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Sometimes it’s easy to lull ourselves into that comfortable mindset that our day-to-day decisions only impact us — that it doesn’t really matter what we do, because the effects of our choices start and end with us. I think, with rare exception, that’s actually pretty far from the case. Many of choices we make day-to-day have very real impact on others. For examples, in no particular order: Choosing to like and share a piece of spurious content (unverified news claims, convincing misinformation, etc.) might end up steering dozens or hundreds of people’s worldviews further from Truth when your recommendation shows up in their feed. Choosing to bring cloth bags to the grocery store instead of using single-use plastic can play a part of preventing microplastics buildup in others’ bodies, potentially preventing future disease. Choosing to stay up late instead of getting proper rest may result in you being exhausted and missing the opportunity to speak a word of encouragement that might otherwise change somebody’s day/life. Choosing to ride a bike instead of drive your car can help slow damage to our atmosphere, which can help ameliorate a potential future refugee crisis. Choosing to put in the difficult emotional and administrative work of abstaining from culturally accepted but toxic “normals” (Social Media? Gossip? Whichever other socially accepted but harmful addiction of many you want to name), can unlock the capacity in those around you to step into the same freedom when they hear your story. In economics, these otherwise unmeasured second-order side effects are called “externalities”. They’re very real effects, but hard to measure because they’re not immediately visible to us when we look at the direct impacts of an action. ...

“Sometimes a hypocrite is nothing more than a man in the process of changing.” ~ Brandon Sanderson in Oathbringer Been loving this quote I read few weeks ago. I’ve found it can so applicable, both for helping us approach ourselves with grace when we don’t show up the way we need to, and for approaching others who don’t appear to be acting in line with their stated values. There are indeed times when hypocrisy needs to be called out for what it is, because one’s words and one’s deeds are blatantly contrary, actively pointing in opposite directions. If there is no evidence someone wants to rectify a clear hypocrisy in their life, that is one thing. ...

You’re creative. Whether you feel that’s true or not, you have a creative gift that is uniquely you. So, here is a challenge for you: Go, create something, today. Bake something, write something, draw something, design something, build something, record something… and put it out there! There are people who love what you do and want more of what you’ve created in their lives. There are people whose day would be better for them reading, listening to, watching, tasting, using, or simply having something that you created with them in mind. ...

We all have todo lists — commitments, tasks, obligations — things we’ve given our YES to. And often that list is overwhelming. In times like that, clarifying our NOs may be even more important than trying to power through our YESs. We can’t be everywhere, and we can’t do everything, as much as we might aspire to. But, we can strengthen and honor that which has our YES by getting clear on what we have said NO to, and not letting ourselves feel obligated or distracted by those NOs. ...

Nutritionally, the idea is fairly intuitive: Eat junk, and our bodies reflect that we’ve been eating junk. Eat clean, and our bodies eventually look more lean. Too rarely do we let that idea jump from body to mind, but that’s an apt and important jump. Cognatively, we are what we consume: what we watch, read, listen to, and think. Is your informational diet helping you become who you want to be? ...

With exceedingly rare exception, you don’t know the full story. How could you? It involved multiple people with highly complex and intricate lives, who have each faced unique challenges and hardships that you’ll never know. You don’t know what drove them, and you don’t know what drives them. There is still a place for anger — injustice rightly catalyzes it. But if we want to see positive change, every drop of anger needs to be tempered with at least 10 drops of empathy. ...

Years ago I came to a conclusion I return to often: People tend to act reasonably in accordance with the world they’ve be presented with. In this age of polarization and anger (and now, war), I find that phrase all the more potent. Who is someone who is doing something you disagree with? It’s important to remember that their worldview generally feels cohesive and sound to them according to their narrative, the things they’ve read, and the experiences they’ve lived. And that, generally speaking, the actions they are taking tend to line up really well with that worldview. ...

James Clear has a quote that I deeply appreciate: “Where you spend your attention is where you spend your life.” 1 I come back to this quote regularly. Attention = life We rightly value life deeply, spending billions of dollars every year on medical treatments to increase health and physical life. What if we started caring about our attention the same way? What if we started being as purposeful about what we let into our ears, eyes, and mind as we are about what food and drink we let into our mouths? ...

Skill and concern mixed together can be powerful, and there are people today with seemingly more of both than ever. In almost any field you can list, you will be able to find someone who is at least 10x more skilled than you, and 10x more concerned than you are. I think it’s worth learning from those people. How does someone 10x as concerned as you approach the problem you’re facing when they have the skills to do something about it? ...

The process of being lead out of deception can be painful and hard. The status quo is the status quo for a reason: it’s more comfortable than the alternative. Lies can make us feel warm and fuzzy; but they are still lies. If we truly want freedom, there’s only one option: Only the Truth sets us free