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If you want something done well, do it YOURSELF. Own the problem, own the process, and own the solution.

To me, this means several things. It means keeping secrets instead of gushing my problems to everybody. This prevents them from contaminating my thought process. Whatever conclusions I draw are mine; I own them. Give it a shot, you’ll be happy you did!

My brother came to visit last week (we had a really great time, btw). As always, this puts the magnifying glass on my life as our styles intermingle and my perspective shifts. So, what did we learn last week?

• I’m bored with food. I’m underweight, so eating more/healthier is important to me, but I don’t get hungry very often. Now, I’ve been keeping a list of the meals I’ve eaten. I can review this list and remind myself of the options I have, instead of going for what’s expedient (fast food).
• Get rid of the clutter in a pragmatic way. Hell, ask myself questions out loud - “Will you ever use this? Will you even remember you have this?” - this will expose some of those pack-rat mind-traps.
• Get interested in things: If something strikes my curiosity, make a small effort to research it! Hop on to Wikipedia. That’s how we expand the breadth of our knowledge.
• Clean up after myself. Yes, I’m a bit of a slob. It happens. But, a clean apartment is something that will make me feel better, and make other people more comfortable when they come over.
• Get out during the day. It’s amazing how different “the world” is at noon on a weekday, rather than at noon on a weekend. It’s totally different. There’s more life, more vigor. Take a day off every month or two and just explore the city at a different time of day. It’s really mind-expanding and puts the spotlight on what REAL people, like us, do with our lives on a mass scale.

Obviously, I learned much more than this, and I’ll need to come back for revisions. But being blessed with a new perspective, even temporarily, is a great experience. Hopefully these are lessons I can take with me over time.

A quick reprieve in an otherwise busy week/weekend — happy Independence Day! Go read your Constitutions and pledge to vote Libertarian next election.

I always try to do things out of strength, not weakness, but how do you know the difference? In my opinion, we all have a “baseline” mood. We have a level of happiness, regret, etc. that we tend to levitate around and adjust to.

To me, a decision of strength elevates you above this baseline. Conversely, a decision made in weakness is made to prevent yourself from falling below your baseline. In other words, if you’re doing something just because not doing it will make you feel worse, that’s weakness.

Obviously there are exceptions, but our lives should be about elevation. Not just clinging to whatever vestiges of our lives we have left.

They should make jungle gyms for adults. Then I wouldn’t look so weird pretending to be Altair from Assassin’s Creed.