Author: Andrea Grassi

These days me and my gf are watching “Suits”, a nice american show, and one of the topics I’ve found recurring into these kind of tv series is integrity.

Even though the plot is quite standard what I don’t like is the fact that many character lose integrity during the show.

It’s quite common, I know, but as I continue to grow up I know how important integrity is.
Being clear, transparent, upfront, stick to the values and not compromising them for easy solutions.

Integrity has a price, but even for that price it’s worth it because it lets you stick to the best possible you.
Integrity is about respect, is about loving, is about being true to your values.

Also, integrity reminds me of the comparison between how the old couple addressed issues vs the new couples.

The new ones think the couple is broken and that they should change partners.
The old couples think the couple is broken and that they should fix it.

Integrity is about not running away, not skipping your work, it’s about doing your best and not regretting it because you’re not comparing the results but the passion you’ve put into it.

If all you think about is results, it’s hard to have so much integrity because you’ll always compare the results and when you lose you’ll only think about what made you lose.
Integrity is about thinking on a larger plan, staying true and on that scale if you compare the way you acted, then you have nothing to fear, to be ashamed, to be fearful, because you did your best.

Today at work I was asked a question, and since I don’t have a good memory I searched in all my inbox.

I wanted to understand how a feature for our program was developed, so I scanned the emails, and between them there were email of other coworkers full of joy, of passion for the work, of dedication.

Today, some of those feelings might have shifted, in only 2 years a radical change has happened.
It has happened day to day, not in a night or two. It happened without us noticing but we did all change.

This reminded me that we got to this and we didn’t learn from it.
We made mistake we are unaware of, we made hard choices and everything slowly shifted.

Searching for a single email showed me an entire course of events that led to this moment, and while I can’t change a thing, I am now aware of it all.

I wonder what would happen if we searched our personal email, if there was a way to “search” our memory. To recall unexpected events from the past.
To seek the beauty we witnessed in the past and learn from it, learn the beauty of life, learn from our mistakes, whatever.

We need more searching, we need to be aware of our past not to fall trapped into it but to move towards a better path.

It’s ok to skip, skip a lesson, or ignore a rule you’ve created, but what happens if you do?

Skipping will become easier and easier, you will lose grip, energy, focus and ability.

Skipping (or quitting) is never advised unless you want to do it indefinitely.

This topic comes from time to time in my mind and the reason is that recently I discovered that, no matter how hard the day is, we still have to do our work.

There might come shitty days, days when your computer it’s slow, days when your connection sucks, and in those days you’ll still have to do the work.

Whatever the work, you’ll have to do it anyway so it would be better to accept it and face it, doing the best you can in the conditions you’re in.

The idea behind writing every requires you to have at least a view on the world to share, a different take, every day.

This doesn’t mean that every content you produce is top-notch, but to make this habit interesting you want at least to be able to write profound things from time to time.

To get good ideas and make good points you need to observe the world, notice the things that happen around you, take notes and share what you learn from it.

It’s very similar to what a comedian does, he/she observe the world and than takes it what he or she likes and thinks it’s funny.
Doing this is awesome, but I personally found out that the more time you spend on a smartphone the less you’re prone to notice things and be a good observer.

You’re less likely to notice because the smartphone takes your time and your attention for a span of time that’s bigger than the use of the smartphone itself.
For example if you think you need to check your email you’re thinking about it before using the smartphone.
Then you use it, for like a few minutes, and then you need some time after using it to be able to interact with the world properly.

We need to be able to detach from this, and share our view with the world, or in a decade or two only a handful of people will be able to be good observer and the quality in the world will be much, much lower.