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58 Things I Know at 58

In recognition of the end of my 58th year on this planet and the beginning of my 59th (The way we count age is strange in that we mark the end of a year instead of the beginning — i.e. We turn 1 years old at the end of our first year), here are 58 off the things I’ve learned thus far — all culled from the archives of this blog (this is why blogging matters — it is a record of personal knowledge)…

  1. Art is history
  2. Sometimes life sends you back to where you began so you can choose a different path forward.
  3. The most important lessons in life can’t be taught. Only learned.
  4. Surround yourself with women smarter than you and listen to them. Listening to women is a superpower.
  5. When someone uses the phrase, “With all due respect” don’t plan to receive any because they believe you are due none.
  6. Ignore the daily ups/downs of the market. Measure the trends over years..
  7. The real drivers of success and sustainability for any company or organization (or individual) won’t appear on a balance sheet.
  8. I’ve reached “jeans are no longer my default, chinos are” years old.
  9. Heads on pikes outside the gates of a city work best when they are tall enough for the heads to be seen inside the gates of the city.
  10. Cooking good, real, food for my family is a love language.
  11. There is no us and them
  12. Back up the digital with the physical.
  13. Paper is always DRM free
  14. This is life. This is what matters.
  15. I don’t like to dwell on what ifs when there is so much here now to choose from.
  16. Trust is, quite literally, the glue that holds society together.
  17. There are two questions that drive us all: Is this all there is? Is this all I am?
  18. The problem with common sense is that it isn’t all that common and many people think they have way more sense than they really do.
  19. The world could use more unreasonable optimism.
  20. Over time I’ve discovered I have a few new years day rituals.
  21. I’ve also enjoyed the more recent practice of choosing a word for the year.
  22. Writing is the only way I know of to make my thoughts clear.
  23. The thing with grudges is that the longer you hold them, the more likely it is that those you are holding it against have long forgotten it.
  24. Just be honest with yourself about lukewarm coffee.
  25. Also, be honest with yourself about news.
  26. Polls are propaganda.
  27. It is our job to ask ourselves with all the things we allow ourselves to do, with each and every one, “Is this something I want to be remembered for?”
  28. If you change nothing, nothing changes.
  29. The footsteps of the future are formed in the present.
  30. We are living in history and history is living in us.
  31. What makes a Plan A foolproof is having a Plan B.
  32. No plan can be foolproof if those in charge of it are fools.
  33. Think often and always of what current choices you can make to have future you be thankful to past you.
  34. “Everybody does it” is not exactly a strong defense.
  35. When someone talks about “affordable housing” always ask, “For whom?
  36. I have thoughts about mentors.
  37. There’s no such thing as good guys and bad guys.
  38. Wounds to the heart will heal. Wounds to the soul will not.
  39. In my world. It’s not officially Autumn until I order my first Pumpkin Spice Latte. As a tradition, that day is today. Happy Autumn.
  40. Circus rigging will leave you with glitter in the strangest places.
  41. I’ve still never listened to an audiobook. Not my thing.
  42. It’s OK to have things that are not your thing.
  43. Don’t yuk someone else’s yum.
  44. You will enjoy making the list more than you enjoy doing the list. But it will not be nearly as satisfying as having done the list. This is OK. This is normal.
  45. Sometimes, the most helpful and courageous thing you can say is, “I don’t know”.
  46. Always remember to account for thinking through it time in any project.
  47. Your Path is Your Path.
  48. I am where I am today because of a policy of yes.
  49. This policy and path led me to be a knower of things.
  50. Leave things better than you found them. Leave people that way too.
  51. You don’t need an algorithm to tell you what you love.
  52. You should do the work because the work is worth doing. The work is how you grow and that makes the work worth doing every time.
  53. Tools should have rules.
  54. There are pictures no camera can take.
  55. No news is no news.
  56. Mental Illness can be an explanation but not an excuse.
  57. All the things I learned in 2022.
  58. How to make the world better.