Happy Sunday Friends!

Welcome to part 3 of our little miniseries where we’re … If you haven’t seen, or want to review, the previous two see Part 1 (Wayfinding), and Part 2 (Where You Are).

We’ll continue to have the 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!

BUT FIRST!

Addressing the CrowdStrike Outage

I’ve had so, so many chats about this and I figure it’s so mainstream that I’ll put it here (If nothing else, read the security note).

This is an historic event we’ve witnessed this week, with billions affected worldwide. I feel for my infrastructure friends; several who have been pulling extended (36 hours +) days.

This isn’t a situation where simply power cycling our systems will suffice. Many folks are going to have to send their affected systems in for someone more technically savvy to go through the steps (reboot into safe mode, remove specified files.).

Even for some good enterprises out there, there’s hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of end points that will have to be reimaged. Few of them centrally located. If they’re well set up, maybe they can get the preponderance of them reimaged remotely. But there will still be outliers, and this will be a long and expensive endeavor for all.

What can we learn?

This is a perfect example of overreliance on third-party software and technologies whose temporary lapse in security or simply an oversight in quality control prior to any release leads to catastrophic results via a cyber supply chain.

Security Note:

Criminals are already taking advantage of the situation. If you are contacted by some organization saying you’re affected and to go download files from somewhere, or go log in to a new website, be skeptical. Sites like crowdstrikeupdate(dot)com, crowdstr1ke(dot)com, and others are easy ways scammers and criminals will attempt to take advantage of the situation. CrowdStrike isn’t going to call individuals directly. Neither is Microsoft.

OK, back to the topic at hand.

Last week we worked on establishing an honest assessment of where we are at this snapshot in time, getting a sense of what’s working and not working in our personal and professional lives, and what we do that gives us energy and what we do that leaves us feeling drained.

One Quote I’m Musing

“It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.”

-Marcus Aurelius

This week we’re going to take advantage of our last two sessions and put the results into actionable plan; getting from step 2 to our envisioned step 1.

Pulling from our first session where we saw the TED Talk we were giving, we read the amazing words people would say about us and the impact we had through the services we provided. Now we’re going to drill into those.

Ready to go? Let’s do it!

Dreamlining

Coined by Tim Ferris but used for a long while by many of the productivity experts in the past.

At its core, without all the long-winded fanciness, it is this:

What do you want to be?
What do you want to have?
What do you want to do?

Now, what I want you to do is stop reading and take five or 10 minutes or so and just write down as many things as you can. Noone can see it but you, it’s not like you’re posting your thoughts on the internet…for everyone to see… dang.

As I’ve said before. Don’t overthink it. Don’t think at all beyond what those things might be. Go wild. Put three to five items in each group, be as specific or vague as you want.

(Yep, I said to stop reading my stuff knowing full-well you may not come back. I’m so good at marketing).

If you’re struggling, here’s a couple reminders. These are your dreams, desires, quests. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Imagine that if you don’t write it down, it won’t happen, but if you do write it down there’s at least a chance (probably a good one) that it will happen. Lastly, it’s ok to want things. We’re taught from elementary school through today that we should dial back our wants. We should be happy with what we have. And, like everything in moderation, it’s a great idea to be content with what we have. BUT, like Sisyphus we are built to strive, to reach, to achieve, to struggle. Otherwise, being born was enough, game over. There’s nothing wrong with having dreams, we just don’t sacrifice our well-being in a relentless (or mimetic) pursuit for more.

Here’s an example from me.

What do you want to be?

Conversationally fluent in Spanish
A bestselling author
Father of two successful children and wife (as they define it)
A contributing member to the Cybersecurity Solarium and CSAC
Advisor to Cybersecurity caucus members

What do you want to have?

6+ acres of land, a house large enough to host friends and family events
A side-gig (or full-time gig) where I do this but as a talking head
$60k+ per child to fund their college, trade school, or career training and education
All electric vehicles
An off-grid ability to subsist at my residence: Solar, well, and septic

What do you want to do?

Travel Europe, Australia, and Asia
Lead collaboration across nations and industries for cybersecurity
Attend an F1 race at every track
Actually start the YouTube Channel

Ok, now that we’ve homed in a bit on life dreams, let’s narrow in on a bit from our understanding of where we are and what we do that fills our buckets vice drains them.

Ask yourself this question: What does my life look like 5-10 years from now if keep doing what I’m doing now and stay on this path?

Spend a few minutes really writing it out in detail what your daily, weekly, monthly life looks like. Are you promoting? What does that look like? Are you staying in the same position? What does that feel like? What does your work-life balance look like? What do your hobbies, your events outside of work look like?

Ok, now. You are no longer there. Next question: What does my life look like 5-10 years from now if I take an alternative path?

Take a few minutes and reread your notes from your weekly assessment. What if you took the path that focused on the elements you put pluses (+) or checks (✔) next to. Or you are somehow fired an unable to ever do that job/work there again. What are you doing?

Last one, What would your life look like if money were no object, if (no matter what) everyone you know or care about would just support it, no questions asked?

What we’ve done is thought seriously about life potentialities. From current, to close alternative, to what we’d do if we had (as Tim Ferris says) $100 million in the bank and nothing society could throw at you would matter.

For a quick glimpse. I wrote this out for myself a bit ago and my “Current Path” gave me a frown. It wasn’t bad, it was pretty good comparatively. I’m thankful I have the opportunities I have. Just keep grinding. Just follow the process. Just keep swimming. It was predictable.

My “Alternative Path” was doable and actually made me smile.

So why wasn’t I on it?

Introspection

It’s not really the path I want. There were many aspects of it that I liked. But also, many that I just don’t. There were changes I could make, quests, to change my vector slightly and end up in a better place at the end without necessarily making a dramatic shift all at once. So, I’ve been writing. I’ve been reading. Moreover, I’ve been seeking advice, mentorship, and opportunities for the things that I love, the things that give me energy, and the things that lead me towards the “Money is no object” path.

Ok, We’ve identified some areas to take action. Which leads us to the very last piece, and I’ve mentioned it before.

Imagine you’re reflecting a year from today and seeing that you’ve accomplished so much! What does that look like? Sound like? Feel like?

Seriously. Look away from the screen. Close your eyes and really imagine it for a few seconds, or minutes!

What goals did you achieve this year that nudged you closer to your big goals from the first session?

What actionable steps did you take month over month that nudged you ever closer to your annual goal that you’re celebrating?

What micro decisions kept you moving when you just needed to get a couple steps farther so you could make better decisions?

Write those down. Make that your plan for the next six months, the next twelve months.

Ask yourself why this goal was important to you, how you think you’ll do it, and when will you make the time to work towards them?

If you went through all three weeks, send me a message. Let’s set an appointment for a year from now and we’ll celebrate together.

If you shoot me a message, I’ll respond. Many of you have and I’m positive my statement holds true.

-e

Two Ideas From Me

There is a value in focus. Focus requires us to do a thing and exclude many other things. Focus, over time, is how we achieve success.
The value of “No” is immeasurable. Saying no to many things allows us to accomplish what we truly value. Inversely, saying “Yes” to many things requires us to take that time away from what we truly value. Say yes to few things, and no to a great many.

Three Favorite Things From Others

“Being human is making decisions and living with them. That’s the thing you CAN control, you control nothing else.” | Gary Vanerchuk
“It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law.” | Hofstadter’s Law
“Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated… | James Baldwin

One Question

Is where you are, the path you’re on, leading you down a path that takes you to where you want to be in 20 years?

Have a wonderful week,

I’ll see you Sunday.
-e