The cliche that got a lot of people mad at me at the end of 2022 was saying, “years don’t really matter much, decades matter much more”. To make people even madder at my, I pointed out years are only meaningful in how they contribute to the decade. A whole is the sum of it’s parts. But that’s so true.
One thing I’m seeing over and over about healthy eating, it’s much like investing and personal finance. Each little investment isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things, you will never have a secure future or retirement with one investment. But over time, that buck or two here and there, every day adds up. Likewise, each calorie consumed adds on to the waistline, each unhealthy food eaten leads you closer and closer to an untimely death.
Future goals are big and distant, as they are the sum of so many parts. But each part is meaningful as it contributes to the future. It’s true that life is like a flywheel in an engine, an occasional misfire here and there won’t add up to much. But that should not be an excuse for operating an engine that is regularly misfiring, as damage accumulates. People often think it’s okay to give excuses for occasional misdeeds or misfires — that occasional slice of cake or cup of store bought coffee– some liberties to lighten life up, but that is a dangerous practice.
There are things out of your control that you can’t address — like the a downturn in the market or that cup of coffee on the road you need to stay alert to drive home safely. Maybe you have to go out and have an unhealthy meal with some friends. But you should avoid incidental bad behaviors whenever possible. Misfiring in an engine is harmful, as it to your goals. Just because you can survive an occasional misfire, doesn’t mean you should build into your life.
The best thing when it comes to self-improvement is automation. I have a set investment and savings plan, I rarely look at it or give it much thought. A few times a year, I’ll check on my net worth but normally the money comes out of my paycheck and is invested. Each morning I go for a walk at 6:15 AM and each evening at 7:00 PM, regardless of weather, because it’s important to get my default 10,000 plus steps in. Likewise, I just make it the default option to buy healthier foods, and follow the one bowl or plate rule. As I don’t eat out often at all, whatever I buy is what I end up eating. I continue to learn to be a better cook and eater, but it’s not because I intend to be thinking about it non-stop, but because I want to make sensible defaults that make eating healthier the default option.
A lot of people think it takes willpower or effort to do the right thing. But that’s not the truth. If you want to do something, it’s best to automate it and give it as little thought as possible. And just move forward.
Opposition to what Trump calls woke policies has been a major messaging platform for the President who says he wants to dismantle such policies. At the same time, his cabinet is fairly diverse, maybe not as diverse as President Biden, but it includes men, women, minorities, immigrants and gays.
Trump would argue such diversity is good for decision making. I have to agree. Group think is an enormous problem in all organizations. You can’t make good decisions if everybody in the room is all coming from the same background. Robert McManara in very early 1960s was concerned about such problems in the Defense Department, and it remains a lingering concern in many people’s minds.
Trump would argue though that D. E. I. has gone well beyond that. He would say that the ideal of including all in decision making and hiring, leads to an over emphasis in considering diverse backgrounds over actual competence in the job. I am not sure that is true, if anything existing biases most likely to less qualified people with less diversity finding positions in organizations.
It is a lot harder then one would think to recruit skilled people of diversity. Unfortunately, incumbent players – and familiar faces have such a leg up in recruiting – you are missing out in a whole pool of talent people who never apply for a job or get interviewed because they’re out of the normal circle of people knowing about your position. Group think is too often reinforced in organizations because diverse people are not at the table.
That said, while diversity is important, also is institutional knowledge and group cohesion through shared experience. It is often a bad thing to hire people from outside and organization to lead it, unless you are in a need of radically shaking up an organization and taking it wherever the changes bring you, regardless of the pain endured.
There is a strong case in many ways to promoting within, but also that is caveat that it makes it all the more important to seek diverse individuals in entry-level positions whenever possible to maximize the strength of organization as they grow to be leaders with diverse experiences while also understanding the strength of the institution.
Just imagine getting up every morning an hour or maybe two before sunrise, and being off to work in the dark. On the other hand, it might be good from an energy conservation perspective.
Week
Sunrise
Sunset
Week
Sunrise
Sunset
January 1
8:25 am
5:32 pm
July 2
5:21 am
8:36 pm
January 8
8:24 am
5:39 pm
July 9
5:26 am
8:34 pm
January 15
8:22 am
5:47 pm
July 16
5:32 am
8:30 pm
January 22
8:17 am
5:55 pm
July 23
5:38 am
8:24 pm
January 29
8:11 am
6:04 pm
July 30
5:45 am
8:17 pm
February 5
8:04 am
6:14 pm
August 6
5:52 am
8:09 pm
February 12
7:55 am
6:23 pm
August 13
6:00 am
7:59 pm
February 19
7:45 am
6:32 pm
August 20
6:07 am
7:49 pm
February 26
7:34 am
6:41 pm
August 27
6:15 am
7:37 pm
March 5
7:23 am
6:49 pm
September 3
6:22 am
7:26 pm
March 12
7:11 am
6:58 pm
September 10
6:30 am
7:13 pm
March 19
6:59 am
7:06 pm
September 17
6:37 am
7:01 pm
March 26
6:46 am
7:14 pm
September 24
6:45 am
6:48 pm
April 2
6:34 am
7:22 pm
October 1
6:52 am
6:36 pm
April 9
6:22 am
7:30 pm
October 8
7:00 am
6:24 pm
April 16
6:11 am
7:38 pm
October 15
7:08 am
6:12 pm
April 23
6:00 am
7:46 pm
October 22
7:17 am
6:01 pm
April 30
5:50 am
7:54 pm
October 29
7:25 am
5:51 pm
May 7
5:41 am
8:02 pm
November 5
7:34 am
5:42 pm
May 14
5:33 am
8:09 pm
November 12
7:43 am
5:35 pm
May 21
5:26 am
8:16 pm
November 19
7:52 am
5:29 pm
May 28
5:21 am
8:23 pm
November 26
8:00 am
5:24 pm
June 4
5:18 am
8:28 pm
December 3
8:08 am
5:22 pm
June 11
5:16 am
8:33 pm
December 10
8:14 am
5:21 pm
June 18
5:16 am
8:35 pm
December 17
8:19 am
5:23 pm
June 25
5:18 am
8:37 pm
December 24
8:23 am
5:26 pm
December 31
8:25 am
5:31 pm
Winter mornings would be even darker if you get farther north and west in every Time Zone, such as Grand Rapids Michigan, which also is in the Eastern Time zone. 🌆
As they say, good information is expensive even though today with the internet it’s incredibly inexpensive to distribute. Creating information either through research or experience and writing it down is what is expensive. When you can get information for free you should readily embrace it. Even though most free information is paid through either it being propaganda or advertising, it’s still worthwhile to consider. Just because information is trying to sell you something doesn’t mean you should resist learning more about it.
But I often find myself turning away from information that I find uncomfortable and either challenges my values or beliefs. Somehow I’m afraid to confront truth or that I will be forever changed after listening to new information. Yet, I’m aware that simply listening to information won’t automatically change your outlook on the world. But it sometimes seems very painful to have my views challenged.
