You might have a list of them. In fact, many of us do, and consult it quite often. The list is defective for a number of reasons:
- It’s not accurate. There are things that aren’t right in our world that don’t appear on the list. Our personal list tends to be organized around things that are vivid, personal and apparently urgent, as opposed to useful or important.
- It ignores systemic problems in favor of individual annoyances.
- It makes a profit for the media, but doesn’t help us make things better.
- It’s not helpful. Memorizing the list isn’t helping us get any closer to doing anything about it.
- It’s actually a trap, designed to keep us from doing the important work we’re afraid to do. It’s Resistance, in the form of buzzkill.
- It’s distracting. All the moments we waste focusing on the feel-bad list simply serve to make us feel bad. That’s the list’s job.
Lists like this aren’t a helpful way to avoid bad outcomes. But they do allow us to experience the bad outcomes in advance, even the ones that don’t happen. If feeling bad is keeping us from doing things that produce better outcomes, more connection or simply joy, it’s a waste.
The best use of the list might be to write it down, make it complete, carefully put it in a drawer for later. And then forget about it.
April 15, 2022
Overhead recently:
To a 10-year-old on his way to a baseball game, “Come home with a win.”
To a 9-year-old at the supermarket, “I don’t think you’ll like that.”
It’s pretty clear what lessons are being taught.
April 14, 2022
It is found or it arrives.
It is hosted many places or it has a single home.
It earns and delivers on permission, or it’s spam.
It changes over time or it’s static.
It’s the work of an individual or the production of a community.
It’s valuable because of network effects, or in spite of them.
It produces energy and momentum, or it absorbs it.
It’s scarce or it’s widely available.
It thrives on the long tail or only works if it’s a hit.
It dances with the early adopters or soothes the feelings of the late majority.
It’s truly live, or it benefits from time shifting.
It launches itself or it waits to be pressed.
It enhances productivity, or it reduces it.
It is a catalyst for cultural change, or it feeds on cultural change.
It energizes and inspires, or it trolls with snark and irony.
People share it because it benefits them, or someone has to hustle to make it spread.
It goes stale very quickly, or it becomes more relevant over time.
It’s worth talking about, or it’s not.
April 13, 2022
We’ve been naming generations for a long time. Demographers use it to begin a conversation about the changes around us. While a birth range doesn’t guarantee an outlook, the demographics and cultural shifts that a group shares tell us a lot about how they might see the world. And the name is a shortcut to remind us that not everyone sees the world the way we do.
- Baby boomers
- Gen X
- Gen Y
- Gen Z
- Millenials
The last four are pretty unimaginative if you ask me, but I also know that a baby boomer is probably thinking of the world differently than a millennial is right now. These are inexact labels, but helpful nonetheless.
So what to call the next generation?
My co-authors Bruce Clark and Paige NeJame have coined the term “Generation C.” It’s so well-suited, I believe it’s going to stick.
C is for Covid, C is for Carbon, C is for Climate.
The combination of years of school spent at home, in a mask, combined with the significant revolution (economic, political and social) that our industrialism has led us to means that this generation will be different than the ones before. Every decision and investment and interaction is going to be filtered through the lens of carbon and remediation and resilience.
And yet, if we combine this with the c of connection, of a cohort of people who are finding solace and possibility in community, there’s a chance for all of us. It will take compassion as well. Generation C didn’t ask for any of this, but I’m hopeful that they’re up for leading the change.
April 12, 2022
Some folks build their work on the frontier of impossible. Breakthrough coding, an astonishing new magic trick, a concerto that takes your breath away.
It’s so remarkable that we’re tempted to believe that this is our job as well. Not every once in a while, but daily. To do what has never been done before, creating emotions that are scarce indeed.
But the scarcity of this sort of work might be the proof we need to realize that it’s not for us to create, at least not today.
Today, we get the chance to lead, to connect and to do work we’re proud of. Work we can describe before we begin, and work we’re confident is worth doing.
That might be enough.
April 11, 2022
The worst golfer in town came in last in the club tournament.
Actually, that’s not true. The worst golfer didn’t even enter.
Well, that’s not true either. The worst golfer doesn’t even play.
April 10, 2022
The last fifty years have seen a worldwide effort to maximize one and eliminate the other.
Marketers and technologists work overtime to create convenience. We’ve gone from hunting and growing our food to pressing three buttons on a phone to get it…
And the cost of that convenience is high. We give up privacy, control and satisfaction to get it, in every corner of our lives.
At the same time, the market has figured out that we simply don’t like to be bored. And so there’s more stimulation, more options and more noise than ever before.
The problem is that boredom is a partner with satisfaction and joy. It’s hard to overstimulate ourselves into those feelings.
April 9, 2022
When your watch stops, it’s unlikely that you believe that time is now standing still. It’s obviously the watch that’s broken, not time.
But when a metric on our culture or a complex machine is functioning poorly, it’s easy to get confused. Is this work actually unpopular, or is the bestseller list not an accurate reporter of what people care about? Is the pump actually overheating, or is the temperature probe broken?
The more complex the system, the more likely we are to believe a broken gauge, even if it’s only right twice a day.
If you’re not satisfied with what you think is happening, it might be worth recalibrating.
April 8, 2022
Our new project, The Carbon Almanac, is now inviting supporting partners to join us. We are all volunteers and we’re focused on offering institutions a chance to amplify the conversation about climate change. (Partner organizations don’t have to be large, simply committed to help).
Supportive groups like Linkedin, Kone NL, Automattic, McCann Worldgroup, Porchlight Books, Seagate, Amazon, The New York Public Library, The Optimist magazine, Cleantech Open and Change Inc. are already on board. They’re contributing in different ways, agreeing to pre-order or distribute copies of our new book this June.
Foundational partners get a link on this blog, and all partners appear on our home page and have access to our teaching materials.
If you’d like to learn more–for your brand or corporation, or for your non-profit–please check out this simple info form.
Peer to peer, group to group, ideas spread and make an impact.
Thanks.
April 7, 2022
To feel sufficient, to be satisfied with what we have: Chisoku in Japanese.
Of course, by some measures, there’s never enough. We can always come up with a reason why more is better, or better is better, or new is better or different is better.
Enough becomes a choice, not a measure of science.
The essence of choice is that it belongs to each of us. And if you decide you have enough, then you do.
And with that choice comes a remarkable sort of freedom. The freedom to be still, to become aware and to stop hiding from the living that’s yet to be done.
April 6, 2022
