Happy Sunday Friends! Here is 1 quote I’m musing, 2 Ideas, 3 of my favorite things from the week, and 1 question. If you find it useful or interesting, please feel free to forward this along to some friends or others!

One Quote I’m Musing

I was flipping through Enchiridion and one of my favorite quotes again; one that is particularly soul-soothing.

“Every event has two handles—one by which it can be carried, and one by which it can’t. If your brother does you wrong, don’t grab it by his wronging, because this is the handle incapable of lifting it. Instead, use the other—that he is your brother, that you were raised together, and then you will have hold of the handle that carries.”

-Epictetus

Woke up Tuesday morning feeling under the weather and took a Covid test. Five days of quarantine let me spend a bit of time with just myself.

Outside of the dad and husband guilt from locking myself away from the family, I had a lot of time to myself this past week. I teleworked as much as I could, I played some video games (well, one video game a few times), I read, I slept, and I reflected.

Back to the handles. This time around, it wasn’t about shifting perspectives, it wasn’t about seeing things for what they really are.

Those were there. There was something tickling the edge of my brain housing group that I just couldn’t. quite. touch.

I felt pretty terrible the first couple days, so I decided to just workout doing bodyweight exercises about three feet from the bed.

Comparatively, the workouts were trash. But situationally, they were awesome. I did what I could until I felt like I had done enough.

Then I stopped. No second guessing, no pushing through. I checked in with myself and just giving it what I needed and being content with having done it felt pretty much better than I expected. So, I decided to experiment with it.

I’m going to grab the handle that acknowledges I’m outside of 100% but will still carry the load I have. I extended that practice to some reading, then some work, then some food, some game time.

I did that every day. It was purpose built.

Eat breakfast. “How do you feel?” Good. OK, go exercise.

Exercise. “Do you feel better than when you started? More connected with your physical self?” Yeah.

Great, go read just one chapter and think about what Epictetus is saying, how does it apply to modern day? To me, my situations, chats with others?

Same questions, Do I feel better? Do I feel more present? Yes? Good.

Go read on what’s happening in Cyber Policy, in Cyber Law, what new developments are the big devs/thinkers working on? What is “Volt Typhoon”?

Each time, stopping when it was time to stop. No pushing beyond what was necessary.

All the way to the end of the day when it was time to reflect. What are my limitations? What did I do well, what did I discover about myself, about the area I’m researching, what successes and friction points do I see in the office from this new (distant) perspective where I can’t physically be present?

It was an enlightening experience.

It was seeing and connecting the dots. Points of connection between culture and community, physical and mental self, and the profession. Connecting those diverse elements of ourselves to each other: Dad, Husband, Boss, Peer, Subordinate, Friend, Family Member, Mentor, Mentee.

It was a pretty great week of feeling physically terrible but still gaining ground every time I completed something. Moreso, when some other, more serious, things came in, it was pretty easy to be non-reactionary; zoom in and out before feeling like I needed to make a decision or react.

Choosing the handle that bears the load is about seeing limitations and taking incremental steps to get better by connecting the dots in life. Choosing the other handle only lets us see what is negatively impacting us; and that isn’t strong enough to lift the weight.

-e

Two Ideas From Me

Systems and processes must be a part of your organization, of yourself. There is a marked difference between “This is my system, my process” and “This is the system I bought, this is the process for the organization”.
A person’s answers matter less than their questions.

Three Favorite Things From Others

“The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.” - Carl Jung | More
“Action is hope. At the end of each day, when you've done your work, you lie there and think, Well, I'll be damned, I did this today. It doesn't matter how good it is, or how bad-you did it. At the end of the week you'll have a certain amount of accumulation. At the end of a year, you look back and say, I'll be damned, it's been a good year..” - Ray Bradbury | More
“Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.” - Voltaire (aka François-Marie Arouet)

One Question

Think about your perfect day. How would you structure your day to maximize your productivity and retain essential information in a way that you can do that day after day, year over year?

Have a wonderful week,

I’ll see you Sunday.
-e