Can you make it worse?

Is there anything you can do right now that would impede progress, degrade quality, or simply make the current situation worse? Is there a way you could shift perceptions to make people more distraught, less hopeful, or even panicked? If it’s so easy to accomplish worse, why do we persist in believing we don’t have the power to make things better?

A persistent practice of being mindful

Change the people we interact with, the media we consume, and the attention we offer. Not all at once, but as a habit, a persistent practice of being mindful about the triggers and amplifiers we consume. If you’re not happy with what your attention is bringing you, you can change it. We become what we do, but before we do, we focus. And the freedom and responsibility of that focus belong to us.

Good news is always quieter than bad news

Negative examples always spread farther and faster than positive examples. In a world this big, you'll find at least one negative example every day. Don't let the existence of a bad example ruin your faith in the world. Good news is always quieter than bad news. Good behavior rarely stirs the pot or ignites emotion. But no matter. We still need role models. Continue living the best way you know how.

When you have worked through failures

Trust in yourself is not only built through successful repetitions, but also through failed ones. When you have worked through failures in the past, you fear them less in the future. You know you can bounce back. Successful repetitions build competence. Failed repetitions build resilience.

Even our smallest actions have potential for great change

Rather than feel impotent and useless, you must come to terms with the fact that as a human being you are infinitely powerful, and take responsibility for this tremendous power. Even our smallest actions have potential for great change, positively or negatively, and the way in which we all conduct ourselves within the world means something. You are anything but impotent, you are, in fact, exquisitely and frighteningly dynamic, as are we all, and with all respect you have an obligation to stand up and take responsibility for that potential. It is your most ordinary and urgent duty.

Unexpected forms of generosity

Being early can be a form of generosity. You wait, so they don't have to. Leaving something unsaid can be a form of generosity. You don't always need the last word. Delivering your work on time can be a form of generosity. You make life easier for everyone downstream. Not taking things personally can be a form of generosity. You give people the space to say things imperfectly.

Good work can be good without being popular

Popularity is easy to measure. Good, not so much. Setting out to make something popular requires only a focus on the crowd and on the moment. Most pop music is popular simply because that’s what it was built to do. Good work can be good without being popular. And so the two goals aren’t easily aligned. It helps to begin by becoming comfortable with what good feels like to you. Because conflating it with popular is a trap.