Persistently Chasing Excellence
Believe!
Believe that you can!
Believe that you will!
Believe that no one can stop you!
Believe that the obstacles in front of you can be overcome!
Believe that people are silently cheering you on!
Believe that you have all the resources in you!
Believe that it’s only a matter of time!
Believe it will be as good as you hope!
Believe in who you are!
Believe trying is worth it!
Believe in miracles!
Believe in you!
Believe!
Be!
Pete
Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as Colonel Rhodes in the second Iron Man movie and the story pressed on. Actors ad lib lines that become iconic. Scripts are thrown out mid-filming sometimes. It’s not that odd! Just another day in Hollywood! Or life!
As the chief script writer of your life, you need know when it’s time for a rewrite, cast change or plot twist. Life is just throwing scenery and actors at you. What are you going to do with them? That’s what you need to figure out. If you don’t like your role, then change it! That may not happen overnight like a training montage from a Rocky movie but it can happen.
The problem is that we tend to stick with the script that we have. Even if it’s not working, we’ve become attached to it. The characters, the setting, the vibe and tone can all start to feel right, even if your character is heading in the wrong direction. There is no “cut!” It’s full time action! So you’re going to need to do this rewrite basically on the fly but you can figure it out! Make your character into the vision that you have in your head!
Action!
Pete
We live in a society where some things just aren’t ok. People obviously have different levels of tolerance for bad behavior but almost everyone has their threshold. Being around rude, degrading, insulting people is just not something that most will endure. Somehow, we turn a blind eye when talking to ourselves inside of our own head.
I can see why it might happen. No one can hear it and it’s you. So open up and let out! RIght? Cut loose! Lean into every single insecurity that you have. And then what? The one person that you need to live with for your entire life is beaten down. Seems like a losing strategy.
So remember who you’re talking to! It’s you! You’ve only got one you! You need to build you up! Not be delusional! Just keep it moving forward!
Talk it up!
Pete
When you’re on a streak, you’re not supposed to talk about the streak! Just like the first rule of Fight Club. From my perspective, it’s not the talking about the streak that needs to be avoided. It’s idea that the streak is something that’s out there rather than inside. Streaks are a collection of positive results that are based on appropriate action. If you want to attribute them to a deity or luck or your unwashed socks, go for it! But you’re taking your hands off the wheel at that point.
The idea is not to stay silent on the streak. It’s to keep talking about the process. How did you get here and can you keep doing those actions? At it’s core, that is what needs to be done but at the extreme, everything is given value. So superstition springs out of consistency. Don’t give the jinxes power. Just show up consistently and the results will take care of themselves.
What streak?
Pete
The concept of sunk costs is pretty simple. Money, time, effort or any other currency that has already been spent is a “sunk cost.” Although you may have invested in something in the past, those resources are gone and cannot be recouped. Therefore using those costs to evaluate future decisions may not be helpful. Although they are usually thought of in financial terms, other currencies are just as likely to have sunk costs.
The overarching idea is that there are things that we need to release in this world. Hanging onto everything that we’ve ever valued is a poor strategy for forward motion because we will get weighed down. The object is not to throw away everything, just the dead weight that has accrued over time. Just because we put money, time, effort, etc into something at one point, doesn’t mean that it should continue. It only means that there was a value exchange at some point. Now is a new moment and may require reevaluation.
It’s time to rise to the surface! Hanging onto the sunk costs for too long will sink you. Now is the time to throw yourself a life preserver by deciding that your past decisions may not be a good indicator for what you need now.
Let go!
Pete
That’s right! I’m ready to have a good old fashioned temper tantrum. Like a toddler who is exhausted but refuses to go to bed, I’m leaning into my own idiocy. It’s not my best state and in a very meta sense, I am watching myself from the outside. The question is, do I give in? Do I give into that base urge to emote rather than act?
Like so many of the problems that we all have, I know the answers but don’t particularly want to follow through on them. If all it took was knowing the right things to do, we’d all have six pack abs but we don’t because the knowledge isn’t enough. We also have to convince ourselves to do that which is necessary. And quite often as humans, we don’t wanna! As a functional human adult, I don’t get to stay in this state for long. I must snap myself out of it. The key to the change is decision. I need to decide to move forward.
That’s it! Nothing more from me tonight. Maybe you’re in the same position that I am. We could get together and have a pity party together but why don’t we just get going instead. Because at some point in the pity party, we’d both realize through the other person that we’re being quite ridiculous. Let’s get going!
Pete
Although it’s not my favorite song (even by Eric Clapton), it has the ability to transport me to a time when I had fewer responsibilities and cares. I remember Tom Cruise in a t-shirt that just said “Vince” and swinging a pool cue like it was some kind of weapon. I’ve never seen the movie “The Color of Money” but the video paints a decent picture and adds a good visual to the song. Clapton latches onto the duality that shows up often in this world. The way that you use it is crucial. We have choices and need to see them.
Although I didn’t originally intend to write about 9/11, it seems to fit. There is obviously a lot of distance between that tragedy and the aftermath of war and sorrow. All of the students that I teach now weren’t even alive when it happened. So how does one look at an event that was reality but is now history? Did we use that moment in time correctly? I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of unity after that tragedy and now the divisiveness in our country seems to be the tragedy. People gave literal blood, sweat and tears. Now we seem to barely give a damn!
I’ve always been conflicted about 9/11 because although it was definitively a tragedy that I wish never happened, it brought my ex-wife and I together (not directly but circumstantially). Now I even have mixed emotions about that. But as the song says, it’s in the way that you use it. Tools can be used as weapons and vice versa. Our darkest hours can become the light that brightens the world but only if we use it correctly. We cannot wallow or whine and we must not forget. Yet we need to find the right mixture of remembrance with progress. If we are always living in the past then the wounds never heal and we cut ourselves with a weapon that could be a tool of hope.
So as you go through your day, many things will be thrown at you. Compliments, insults, opportunities, setbacks and like everything else, “it’s in the way that you use it! It comes and it goes. It’s in the way that you use it. Boy don’t you know! And if you lie you will lose it. Feelings will show. So don’t you ever abuse it. Don’t let it go!”
This is your shot! Don’t be afraid to take it!
Pete
For years as a language teacher, I’ve been telling students that “language is an agreement.” People need to agree on meaning in order to communicate. This was hammered home to me recently by a video that I saw from actor, Clayton Farris. His “Millenial Breakup” skit was almost unintelligible to me. I had to look up several phrases and I’m still not sure that I have it right. More than likely it’s a similar frustration that high school students feel reading Shakespeare! The words that are chosen seem like they are part of a code that doesn’t enhance but rather detracts from meaning. It’s a generational divide that breeds misunderstanding.
The problem is not that we have different words or sayings. It’s that we either don’t want to understand the message or the communicator doesn’t care to be understood. We need to agree to listen and agree to speak to be understood. Unfortunately, in today’s world, people don’t seem overly interested in agreeing enough to understand. It’s an uncomfortable situation. People talking so much that they cannot hear anything.
So hear this! We’re in this together. ‘Tis the east and the future is the sun! We are low-key screwed if we can’t see that we are but on the world’s stage playing the roles of Karens, Stans and Basics. To be or not be an a-hole! That is the question! Whether it is nobler to get your likes for saying nothing of substance or swim in a sea of vulnerability!
Agree to say something that someone else can hear. Something of substance. Maybe you won’t even need to use words but say it anyway. Then listen! It feels like we’ve been shouting for so long we’ve forgotten how to say.
Pete
― Lloyd Dobler “Say Anything”
A long-standing favorite movie of mine is “Singles” which features Pearl Jam and the Seattle music scene as a backdrop to convoluted number of love stories. At one point, two single guys, Steve and Bailey discuss their upcoming night out in search of companionship.
While there is some logic behind Bailey’s strategy, it’s not without its holes. At a certain point, the real person has to come out and that could be awkward. If the facade is vastly different from the reality, no one ends up happy. However, I believe that Bailey probably didn’t really want to be fake. He simply wanted to plausible deniability inside of his own head or an imperviousness to rejection. Since it wasn’t really him, then it didn’t matter. This is where the tension of two becomes a crucial concept. The ability to hold two opposing ideas in one’s head at the same time.
Bailey needs to not care about someone rejecting him while simultaneously projecting an authentic version of himself. This may not be easy but also not impossible. It’s the way that many primitive bridges existed. The middle is held up by the tension created on each side. The tension of two allows people to traverse the world!
Holding two ideas in your head at once is a skill that needs to be developed. No doubt! There are times to have singular focus. But protecting your self-esteem while being vulnerable actually is necessary at times. Those dichotomies are difficult to reconcile but people who can have a distinct advantage. Being the super you, also needs to involve being authentic you!
Build that bridge!
Pete
This does not need to exist and it didn’t at one point! More than likely a person at a cream cheese factory was sipping their pumpkin spice latte and voila! Pumpkin spiced cream cheese! For someone out there, pumpkin spice cream cheese is their idea of heaven. Personally, I’ll pass! It’s not an act of genius. But it represents the opportunity that we all have, simple synthesis! Putting two old ideas together in order to create something new. We’re all capable of this type of thinking but often get bogged down in what is rather than what could be.
People don’t want to be stuck! The ability imagine a different future than the present that exists is difficult for most. It takes imagination and optimism! Those are traits of children and can lead to disappointment. So it’s better to trudge through a familiar swamp than look for higher ground. The gamble is just too much. Plain cream cheese will do!
Only you can make the choice to combine yourself with something new. That synthesis will require you to see something different in your mind’s eye. It doesn’t have to be pumpkin spice cream cheese. That doesn’t sound appetizing to me but neither does a future that matches a present that you don’t like.
Mix it up!
Pete
Huryk Unlimited 