By the time it’s time to turn things around, life compounded. And compound interest is a powerful force.The best way to get things back on track is to go step-by-step and lower the expectations. With the right mindset, persistence, resiliency, and pragmatism you can turn around anything. Your effort must compound in the other direction.

I don’t stress about travel prep anymore. I enjoy it. I enjoy thinking about what I’ll wear, gifts I’ll share, and what I’ll do. I give myself hope. The inverse is to stress about travel. Imagine someone giving themselves stress about what to wear, gifts to buy, and planning every second of the day. Some people like that. I don’t. The more I learn about myself the more I learn that I enjoy simple, thoughtful, efficient, and value-adding experiences. Packing my bags is no exception.

I received a traffic ticket — I’m human. I want to pay the ticket online — Fond Du Lac County Wisconsin does not allow online payments. They requrie me to mail a check. Who still uses checks? Thinking of incentives — if a county made it too easy to pay a traffic ticket, more people might speed because of the ease of paying the ticket. I’m not a speed demon… anymore. After this experience, I’m happy to keep a steady 5 over the limit then have to tear up my place looking for a checkbook. Cheers to noticing the diffcult things in our life.

You and I try to figure out who we are. You and I make a decision, like a hypothesis, about who we are and act accordingly. We look at how people respond to our actions. We reflect on how our work is received and valued. We then make an update given feedback received.When it comes to hypothesis testing, when your data shows your hypothesis to be true or false, you must make updates. You don’t continue testing and testing until your data shows you want you want to see. That’s bad exploration. Given the hypothesis model of personal identity (I’m sure it’s not a novel concept), what’s your hypothesis about yourself now? What updates have you made about yourself? Where is your data leading you?Thinking about this model for myself — I believe it reduces the stress of trying to be something that I am not. Instead, I make a hypothesis and test and, hopefully if I disprove my hypothesis, I learn something about myself. A caveat… I also recognize that people do not define me. I am using people’s reactions to how I believe I am to help me learn more about myself. I don’t believe we’ll ever achieve 100% certainty. It will only be after we’re gone, when those we knew account for who we were, will we know what we became. That’s what I think… for now.

Noticing, for me, is a function of my ability to pause, still my mind, observe, and notate. It’s arguable that the waste product of my process is time. However, time is only waste if my noticing is not put to good use. Noticing requires energy — pausing, stilling the mind, and observing are energy intensive actions… or inactions. Sitting still is difficult. Not thinking about the next thing to do is a chore for many. Observing and not judging… you get the picture. If you are not skilled at noticing, the experience curve is real. You will spend more time and energy in the art of stilling your body and your mind. Eventually, with practice, you’ll become better and more efficient. The experience curve will work in your favor. Once skilled at noticing, you might notice your sense of humor changes. You might notice you start seeing the world as it is. You may find yourself more open minded to other ideas or norms. I’ve been practicing noticing for years — years! I’m not a master. I notice my sense of humor changed — I can find funny in the absurd and the ironic. I notice that I’m more open to new ideas and experience. I notice that I am more present in this moment — the only moment that matters — the only moment I own.How do you quantify the cost of owning the present?

I discovered that the more I focus on noticing the world, the more I notice the absurdity of it. I watch people change grocery checkout lines like they’re changing lanes of traffic. Where do they have to go so fast? How many more minutes did they save? And, how do they know that those minutes saved mattered? I watch people, and myself, stress and wig out about work. How silly that is. Why stress something that can’t physically harm me? And why stress something that will ultimately end? And why couldn’t there be more fun?I watch show up to church as if they’ll convene with a one true divine mystery. Many people participate in a religiion and many people believe in many different kinds of mystery. Who’s right? And who’s wrong? And does it matter? The intensity of my curiosity about the world’s absurdity postiively correlates the amount of noticing. You might find that a curse; however, I find the process of thinking and exploring quite fun.Noticing is fun.

Do you have the target defined? Marketers get this — if you create work for other people, then your work serves others. If you want to serve others, then you must inhabit their world.Inhabiting a person’s worldview is tough. You are requried to suspend judgment and play the role of observer — noticing things around you. Perhaps only as the observer can the craftsperson develop a better idea of what they must build. Perhaps only as the observer can we output more helpful things. Perhaps only as the observer can we truly see who we serve.

The ease of writing a book to you daily - great.Intention ≠ Ease. Concise and direct requires time, intention, and attention.

I sat in a shuttle going between terminals. The shuttle driver received an incoming call on the radio. The dispatcher asked the shuttle driver to go to Parking Lot A to pick some passengers. Another person came on the radio and said they would go to Parking Lot A. The shuttle driver said he would proceed to departures. The dispatcher asked the shuttle bus driver to pick someone up in Lot B. Another person said they were in Lot B. The mess of communication made the shuttle bus driver crazy. He raised his voice. He complained about how people don’t listen. He did not appreciate the lack of organization and clarity from his teammates. He said, “listening is such a hard skill. I mean, why is it so hard for people to shut up and simply focus on the task at hand.”

If you’re in a new place, you may have a list of restaurants you want to try. Which one do you pick? Consider this: you’ve never been to any of them, so you don’t know what you’re missing. And if you would derive relatively equal value from each restaurant, then consider the one that offers the least rushed experience. Give yourself the gift of savoring new.