Do things deteriorate gradually?

Do they get worse suddenly, in steps?

What triggers deterioration?

We forecast linear trajectories.

While in reality they hardly exist.

There are tipping points or sudden events.

Things will deteriorate in sudden moves.

We are forever caught off guard.

Expect the unexpected.

Are you sometimes at your Wits' end?

How does that feel like?

What do you do?

When we are at our Wits' end, we get frustrated.

We can even get angry and lash out.

When your wits have ended get some others'.

Sometimes the solution is easy, not for you, but for someone else.

Call the right person.

How well do you keep your things in order?

What happens when they are unorderly?

How do other people react to order or unorder?

How you keep your things sets the tone.

How people perceive the importance of order.

Your friends, business partners, employees or contractors.

If you seem unorderly, so will they be working with you.

If they are, it causes trouble for you down the road.

Are your energy levels in balance?

How much energy are you exerting every week?

How much energy are you gaining every week?

Where will a disbalance bring you?

When we burn out we exert more than we gain.

What is costing you energy?

What is gaining you energy?

Limit the first and increase the second.

Say more yes to what energizes you and more no to what exhausts you.

Do you tend to intervene?

Why do you do it?

What is your goal?

To what degree do you intervene?

When do you do it?

Interventions need to be well thought through.

Sometimes we need to intervene.

But too much will have the opposite effect.

We intervene to improve a situation.

But who is the improvement for?

The interventionist or the intervened?

Do you need to see things for yourself?

Do you struggle to accept other people's stories?

Do you struggle to understand their perspectives?

We all have biases through which we filter the world.

We all have our own unique perspective.

This can mean, that we will need to see things for ourselves.

Only then can you form an opinion and a decision.

Are you lucky?

Do you know what you are looking for?

Are you ready to seize the right opportunities?

Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity. - Seneca

You should internalize what you seek.

You should remove all that is unnecessary.

Only then are you ready to seize opportunities when they arise.

Then you will maximize the probability of being lucky.

Are you comfortable?

Is anything challenging you?

Do you like unpredictable events?

The world is full of random events.

The world is full of challenges.

We should challenge ourselves regularly.

But just the right amount to recover easily.

Training ourselves and improving is paramount.

There will be an event one day to knock you out, otherwise.

Do you shut down communication with people?

For what reasons?

What is your goal behind it?

How has it played out for you in the past?

Shutting down communication is a two-edged sword.

Sometimes it is the right move, sometimes it is a bad idea.

If you are not sure, keep communication open.

It keeps information coming in.

Only shut down if it serves to protect your boundaries.

What do you do when you get frustrated?

Or when you are exhausted?

Which habits do you have?

Do you doom scroll?

Do you stare into a corner?

Do you start binge eating?

What useful habit could you establish instead?

Take a nap, read a book, take a walk, or call a friend.

It is that simple.

Have you experienced stagnation?

How do you react and respond to it?

How do you feel when it happens?

What about progress?

We tend to prefer progress to stagnation.

Stagnation is draining and hard.

Also, it is part of life.

There cannot be progress without stagnation.

Learn to work with and enjoy both.

Do you admit not knowing?

When you are the expert?

When you are asked in public?

When you want to impress?

Or do you ramble on about something?

We often try to answer everything.

Sometimes you just do not know.

If you try to hide it, people notice.

Be honest with your knowledge.

You cannot know everything.

How do you package your ideas?

Which stories can you use?

Which analogies can you use?

Which structure is best?

The way you package your ideas is key.

It is the highest form of communication.

Tell a well-structured and relatable story.

And the world is yours.

Do you have the end in mind?

When you start a project?

When you start a career?

When you engage in a relationship?

Or do you start things out of curiosity?

Or out of interest?

Imagining what it should be like can stress you.

On the other hand without a goal in mind you may get lost.

Don't let either of the two hold you back!

Balance is the key.

What motivates you?

Do rewards motivate you?

What drives your motivation?

There are four ingredients to motivation.

Intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards.

Internal drivers and external drivers.

Which is more important?

They all are important.

To perform well for sustained periods of time,

you need to optimize for all four.

Do you have a love affair with the unfolding present moment?

Does unpredictability make you anxious?

Do past events pull at you?

Embrace uncertainty.

Fall in love with it.

Find the opportunity in what life throws at you.

Enjoy the ride for it is finite.

How do you react to no-shows?

Do you accept it?

Do you get angry?

Do you feel not valued?

Do you have compassion for no-shows?

A person might not show up for many reasons.

Some reasons afford compassion.

Some reasons afford anger and consequences.

Never should it make you feel worthless.

Are you creating momentum?

How can you increase momentum?

Are you stuck in static situations?

How can you add momentum there?

Creating momentum is crucial.

Terrible situations with momentum can trump,

relaxed situations with no movement.

Go where the momentum happens.

You are asked to take on a responsibility.

Should you take on the responsibility?

Do you want to take it on?

What is the correct way of taking it on?

When you are asked to take on responsibility,

find out what the correct way is.

What contracts are needed?

Which procedures need following?

Responsibility brings risks, so consider it accordingly.

Do you see an opportunity with amazing potential?

Do you also see the potential downsides?

Or do you see no downsides?

Upside and downside tend to be in balance.

If the upside is huge, so is the downside.

If there is little downside, then there is little upside.

Great asymmetric opportunities are very rare.

Rare, difficult to spot or to create.

Most are bad ones, with huge downsides, and little upsides.