Change the world through stories

• “words are powerful, but more so when organized to tell stories. And stories, because of their power, demanded rigorous reading, interpretation, and investigation.”
• “The systems we oppose are systems of oppression, and thus inherently systems of cowardice. They work best in the dark, their essence tucked away and unexamined…”
• "The arts tell us what is possible and what is not, because, among other things, they tell us who is human and who is not."
• “History is not inert but contains within it a story that implicates or justifies political order. … Some of us see the lack of policy change and wonder if the movement itself was futile. But policy change is an end point, not an origin. The cradle of material change is in our imagination and ideas. … we have the burden of crafting new language and stories that allow people to imagine that new policies are possible.”

• What drives your forward progress? Anxiety and insecurity can be a powerful motivator. When that energy is directed towards a meaningful goal or accomplishments, it can provide the fuel and power for changing the world. But without proper steering, it can drive you in circles very fast (looping on negative thoughts, blaming yourself for everything) and make zero progress, like driving around a racetrack loop repeating the same lap over and over. And it will have negative physical and emotional effects that can lead to burnout, as it did for me. So how will you choose a direction to harness your energy?
• Thoughtfully choosing what to do is how you will benefit from artificial intelligence. The hard part is no longer converting ideas into reality, as AI can help you do that. The hard part will be choosing what to do with these capabilities. What will have the impact you intend? Fortunately, we can learn from people who have developed this skill - we call them executives. Because they work through others, they choose between competing possibilities and then have their teams execute on those choices. By studying how executives think, we can learn how to effectively make tradeoffs and value-based decisions to maximize impact with the resources we have available (including AI).
• What will you stop doing to start something new? As people think about their plans for next year (including New Year's resolutions), they often think about what they want more of. But that ignores the constraint that we have limited time and attention. If we want to do more of something, that means doing less of something else. It helps to clearly make the tradeoff decision of what you are willing to give up to get the new thing you want.
• Size your bets by investing your time and resources proportional to riskiness. Size your bets is a poker term. In poker, you can play your hand perfectly and still lose due to an unlucky card turning up. Poker players adjust their bets accordingly to account for that element of uncertainty and luck. Business executives do the same thing. For projects in the idea phase, they invest only a small amount, just enough to gather more information and reduce the riskiness. Each subsequent investment can be larger because the chance of success is higher. You can apply the same thinking to your own life to diversify your work "portfolio" and place more bets.

• I ran a free 30-minute "Lightning Lesson" webinar last week to share how to apply an executive mindset to your career and goals for 2025. You can watch the recording at https://maven.com/p/071d20/become-an-executive-in-2025.
• I appeared on the Gen X Shift podcast with Michele Walter. We covered a lot of ground as we talked for almost two hours about navigating my career and parenthood, and went deep on a few topics. Check it out!

• The Divine Discontent, by Celine Nguyen, resonated with me, as I often feel this pull to take on new challenges even though they can leave me dissatisfied.

• Similarly, Dan Shipper explores the question How hard should I push myself? "Some of my peak work moments have come when I’ve pushed myself to a place where I didn’t think I could go. We all have more ability to adapt to stress and pressure than we think we do. ... On the other hand, I want to be kind to myself. I question how much the drive to push myself is to make up for something that I feel is missing or inadequate—and whether pushing myself will fill the hole." Drawing on the work of Robert Sapolsky, Shipper recommend increasing your sense of control and predictability, create outlets for frustration, and find social support. Basic recommendations but a good reminder!
• There's a place for everyone, by Adam Mastroianni, who believes "every person has a purpose, nobody is superfluous or redundant." He goes on to make the case that our culture doesn't have the support structure or belief systems to enable people to find their place, and the consequences of that: "When people fail to find their niche, and when we fail to help them find it, we don’t just suffer from their absence. We also suffer from their presence in the wrong place. People often end up doing awful things because they never figured out what else to do."