The cars in the Philippines are becoming much larger. I see more SUVs on the road than I see any other type of car. Parking spots in the Philippines are quite small. Narrow. Designed for a much smaller car. My two questions:Keep the smaller parking spots to showoff the parking superpowers of drivers?Keep the smaller spots as a way for large car owners to signal power and capacity?Perhaps there’s a third question… I enjoy thinking about these things because it forces me to think about how and why we decide what we decide.

Making effective decisions requires an understanding of the tradeoffs. If I do this, then I don’t get that…. If you your time on this planet is finite, and if the only thing that you truly own is your time, then is it reasonable to say the life you make for yourself is more about deciding what you won’t do than what you will? That’s the evolving lesson I’m learning from my vacation in the Philippines.

I read an article that made me think that cultivating a taste for failure and disappointment may not be a bad a idea. I thought about it.I studied music. I listened to lots of music and have an idea of the types of music I like. For instance, I love the piano stylings of Richard Tee, Less McCann, Ramsey Lewis, and Gene Harris. I never imagined American country music was a style I’d ever enjoy. Then I played a country show. Come to discover, many “country” piano stylings are remarkably similar to those ideas pushed by early soul and R&B pianists. Really. I wondered, “who influenced who? when? how?" I came to appreciate country music in a way I never thought I could. I wonder how many other “things I think I won’t like” I might come to love.

I’m in the Philippines now. A few days ago, I visited a supermarket. If you didn’t know, I love visiting markets when I travel. Typically, I visit “open air”/”local” or “wet markets.” But this time, I stopped at a supermarket in a mall. I asked myself, Who are the people who shop at this mall? What’s their life like? And, what food things do they demand and want to eat? I noticed lots of greens — beans, squashes, and cucumber-like melons. There were meats - mostly chicken and pork. The cuts of meat were interesting — I wanted to know how I could get similar cuts back home. I saw fruits, but not as much as I might imagine. I noticed lots of packaged goods — soups, noodles, and sweets. Fish and rice (a staple) also present. Lots of sweets. I imagined the food I tasted that day may be a sweet, perhaps porky, and heavier on long green beans or squashes.The food I tasted that day, even the roasted chicken, was quite sweet. Not as heavy on the green beans or squashes. Lots of rice and noodles. All around, sweeter than expected.What does this imply? Not much at a base level. Filipino food tends to be sweeter and vegetable dishes are often beans or squashed boiled. What I enjoyed most was looking at the market and imagining how my food might taste and then seeing the result.

How might we develop more confidence answering “I don’t know”? How do we get by the fear of looking ill-informed? Perhaps it’s a matter of engineering a better sentence:“I am not certain. I still need to answer this question…. am I looking at this the right way?”Transform “I don’t know” into a strategic and well-laid ask for help.

It’s important to have trusted and competent people in your life. People that can offer advice, engage in your ideas, and make recommendations for you to consider. But if what if there was a proxy for a person? I know people that depend on the news and other forms of media for staying updated on events. What’s important to keep in mind is that these input sources are often free to you. And if something is free, it’s likely you that are the product. For example, if I sold advertising to this blog you would see advertisements when you visit. The blog is free to you and advertisers pay me for showing their ads to you. You become the product. Note: I don’t and won’t sell you advertising on this blog.Another example, let’s say you watch your favorite news source on YouTube. You might see ads via YouTube, because that’s how Google/Alphabet earns. You might also see news and ideas that incentivize you to keep watching and watch more. Perhaps you hear ideas that align with your ideas. Perhaps you hear news that stokes fear and creates anxiety causing you to want to find out more. Watch time increases, viewership increases, advertising revenue increases. You become the product. A good input is an insight — the smallest unit of truth that is actionable.Who are the people and what are the channels that deliver you the smallest units of actionable truth?

They often blow up in your face.

Mitigate the surprise and the stress by imagining everything that could go wrong BEFORE you actually set your plan into action.

Plan for your failure.

Interestingly, I think the more you mindfully and healthily plan for your failure, the more likely you might win.

As my Dad says:

“Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.”

A candidate and I discussed creativity.The candidate believes they are not creative — they don’t have “artistic” talent. I asked the candidate if they could design the ideal cookie. I got the benefit of imagining a potentially amazing cookie.The candidate got the benefit of realizing that creativity is not just an “arts” thing, it’s just a simple act of imagining “what if” and “how might I.”Creativity is not reserved for the artists and hipsters.

The person that is ultra-reactionary doesn’t deserve necessarily deserve your stress and attention.Acting like water — going with the flow, adapting to the environment, being persistent, being cool — is often the best response to fire.

Stressful day. But amazing how relaxing it can be to help someone else. I don’t think it was the act of “helping”. I think it was the decision that I was going to “show up” as the helper. It’s never about the destination. It’s always about who you decide to be when you arrive. I decided to be someone that was focused on the person I intended to help. I showed up that way.