The forest brims with asymmetry and a diversity of unique flora and fauna. The drivers on the streets of Manila move in no constrained order but find paths of least resistance to propel themselves forward. What makes a beautiful and bubbly sourdough loaf is that asymmetry and chaotic nature of its crumb structure. Randomness, chaos, and asymmetry are causes for a type of awe that too often eludes our grasp. We find ourselves stopped in our tracks, mesmerized by its brilliance, and wondering “how” and “why.”So what does this mean? Stop, still the mind, enjoy the moment, appreciate the awe of chaos, and try to control a little less and just let things be.

You get better when you can learn, and you learn from feedback. You can only get feedback if you put yourself out in the world. The world gives more to you when you give more to it.

Oversimplification is an effective tool for understanding the “jist” of something - allows you can quickly orientate yourself to the world around you. But there’s a drawback.Humans are notorious oversimplifiers - emotions, events, history, our perceptions towards others - everything. In the last week, how many times have you overreacted to the wrong things? Likely, that overreaction was a result of oversimplification. Remember - too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing.

Being creative is not reserved for the savants, the reclusive artist, or the those with a gift. Creativity is simply willing to looking at things using two simple views - closed and open.To look at the world through the closed view is to use a narrow lens, to see things as they are, to declare.The open view is the opposite. To imagine what if, to see alternatives, to strategize, to hold space for possibility. To be truly creative, you must leverage both views. Expansive thinking is great if you can narrow your idea into something executable. At some point, the rubber must meet the road.

Any artist must master their medium.If your art is managing people, what is the medium you use to make that happen? If your art Is music, is your medium your instrument? Your ideas? Your performance?No matter what your art is, you work with a medium to carry your ideas to those you serve.So often, people forget that.They forget they have a medium to master. What’s your medium?

Stress seems to be experienced right before something important happens. Then, the important thing happens, and we seem to laugh about how stressed we became.My thought, why don’t we cut right to the laughter and forget the stress?

I recently traveled to Omaha. I had a connection in Dallas which was 60 minutes, but got cut short to 20 minutes due to delays from Milwaukee. I wasn’t the only one that had a connection.As the plane arrived in Dallas, our connecting city, people got visibly stressed. I imagined they were asking themselves, Will I miss my flight? What if I do? How will I make my meeting? What, another day that I won’t see my loved one? How much more money will I be out? As we began to de-plane, some people barreled their way from the back of the plane in a desperate attempt to the get to the front. I don’t think they realized that their efforts only created a bottle neck which impacted others. Delays are going to happen - that’s part of life. If that’s true, why do we allow ourselves to get stressed? Seneca wrote something like, “Why should I suffer in advance?”I ultimately got where I was meant to go. A few hours later. Alive. Calm.

When you’re joining any new tribe - family, community, job, friend group, whatever - you must answer this important question first: How do the people like us act? What are the unspoken rules that people like us observe? Consider a new job. The people at that job have a mode of operating, a way of acting, a credo, a culture, a this is how we do things around here. Every person has a part to play, and they play it. For the new employee, their biggest and most important question to answer is, How do I play my part here? If that new employee doesn’t play that part, they’ll be shunned and ultimately fired. If they play the part too well, the group will become untrusting.If the new person plays their part just well enough, they’ll be welcomed with open arms. Learn the rules - learn the culture. Play your part - just well enough.

When you bring people together to solve a problem, make sure everybody wants to solve that problem.If they agree, at the meeting, relentlessly move towards that problem. The moment you waver from the outcome, you lose. The same goes for life. Relentlessly pursue your hopes and dreams.

Starting a new job? Don’t know where to start?Ask your manager, “what is the one most valuable thing I can do this week that will measurably help me be a more valuable contributor?”If you don’t have a manager, ask yourself that question and take your best guess. Reflect on the decision a few weeks later and to gather learnings. When you don’t know what to do, an well thought out hunch trumps a shot in the dark.