The Freedom of Constraints
Some constraints are the result of our respective socio-economic situations. Others come from the compounding of unfortunate circumstances or bad decisions. And yet others come from self selection. The last is my favorite. The conscious creation of boundaries to set constraints in a given situation. I call it addition through subtraction.
A Meaningful Delta
I was once invited to attend a meeting to plan a meeting to schedule meetings. This was a real request from a Deloitte consultant to me while on a project in New York. I declined that invite and every single other meeting invite he sent. I wish I could say that was the last wasteful meeting invite I ever received but anyone who has worked in corporate America knows, meetings, whether meaningful or not, are all too common. They are death by a thousand paper cuts.
My Spirituality
To be clear, I am not religious. From the earliest age I needed too much empirical proof to make a leap of faith. I also could not accept the idea that any of my friends and family would be "excluded" in an afterlife because we did not share the same belief structure. If they are in fact good people, what God would no want them in their company? This question made me think that belief was asking me to make a choice between ideology and the people closest to me. I could not reconcile that and thus moved away from any religiosity.
Deliberate Practice
The deliberate practitioner won’t just rely on one source for skill development. You have to learn across multiple mediums. Go out and read on the history of your interest, listen to podcasts, and watch how-to tutorials from masters.
Music Discovery
I am an audiophile but there are no more record stores. I don’t listen to the radio. I don’t drive a lot and do not want to give that little bit of time away to shock jocks and advertising breaks. I stream what I want, when I want over the Bluetooth audio. Convenient as this approach may be, it is a double edged sword because that instant gratification can get you stuck in musical rut. I am an audiophile and I want to discover new sounds. Being stuck at home during a pandemic did nothing for that love of audio discovery.
Individualism–Collectivism Scale
You can trace the individualistic mindset of Americans to its founding. That pursuit of various individual freedoms fueled the don’t tread on me spirit. Whether it was the freedom of religion, the lawless expansion into occupied indigenous lands, or the right to practice morally bereft chattel slavery. Americans have demanded the room to pursue what they solely want no matter the impact to their neighbor. It is no surprise then that "the United States scores highest on the individualism end of [the individualism-collectivism scale ... and consequently] is the only industrialized country in the world that does not provide its citizens with universal health care."
Revisiting Minimalism
I find I have to constantly explain the idea of Minimalism to everyone I discuss it with because their first idea is some Monk like existence, barren of joy or material belongings, wasting away alone in some empty white walled room. That’s the double entendre in the naming this philosophy, Minimalism. In reality, Minimalism should be equated with Essentialism. An essentialist philosophy that is reinforced by mindfulness. The two fuel the thoughtful consideration of everything we bring into our lives and how we allot our time and attention.
Optimizing a Home Office
Work From Home has become what my wife calls, live at work. Each one of us adapting in our own way to a semi-permanent remote worker status. Dining room tables, closets, garages, and empty guest rooms have transformed into make shift offices and classrooms. My experience in working remotely for extended periods of time is not new. Having worked from home in some capacity since 2008. During that time it became clear to us the value of planning office space in your home in some capacity up front.
Gut Health & Stress
Right around the turning point of summer, I started to feel out of it. Tired, grumpy, and more importantly, gripped with intestinal pain. I have had an ulcer in the past and immediately went to the conclusion it was the same now. The byproduct of the 2020 news cycle, along with home & social confinement we have all endured. Fast forward to later in the year, after a series of doctor visits and tests, I did confirm that stress had wrecked my gut health but not how I assumed.