Own Your Shit

"It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you." -Batman Begins

Hey there, I'm back. Miss me? :)

Last week was a bit of a train wreck with lots of random things popping up left and right that were completely unexpected. Frankly, I just called an audible and decided to take a much-needed weekend off to refocus and get some rest.

It's somewhat funny; as a parent, one of the most important things you try to teach your kids is how important it is to take responsibility for their actions. Yes, there are many other basics to guide them: being honest, being a kind human being, etc., but the simple concept of owning your shit is so .. raw.

Take accountability.

Owning your shit is the key to a happy life because if you don't own your shit, it'll own you - Abby Medcalf

While I love a good meme, "own your shit" is quickly becoming my battle cry in all areas of my life.

If you stop and look around you, it's incredible how many cruxes or assisted living facilities are built up around you every day - at work, with life, in society -  so that you don't get to own your shit.

You have to drop all of that and double down on no one is going to do it for you.

Digest this from Wayne Hale Jr, after the Columbia space shuttle explosion, which killed seven astronauts. He was the Launch Integration Manager:

"I had the opportunity and the information and I failed to make use of it. I don't know what an inquest or a court of law would say, but I stand condemned in the court of my own conscience to be guilty of not preventing the Columbia disaster ... The bottom line is that I failed to understand what I was being told; I failed to stand up and be counted. Therefore look no further; I am guilty of allowing the Columbia to crash."

Earlier in the week, I chatted with someone on my personal board of directors. The topic, which will not be unfamiliar to those who run teams, was that an external group was trying to fix a problem by corralling all the people who performed a similar function and centralizing it elsewhere.

My question was - isn't it your responsibility as somebody who runs an organization to own your shit and fix those problems?

If you don't own your shit and do something about it, then getting it pulled away from you will probably happen. The best first step to owning your shit: to understand that nothing is perfect. You have to be able to admit that. But you also have to be committed to fixing it.

Instead of deflecting, choose to take responsibility for fixing the problem and wrestle it to the ground. Instead of spreading blame, own and address the issue. - Taking Responsibility

If you find yourself stuck, try to take on proper accountability for something. Just remember - If you don't own your shit, it will own you.

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Forward Thinking

I was reading an article the other day, where the author commented cultivating friends with shared interests. It sounded similar to what I've talked about crafting a personal board of directors and discovering something thought-provoking.

Discussion groups can come in many forms. You can be like Franklin and organize a group among your friends interested in a topic. Alternatively, you can join pre-existing groups on services like Meetup to discuss topics you care about.

In many cases, our difficulties finding time for learning aren't a literal lack of time—but a lack of a meaningful context for what we learn. We're social animals. When our activities feel isolating or useless, they're quickly sacrificed to the pursuits more likely to win us friends or solve practical problems. If you care about learning, build it into your social circle.

I had never heard about Ben Franklin's junto, but it certainly sounds similar to what I've learned to love about personal boards: It's a "a club for mutual improvement."

Love it.

Thought of the week

Latest obsession

For a few years now, I've been playing with the concept of a "personal notification system," and I found Pushover.net back in 2017, and continue to refine to this day.

Inspired by blog posts on Streamlined Pushes and Shell/Watch Notifications, I've been wiring up more and more into Pushover (available on Mac and iOS). Pushover is pretty cool — for an incredibly cheap one-time price ($4.99), you can create custom notifications that can be triggered from almost everywhere.

Some places I've been playing with:

• I get a notification on my wrist instantly by using changedetection.io when a website I'm particularly interested in is updated. I've been using it to alert me when the whales are sighted. :)
• Notifications from the house.
• Notification when someone checks something into a GitHub repo I'm watching.
• When I have a long-running task, integration with NTFY allows my computer to text me when complete.
• Even nicer: you can wire an email address to push an alert. I use these for "bill pay" notifications or iOS updates.

The idea of a central hub that taps my wrist for things that I care about (rather than apps just bothering me) is becoming very compelling for me.

This weeks "Deep Links"

Here are a few of the articles and videos that resonated with me over the last week:

• In the post of the week, David Hieatt talks about "23 Laws of Interesting.". There is so much to love in here; it's easily one to keep for the commonplace journal, with some real timeless advice in here for anyone looking to enrich your soul - More
• I just loved the spirit on this one. "Love Loving Things" rejects the norm of many social networks today, where 'hating things is fun.' 'What can be hard is looking past that cynicism and admitting to liking things.' Amen. - More
• As a heart patient, I've learned to monitor and try to understand my HRV. "What Heart Rate Variability Reveals About Your Health" dives into how HRV is 'a powerful tool beyond recovery monitoring and how it can reveal links to various health conditions and longevity prospects' - More
• "Hyperlink maximalism" explores the concept that 'everything should be a hyperlink.' A bit heavy on the PKM interconnected notes path, but a good read nonetheless - More
• I've been wasting hours on hours with DALL·E 2, and "How I Used DALL·E 2 to Generate The Logo for OctoSQL" has some good thinking on creating phrases to get to the desired result. Generative AI is going to be huge - More
• "7 Phrases I Wish My Younger Introverted Self Had Used More" was a fun one. I thought this one was a good read, not just for us introverts but for anyone to create the proper boundaries - More
• I've tried to get into Mind Mapping over the years and never have had much success. "How I Mind Map Projects on the iPad" was an exciting watch; not sure how much this is going to influence me using them, but it has some solid thinking in there - More
• "10 Surprising Health Benefits of Drinking Whiskey" is the health advice I need in 2022. I've been discovering the joy of Whiskey, so this one is perfect timing - More
• Great insight in this piece, "TikTok Boom" from Scott Galloway. 'We've been watching the streaming wars for the past few years, but we were looking in the wrong place. Video-based social media was the Trojan horse' - More
• According to sources, "George Jetson From Hanna-Barbera's The Jetsons Is About To Be Born." Fans have figured it out by sleuthing the episode 'Test Pilot' (S1E15), which aired on December 30th, 1962. It's revealed in that episode that in 2062 he's 40, putting his birth year at 2022 - More

Fin

Back in 2020, I talked about hope and mentioned issue #4 of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" entitled, "A Hope in Hell." The Netflix adaption is now out and getting rave reviews.

Episode 4... They did it. They went there. To hell. And while it's changed slightly from the original comic to battle Lucifer ... holy crap, they nailed it.

Hope to see you next time.

Be well. ✌🏻