Book stacks

As part of our main floor renovation, I moved a bookshelf yesterday. On this shelf I found 4 books that I had put aside to read. On the corner of my desk at work I have another 5. On Audible I have 3 credits, and a large list of books on my wish list, but I am listening to a few books offered for free first, and re-listening to parts of one that I’m developing some lessons for, for my Inquiry Hub students.

I’ve always been a painfully slow reader and so audible has been a wonderful treat. Since I started listening to Audible in 2017, I’ve listened to the equivalent of 1 month and 12 days worth of audio, according to the app. I have 111 books in my collection of which there are only 8 I have yet to read. In that time, I’ve read about 6-7 paper books completely and another 4-6 partially.

My stacks are unlikely to be read… unless I add them to my digital audio stacks. It’s a bit of an awakening to realize this. I don’t read books anymore, I listen to them. For me physical book stacks are nothing more than an audio wish lists. But somehow, I like seeing the stacks, even if I never get to them.

Living in a dream

One of my favourite responses when someone asks me how I’m doing is “Living the dream!”

Yesterday I wrote about how there seems to be many people who think they ‘took the red pill‘ – revealing an unpleasant truth, but they have actually taken the blue pill – remaining in blissful ignorance.

Then this morning I was listening to a podcast and musician Baba Brinkman was quoted as saying, “What we call reality is just when we all agree about our hallucinations.”

This made me realize how much reality right now (for many if not all of us) is literally like being in a dream. Let me explain… In a dream, when something doesn’t fit with reality, it doesn’t always trigger a response.

Examples:

  • You are in a dream talking to someone and turn away, you turn back and now it’s a different person, but having the same conversation.
  • You are in a dream and in it you are in your own house, you change rooms and now you are in a room you’ve never seen before, or even outside.
  • You are in a dream and cars can fly, or you can fly.

In each of these cases, had it been reality, the experience would be jarring, but in a dream it just makes sense.

Well in today’s reality, I think many people are living in a dream. So, you give an anti-vaxer, or a flat earther some profound point that undermines their belief, and what happens? Nothing. It doesn’t interrupt the dream. It isn’t jarring, it doesn’t ‘wake them up’. Their reality includes points and counterpoints that do not trigger a wakeful response. So, the dream can keep going… uninterrupted.

“What we call reality is just when we all agree about our hallucinations.”

The problem today is that too many people are agreeing on hallucinations that just don’t fit our reality; hallucinations that undermine our future reality… and I’m not sure how we can wake them up?

Revisiting

I wrote this here on Daily-Ink a year ago:

— — —

“We are living in a red pill/blue pill moment, except people are colour blind and everyone thinks they are taking the red pill.”

— — —

The Terms Red Pill and Blue Pill refer to a choice between revealing an unpleasant truth, represented by the red pill, or to remain in blissful ignorance, represented by the blue pill. These terms are in reference to the 1999 film The Matrix. ~ Wikipedia

The insightful thing about this is that there are a lot of people who are (unknowingly) choosing the blue pill. This can be summarized by 2 TikToks I’ve seen recently:

1. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8DgTr6X/

2. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8DpNoJP/

While these are American references, (welcome to using social media in Canada, that’s what you get), there are many conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxers all over the world that think they’ve somehow taken the red pill, but are colourblind and have ignorantly taken the blue pill.

This is so much more dangerous that people who just choose the blue pill because that’s what they wanted. This is about people steadfastly believing that they have seen behind the (metaphorical) curtain. They “know” the unpleasant ‘Truth’.

Ignorance may be bliss but intentionally seeking out ignorance and claiming it is fact is outright dangerous.

Dangerous. Not mistaken, not misguided, not just ignorant. Dangerous.

Social media has amplified this danger. When Facebook posts with misinformation get shared 5 times as fast and as much as the information debunking the information; When QAnon can constantly change their stance(s) and people still believe, despite how wrong this ‘inside information’ has been; When crackpots that claim to be experts get more views than researchers who actually share the data… this is dangerous.

It’s one thing to choose the blue pill, it’s a whole other kind of scary thing when the blue pill is ignorantly chosen while the taker believes they are taking the red pill.

The stories we believe

We don’t perceive reality. We quite literally make it up. Our beliefs are fiction. It’s not an easy thing to accept. But this, unlike our beliefs, is true.

Religion, politics, relationships, even theories are all based on the knowledge that we’ve either had passed down to us or that we consumed. Relying on other people’s beliefs.

Then we make judgements and then we stand by them. Some are good, some are bad, all are judgements… not reality.

Think of the stories that have been passed down to us. From origin stories to cavemen to great floods. How many people believe that early humans lived at the same time as Jurassic dinosaurs? That’s just one story many people have wrong.

There are so many more. We should be more humble, and less susceptible to stories that don’t move us towards being more loving, caring, and kind people. We should worry less about tribal stories that keep us apart.

Why can’t the stories we choose to believe help us make the world we live in a better place to live? But then again, that’s the reason for religious wars… the strongly held belief in a better world. It’s an endless loop.

We need better, more believable stories, the current ones aren’t working.

Moving forward

Yesterday was a crazy day. I have days sometimes where I set out with a plan and nothing happens as it should. I had no meetings planned until 3:30pm and I was going to get stuff done! Then I didn’t even get 3 minutes in my office at any time before 11:30am. My to do list got bigger, my stuff accomplished didn’t. It’s hard to move forward when when your day takes you a few steps back.

However, before school weight club students did come in and start their day with a workout. And some students asked if I’d do my 8-minute leg workout with them, that I showed them 2 weeks ago. And at lunch I was invited to join a group of students organizing the Remembrance Day assembly and found between 15 and 20 students eager to be involved. One of our Grade 12’s organized the meeting, invited anyone interested via our school-wide Teams channel, and took the lead in the meeting, ensuring everyone there had a role. And I was asked by other students about a budget for Halloween, as they plan events for the afternoon off for activities. An afternoon off that they negotiated with the teachers.

I love seeing students take ownership of the events we run at Inquiry Hub. They are all wearing masks, and being respectful of safety protocols. They are also moving forward with their lives and engaging in, and leading activities.

The future is on the blockchain

I know that there is a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) about the future of cryptocurrencies, but the reality is that the future will be recorded on blockchains.

Here are 3 ways that transactions will be tracked ‘on chain’:

1. Smart contracts.

When you make large purchases like a house, that includes a loan, the paperwork needs to be handled by lawyers or a notary, because the handing over of debt has to handled correctly or the transaction could leave both the seller and new owner holding the same debt at the same time, or the debt not being owned by either. Smart contracts recorded on the blockchain eliminate this by having the necessary transactions happen simultaneously only after all parties agree.

2. Decentralized finance.

If you have collateral for a loan, you won’t need a bank to borrow. These loans will provide opportunities for people who tend to only be able to access high interest loans to find more appropriate financing. And, the door will be open for loans slightly larger than micro loans, in many countries where this is currently challenging. When finance becomes decentralized regulations become a challenge, and the limits of borders and centralized control break down. There will be a Robin Hood effect where people with small amounts of equity can be both lenders and borrowers, taking the the decision-making and profit-making out of the exclusive hands of the rich.

3. Artists profit.

NFT’s – Non Fungible Tokens are baffling to many people and there are a lot of uses cases that seem silly. But usually when an artist sells a piece of work, they don’t get any value in the resale. NFT’s allow an artist to get a percentage of resale value. This is a game changer for creative people and NFT’s will be a way to track both digital and physical works of art in the future.

There are many other reasons to record transactions on a blockchain, but I think these three uses will be paramount.

Do it for 2 minutes

Taking my own advice here. I’ve been staring at the blank page for nearly 20 minutes with nothing to write. But I just gave a friend who is struggling to exercise regularly some advice. I said do 2 minutes. That’s it. Do a 2 minute workout, but do it. In reality, you’ll do a bit more, but if it’s just 2 minutes, it still keeps the streak going.

Too many people talk themselves out of workouts, or journaling, or reading, or eating healthy… because it’s too much work. It takes too much time. Everyone has two minutes to spare. Everyone has 5 minutes to spare. Everyone can build a habit if the habit starts at 2 minutes.

I’ve already written for more than 2 minutes, now that I’ve actually started. Procrastination isn’t just about putting something off, it’s about stealing time from you, time that could be productive enough to complete the task and still have what would have been more procrastination time left over.

It can start with just 2 minutes.

Helping students with job hunting

There’s a lesson I do yearly with incoming grade 9’s when they are working on resumes. I have them fill out a restaurant chain’s application form, and then we discuss what is important to share on application forms and resumes, then they get into threes and do mock interviews, with an interviewer, interviewee, and note-taking observer.

I share my experience as a busy Starbucks manager in a downtown store that received 90-110 applications a week, explaining how I didn’t have time to give applications 1 minute each, because just that first once-over would take me 90 minutes plus… so I’d look at just one question on the application to narrow the 90+ applications down to less than 12 that I looked at more closely. I make a big deal out of bad applications going into my ‘circular filing cabinet’.

I talk to them about how to emphasize strengths on a resume, but be careful not to exaggerate things you can’t really do. Then I share how I got a reference to help me get a job by emphasizing a strength, and I also share an embarrassing story of how I got fired because I exaggerated my abilities on an ordering system in a restaurant.

One interesting thing that happened when I was talking about references this year, was that after sharing a slide saying ‘Your references will be checked’, I shared this slide and talked about how these days potential employers will Google you.

A student who was very active in a local political campaign, in our recent election, asked if his political posts shared on social media could be an issue? I paused and had to say that personally, I like to see students involved in politics at a young age, because it shows that the student cares about the future, and their community, and is willing to volunteer time… However, I felt compelled to add that some people very well might see it as a problem if they disagree with your views. I wouldn’t have shared this a few years ago, but now it is something that I think could affect someone getting an interview. I also added that if a person who is going to be your boss holds your politics against you, they probably aren’t someone you want to work for anyway.

I enjoy doing this lesson with the new Grade 9’s. They get to know me a bit better. They get to laugh at my embarrassing story about getting fired, and the mock interviews prepare many of them for that first job interview that they will soon be doing. Because in the end, the application form and resume only get you in the door, and then the interview is what gets you the job.

Beyond just keeping the streaks alive

One of the most influential books that I’ve read in a while is Atomic Habits by James Clear. I was already on my fitness path when I started listening to it, and ideas in this book cemented the patterns I needed to stick with. I’ve shared some tips before, and I’ll re-share them here after a few thoughts.

Usually I struggle during my busiest times. That’s when there is always an excuse not to work out or spend time writing, etc. However, recently I’ve struggled when I’ve had more time. It’s weird, when I’m busy, I make time… when I have time, I take too much time and wallow a bit. This has been hard with my workouts. I take my time between sets. I don’t push myself as hard as I should. I spend too much time on my phone and have to rush my workout. It seems that I’ve gotten into a rut where the workout doesn’t give me the satisfaction I usually get.

Part of the struggle is that when I push myself, I seem to stay sore for too long and my back tightens up. So, instead of going at 80%, and spending more time stretching, I just go at 60% and waste a lot of time. This isn’t as bad as not working out. And that’s an important point. I’m keeping my streaks going. Besides one ‘one dot day‘, I’ve been able to maintain an amazing record of workouts, I’m on track to meet my archery goal of 100 days of shooting this year. With a few lapses, I’ve almost done meditation every day this year, And I have a perfect record for writing every day. I’m keeping my streaks alive.

The part I’m struggling with now is that while I’m fitter than I was at 34, 20 years ago, I’m feeling like I need to inject something different into my routine. It has been a couple months now of going through the motions and while that’s better than not exercising, it’s also not very rewarding. I think I really need to re-evaluate what my targets are for 2022, knowing that I’m going to stick to my current targets until the calendar year is over. I need to think about what my fitness goals are going to be? I need to increase my meditation and do some in silent sessions rather than just guided ones, because I feel that I’m not getting a lot out of the 10 minutes that I try to meditate each day… and yes, I know meditation is about the process and the trying, but I’ve been doing this for a few years now and my monkey brain still treats each session like a contest to see how many things I can think about while trying not to think about so many things.

I know I’m always hard on myself. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. But right now it’s not enough to just keep the streaks going. I feel I need to do more. I need to inject a little enthusiasm into what I’m trying to achieve, and have some (realistic) targets to aim for. Keeping the streaks alive is extremely important, but the streak itself can’t be the reason I’m doing things. I can be both happy about my consistency, and wanting to focus more on my progress, and I guess that’s exactly where I am right now.

________

My tips I shared a while back:

1. A year-long calendar poster. You get to see at-a-glance how you are doing and you can motivate yourself to meet your goals at the end of the week if you are not on target.

2. The best time to start a new streak is RIGHT NOW. I mentioned this in the video, don’t wallow in disappointment. There are only 3 weeks (starred) in the chart below that show weeks that I didn’t get at least 4 workouts in. I didn’t let those weeks define me.

3. Reduce friction. Here are 3 examples:

  • My stickers and sticker chart are right next to my treadmill. I make it easy to track and see this.
  • I have a pair of runners and a shoe horn in my exercise room. I never have to look for my shoes, and I don’t need to tie them, the shoehorn allows me to slide my feet in while still being tight enough to run in. Also, my headphones, and all equipment are where I need them… Always ready, and I never need to search for them.
  • Don’t exercise at your maximum every day. Some days I push really hard, and some days I go at 75%. A day when you are feeling low, give yourself an effort break, but don’t give yourself a break from actually doing exercise. If you end up doing 3 workouts at a lower effort, you’ll have the drive to push when you feel up to it. Make the friction about how hard you work out, rather than if you are going to work out or not.

4. Share your goals with others. You are more likely to hold yourself accountable if you have made your goals public. That’s partly why I did my original post in January, and promised in that post that I would do this update.

5. Be vigilant at your busiest times. It is really easy to say, “September is too crazy”, or “I’ll get started as soon as things calm down.” There will always be an upcoming busy time to deal with. Things won’t calm down (sorry, but you know this is true). If you want this to work, make it work when you are busiest and the rest of the year will be easy.

Mixed tapes

A couple days ago I shared how we had to wait for songs to come on the radio to record them. Today this 7 year old memory came up on Facebook:

Oh, the hours put into making the perfect mix. The frustration of making a great mix, but realizing too late that one song should have been left off. The too long gaps between songs, which were actually better than the too short gaps with a song getting truncated (which at least happened less frequently, unless you were recording from the radio and had to cut off when the DJ started talking).

The challenge of getting the volume of songs consistent. The stretching of songs near the start and end of the tape. The tangles, pulled out and then retracted with a pencil.

But above all, the time it took to make a good mixed tape… that’s a thing of the past that carries a lot of nostalgia, and would be hard to meaningfully share with someone who never had to do it.