After we learn fractions, the teacher moves on to decimals. After we read O’Connor, we’re handed Faulkner. In music history, Debussy follows Brahms. Chemistry after biology.

It persists in some places after school… the museum hangs Picasso in the next room after Braque.

And in the old days, the newspaper editors spent a lot of time organizing their stories and their pages.

But now… nothing.

Random access. No attention paid to what we need to know now, what follows from where we are, what’s about to be important.

Not at work and not as citizens.

Instead, it’s a random-access blizzard of emails, meetings and alerts. A mob screaming about the emergency of the moment without lining up the context first. Part of our dislocation and ennui come from the lack of a shared curriculum.

Choosing what’s next might be the most important decision we make today.

        

Each of us knows that we’re motivated by positive feedback. We’re drawn to behaviors and activities that earn us a smile or a prize. And yet, we often forget to reward the businesses, behaviors and systems we want more of.

Many of us are drawn to invented controversies, hustles, one-click bargains, come-ons, convenience that comes at a high price, division, brawls, tired tropes, social networks that trap us and, while we’re at it, a big bag of fried chips.

Actually, you’re a philanthropist, doling out attention and cash to the behaviors you care about. Invest wisely.

If people stop going to the circus, the clowns go home.

        

Hunkering down, hoping we won’t get noticed. A safe spot, worth concealing.

The problem with hiding out from responsibility or change is that we’re also hiding from time. But time always finds us.

        

1. Race through this last part. Deal with your fear of the threshold by shipping the work as soon as you possibly can.
2. Stall and avoid. Fear is at its peak, and your perfectionism (or that of the team) kicks in, and Resistance wins. Right here, after all this work, on the verge, and it stalls.
3. Delight on the cusp. It’s imminent. We worked hard, it came together. How can we sit with this, just for a moment, breathing in the possibility and adding one last detail…

We face this choice daily, but rarely name it or prepare for it.

The moment just before shipping is where magic and leverage can dance together.

Updates:

Live in NY on September 21: I have 55 seats left for the Knot launch event happening in a few weeks. All the details are here. Ticket buyers will receive the five-pack and a Spindex as well. If you’re local to New York, I hope to see you there.

and…

By popular request, we’re offering a pre-order 5-pack of The Knot along with the limited-edition Spindex. It’s $95 and there are a few hundred available.

Problems can be solved.

        

The 800 toll-free number shifted the dynamic we expected from marketers. If we call you, we expect you to answer. Now, not later. FEDEX did the same for physical items–yes, of course I absolutely want it here tomorrow.

The race for speed doesn’t often have economic justification. I can probably live without a return label or customer service or some rabbit chow for a few minutes or even a few days…

But it’s the thought that counts.

If you’re not selling a commodity at the lowest price, that’s what you’ve got to sell. The thought.

Stories are built on a foundation of thoughtfulness, the empathy of seeing where the others are, what they dream of and what they fear.

And ‘quick response’ is one of the cheapest and most reliable ways to demonstrate that empathy.

        

Milton Friedman argued (mistakenly, in my view) that the corporation doesn’t need to care about customers, unless this helps increase the value of the company to shareholders.

Corporations are a cultural fiction, something we created and permit to exist because it serves the community. In exchange for leverage and insulation, the corporations are expected to be of use and to improve conditions for those they serve–not to be a tool to enrich a few shareholders.

As power becomes more concentrated and money becomes more leveraged, it’s easy to see how attractive it is to sell Friedman’s idea to people seeking a short-term profit.

As we drift away from Drucker’s point, though, we all suffer.

Financial engineering rarely builds value for the long run.

        

It works in just about every endeavor we sign up for.

The system would like us to be insatiable on its behalf, but that’s not an invitation we’re required to accept.

        

But if we begin with that, then the relationship gets shaky.

Perhaps the other person simply didn’t understand. It might be that they are focused on their issues, not yours. It could be that they’re dealing with something you don’t see. And most likely, they simply might not know what you’re expecting or hoping for.

When we assume misunderstanding, we open the door to better. We can find empathy and connection by giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Clarity, not grievance, is the solution to misunderstanding.

This works for customers, prospects, colleagues, friends, and family too.

        

Tic tac toe tic tac (5 in a row) with a 15 x 15 board is endlessly fascinating.

Simple doesn’t mean dumb. When we add layers and community and options, it can generate all sorts of possibilities.

Connection is always the wildcard, the peer to peer multiplier that makes every system more complex.

        

Sometimes organized teaching is defensive. “Here, take all this down in your notes, it will be on the test.” This gives the teacher deniability, but might not create the conditions for the student to actually learn.

The alternative is to seek the “aha.” This is the autodidact moment, the opportunity to teach ourselves.

Most online courses and videos simply tell you the answer. Easier to get clicks that way. But the best learning is almost always autodidactic.

When the teacher creates the conditions for learning, the student does the work.

This requires trust. Trust in the process and trust in the destination.

And it requires tension. The tension of it might not work and the incentive to put in the work.

Great teachers set it up, and great students find the aha.