Question on your self-worth:

Are you choosing to see your full worth?

There's a simple story that I love:

A professor stood in front of his class, held up a crisp $100 bill, and asked, "How much is this worth?"

"$100," the class replied in unison.

The professor then crumpled the bill into a ball, held it out in his palm, and asked, "How much is it worth now?"

"$100," the students replied.

The professor threw the bill on the ground, stomped on it, jumped on top of it, and asked, "And how about now?"

Looking confused at their professor's actions, the students shrugged and answered, "$100."

The professor smiled and said, "Good! Remember this lesson in your own life. Whatever happens, however people treat you, whatever circumstances befall you, your value remains the same."

There are going to be moments where life stomps on you. Where the storm hits and threatens to tear you apart.

But in these moments, you have an important choice:

You get to choose to see your full worth.

You get to choose to treat yourself with compassion, grace, and respect.

You get to choose to remove yourself from the environments or relationships where that worth is not appreciated.

You get to choose to always appreciate your full value.

You get to choose to see yourself as the $100 bill, unbroken by the storms of life.

This, I believe, is the most important choice of your life. So, choose wisely.

Quote on accepting your truth:

"The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely." ― Carl Jung

To see your full self, and to accept it, is an act of courage.

But real bravery lies in accepting your truth and still acting to improve it.

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Framework on creative destruction:

Technical Debt

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending time with a brilliant venture capitalist named ​Josh Kopelman​.

During our chat, he brought up the concept of technical debt in technology companies and its application to government.

Technical debt is the idea that the legacy code foundation of a company is a liability that needs to be constantly managed and worked on if the company wants to progress.

Here's a simple example:

Imagine you build a two story house. The foundation of that house was sufficient for the two floors on top of it, but if you decide to build a third floor, you probably need to make certain upgrades to the foundation before building that third floor.

Technology companies invest significant resources toward a constant upgrade of their technical foundations in order to allow them to continue to progress. It's a perpetual process of creative destruction that enables their growth.

The conversation sparked my thinking:

This concept of technical debt has direct applications to our lives.

We all have legacy foundations—in the form of beliefs, patterns, stories, habits, and more—that are in need of constant upgrades if we want to progress.

You cannot expect your original foundation to be capable of supporting your future ambitions.

Just like the technology companies, you need to invest significant resources toward a constant upgrade of these foundations if you want to grow.

Your body does this naturally. The human body replaces all of its cells every 7-10 years. Every day, your body literally replaces billions of its own cells—a constant cycle of shedding the old to become the new.

Sometimes you have to destroy who you thought you were in order to uncover who you are meant to be.

To become the new, you have to unbecome the old.

A test for finding your real ones:

This is a beautiful idea: Heart seen, nervous system calm.

I have been an avid reader of ​Yung Pueblo's newsletter​ for over a year. I recently spent a weekend with him and was even more impressed by his energy in real life than I am by his beautiful writing.

His thoughtful articulation of ideas (especially related to relationships) has had a powerful impact on my life. Highly recommend subscribing to his ​free newsletter for more​.

Story on the dangers of anger:

When I was a kid, my grandfather told me the story of the Buddha and the Angry Man:

One day, the Buddha was walking through a village when a young man approached and began yelling at him.

"You are a fake! How can you claim to have wisdom to teach others? You know nothing!"

The Buddha paused and smiled at the young man, which further angered him.

"What do you have to say to me? I attack you and you just smile?"

The Buddha replied: "If you buy a gift for someone and that person doesn't accept it, to whom does the gift belong?"

The young man, agitated, replied that the gift would still belong to him, because he was the one who had bought it.

The Buddha nodded: "The same applies to your anger. If you come to me with anger, but I choose not to accept it, the anger still belongs to you. You are the only one who is moved by it."

This story offers two powerful lessons that we all need to hear:

1. Vocalizing anger and outrage often creates more damage internally than it creates impact externally. Think about whether there is a more effective pathway to voice your perspectives if impact is the goal.
2. If someone comes to you with anger, always remember that you can choose not to accept it.

Both lessons are worth contemplating as you navigate life in the days, weeks, and months ahead...