Give not get
April 8, 2026
You go there to give.
Your work is a place you go to give, not get.
A relationship is a place you go to give, not get.
The world is a place you go to give, not get.
This simple shift changes it all
Post Category:
Work that matters
Wisdom of magazines
April 6, 2026
Why does reading an article in a magazine feel better?
I think it’s because of finality. A magazine article says “here, someone wrote this, we printed it, stapled it together and now you’re holding it- you should read it”
A magazine is physical artifact that demands to be taken seriously.
I enjoy it more, it feels better and I absorb the ideas more.
Why?
Well I think we can just steal the finality in what we do.
“Here, this is what I made. I put it together like this (not like this) and it should be consumed like this”
Grumpy service people
April 3, 2026
They say grumpy service-people are only that way because they’ve been burned in the past. They’ve had to deal with lots of difficult people, so they front foot it, I guess, and are mean first.
This is backwards.
I’d rather be nice to mean people than be mean to nice people.
The magic moments
April 1, 2026
It’s important to catch them…
The magic moments.
We spend so much time working, aspiring and perspiring toward outcomes. When the awesome moments happen it’s so easy to move on quickly.
I have a dated database in Notion called “Magic Moments”.
When a cool little thing happens, I put it in there- the date is already added.
It’s the best thing in the world to read back over these and be flooded by all the good:
-The stranger who smiled at me on the bus
-The unexpected sunset view from the hotel window
-That apple that was so great and crunchy.
They come and go so quickly you might miss them. Get in the habit of recording them, you won’t regret it.
Good enough
March 30, 2026
It’s a difficult one, isn’t? On the one hand you want to put out your best work, always.
On the other hand, perfection is the enemy of execution.
When do you say something is “good enough” and when do aim for a higher standard?
What if “good enough” actually was the best standard? If perfection delays or destroys progress, it is really something to strive for?
“Good enough” is the best because it got made. It started the conversation. It got the show on the road.
There’d be no show without “good enough”.
Celebrate your “good enough”.
And it gives you plenty in the tank for the next one.
Don’t relinquish your control.
March 27, 2026
We don’t have control of everything… but we do have control of a lot.
We get to choose what we bring to an interaction or situation. Of course we can’t control what happens there, but we can choose our lens.
And that counts for a lot.
Who do you want to be at work today? How do you want the people you meet with today to feel? How much fun do you want to bring to your day today?
We can’t choose it all, but we can choose the stuff that matters.
Don’t relinquish your control.
The goal and the prize (they’re different)
March 21, 2026
It’s not what you get it’s who you become.
It’s nearing the end of March which means we’re a good chunk through the year now. That also means it’s a good time to re-look at those goals you set over new years.
Goals can get us trapped in the idea that we have to ‘get’ a ‘thing’.
Get a deadline, a certain amount of money or some status symbol…
What I’m being reminded of this time around is that the ‘thing’ you get in pursuit isn’t even the real prize.
What really matters is who you become.
You don’t really want to win the Oscar- you want to become the type of actor who could win the Oscar.
You don’t want to run the marathon, but become the person that can.
The accolade or the toy isn’t the thing, but who you become is.
Set the goal, sure. But know the real prize.
The working out is in the doing.
March 15, 2026
One of my favourite flavours of procrastination is planning. There’s an action I know I need to take and when I finally get a moment to take the action, I spend the whole time planning.
Now, this isn’t always a bad thing. The whole “spend time sharpening the axe” thing is true and valid.
But if you find yourself never cutting any trees down you might have yourself a problem.
If we get trapped in the planning phase and find ourselves stuck “working things out” it’s probably time to just jump in and do it.
Just imagine yourself at a gym. You don’t have to work anything out to work out.
The working out is in the doing.
It’s time to stop planning, I think.
How you do anything is how you do everything
March 13, 2026
If you just throw your clothes on the floor or leave your dishes in the sink that extra night, what is that communicating to yourself?
It’s saying “this doesn’t really matter.”
And in some ways maybe it doesn’t matter. A little mess here, forgetting about something there…
But what happens when we want to do an outstanding job at something?
We can’t just ‘turn on’ our best work. If you are mostly throwing things aside and forgetting about the details, do you really think you’re suddenly going to be impeccable?
If you want to be outstanding, you have to be outstanding.
How do you do your dishes to your best standard? What is it like to take world class care of your things?
If you want to be outstanding, you have to be outstanding.
Space between
March 10, 2026
“I believe if there’s any kind of God, it wouldn’t be in any of us. Not you, or me…but just this little space in between,”
–Céline, Before Sunrise
