Mindset

Training Wheels

As a child, riding a bike was not as easy as it looked. Fortunately, early excitement was bolstered by the comfort of training wheels. These stabilizers provided balance but eventually became self-limiting. Removing training wheels took only a minute, but then fear set in. Staying upright, maintaining speed, avoiding obstacles, and falling without getting hurt felt overwhelming. Even with support from others, success seemed out of reach, until it clicked. Like magic, trepidation transformed into gliding independence.

Training wheels remind us that contentment can lead to complacency. Being content without complacency is a constant battle. One day you’re grateful for all that is, the next you’re feeling oddly stuck. Perhaps this is because the more complacent we become, the more rigid we get. This rigidity then devolves into a stronger fear of change. When the movement of change becomes associated with risk, it’s common to feel stuck, stagnant, or even irrelevant. When training wheels are holding you back, initiative sets you free and persistence keeps us moving. As movement separates from risk, we’re free to shift gears and ride toward next.

Brewed From Within
#100 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago

Dark Matter

Invisible forces look like nothing, and anything that is so inconspicuous will receive less attention, yet the unseen fills our universe and impacts everything.

The gravitational effects of dark matter can also be a brainy comparison for misguiding mindsets or bad experiences that have altered our own trajectory. Traps await us at every turn, but poor habits, surprising disappointments, unhealthy relationships, and mysterious feelings are not uncommon.

No matter how your own dark matter manifests itself, the gravity it wields will direct the light in your life.

When energy levels have been low for too long, identify the dark matter that may be pulling you in the wrong direction. Even the slightest reduction on a negative charge opens a void that welcomes positive growth.

Brewed From Within
#109 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago

Serendipitist

Do things always seem to work out for you?

Internal narratives and external experiences make the cultural consequences of serendipity hard to refute. Serendipity may be pseudoscientific, but things we dedicate attention to will attract more of the same.

The appetite for welcoming serendipitous collisions is often enhanced by the optimism that an entrepreneurial lifestyle constructs. No matter the source or how often stars align, many of us are or have the potential to be a serendipitist.

Serendipitists seek adventures that invite, sometimes even require, different layers of serendipity. The extent to which you control what you’re able to control (a dichotomy within stoicism) while also letting the winds of happenstance guide you through a sense of abundance determines how often we experience this charming phenomenon.

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What’s normal for a spider is chaos for the fly.

Leaders who manifest serendipity are often called lucky. Both require proficient preparation, openness, and timeliness, but serendipity is deeper. It calls for earned trust and perseverance. Serendipitists realize good fortune is not an accident and they share this mantra in their creative practice.

Serendipitists show up.
Serendipitists say yes more often.
Serendipitists assume positive intent.
Serendipitists seek to understand.
Serendipitists are empathetic.
Serendipitists stay curious.
Serendipitists are generous.
Serendipitists kill with kindness.
Serendipitists fuel positive change.
Serendipitists have fun and die empty.
Serendipitists play long-term games.
Serendipitists are consistent.

When you sense serendipity, recognize the blessings that come from this positivity we squeeze into the universe. As we keep serendipity brewing, we make new dots to connect and can invite others to turn up their own serendipity even more.

Brewed From Within
#112 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago

Anticipation

The present is a gift, but it often feels like a window that reflects past experiences into what may come next.

For those of us who like to build, we can feel lazy if we’re not constantly evolving from things we’ve learned in the past while also actively planning for the future. While staying in the moment provides peace and limitless space to appreciate the entire spectrum of now, mashing this mindfulness with an ability to explore and create fresh things is healthy. It can also create a sense of anticipation.

Anticipation often arises as we try something new. Whether it be from the first day of school, a first date, booking travel, having a baby, or the unknowns in building a business, traversing apprehension is rewarded by experiential wisdom that comes from navigating the actions we take.

Sometimes anticipation can be confused with worrying. It’s different. Worrying is agreeing to be unhappy until the present delivers whatever originally concerned you. These feelings do have one thing in common: They are both focused on the future. That’s why anticipation shares an orbit with worrying. A key dissimilarity are the positive sides of anticipation.

One positive effect of anticipation is how it can help guide proper planning. Creating moments in a business that allow the team to feel anticipation can blend purpose, and over time this converts to a team with shared convictions. When a sustained team finds joy in their mission, progress is felt and the wild card of persistence is up for grabs.

Distractions are impossible to avoid, and agitation is hard to fend off during tough times, but the Canadian saying, “Keep your stick on the ice,” reminds us to chill, keep it simple, and be ready for anything. With our sticks on the ice, we embrace challenges, bend without breaking, push through the storm, and appreciate what makes good times great. Business potential awaits when we say yes to adventure, even when business is not on our agenda.

In business and in life, a strategic effort up front, without overdoing it or getting caught up in things you can’t control, allows the anticipation of a future moment to land exactly the way it was meant to be.

Brewed From Within
#93 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago

Hybridize

Remember being a kid and waking up to a winter wonderland? Snow day! Fresh powder means mayhem for many, but all that mattered back then was how quickly we could get outside to enjoy the day’s frosty gift. After a rushed breakfast, twas time to mint snow angels, roll up a snowman, and hit the sledding hill.

As we arrived atop the neighborhood glacier, the interactions of a temporary community began to form. The actors were always different yet played traditional roles. First-time sledders were excited but timid. Action junkies pushed to go faster, with adults on snow patrol.

Among the common players, hybrids presented an interesting twist. These were the children who appreciated exhilarating activity but also united others by creating space to ensure newcomers were safe and having fun too. There was an empathetic maturity in their welcoming enthusiasm.

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Successful adults do not lose their childhood spirit.

Fast forward, and hybrids continue to bring us together. Teachers inspire the next generation and encourage students to think differently. Technologists translate nerd to normal. Intrapreneurs shepherd positive change inside existing organizations. Founders use existing resources to create new realities and community builders act like spiders, weaving a web, tightening its connections, and activating the vibrations of opportunity to proactively push progress.

There are many other types of hybrids who inclusively identify all that may be possible. Leaders like this welcome a full spectrum of interactions between everything. They are nimble, encourage complexity, and mobilize diverse perspectives to facilitate more relevant, long-lasting impact.

For the hybrids among us, thank you. Stay curious, don’t underestimate your limitless value, and bring others along for the ride to avoid obstacles over time.

For those who may not feel such a unifying spirit, continue to lead the tribes you trust but know that fresh opportunity awaits the intellectually humble. Avoid the temptation to simplify everything and invite doubt. This open-minded empathy makes things more interesting and will unlock fresh ways for those you care about to achieve even more.

Brewed From Within
#71 📖 Technology

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The original riff, as seen in comments, included this 2021 year-end Tweetstorm and introduced a linked library to explore all that became Roasted Reflections (2020-2025).

By Ben McDougal, ago