Thursday, 28 February 2019

Seth's Blog : Choice and obligation

If it's an obligation, then you don't have a choice. Pretending you do is simply a way to create frustration. Free yourself to simply do what you have to do. On the other hand, if you do have a choice (and you probably do) then it doesn't make sense to ...

Choice and obligation

If it’s an obligation, then you don’t have a choice.

Pretending you do is simply a way to create frustration. Free yourself to simply do what you have to do.

On the other hand, if you do have a choice (and you probably do) then it doesn’t make sense to treat it as an obligation. Own the choice.

  


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Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Seth's Blog : The first piece of tape

I'm sitting on a black couch in the lobby of a nice theater. The couch is cracked and peeling, with seven strips of black gaffer's tape holding it together. And you don't have to be an interior geologist to see that it has developed this patina over ...

The first piece of tape

I’m sitting on a black couch in the lobby of a nice theater. The couch is cracked and peeling, with seven strips of black gaffer’s tape holding it together. And you don’t have to be an interior geologist to see that it has developed this patina over time, bit by bit.

The question is: Who was the first person who decided to fix the couch with tape?

The third or fifth person did a natural thing–here’s a ratty couch, let’s keep it the best we can.

But the first taper?

The first taper decided that it was okay for this theater to have a taped couch. The first taper didn’t make the effort to alert the authorities, to insist on getting the couch repaired properly.

The first taper decided, “this is good enough for now.”

This is how we find ourselves on the road to decay.


 

Here’s a new video the team just put together for the altMBA. I hope it resonates with you…

 

PS The early decision deadline for the altMBA is March 1st.

  


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Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Seth's Blog : Lessons for telling time

For something as dominant as the four digits that we use to tell time, it's disappointing that there's no manual, and not surprising that we do it wrong so often. I'm not talking about the big hand/little hand part of announcing what time it is. I'm ...

Lessons for telling time

For something as dominant as the four digits that we use to tell time, it’s disappointing that there’s no manual, and not surprising that we do it wrong so often.

I’m not talking about the big hand/little hand part of announcing what time it is. I’m focused on how we use our awareness of time to screw up our narrative about life.

Here are some examples:

We focus on the days, making short-term decisions, instead of being cognizant of the years. We ignore the benefits that short-term pain can have in earning us long-term satisfaction. Which means that we often fail to invest, embracing a shortcut instead.

We rehearse the past, obsessing about sunk costs, instead of freeing ourselves up to make new decisions based on new information.

We put a stopwatch on our best experiences, ticktocking the moments instead of living in them.

But we fail to be honest about the time when we’re in a dip, or unhappy, imagining instead that it is lasting forever.

We confuse the thrill of fast-paced media with the magic of doing work that matters, even though they each take just as long.

We might have a fancy watch, but that doesn’t mean we’re good at telling time.

  


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