Yesterday, the Air Conditioning folks came to address a problem with may AC system. They spent a couple of hours trying to figure it out, but eventually told me that they’ll need to come back Saturday or Monday, two or four days after.

They proceeded to leave, but what I didn’t realize is that they left the AC engine on, asking me (because I didn’t realize it was on) to not turn the electricity off.

Only at night I realized the AC was placed on the floor which made a lot of noise to us when sleeping. 

Things like these, things we can’t change, are the ones that test you the most. Because we’re left with wanting a solution, but with nothing we can actually do.
It’s when our calm is forged, it’s when we need to figure out a way to be, again, in control of us, while -not- being in control of what’s happening.

When traveling, sometimes it’s good to enjoy the serendipity. To enter a restaurant without looking at the reviews, to walk away from the beaten path.

Enjoy it. Even if it doesn’t have 5 stars reviews, if you like it, who cares?

As if the reviews would make our lives better, they don’t. The memory we create are the ones where we are together. It’s not the place, it’s the people.

Yes, a nice restaurant is great, but even a bad restaurant can give you a great story to tell.

Enjoy both.

Life will get in your way. Some days you won’t sleep, some days you will have more things to do and fail at doing them.

Life will always flow, and so will you. You will dive, surf, play in life. Every day, every moment, every second.

The detours shouldn’t stop you, the fatigue shouldn’t stop you. That’s why, whatever happens, you should always continue what you’re doing, keeping your habits and adapting them to the ever-changing flow of life.

But never, never stop.

There are some magical times when life happens, and you’re just there, somewhat ready to enjoy it.

Yesterday I was having lunch with my friends in a house in the mountains. We had fun and enjoyed the lunch.
After everything was over when everyone left, and I was ready to leave, I realized I lost my headphones.

I went back to the house searching for them, nothing, so I took my daughter, and we walked up on the hills, on a path I did in the morning, to see if I lost them there.
The grass was of a bright green, thanks to the rain in the morning, the sun was setting, and the light was slowly turning into a warm orange, signaling that the dusk was about to happen. 
I was there, alone, in the silence of the forest, looking at this beautiful sight with her and I realized that the headphones I lost may have been a great opportunity to live that moment, which I would have lost otherwise.

Life happens, that’s the beauty of life. But it’s up to us to be ready to embrace it.

It’s nice to have rules, but rules, and more generally the expectations on our life, can be detrimental.

What if you cannot workout the day you planned? What if there is something more important in your life that will make you skip your diet?

Rules, to me, are a guide across many years of work. They should be respected as much as possible, but shouldn’t be stressed too much because life can get in the way.
And when it gets in the way, we don’t have the power to stop it. 

Either we accept it with a smile, bend the rules and move on, or we are forced to do it anyway and have a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Watch out for the things you do every day. Think about them deeply because they have the power to profoundly impact your life.
Even if they are small, they are, in fact, a definition of you, and a trajectory for what you can be.

Are you working out frequently? Cooking frequently? Eating frequently?

Each of those will lead to different outcomes.

Also, “frequently” doesn’t mean that it takes a lot of time. You might do a 5-minute workout every day. 
It’s not much, but over 5 years it can become life-changing.

The things we do every day are things that change us little bit little, like the sea forms the cliffs. 

Yesterday I was speaking to an old friend and I realized how important our approach is when dealing with difficult situations.

If we let our fear take control, if we feel wounded after an attack (work or personal), then we lose part of the mental clarity required to go forward.

We need to protect our core, to detach, so we can see and think clearly.

That is not easy. Some people, like my friend, have an unshakable core, life can throw anything at them, life can surround them with terrible people, they’d still be able to work at 100% their efficiency.

Other people get distracted, annoyed, they heat up when something goes wrong or if they get a bad reaction from someone. 

This limits their ability to pursue what they want and work efficiently, but more importantly, peacefully.

Because it’s not about working better, living better. It’s about being in peace with the world, even if something goes wrong, even if someone is misbehaving. 

That is, to me, a strong inner core.

You ask a friend for some advice about how to implement a test in your code.

Your brilliant friend will draft a great example of a test, detailing all the information so that you can actually copy their idea to use it.

Would you trust their code?

I would probably not. I’d double-check if they understood my request and see if the code might work as expected.

Or let’s imagine a different scenario: You ask a friend about some historical fact.

They start telling you countless things, but you’re uncertain if those are all entirely true. 

To which extent do you trust them?

Here’s the thing with ChatGPT: Currently, it’s like your friend.  It can be right or wrong, but we shouldn’t assume it’s always right. We should double-check when possible and trust it like we would trust anyone. 

How many seconds can you keep your eyes entirely focused, still, while talking to someone?

Yesterday I was watching a video of Mark Walberg talking to a kid and one thing that stood out for me was how much focus he was able to devote to the kid.
100% of his attention.

He didn’t look away, he didn’t check with other people, he didn’t look back. His head and his gaze was still, looking at the small kid, waiting for his reply.How often do we focus like this? Not at work, but when talking to others. How often do we devote our entire attention to the other, to see them, to help them, to hear them? 

I find myself often moving my gaze, entertaining myself with watching other things while I talk, or even think of other topics.

How would your approach to listening to others change, if you were to shift your focus to them this way?

No matter the weather, life, or your appointments, try to always enjoy the ride and look out of the window.