Part of the feelings & reasoning that went into the DiamondBack/West Arête decision
Long-term happiness on the job comes most easily where one has mastered 80% of the job at hand and is faced with about 20% new and challenging material. Mastery comes from extended practice, which is only possible with time and a mind to improve. Time and a mind to improve come from being committed to a job. (Same with a marriage.) Plus, being committed to a job in and of itself results in happiness simply because you’re not looking elsewhere.
So, it boiled down to: At which company will I have the easiest time keeping an active commitment to my post? That answer was easy: The place I’ve already helped build, the place that is familiar, the place that allows me to work from home and lets me dice my vacation time up into minutes that I can take virtually whenever I want.
It occurs to me for perhaps the first time ever that going for emotional connection is a worthy goal in life. Like, that should be the primary thing I’m trying to do with the people closest to me.
My decisions on what (single) project to undertake next should always come down to where my proclivities, desires, joys, happiness, what enjoy doing and can get happily lost in doing meets up with the supreme joy of others and the pleasure of God.
One thing bringing Moshulu (the cat) into our family and shifting gears into backyard hens work have done is make me realize that I don’t respond favorably to change of my home life. Eventually, I can end up finding great value in those changes, but initially, my soul is usually against.
I concluded last night that it’s my email inbox is a culprit in making my leisure disappear. In light of that, I hereby resolve to:
- Spend no more than twenty minutes every other day zapping emails.
- Default to using the phone instead of email to communication.
Give to those who ask of you doesn’t apply merely to money. It also applies to time, and it’s a fine guiding principle to those who ask to hang out with me.
How do you decide between living an ordinary life extraordinarily (i.e., what I’m attempting with my status quo) and making extraordinary choices that lead to living in extraordinary circumstances (e.g., moving to Fishtown). The latter calls, but very indistinctly.
A note on setting Buy It Now prices on eBay: Match the highest price among recently sold same items in similar condition. No need to discount.
“I need a carrot.”
— Sullivan, reaching into the fridge to grab the bag of baby carrots after eating a sour gumball for the first time
The only way to master something or become an expert in something is to practice and dig, dig, dig. The sooner I start doing this, the sooner I get happier about my skill set.
Yoga. Feels. So good. I must incorporate it more into my life.
Carla: Why were you acting so weird?
Scott: What do you mean? I wasn’t acting weird: I was being MYSELF!
“Why would we compost them when I can convert them directly into biochemical energy?”
— Scott, answering Carla as to why he was going to eat a bag of freezer-burnt pierogies that Abram left us when he moved out
“I have misgivings about doing anything, because it means I’m not doing everything else.”
— Scott, in the middle of preparing stuff for bulk trash pick-up
“I need to bring the flashlight outside… because there are some dark spots.”
— Sullivan, getting ready to go to Spring Creek Park during daylight hours