Learn the lesson. Leave the event.

Brian Dusablon -
“You can write a narrative in your head, and spin yourself down a negative path, and beat yourself up and second guess. But what’s true is you made what you thought was the best decision in the moment. Then, you leave it behind. There’s no going back. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone makes good decisions, bad decisions, or they just didn’t work. For me, it’s, ‘Learn the lesson. Leave the event.’”

– Stephen Vogt, manager, The Cleveland Guardians (via Om Malik)

Excellent perspective and advice. Decision made, what’s the next job? "Next job" was a motto and mindset I learned from the Austin Blacks Rugby Club when I played with them in the spring of 2023. No matter what happened at training or in a match, it was up to you to get up and do the "next job" and help your teammates do the same. It works.

Whatever is happening, what's the next job you can do? This week in America, that became even more critical. Here are a few posts and quotes I read this week that helped me. Maybe they'll help you. Either way, what's the next job you can do? What's in your control? Take the time you need to be furious, grieve, hide, whatever, and then, as Jon Stewart said,

"We have to regroup, and we have to continue to fight and continue to work day in and day out to create a better society for our children, for this world, for this country, that we know is possible."

I recommend listening to 741Hz music - this one (Spotify) claims, "A soothing solfeggio frequency that is used by many to let go of negativity and toxic energy." It's working for me. Great for this time, and also for reading, studying, working, or just sitting. (via Kottke)

I referenced Robert Reich's post, "Who Are We", earlier this week, because it included an amazing essay about hope from Rebecca Solnit and includes some other harsh realities we need to recognize.

"Cultures and civilizations tend to overestimate the stability of their states, only to find themselves regularly discomposed by internal pressures and tensions too great for the system to hold. And yet always in them there are those who harness from the chaos the creative force to imagine, and in the act of imagining to effect, a phase transition to a different state."

– Maria Popova – "A Lighthouse for Dark Times"
"This now is not that. This is bad and dangerous and dark, but while Trump’s win was brutally clear, it was still a very close, deeply divided election...

It doesn't end. Keep the faith."

– John Gruber – "It Doesn't End"
“Removing party affiliation feels like removing a huge barrier to some much needed dialogue around critical issues. Instead of reducing another person to their political party, what if we could have reasoned conversations on an array of urgent topics, and hold space to discuss the experiences that have shaped our respective perspectives…”

– Stephen Anderson (via Dave Gray)

On a very positive note, I had a lovely troika experience this week in my Project Studio call. Validating, supportive, encouraging, and poignant input from two lovely humans you should know more about, Elizabeth Bacon and Dom Gaucher. I hope to interview them both here soon. Amazing to be connected to people who are inspiring with their own projects, can help connect the dots, or simply say, "why not?"

📘What I'm Reading:

🎧 What I'm Listening To:

📺 What I'm Watching:

⌛ Worth Your Time:

Photo of the Week

A gull departs on a mission from a rock along Damon Point beach.

We went to the ocean today. It's Sarah's happy place (and one of mine), and we both needed it. It was cold and rainy, but still beautiful and lovely in that way. I came across this gull and caught it just as it flew off for some "next job."

Nature is truly healing, even if not completely in one dose. Try to find it, wherever and whenever you can. And if you want someone to talk to while you're in nature, find some time.

☮️❤️