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If not me, who’s this for?
In 2010 I watched a film and hated it. Alice in Wonderland the remake with Johnny Depp. Detested the movie, but sat through it out of respect for the source material and cast. Nearly ten years later I watched it again and found it incredibly moving and thoughtful. I loved it. What changed? Obviously not…
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Education systems could build confidence
At the moment education isn’t built for growing competence nor confidence. It’s built for standardisation. Standard scores, standard tests, standard citizens. This isn’t a flaw, it’s a feature. The way the system is built, like how the petrol system optimises for profit by using extraction. The education system optimises for stability by using standardisation. It…
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Education doesn’t educate, it standardises
The education system seemed like a mystery to me. It frustrated me to no end because people wouldn’t (later I learned they couldn’t – big difference) give me a straight answer. Nobody really grasped it. The stories they told me held no internal coherence, now a decade later I see that I was in fact…
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Community is just relationships
If you’re building a community, there’s a lot of pitfalls and traps easy to slip into. If you want to skip them and create a genuinely powerful community, there’s only one key thing to optimise for first. The way people feel about one another, the trust they have for one another, that’s all a community…
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Commit to self knowledge
The rewards of this commitment outweigh every other. But self knowledge is not found in isolation. To see yourself, look into the eyes of others. Find stillness and discomfort. Enquire about the nature of your reality, ask yourself why things are the way they are. Ask yourself for who they are the way they are.…
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Most people will use AI terribly
I had a horrifying conversation with someone once. They said their writing had declined in quality since using AI. This made me question deeply the nature of our relationship with tools to improve our life and make things more convenient. The calculator means I don’t have to use pen and paper, nor even understand or…
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Let go to grow
Builders want to get ahead in life, but naturally as humans we also want to belong. In order to get ahead, you have to let go of your desire to belong. Something’s got to drive you forward. I’ve heard it said you need a mongrel in you. In order to move forward, I had to…
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Forget goals, set fears
As someone young, hungry and clueless, I always knew I was missing something. A big clue fell right into place when I watched Tim Ferris’ Ted talk on setting fears. Applying the lessons in this video shifted how I see consequences, it taught me to look my worst fears right in the eye and step…
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We practice optimism
Optimism versus pessimism. Both have utility, but which leads a more fulfilling life? As far as targets to optimise for in life, fulfilment seems at least as good as any. I’d rather be an incorrect optimist than a correct pessimist. Because I can hold ultimate optimism in one hand, and grim acceptance of reality in…
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Hold paradox
Both can be true. Both are true. Both can exist. Co-existence of seemingly competing ideas allows mental flexibility. I can allow contradictions to breathe. I embrace paradox.