illegitimi non carborundum

On Resilience | Mondays with Marcus

At the risk of being cliche, as I often am, I’ve always thought that having a framework, a set of daily(-ish) themes for a blog would make it easier to stick to that sort of schedule. In my infinite cheesiness, alliteration immediately follows. Monday, being the start of the week, always drifted towards “Mindset” but with the recent release of yet another Ryan Holiday book on Stoicism, I’d been thinking about that angle… and here we are.

“Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness—all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.” – Marcus Aurelius

Elements of Resilience

I asked some “tools” for advice on topics for a blog series like this and the idea of resilience came first, which makes a lot of sense, since I’m continually trying to bounce back from not hitting the publishing schedule that I aspire to. I don’t intend to parrot Holiday here, and to be honest, I’ve started all of his books… but I swear there’s always another one before I finish the previous tome… but I digress. I do want to channel other modern “thinkers” that I respect as a way of giving myself a chance to go deeper on the “quote of the week” from dear old Marcus. I’m sure I’ll change it up over time, but would be interested if any readers picked up on the influences.

  • Empathy: I’m a naturally empathic person, to a fault a lot of times. When I read this quote through the lens of empathy, I want to be more inclined to meet the day’s challenges with an understanding that difficult people or attitudes come from misalignment or general misunderstanding. How much can be resolved just by approaching any given scenario with an openness to the notion that… you could be wrong? Even just a willingness to accept “ignorance” over ill-will gets us a lot of the way there in many circumstances.
  • Mental Toughness: It never feels right, but lot of times, we face things we just have to “grin and bear”. Recognizing past choices that led to a present suboptimal outcome can help us better anticipate the next time around. I said I wouldn’t parrot Holiday, but “the obstacle is the way” is staring us in the face here. We should use adversity to build resilience and stay focused on long-term goals.
  • Intrinsic Motivation: Channeling this “virtual” mentor is one of the things that has me cranking on the keyboard at this moment. It’s so easy to look at each bit of negative feedback, the “slings and arrows” of everyday life, as a sign that we should do something, anything else. In reality, we should take those opportunities to take stock, practice empathy with ourselves and be resolved to live our principles; to stay true to what drives us and rise above the noise.
  • Focus and Inner Peace: Finally, I’ll get back to that first word in the list: interference. How many a pleasant, well-aligned morning have fallen apart by an unexpectedly busy inbox? Changing priorities, unexpected feedback, negativity of any degree will challenge even the most prepared or deliberate mind. We cannot languish; we must rebound and focus. Get re-organized and stay centered on what truly matters.

Illegitimi non carborundum – “Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down”

This is clearly what they call cod/dog Latin but I’ve loved it since I first read it long ago. That said, it’s clear that a resilient mindset is as fundamental in our time as it was for Marcus Aurelius. So, take a deep breath… then, embrace empathy, stay focused, be true to yourself, and get ready to face whatever comes your way.

I wish you all a productive and fulfilling week!

ex audiendo doctrina

“From (Passive) Listening to (Active) Learning”

[In the interest of making sure I got a post up today, I transcribed, summarized, and interrogated parts of this post from a voice memo I recorded on the way to work with help from Claude 3.5 Sonnet]

So, I’ve been thinking about my media consumption lately, particularly when it comes to podcasts. You know how it goes – you listen to a great episode, get all fired up about the ideas, and then… what? More often than not, we just move on to the next episode without really doing anything with what we’ve learned.

I had this realization while listening to a podcast featuring Simon Sinek and Scott Galloway. As I was driving to work, it hit me: I’m filling my head with all these ideas, but what am I actually doing with them?

It’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of constant consumption. We download podcasts to our phones, but are we really “downloading” the information to our brains in a way that sticks? Are we taking these concepts we learn and turning them into action?

This got me thinking about reflection. I mean, I’ve got hundreds of podcasts in my feed, but how often do I take the time to really digest what I’ve heard? Maybe instead of rushing to the next episode, I should be listening to impactful ones again, taking notes, or finding ways to apply the ideas in my daily life.

It’s kind of ironic, really. I found myself getting unnecessarily annoyed at a coworker who was just discovering the “power of why” concept, even though Simon Sinek’s TED Talk on that topic is probably 15 years old. But then I had to ask myself – what have I done with that knowledge in the past 15 years?

This blog is part of my attempt to change that pattern. By writing about what I’m consuming, I’m hoping to create a space for reflection and application. But maybe it needs to be more than just typing out my thoughts. Maybe it’s about creating action plans, setting goals based on what I learn, or finding ways to teach others.

Here’s my challenge to myself (and to you, also) – Let’s not just be passive consumers of content. Let’s be active implementers of ideas instead. 

So, the next time you listen to a podcast, read a book, or watch a thought-provoking video, take a moment to ask yourself: “Now what? How can I use this?”

 

Media Diet

The War On The Young with Scott Galloway | A Bit of Optimism Podcast (Simon Sinek) ( / )

‘The Acolyte’ Episode 4 Deep Dive | House of R (The Ringer) ( / )

A slightly cluttered home office in vintage comic art style. A frustrated author looks up from his typewriter, surrounded by discarded drafts

in media res

I looked up the title for this post on Saturday to make sure I was remembering the Latin correctly.

I always “restart” a blog after thinking about it and thinking about it for weeks. Even reviewing past attempts at this one have me scratching my head. Did I really register this domain in 2013?

The day gets away again. We’ll try and do better tomorrow.

Media Diet

The Athletic Football Show’s Football GM Podcast – Players turned coaches, Will Mays tribute and WR Brandon Aiyuk ()

  • Sando & Mueller go “off-topic” to discuss JJ Reddick as the new Lakers coach & the differences between taking over an NBA team vs an NFL team.
  • Mueller, who grew up a Giants fan, speaks fondly of Willie Mays and “grades his tape”, suggesting his athleticism could’ve easily translated to the gridiron.
  • Finally, they talked about contracts, particularly the lack of leverage held by Brandon Aiyuk, who’s been loudly disgruntled this offseason.

This Old Marketing (w/ Robert Rose & Joe Pulizzi) – Is the Smartphone Killing Us? ( / )

  • Pulizzi & Rose discuss the big headline of the week: U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s plea to have a warning label added to social media apps, due to their negative effects on the mental health of young people. They address the challenges this creates for parents, citing examples of phone addiction across society.
  • They also covered Forbes suing Perplexity and how it reflects the breakneck pace of AI innovation.
  • Pulizzi waxed poetic about AMEX Platinum clubs and Rose gave a shout-out to some excellent examples of content marketing, notably Oscar Mayer’s latest ad for a smoked bacon product and Siemens Health’s “Magnetic Stories” campaign.

Hard Fork – A Surgeon General Warning, The Disinformation Battle and The Rise of CryptoPACs ()

TheAIGrid – How To Use New Claude 3.5 (Claude 3.5 Artifacts) Complete Guide With Tips and Tricks [YouTube] ()