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January 9 - January 15, 2020
The basic structure was ordained and measured out by the Master. But at every stage of the work, gaps were left to be filled in by the expertise and ingenuity of individual craftsmen. They paid a lot of attention to detail, because the detail was left to them.
When you take charge of a project, start by inspiring people with your vision.
And make sure all those involved are crystal clear about their responsibilities and non-negotiable deliverables.
When someone proposes a new idea, is your instinct to accept it and look for ways to develop it, or to critique it and pull it to pieces?
From now on, make a conscious effort to build rather than block. Start by asking “What’s already working? How can we build on it?” Look for opportunities to praise (sincerely). Say “Yes, and” instead of “Yes, but”—and encourage others to do the same.
Status, credits, rewards, and awards are all very well. Your professional reputation is important, and there’s a time and a place for securing it. But when it’s time to start work, put all this out of your mind and focus on the task at hand.
Don’t be too proud to listen to others. Ask a lot of questions and pay attention to the answers, not out of politeness but out of respect for their expertise and the knowledge that you can achieve more together than alone. Give them credit and praise for their contributions.
Asking always precedes connecting, and if you do it regularly, your network will thrive. Make a weekly habit of reaching out to people whom you admire.
The upside of risk is that—no matter what the outcome—we act, we learn, and we grow. And when tomorrow comes, we’re better equipped to face it.
Humans quickly adapt to new situations. Novelty wears off faster than we expect. When we imagine becoming a lottery winner, we envision only the wondrous things we’d do with our winnings. We don’t anticipate the constant harassments of people wanting our money, the complexities of managing it, or the new strains it causes on our social networks and family (so much so that lottery winners actually set up support groups with one another).17 Nor do we expect, as a quadriplegic, that so much joy could come from things we previously took for granted. As we re-learn even the most basic tasks, we
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Studies consistently show that when we look back on our lives the most common regrets are not the risks we took, but the ones we didn’t. Of the many regrets people describe, regrets of inaction outnumber those of action by nearly two to one. Some of the most common include not pursuing more education, not being more assertive, and failing to seize the moment. When people reflect later in life, it is the things they did not do that generate the greatest despair.
When evaluating whether to take a risk, it’s easy to see the early-stage pitfalls you could encounter. Imagining the realization of the opportunity is much harder. But not making the attempt guarantees you won’t realize the ultimate benefits. It is necessary to broaden the mind, see the bigger picture, and know that with determination obstacles will be overcome.
through hard work, he can make the decision a success.
The worst-case scenario in many of the risks we now face is not serious injury or death; it is a financial setback, a blow to the reputation, a ding to the ego.
All of our paths are riddled with small and enormous failures. The key is being able to see these experiences as experiments that yield valuable data and to learn what to do differently next time. For most successful people, the bottom is lined with rubber as opposed to concrete. When they face a failure, they hit bottom, sink in, and then bounce back, tapping into the energy of the impact to propel them into another opportunity.
In an increasingly unpredictable world, you have to leverage the statistical advantage of randomness by placing many bets.
Mine your “failures” for valuable data about what works and what doesn’t. As long as you learn from the process, it’s not a mistake.
