Trust vs control

When can you trust?

When do you need to control?

When do you need to check?

How do you know if to trust or control?

We have all trusted too soon at some point.

We have all been controlling at some point.

Sometimes we trust, when we should have checked.

Sometimes we double-check, where we should have trusted.

This is a non-binary game.

We will get it wrong regularly.

Just get it right more often.

Useless things

Do you own useless things?

How useless are they?

What could you use them for?

Why still have them if there is nothing?

We all own seemingly useless things.

Their intended use has no value to us.

But they tend to have other uses,

uses that are not immediately obvious.

An old park bench and some firewood,

can make a wonderful shelf.

Holding on too long

How long do you hold onto things?

At what point do you let go?

What is your criteria for holding on?

How does it feel to give them away?

Many of us have more possessions than we need.

We buy too readily upon a whim.

We give it value according to the price.

Even if we have no need, we hoard them.

Every thing is a burden, a mental load.

Be quicker in gifting or selling them,

before they turn into trash, before it is too late.

Leaving behind

How do you leave things behind?

Do you prepare them for a revisit?

How orderly do you depart?

What will the next person find?

Some of us leave things in an orderly fashion.

Places, relationships, projects, etc.

Some of us leave things in a mess.

Most of us have done it both.

You never know if you might revisit.

Leaving a mess can bite you in the future.

Always leave orderly, whatever it is.

Surrounded by addiction

What are you addicted to?

Why do you keep doing it?

What would life be like without?

Are you sure there is nothing?

Addictive things surround us.

Substances, games, foods, etc.

Many become an overbearing habit.

The habit stops serving us, it becomes destructive.

Question the things you regularly do and consume.

What purpose do they serve?

Performance vs Fun

How important is performance for you?

How important is fun for you?

Are they linked together for you?

Or can you have one without the other?

We all love to perform well.

And we all love to have fun.

Yet, we can have one without the other.

We need to perform without any fun.

We can have amazing fun with bad performance.

Make sure to know when which matters more.

Give it your all

How often do you give your best?

When you don’t, why?

When you do, why?

What do you need to always do?

We all struggle to try hard at times.

When things are not like we envision.

When we are tiered and depleted.

When we do not feel valued.

What is your expectation of yourself?

That is all that matters.

Low hanging fruit

Which fruit do you harvest first?

What criteria do you apply?

Is quality or simplicity more important?

Is it possible to be doing both?

We all love to pick the low-hanging fruit,

for it is effortless and quick.

But do you only pick the ripe ones?

Or do you pick them all?

Looking at the short term makes sense,

but only if quality is not compromised.

Often, the high-hanging fruit is ripe sooner.

Great Plan Gone Bad

How often does a great plan turn bad?

How obvious is it in hindsight?

What were your assumptions?

What tends to go wrong?

Plans seem bulletproof on paper.

Till they meet reality, and evaporate.

To plan, we research, think, and make assumptions.

All of it can be flawed, deeply.

Dreams unfollowed

When are you ready?

Why are you worried?

Why do you need more time?

What is the worst that can happen?

We all have dreams.

Dreams that need us to start.

Yet, we never feel quite ready.

That is the paradox.

You need to start without readiness.

Otherwise, dreams will stay just that, dreams.

Revisiting old habits

When did you last revisit an old habit?

How did it feel when you did?

Why is the habit now an old habit?

What other habits could you change?

Some habits are better left unvisited.

For some others, it is powerful to revisit.

Often, we learn that we miss it.

More often, we remember why we stopped it.

Gutbrain

How healthy is your gut?

How well can you concentrate?

What role does your gut play there?

How important is gut health to you?

Our body is a complex system.

Our gut plays a big role in performance.

Most of us ignore this.

What do you feed your body?

Bad fuel and a weak engine make for bad performance.

Other’s Promises

How often do you need to deliver?

Deliver on other people’s promises?

Why does this happen?

How can you reduce this?

Doing work that others promise,

happens more often than we wish.

Or pushing to meet a deadline,

that was not discussed with you.

Defending your boundaries strictly helps.

Clear Communication is another.

Forgiveness

How easily can you forgive?

What do you need to forgive?

When can you forgive?

Can you forgive unconditionally?

We all need to learn to forgive.

We all have specific needs for it.

We all have individual situations.

It depends also on the other party.

Unconditional forgiveness is the holy grail.

Striving for it is a worthy goal.

Price-Performance

How well do you gauge the price-performance ratio?

How do you define price?

How do you define performance?

How often is a good deal a horrible deal?

Price-Performance seems straightforward.

The price can be more than just money.

Performance is what you get.

Defining performance is individual.

Not everything that is important can be measured.

What is freedom worth?

What is time worth?

Confidence Smoke

How do you react to confident people?

How easily do you believe them?

How easily can they intimidate you?

How often do people cover up through confidence?

Confidence is used to hide incompetence,

mistakes, malicious intent, immorality,…

Confidence is used as a smoke screen.

Don’t let someone’s confidence blind you.

Confidence can be founded, but often unfounded.

Fact-checking is essential, always and ever.

Off-Limit Topics

What are your off-limits topics?

When are these topics off-limits?

Who are they off-limits to?

Why do you have them off-limits?

We all have topics we'd rather not speak about.

Some are in general off-limits,

Some are only off-limits at certain times,

Some are only off-limits to certain people.

To agree to disagree is a powerful mindset.

Use it more often and save some relationships.

Consistency and Frustration

How consistent are you?

How often does frustration win?

What is the output of consistency?

What is the output of frustration?

Can you use frustration to fuel consistency?

To build things, consistency is key.

Every obstacle will bring frustration.

To build, we need to overcome obstacles.

It is inevitable to have consistency without frustration.

So learn how to use frustration to your advantage.

Culture Processes

How often do you work in different cultures?

How different are they from yours?

How well can you navigate them?

How patient are you?

While working, we will meet many different cultures.

Even in the country you are in.

Some work harder,

some work smarter,

some take it with more humour.

Whatever the difference, they all have strengths.

And they all have weaknesses.

Patience is your best friend.

Food death

How much do you eat?

When do you tend to overeat?

How often does it happen?

Why does it tend to happen?

We all overeat sometimes.

For some, it is the usual.

For some, it is a rare occasion.

Greed, miscalculation, spur of the moment.

Overeating is not healthy.

You have less energy.

You sleep worse.

You digest less efficiently.

Why do it?