I’ve heard and given the advice of, “keep your head up!” a million times. It’s great advice, for several different reasons.

The first is for safety. I had a tendency to watch the puck on my stick as I skated, and then, BAM!!!. Next thing I knew, I’d be sprawled out on the ice, wondering what the license plate number was on that car that just ran me over.

Keep your head up, or you may get hurt.

The second is for opportunity. As I skated around staring at the puck on my stick, how was I supposed to see what was happening and, consequently, where the puck should to go next. How could we solve the puzzle of putting the puck into the net without having any idea of what was going on around us?

Keep your head up so you can see opportunity.

The third is for emotional support. After a tough loss or tough personal moment of failure, the “keep your head up” advice was a meant as a balm to the wounds. This is temporary. You should be optimistic about the next opportunity.

Keep your head up because tomorrow is a new day with new opportunities, and you’re taking all that you learned today into it.

Keep your head up.

• What is our mission?
• Does that mission help a person, organization, or community?
• Do we know how to find that person, organization, or community?
• Are we talking to that person, organization, or community?
• How do we help versus how others help?
• Does our success require our person, organization, or community success?
• Are we confident in our abilities and mission?
• Are we uncomfortable? Desperate?
• Would someone else talk about us and share us with those they care about?
• Are we creating tension?
• If you had enough money, how would apply it to the mission today?
• Is it time to “yes” to more or “no” to more?
• Are there partnerships or collaborations that will help us fulfill the mission?
• Are we talking to those people?

Keep asking questions. 

If the robot can drive the car, should you?
If the robot can harvest the corn, should you?
If the robot can serve the drinks, should you?

But what if the robot can negotiate border disputes? Should you?
Or what if the robot can decide value? Should you?
What if the robot can prioritize? Should you?

In the near and far future, robots can do many things.

With humans, it’s not about can. It’s about should.

Were the Beatles good or just famous?
What about Madonna?
Is Dwayne Johnson good or just famous?
What about Meryl Streep?
Is a Ferrari a good car or just a famous one?
What about a Tesla?

Is your friend a good interior designer even though they’re not on HGTV?
Are you a good musician even though you don’t have tracks on Spotify?
Is your partner a good cook even though they don’t have a spot on the Food Network?

Famous requires the intersection of several variables, some of which you have control over and some of which you don’t.

So does good. But good is in the eye of the beholder. If these people don’t think you’re good, you can choose to look elsewhere for other people.

Focus on good.

We mostly think of deadlines in relation to time. The deadline is a date on the calendar.

In order to meet the deadline we focus, sharpen, make decisions, and clarify what we’ll get done by that deadline. All the things you need to do to make it better anyway.

The power of a deadline is less about time and more about better.

Your desire to optimize might actually be Resistance keeping you from doing the work that matters.

You can’t optimize your sales funnel if you have zero sales.
You can’t optimize your business strategy before you have any business.
You can’t optimize your code before it does anything.

There are a million courses, coaches, and books that you can spend your money on to help you optimize.

But do you have anything to optimize?

Because if not, you’re just optimizing Resistance.

It’s easy to type the code.

It’s hard to figure out what the code should do. That’s also true for writing books, creating value propositions, and developing spreadsheets.

The typing is usually the easy part. AI is a very good typer. But the value is in the imagining, figuring, and designing. That’s where the creativity and choices reside. That’s where the risk resides.

AI doesn’t take on nor understand risk. Oh, it understands risk as a math equation to be evaluated. If you can design an equation for risk, AI can evaluate that risk all day, every day.

But it doesn’t understand risk. It has no emotional connection to risk.

You do. Make no mistake. You’re the one taking on the risk.

That’s why you have the value.

“…but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

• Romans 5:3-4

I see a lot of motivational material about perseverance through suffering (maybe a focus on the self-induced sufferings of workouts, hustle-lifestyle, external success, etc). I also see a lot of marketing material about hope.

I don’t see much about the importance of character. Character feels underrated in the zeitgeist at the moment. 

What Paul reminds us of here is that character is the connector between perseverance and hope. You don’t get to hope without going through character.

Don’t skip character. 

Guy 1: “Tell me about what you do at 4TLAS?”
“Sure. We help small to mid-sized embedded systems teams ramp and scale.”

Guy 1: “How?”
“We have a fully automated, no code CI pipeline that solves the specific problems of embedded development.”

Guy 2: “You mean, like DevOps?”
“Yes, exactly.”

Guy 1 (rolling his eyes): “Oh, that. We had the intern do that.”
Guy 2 (looking at his colleague): “Yes, but it never worked!”
“Yes, exactly. Ours works.”

Not everyone will see your value, but some will. 

Those are your people. 

SpaceX is nuts, and they’re on a roll.

They just stuck the landing with the 233-foot Super Heavy booster nestling into the waiting chopstick arms of the launch gantry. The purpose of catching it like this is for a rapid turnaround for reuse, a simplified landing mechanism (on the booster itself), increasing the safety of the landing, and lower recovery costs. 

Who thinks of catching a rocket with chopsticks? 

What they’re doing right now sits squarely at the intersection of art and engineering. The art of innovation and creativity juxtaposed against the practical implementation through engineering. It’s harder than it may seem, because its not just additive or iterative engineering. It’s taking a look at the current limitations, bottlenecks, and cost points and reimagining solutions. 

The artist says, “What if we did it this way?”
The engineer says, “That’s dumb.”
The artist says, “Yeah, but it’s really cool and interesting.”
The engineer says, “Yeah, but it’s not gonna work.”

This continues. They argue. Probably vehemently at some point. They defend their positions. They iterate. They work on it. 

And then they stick the landing. 

P.S. Boeing just announced they’re laying off 10% of their workforce.

You try to miss the potholes when you see them.

Sometimes you don’t see them in time, or at all, and then bang! Cursing the road crew, the state, the county. You might even take this moment to sling some mud at a presidential candidate.

“Oh, I hope something didn’t break.”

But sometimes it does. Then you’re stuck, waiting for AAA or limping on the donut tire to the first available tire supplier (who’s open). You’re gonna be late. You might even miss it. Not to mention the several hundred dollars you weren’t prepared to spend.

Hitting the pothole sucks.

Did you ever think about it from AAA or the tire supplier’s point of view?

They love the potholes.

How do you decide which one to choose?

It’s partly an engineering question because you have requirements. When making your choice, you must ensure that it meets the requirements, or you’ll be disappointed.

Don’t buy a chair if you need a car. On the other hand, if you need a chair, you could buy a car. Unless you need that chair to fit in your kitchen — and then again, we’re back to requirements.

It’s mostly an emotional decision. Who buys a car because they need a chair? People do, and that’s ok.

One way to satisfy both the engineering and emotional needs of a decision is to find the knee in the curve and choose that one.

The knee in the curve is the spot at which one or more of the constraints go exponentially higher.

The basic model costs $10, the plus costs $12, and the deluxe costs $100. The knee is the plus model.

The basic model is available today for pickup, the plus model is a 3-day lead, and the deluxe will take 6 months. The knee is the plus model.

If you’re a decider, the knee is a great place to position your decision. If you’re a provider, the knee is a great place to position your product.

I saw one. Then another. Then I had an idea.

I’m talking about driverless taxis, of course. I’ve been in Austin this week, and Waymo’s white Jaguars with futuristic sensing pods adorning their outsides are not hard to spot. 

I would.

I downloaded the app and tried to summon one for a trip from the convention center to South Congress. Only about two miles. What could go wrong in a two-mile journey that likely only required one turn?

Ah, but I was denied. “Austin coming soon.” Damn.

Last year, when I was here, I saw the GM Cruise cars cruising around. So I thought maybe that service is available.Because now, I’m emotionally committed to giving this a try. 

Also no. In fact, I can’t quite figure out if that’s even a business anymore. I think GM is also trying to figure out if it’s a business.

I didn’t get a chance to give it a try. But I would.

Would you?

A friend once told me, “never give away your work for free.”

Eh. Because what is “work” and what is “free?”

If you paint your own house, that’s probably not work in the sense we’re describing. But if you do the exact same thing for your neighbor, it probably is work.

If you write and email a newsletter around to your family that recaps the Phillies’ devastating loss to the Mets in the NLDS, you wouldn’t expect them to pay you. But what if your cousin who works for a sports media publisher read it and asked if they could publish it? You’d probably expect them to pay you.

Now three and a half months into our 4TLAS startup journey, I’ve thought a lot about what work and free mean in our context. 

I’ve spoken to many people who are generous with their expertise, time, and energy — gave much to me for free. One could definitely argue that it was work for them. OK, maybe not grueling, but still. I’m ever grateful for those people. 

I’ve also run into a few who were uninterested in having a discussion unless money was on the table. I get it. 

Working for free is an investment. If you give away your expertise, skills, or labor for free, you are (as you should be) looking for a return on that investment. It might be monetary, but it might also be something entirely different, such as connection, respect, or that good feeling you get from helping.

I think it’s about reading the moment and deciding what kind of value you’re after. Money is one way to measure that worth. But also, the return comes in the form of ideas, momentum, and doors that open simply because you chose to invest yourself in the right place, with the right people. 

And many times, that ephemeral return turns into monetary wealth. 

Ship it now. Fix it later.

Is this the right approach?

Well, you gotta ask yourself:

• Can you fix it later?
• Is it good enough to ship now?
• Should you fix it later?

If the answer to these questions is “yes,” then ship it now and fix it later. 

Assume they have dedication, responsibility, and adultiness.

Let them work where they want.
Let them work when they want (of course, with important times/events covered).
Let them determine the how.
You provide direction, insight, tools, and resources.
You swat the flies and allow them to focus.
You help unstick.
You trust.
You empower.
You support.

Hire people who can work in a macro-managed environment and then provide it.

How do you get over the hump?

“Over the hump“ originated during World War II, specifically referring to the dangerous air route known as “The Hump.” It was an Allied air route over the eastern Himalayas. This route was critical for transporting supplies from India to China, particularly when ground routes were compromised by Japanese forces.

The hump had treacherous weather and mountainous terrain. It was hard. It was terribly hard. Over 600 planes crashed during the war when flying that route. It took teamwork, skill, focus, stamina, and a little luck to get over the hump. Once a pilot made it over the hump, the hard part was behind them. 

Whatever the humps are in your life, starting with teamwork, skill, focus, and stamina are the right place to start. 

And when you have a little luck along the way, don’t be afraid to acknowledge it. 

You want to be confident.
But you feel apprehensive.

The solution is presence.

I’ve never tried to skin a cat. I really don’t know. 

“The earliest alternate version appears in 1678, in John Ray’s collection of English proverbs as there are more ways to kill a dog than hanging, with the popular British version, there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream.”

“Even Mark Twain got in on the action within his story A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court in 1889 when describing the Church: ‘she was wise, subtle, and knew more than one way to skin a cat'”

You can walk, ride a bike, or drive a car to get across town.

You can put the dish in the dishwasher or grab the scrub brush and fill the sink.

You can listen to the audio version, fire up your e-reader, or grab the book off the shelf.

There are multiple ways to skin the cat. Let’s reserve judgment. 

Merriam-Webster regularly updates its dictionary. Here’s a few for you.

Freestyle — an improvised performance especially of a rap.

Street corn — grilled corn on the cob that is coated with a creamy spread.

For You page — a social media feed that contains personalized content based on the user’s interests.

Breach read — a usually light work of escapist fiction.

Burrata — mozzarella formed into a ball-shaped casing that contains curds and cream.

Nepo baby — a person who gains success or opportunities through familial connections.

Touch grass — to participate in normal activities in the real world, especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions.

Cash grab — the greedy pursuit of an opportunity for making money, especially when done without regard for ethics, concerns, or consequences.

Shadow ban — to cause (a user or their content) to be hidden from some or all other users, usually without the user’sknowledge.

IDGAF — Well, you know.

Ever been called a Slick Willie?

Willie Sutton was a fascinating guy. The original Slick Willie — he robbed more than 20 banks from 1927 to 1952. Then, after being incarcerated, he escaped three times from three different prisons, including once from the famous Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly (a great place to spend an evening in the fall if you’re so inclined). 

He was a master of disguise, charming, and very clever — slick.

He also brought us “Sutton’s Law.”

Willie allegedly responded to a reporter’s question about why he robbed banks by saying, “Because that’s where the money is.” Duh.

Sutton’s Law is often referred to in medical contexts. For example, when diagnosing a patient, one should first consider the most obvious possibilities and conduct tests that are likely to confirm or rule out the most probable diagnosis. 

If you have a runny nose, first check for the common cold and allergies rather than immediately testing for cancer.

Sutton’s Law and Occam’s Razor are bedfellows, and although sometimes the more complex solution is required or the more dubious explanation is correct, they’re a great place to start. 

The World is a tricky place right now. AI is making it trickier. Sutton’s Law is a great little tool to help you think correctly about what The World is presenting to you. Start with simple, obvious, and most probable. 

You don’t have to end there, and to be fair, you shouldn’t end there. But definitely start there. 

It doesn’t take Mother Teresa-level compassion to make a dent.

A great mission statement for a company starts with “We help…”
A great mission statement for an organization starts with “We help…”
A great personal mission statement starts with “I help…”

Helping is a great path to making money, making a better world, and making a better community. Everybody needs help.

Always help.

What is the most expensive asset in your company, organization, or team?

Your people, of course.

When executives, bosses, and number-crunchers look at the spreadsheets, and especially if those spreadsheets get shown to the shareholders, the human assets are the no-duh place to “optimize.”

Adding machines to the picture intoxicates those same lever-pullers beyond their ability to control themselves. Now, they can sell the story of ramping up productivity while minimizing cost. 

The perfect solution. Easy pickens to maximize a bonus. Next quarter’s gonna shine.

But what is the most important asset of your company, organization, or team?

Your people, of course.

You can optimize your productivity, cost, and profit margins by replacing people with purpose-built machines for the next quarter or several quarters. But then the world changes, and your machines get confused, clunky, and petulant. Machines don’t change. Even AI-powered ones. 

Automating with machines isn’t about replacement. It’s about enhancement. 

A human with a drill is 1000X more resilient and adaptable than a drill press with an AI brain. 

When is good enough good enough?

Good enough depends on where you are in your history. If you’re at the beginning, then it’s good enough when:

• If you ship it, you’ll learn something
• If you ship it, it will make a difference
• If you ship it, you’ll have something to talk about

Good enough is likely sooner than your comfortable self will tell you it is.

The fine print.
The pages and pages of legalese.
The motormouthed disclaimer.
The buried clause.

Go ahead and feed every legal document and contract you’re asked to sign into AI with the following prompt:

“Summarize this from my point of view. What am I signing up for? What are my obligations? What are the key things to be aware of? Are there any weasel clauses? What can I get caught on? Are there any unusual terms and conditions?”

Help others do the same.

Here are some interesting statistics for 5k times:

• World Record Men: 12:49
• PA High School State Championship Record Men: 15:02
• PA 40-49 Years “Competitive Time” Men: 18:13
• PA 50-59 Years “Competitive Time” Men: 19:31
• PA Typical Community Fundraiser First Place Time Men: 18:00-22:00

My personal best time in a 5k was around 20:15, which I ran in my 40’s. Today, I would probably be between 24:00 and 25:00. 

The day I ran the 20:15, I didn’t place. Went home with the banana and the same T-Shirt as the walkers.

One time, however, I ran a 22-something on a Thanksgiving morning and took first place in my age group and 9th overall. It was stupid cold. Snow on the ground. Lots of people stayed home. 

Who’s your competition?

If you’re not in the top 5% of the room you’re standing in, you could switch rooms. When looking for that new room, you might want to find the one that others shy away from.

Have you ever seen a keyboard on a UK computer? 

At first, you won’t notice a difference because it’s almost the same as a US keyboard, but not quite. There are a few more keys, and some of the symbols are in different spots. 

Of course, you’ll be able to use it, no problem. It’s English, 95%+ is the same, and you have eyes. But if you’re an accomplished typer, you’re gonna occasionally get it wrong. Will it make a difference? It depends on what you’re doing. 

DeWalt vs Milwakee vs Makita drill.
Ford vs Chevy vs Toyota truck.
Outlook vs Apple Mail vs Gmail.
Windows vs MacOS vs Linux. 

You probably have an opinion about which is “for you.”

It might be brand (i.e., tribe), or country, or privacy, or something else you identify with.

Or it might be a nuance of efficiency. “I know this one better. I understand it better. I’m faster and better when I use it.”

If you’re a leader, your people will have an opinion about the tools they use to do their work. That’s good. You want people with these opinions because you want craftsmen. Craftsmen care about their tools. 

But it’s your job to figure out which of those opinions matter for the personal and collective good of the organization and which are simply religion. 

Of course, most business value propositions are, at their core, some version of “faster, better, cheaper.”

You’ve probably spent your career working under some part of that value proposition. I certainly have. It’s almost exclusively what technology is about. It’s what we at 4TLAS do for our clients. 

But what about life?

We have to eat, fix the leaky roof, keep the checking account (reasonably) balanced, maintain the car, etc. 

Millions of companies and people exist to “faster, better, cheaper” those things for us. Why make a meal when I can have someone do it faster, better, cheaper? Why refinish my own kitchen cabinets when I can have someone do it faster, better, cheaper? Why change the oil myself…

Faster, better, cheaper. It’s hard to argue with.

What do you like doing? And I mean doing — actively participating in some sort of labor.

The enjoyment of labor — whether it’s working on your house or car, crocheting, writing, or cooking — is in the labor itself. The doing. Slower. 

The outcome of your labor may not be as good as someone else could do. You’re not the best, but you’re still proud of it. Worse.

You’re not buying in volume. Maybe you’ve wasted material or money on the wrong thing. Maybe you’ve redone it several times. But now you’re happy with it. More expensive. 

Enjoyment is about engaging. Putting yourself into it through your labor. 

Slower, worse, more expensive. 

If you’re hiring AI into your organization, it will have specific purposes with specific job descriptions.

“AI-3691’s job is to convert all of the incoming data from INF, XML, and binary to JSON format with the following spec…”
“AI-8133’s job is to serve as the initial point of contact for our clients, gather all needed information about their case, provide initial legal guidance through research of case precedents, conduct follow-up documentation acquisition, and provide support to the assigned lawyer.”

Some of those job descriptions might look like replacements for what people used to do. In fact, that’s probably inevitable. You might even say, “Hey! That’s what I’m supposed to do!”

But then the world changes. Consequently, the organization needs to change with it. Suddenly, all of those very specific job descriptions are either no longer relevant or look like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

Even though some specific job descriptions will always be required in organizations, it’s the humans who traverse job descriptions that move the organization forward through the inevitable changes of the world. Problem solvers. People who follow their curiosity. Improv artists. Those who do what needs to be done. Humans who care.

People who don’t need a specific job description.

AI sucks at being human. Humans are great at being human.

An artist can’t price her work based on how many hours she spent at the easel.
The software developer can’t price their app based on how many hours he spent at the terminal.
The soft drink producer can’t price the drink in the vending machine based on how many hours it took to build the can, mix the liquids, fill the can, store it, deliver it, and place it in the machine.

All of these are priced based on (perceived) value to a customer willing to purchase.

Whenever you’re making stuff, remember that it’s not about how much time you put in. It’s about how much value you’re providing.

Most people want to be most people. 

We say things like, “Everybody…” and then fill in the blank. Or, if we’re justifying, we say things like, “But everybody…” and fill in the blank. 

Being a most people provides safety. Protection in numbers. Comfort. No emotional risk. It makes a lot of sense. There’s no problem with being a most people. 

Unless you’re trying to do something.

If so, walk around with your head up.

If you can be the one with your head up for any length of time, this is what you’ll see:

• Most people don’t have their heads up. 
• Most people are hypnotized by their handheld machine.
• Most people don’t say “Hi.”

If you’re trying to do something, you probably don’t want to be a most people.

One way to start is to walk around with your head up.

Authenticity is for your marriage, parents, and closest friends.

Consistency is for your kids, job, and team.

Sure, there are opportunities for your authentic self to show up for your kids, colleagues, and those depending on you. And there is a wonderful congruency in the world when you’re able to align your authentic self with your consistent self.

But when the shit hits the fan, and you’re angry, tired, and drained, those depending on you need the consistent you, not the authentic you.

You always have the right to be the authentic you in any situation, but we also have the right to disagree with, dislike, and reject that version of you. You have the right to sink the ship with authenticity. We have the right to throw you overboard.

Authenticity is overrated in most situations that call for leadership.