johnmaconline

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.

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?