Backcountry trips reduce our experience very clearly– food, water, shelter… simple comforts and simple discomforts. We prepare for them accordingly when we pack our bags. Notably, we tend to hedge against what’s previously caught us unprepared by packing extra for it.
Look at 10 people’s packing lists and you’ll see 10 variations– one person might pack a solar panel & battery packs for electronic gadgets, while another decides to power off the technology but might carry extra food & water, or tools, or even defensive weapons. If we’re not careful, we can overpack and carry the weight of things we don’t need. This can slow us down and wear us out in times when we could otherwise be moving in flow.
The same is true for our everyday life: As we come to understand ourselves & our experience better, we’re able to reduce, lighten. In surrender, we can leave the heavy stuff at home.
We can have more compassion for ourselves and others when we remember this. Our trajectories are determined more by direction than by speed. Sometimes we’ll stumble. The race is long.
Like a math equation, the future we want or goals we’re seeking to achieve might come from first being as clear as possible about we’re working with on one side of the equation, or the other. For me, looking through the lens of math logic has a way of challenging some (but not all) aspects of the “fake it ’til you make it” concept while also at least slightly supporting the idea to “dress for the job you want.” By being as clear as possible about who we are, what our values, behaviors, and capabilities are, we can better understand what’s possible within a given hypothetical future equation.
We are the variables in our own equations– the way we interact with other people or circumstances will more or less land within a finite outcome. We can better predict the outcome on the right side of the equation when the values & operation on the left side of the equation solve. Recognizing our capabilities (value) on the left side is essential to understanding what’s possible on the right side.
“A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process.”
In manufacturing, we test out new ideas with a First Article before going into production. The FA has a low production cost, low finish value (think spray paint) and might go through a number of design revisions before the client ultimately greenlights the concept to go into full scale production.
This year has been full of design challenges; not so much in terms of hard product but in terms of lifestyle. I’m hardly alone to acknowledge we’re awash in uncertainty, confusion, disorientation… heartbreak. Rigidity doesn’t serve us in times of change. We innovate, or die– accept the conditions of our circumstance, or take action.
Faced with high stakes decision making can be paralytic– especially when we feel the need to engage on multiple fronts at the same time.
What if we face these big decisions through a low-stakes lens? In the spirit of Start Now, let’s consider the issue at hand by starting with a single, low cost step into the arena. Build a prototype even if it’s just duct tape and spray paint. Want to start a retail store in the mountains? Open a pop up shop in the corner of a friend’s store. Dreaming of a permanent move to a new location? Spend some time there now and see if you can fulfill your obligations. Build a prototype.
“The fears we don’t face become our limitations” — Zig Ziglar
When we talk about “pushing comfort zones” in the arenas of outdoor sports, and child rearing, or landing that dream job– we often use aspirational language like “get in the zone,” “create momentum,” or “drive.”
Zig Ziglar’s perspective recognizes two sides of fear-facing; not just the “life hacking performance ninja” potential for blue sky days, but also the danger of not facing that fear– the creeping limitation of turning the other way, or building a protective wall. In a world with change as an only constant, our forward movement comes to an end when we retract, run, or wall up. The wall we build becomes our prison, our limitation, unless we poke our nose over the top and see whats on the other side.
A post is making its way around social media circles and it caught my interest– What would your occupation be if you had followed your childhood dreams?
This post resonates and provokes engagement & conversation, but it doesn’t inherently touch on wisdom I believe to be true– start now.
Whatever you want to do, it benefits you to start now. Have a bright idea to do a thing? Do it today no matter what your resources are. You have more to gain, and less to risk today than you will when you’re “ready.” Start now.
Is it a business? The good idea you have now is subject to change with market preferences– and the competition beating you to the punch. You are limited only by the literal definition by which you decide you’re able to gain the resources you require to make it happen. Start now.
Is it a good idea for your community? Get in the arena now while others are weighing the options. Who dares, wins. The difference you make in minutes today means a better quality of life for those affected by your program. Ship it. Do it. Produce good work, change the culture and start now.
Embrace certain capitalistic truths– an entrepreneur is more or less defined as a person who sees opportunity with resources not currently possessed– believe this, know it’s been done before, and use this to your advantage to affect the change you want to see. Start now.
I’ve been changing the way I use social media and I hope it’s a better alternative to deleting it entirely.
this is as clean as it gets
Remember when we thought killing your TV was the solve to many of life’s problems? That might be an overstatement, but back in those days I think I liked to overstate a lot of things so why not. And back in those days, it was easy to just get rid of the TV altogether– so I didn’t have one for 15 years or so. But I did have internet access and was able to seek out news, information, and connection more or less whenever I wanted it. In time my maturity caught up with my younger absolutist values of “TV is bad” and we’d watch the occasional movie on the laptop’s DVD drive. (I guess laptops don’t have those anymore?)
Forward to today, we’re on social media and I think we can pretty much all admit it’s got some evils for all the reasons. But it’s also got some upshots, right? You’ve prolly watched the documentary about it, as I did, and it seems a good time to talk about how we use it. I just don’t wanna throw it out the window altogether… at least not yet. I envy my friends who never really got into it hook, line, and sinker and I’m borrowing some of their methodology for using it, now.
What I’ve done
A lotta this stuff might be common knowledge, but seems worth repeating even if only to myself. Some of it seems to be working at least part of the time. soo… — turn off all notifications that make my phone buzz or blink or whatever. — set a timer for limiting use. — join groups I actually care about. In my case that’s scratched my oh-so-pragmatic itch for information gathering and stoke about things like Airstreams and bikes and gardening and now even Instant Pots. Oye. — and… seeking MORE SPACE for the people I really want to expand and deepen relationships with by way of deleting lots and LOTS of my friends. I have to take a hard look at admit I only have so much time to devote– only so much bandwidth so to speak– to truly grow meaningful relationships with some certain number of my friends. By unfriending those folks I don’t interact with (virtually or IRL) I gain space to interact with those who I really want to connect with.
Realizing we have lots of different kinds of friends, I decided for a goal to pare down to about 300, for now, or less. I’m still working on it.
How I’ve unfriended a ton of people
Again, so pragmatic… I started unfriending people on their birthday. *wince* I started about 6-8 months ago. I’d get the notification… and if I had no idea who some of them were, or how / when / if we’d met, or even connected virtually. So I figured they’re having a good day anyhow and wished them farewell in my mind. Then, I started unfriending more and more people. I explicitly haven’t unfriended Some really cool people who I liked a lot, virtually, but in the sake of bandwidth to rap with my homies… they had to go, too. A lot of these people are present on the forums I mentioned (say, bicycles for example) and I still get to see their adventures when I choose to tune into that channel, so to speak. It’s kinda great, really.
Today, I still love seeing pictures of awesome adventures, cute kids, dogs, gardens, etc… I love learning and growing and hold hope we can continue to find the best ways to use our technology for good… keep on keepin’ on
We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Thomas Mountain seen from Sunset Trail, Cowbell Alley, Idyllwild Calif.
Imagine if we’re heading toward a time when tomorrow is better than yesterday?
It sounds cool right?
The past 4 months have been topsy-turvy– but everywhere you look you’ll see progress, I think, if you look for it.
I was recently interviewed by a young guy who’s doing academic research on the topic of homeschooling, particularly what we can learn from it during the pandemic. The questions he asked me and the thoughts they provoked pretty much made my day.
And, important background: The brave new world of coparenting my children currently involves home schooling. Not distance-learning per se; but home schooling.
The Goal (okay, my goal) — most concisely, I want to raise children who can solve interesting problems as adults.
I could blather & pontificate on what it means to solve interesting problems but I’ll save that for another post or the ears a random stranger someday.
“Dad, did you know the school system was pretty much designed to train people to work in factories during the Industrial Revolution?” — boy #001, age 10 “I sorta did know this, yes…. where did you hear about it?” “I saw it on a YouTube channel I follow about education.”
“Dad, did you know that frequent small breaks are important and can help you learn more? “Well that makes sense to me… where did you hear about that?” “I heard it on the Wow in the World podcast.“
The promise of a more comprehensive, open-ended curriculum for these boys sounds very appealing to me.
Satisfy curiosities.
Indulge passions.
Ask hard questions.
Challenges
Home schooling is hard, so far as I can tell. I super sucked at home schooling this last week, and hell it feels like that’s all I did for the week. Not much progress on the work front. I’m hitting a steep learning curve, it seems.
Money– the work front is the elephant in the living room. How can we work less?
I’m not out of the woods on this topic, yet, but I’m encouraged through frugality, practicality, and full application of my own skill set both at work, and at home.
— interestingly, the lifestyle changes we have been making are coincidentally-or-not more responsible environmental decisions, too. So that’s a good indicator, too, I hope.
Socialization– I do feel the supposed problem of “socialization” is to home schooling what “protein” is to people who don’t eat animals– it’s just not really an issue if you’re actually bought in to the program. It’s overstated. That said, it’s perhaps a little more challenging with Covid, but I have a lot of faith in pods and connectivity. I also think that where there’s passions there’s socializing; kinda like those of us who ride bikes all know each other, or really anybody with fire in the belly about just about anything has a way of finding friends who are into these things, too.
— Thanks to my friend Jenn for this add on:
it’s like music, not like traveling:
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” — Paul Valery
There’s often more possibility in a moment than we realize– Realize: “cause (something desired or anticipated) to happen.” Or, to make real.
Many of us are imagining our secret dreams right now.
I think a lot of them are in alignment.
More alignment means more possibility, maybe that’s a big deal.
Realizing our secret dreams requires gaining some clarity about what’s possible.
What if anything’s possible?
Years ago, I chased a secret dream and found alignment with others in the Idyllwild community of trailbuilders, riders, small business owners, and my family. We started the bike shop, Hub Cyclery, and enjoyed 6 years of satisfying business. It was a heckuva lot of fun. I’ve since chased other secret dreams; they’ve always had this alignment theme.
Where are our alignments now? From here, what’s possible?
What’s the best that can happen?
“The best way to tell your story is to live a new story.”
— something I heard on Seth Godin’s podcast, Akimbo
“This might be the medicine the world needs.”
— a friend
Today felt less frantic. At least in the space between my ears, anyway.
“Omg. Peter is live streaming rn”
— Meg’s text to me. I missed some of his stream but I was able to go back and play it.
The highlights of my day were Instagram live streams– first of @peterpaints solo jam session in his living room; a perfect accompaniment to carpentering this afternoon under the snow/rain of our beautiful mountain.
And this evening– with @illbeatsradio out in Moab, UT to reminded us we’re born to boogie… and lastly Leslie @lavender.soul.studio with the calming & healing vibrations of her bowls.
Ordinary Not Average 