I threw myself out on the ledge today. I’m glad I did.Next time you have the opportunity to try the thing you’re scared to do, do it! Once the fear subsides, you’ll experience an enjoyable rush.

I am going to focus on persisting this year. Persisting through a creative project always feels hard, but it’s not. I just have to show up, do the work, and ship the work, everything else is outside my control. And that’s the problem… the everything else can be scary. What if people don’t like the work? What if it doesn’t resonate? What if it’s not perfect? I think there are other ways I can help myself persist. I can be super clear about what I am trying to do upfront. And, most importantly, I can be super clear with myself about what I get out of the endeavor. I write a lot about endurance, decisions, creativity, and culture… but I am still a work in progress. Just like you, I aspire to knock my work out of the park. Just like you, I don’t.I find solace in a phrase Seth Godin says, “Write every day for 365 days, show me your writing, and I’ll show you that you have at least 1 good idea.”

Others may see something in you that you don’t see yourself. They want the best for you. They want you to work and be at your fullest potential. But, they are not you. In your life, you get to choose. And your choices for yourself are not always right or wrong. Context and history will determine if you made the a career/life choice best for you. Let go of the expectations others have for you. Let go of the expectations you have for yourself.Evaluate what’s in front of you, strive not to hurt people, and act. Give yourself time to reflect, learn, and act again - this next time, better.

A smile and a laugh.The pressure is on, the stakes are high, and it’s all on you.You mess up and fail to produce. What do you do next? Keep moving.Your only next move is to move — life doesn’t stop. As you move, do yourself the favor of forgiving yourself, remind yourself that you can learn from your mistake later, and to smile because your life is worth living.

Theory, visions, and hopes only go so far. Culture change requires an action.Don’t forget to tell your audience what to do with the gift you’ve given (or about to give) them.

I met with someone yesterday who values their strong intuition. They allow their intuition to guide many of their big decisions. I value my friend’s perspective; however, I don’t know if I could operate like that.I value rationalization. Why? In the past, I made decisions too quickly based on nothing but my intuition. In fact, I too deeply read into symbols and my perceptions of people and situations. I overcorrected, and I am okay with that for now. I do want to improve my intuitive sense; but how?My forming opinion is that we improve our intuition by pulling wisdom from the past to the present. Making life more like an algebra equation — the formula looks familiar but only the inputs/stakes have changed. Perhaps intuition is another word for “gut wisdom”? Ideally, we become wiser people each day. We spend time reflecting on our past decisions. We think about how we improve decision making going forward. We take a bit more time to see what we can see and contemplate what we can’t. We game out the second and third order effects of our work. We acknowledge our feelings and balance them against realities. We do our best to not negatively disrupt the lives of others.

An honor, responsibility, job, money, or a shout out? Or…Some type of symbol that will withstand the test of time?My vote is for the latter. What might those types of symbols be?Spending time with someone.Writing a letter (by hand).Giving a great book.Anything… that is simple, elegant, and will hold its meaning 30 years laters. Are these gifts always possible? Maybe, maybe not; but, that’s what makes them powerful when they’re received.

Plutarch writes, “we should welcome and foster friendships that we form on the basis of equality and justice.” We need that reminder. Why? Because, how many of your relationships are based on that framework?Manager > Individual ContributorExecutive > Everybody not executive.Parent > child.Have > have not.Friend of status > friend of little status.How many of these relationships might benefit from a more equal and fair framework? That said, are all things equal? I think reasonable people can debate that. I offer a simple framework. Ask yourself these questions when working with someone of higher/lower (just to use those words) status: As I look at this person, do I see the story they are telling themselves about themselves? Can I tell myself that story? Can I see that I likely tell myself a similar story about myself?If you can answer definitively “yes”,” then you can start working with that person. Why? Because that “yes” enables you to approach that person with empathy and compassion for their story and their person.The question I ask myself… why are we still trying to figure out how to work with people centuries later?

A former colleague studied Classics in college — he read old books in old languages. For his senior project, he translated the Bible’s New Testament from the original Greek. I asked what he learned. He said, “Often times, the most accurate translation is the one done by the novice.”The novice must translate and interpret the text. Their goal is not to read their own narrative into the text. Instead, their goal is to extract meaning from the words they’ve translated. Thinking about it, I was reminded of the phrase: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Are we blind?How many different types of ideas are translated and interpreted for us? How do we know those interpretations are accurate or truthful to the original texts? We might never know. My interpretation: learn how to translate and interpret all kinds of ideas so that I rely less on the interpretation of others. What’s your takeaway?

Plutarch writes, “You must wear a cloak suited to your circumstances;… you must not think too highly of or place too much trust in your crown." Instead he writes, “imitate the actors: they pour their own emotion, character, and dignity into their performances, but they nonetheless obey [their part].”I ask, what is the cloak we wear? How do we wear that cloak?