The urge to quit

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The value of writing every day is simple… I actually write every day. Skip today, well then skipping tomorrow is that much easier. Skip a couple days and suddenly a week is easy to miss… and then soon enough I’m not writing regularly. And then the love of writing and the act of writing get a divorce. Soon enough phrases like, ‘I used to write regularly’ become part of future conversations.

So I keep writing. But it isn’t easy. Even if I’m the only one reading this, I’m still a critic. ‘Am I being thoughtful or am I whining?’… ‘Poor Dave, writing is hard, isn’t it?’ Quite frankly, sometimes it is.

Sometimes life can be boring. Sometimes the things I want to write about can’t be shared publicly. Sometimes the creative juices just don’t flow. And sometimes I have to fight the urge to quit. I question how else I can push myself to write every day? I question if I should put this blog on hold until I retire?

The urge to stop is winning right now, but I know I have to fight it.

“Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”

~Steven Pressfield, Do the Work

I’m resisting the resistance. I’m doing the work.

Actually, you’re doing great!

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I came across this quote, but I’m struggling to find the original source.

Working out will make you feel weak, when it’s actually making you stronger.
Learning new things will make you feel dumb, when it’s actually making you smarter.
Investing in yourself will make you feel broke, when it’s actually making you rich.
Facing your fears will make you feel terrified, when it’s actually making you braver.
Never hold yourself back.
Strive to be better tomorrow than you were today.
Thank yourself later.

If you want to be hard on yourself, do so for not trying when it’s hard. Be tough on yourself when procrastination wins and you skip an attempt to improve. But no matter how small the gains may appear, no matter how minimal your attempt to be better seems successful, that is the journey you want to be on.

James Clear said,

Goals are for people who care about winning once.
Systems are for people who care about winning repeatedly.

You don’t set the right systems in place when you are looking for instant gratification or results. You show up… Every. Single. Day… And you take solace in knowing that what you do today will pay dividends for days, months, and years ahead. Understanding this helps to relieve the stress of not seeing long term positive results, by trusting in the seemingly insignificant improvements today will bring.

Today is fleeting, there are many tomorrows, many days that future you will appreciate the efforts you put in today. The original quote above ended with, “Strive to be better tomorrow than you were today. Thank yourself later.” I think that I would add, ‘Also remember to thank yourself today… you’re doing great!’

Is this real?

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There is a commonality between hearing the question, “Is this spam?” regarding an email, and hearing the question, “Is this real” regarding a video that might be staged, enhanced with AI, or even intentionally spreading lies.

In an age of unlimited information a new kind of skepticism is needed. What’s the source? Does the source have a slant, a bias, or an agenda? Is this actually from the source it claims? (Just yesterday a fake article that was sent to me had a Toronto Star subscription banner access the top of the web page, to make it seem like it was from this newspaper, but the URL was totally different.)

You would think that in a curated social media world you would be able to discern fact from fiction, real from fake. But more than ever we need to be sceptical about what we see and hear. In a world of abundant information our need to question what we believe to be true is more important than ever before. I find myself Googling quotes to see if they match other sources, and questioning headlines that seem even subtly surprising. Is this true? Is the article real? Or is it an elaborate ploy to pitch a product or simply to garnish shares and likes? Is the title of the article misleading? Do I click on that link to learn more?

Is it real? I never used to ask this question. A news headline used to mean that I was getting curated information from a reliable journalist who attempted to be impartial. Now even mainstream media seems increasingly biased and agenda driven. Knowing the source means understanding the bias more than the reliability of the information. And so my BS detector is always on… and even then I find myself being fooled until I see a product placement or a clear agenda being pushed. Media consumption now requires a good dose of scrutiny and skepticism… and with AI being more and more convincing, the level of scrutiny will need to increase.

Access to abundant information doesn’t make us smarter. Instead, the constant stream of data requires discernment and thoughtful consideration. Reliability is no long assumed, and the question, ‘is this real?’, is a necessary part of information consumption. Skepticism has become the most important part of media literacy, and curating trusted sources of good information has became a skill not easily duplicated or taught.

It’s easier to accept information than it is to question it… especially when that information fits my model of the world. And the internet (and our ‘trusted’ social media platforms) are filled with information that fits my world view. In fact, that biased world view I have is further fed to me by an algorithm that learns what I like. This only makes it harder to determine what is real and what isn’t.

Public spaces

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How would you reimagine building a public space for the future? How can parks not just be green outdoor spaces but gathering spaces? How can a library be about more than a collection of books? How can we make our cities more walkable? How can public schools be more innovative, less industrial?

I think back to my holiday in Barcelona, Spain, and remember how outdoor spaces felt like an extension to our AirBNB. The cafes, wide sidewalks, and public squares felt like a continuation of the living room.

As we design a future infused with AI technologies, how are we thinking about the livability of our cities and neighbourhoods? How are we thinking about public, social spaces? Our focus seems to be on technology, and how it will make work and life easier… wouldn’t that present us with an opportunity for more free time? More opportunities to enjoy our communities? How can we improve our public spaces so that we enjoy that ‘extra’ time in our communities?

How would you improve our public spaces?

Trade Neighbours

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As we watch a trade war unfold with the USA imposing tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China, the people that will struggle the most are those that can least afford it. But make no mistake, the cost of living is going up for everyone. This will anger people, and it’s already showing up.

One of my favourite sports stories comes from a Toronto Maple Leaf versus the Nashville Predators hockey game back in November 2014. During the American National Anthem the sound system faltered and the Canadian fans finished singing the US anthem. Slightly over a decade later, I just saw a video clip from tonight’s game, where the Vancouver Canucks fans boo’d during the US anthem (they did cheer for the singer when the anthem was done).

I’m not an economist, and while I know we are going to see a hike in prices, I really don’t know what these US tariffs are going to mean long term? I don’t know how countries will retaliate? I don’t know what can get us back to trade normalcy?

But I want to live in a country where we have mutual respect for our (cooperative) neighbours. I want to be in a country where we finish an anthem of our neighbours rather than boo it. And I want to believe that we can find a way back there. I’m just not convinced the politicians in power will get us there any time soon.

For now the metaphorical gloves have come off, and petty fights have begun. Sure it’s just the booing of a national anthem right now, but that’s likely just the start of the anger, hate, and even vitriol to come. I just hope that the leaders taking us down this route will remember what it means to be good neighbours, and some time soon we’ll get back to being fans of each other… Neighbours in geography, geopolitics, friendly sports competition, and yes, even trade.

Habits and motivation

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I’ve got my weight vest on. However, I don’t want to get on the treadmill, which is why I’m wearing the vest. I want to crawl under my blankets and not think about having to shovel the driveway later.

But yesterday was a rest day and I refuse to be someone who misses two days in a row. My habit of regular exercise is part of my identity. Am I motivated right now? Hell no! Am I going to work out immediately after writing this? Absolutely!

Make your habits about who you are and not what you do… and you don’t need motivation… you just get it done.

Your ‘B’ Game

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You can’t always bring your A game to everything. This is something we try to teach kids with a perfectionist streak. We run scrum projects where we give a clear ‘definition of done’. We encourage them to choose where best to focus their perfectionism, because trying to be perfect everywhere is debilitating, and students tend to get overwhelmed and not get everything done.

This is an aspect of the gifted student profile that can be both a superpower and also the Kryptonite that weakens the student. Perfectionism can be the thing that makes a student produce exceptional work, and it can be the reason they give up, or end up handing something in late, because while the project or assignment is good (even very good), it isn’t meeting a high or previous standard already achieved and so it’s just not good enough to complete, or sometimes even to try.

And so sometimes you need to teach kids to bring their ‘B’ game. Show us what you’ve got right now, because it’s probably good enough. Let’s see it? Great, you’ve met the outcomes, let’s move on. No, it’s not your best work, yes, if you put more hours into it, it could get a higher mark. If you want to improve it later… and if you have time… then go ahead, but why don’t we just focus on the next assignment now, and not fall behind again.

It sounds like easy advice to give, but to a perfectionist kid, this is hard work. What’s even harder though is expecting that you can bring your ‘A’ game to everything you do. Because this isn’t just debilitating as a student, it’s hard as an adult too.

When you’ve got more tasks on your ‘to do’ list than you can achieve; when email seems insurmountable; when meetings fill your schedule; and when getting one task done is taking time away from two or more other tasks, well then bringing your ‘A’ game is impossible. Sometimes you have to just embrace you ‘B’ game and give everything you do just enough to get it done… and save your ‘A’ game only for things that really matter.

Speed and collar colour

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Two things are happening simultaneously.

First, the advancements we see in AI are moving at an exponential rate. Humans don’t really understand how to look at exponential growth because everything in front of them moves faster than what they’ve already experienced.

How many years did it take from the time light bulbs were invented until they were in most houses? I don’t know, but it took a long while. Chat GPT was used by over 100 million people in less than 2 months. And the ability of tools like this are increasing in ability exponentially as well. It’s like we’ve gone warp speed from tungsten and incandescent lights to LED’s in a matter of months rather than years and years.

The other thing happening right now is that for the first time at scale, it’s white collar, not blue collar jobs that are being threatened. Accountants, writers, analysts, coders, are all looking over their shoulder wondering when AI will make most of their jobs redundant. Meanwhile, we are many years away from a robot trying to figure out and repair a bathroom or ceiling leak. Sure, there will be some new tools to help, but I don’t think a plumbing home repair person is something AI is threatening to replace any time soon.

These two things happening so quickly are going to change the future value in careers. Whole sectors will be reinvented. New sectors will emerge. But where does that leave the 20-year accountant in a large firm that finds it can cut staffing by 2/3rds? What careers are not going to be worth going to university for 4+ years for? The safest jobs right now are the trades, and while they too will be challenged as we get AI into autonomous humanoid robots, the immediate threat seen in white collar jobs are not the same for blue collar professions (as opposed to blue collar factory workers, who are equally threatened by exponential changes).

These changes are single-digit years as opposed to decades away… and I’m not sure we are ready to handle the speed at which these changes are coming?

Chess puzzles

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A few birthdays ago my youngest got me a Chess.com membership for my birthday. I’ve kept it up although I don’t play a lot of full games. I do have a student that challenges me occasionally, and he’s up 11 games to 10 against me. But mostly I do puzzles.

Chess is an amazing game of strategy and I’m blown away when I watch masters play. I can’t see 3 moves ahead much less 8, 10, or 14. For me, even knowing puzzles can usually be solved in 3 or 4 moves, I often end up making an error along the way.

I often have to click the ‘Analysis’ button, after solving a puzzle with an error along the way, to figure out why my error would not have worked. Even when I do get all the moves right, it doesn’t mean I saw the moves in advance. I’ll often try a move that to me makes the most sense, but not see the full solution yet.

But I do love the challenge, and I like that I can try a puzzle and I’m usually at the solution in less than 2 minutes. That’s more fun than a game that spans days, especially when I’m not making moves during the work day… so puzzles are my thing. I’m not necessarily good at them, but I’m slowly getting better.