Reed 01.16 Segue

BY DANIEL COMP | JANUARY 25, 2023

Today is May 16th, 2020. 50 years ago, I clearly remember looking at the Porsche 911 that I had put together from a plastic kit on my shelf, and watching model airplanes slowly spin on their monofilament while imagining this day. Maybe you are senior enough to have done the same in Reed It seems that life is full of curves. Checking off items on a bucket list can be tough - especially when self-isolating in Reed during a global pandemic. In this Episode I celebrate through self-reflection some of the many dreams, curves, setbacks, delays, challenges, and the kind of stories that fill the pages of Scotomaville. Why? So that you will do likewise. Don't miss an opportunity to share your insights and triumphs with others in Reed.

"We are no longer in Scotomaville! You can tell right ? Absolutely! "We have left the station" as they say. So far, I've introduced to you 15 tools and now it's time to segue. No no no no, I don't mean that little scooter thing (Segway). I mean a smooth transition to the next section of the book. The first half is just introducing the tools. The next half, by volume, will be actual stories and examples from individuals on how to pick yourself up by your own bootstraps... without any boots."

"At this time in life this might be a familiar sound. [empty jar clanking sounds] Are you now familiar with this? [showing empty jar] I think March, April and May of 2020 certainly opened your eyes to what your triggers are and gave you the experience of being doubtful and worried, possibly depressed, anger, rage. You've discovered a whole bunch of things about yourself but you're not sure why you do what you do. [WYDWYD] That's why I'm creating Scotomaville and hopefully showing you a way OUT."

"When I talk about an empty jar. [empty jar clanking sounds] Our current situation is not this. [showing full jar] We've exhausted our resources being sure that our team was taken care of and that our clients still had servers. That means we've had to do this, like most companies have had to do to sacrifice everything try to keep things going and we're out of time. That's usually a bad combination for most people. This is a good chance for us to demonstrate - we're not freaking out. We've been here before and that's something worth thinking about because you want to follow someone who's been where you want to go. "

"A Segway is a smooth transition between segments, between scenes, between portions of a creative work. That's where we're at. So far, I've shared with you my 15 favorite mental tools for discovering your blind spots, avoiding getting gamed, knowing the power of illusion, flipping your self-talk by mimicking, not falling for scarcity, knowing the power of stories, overcoming triggers by finding your false beliefs, becoming aware of your fixation, building an emotional vocabulary, quieting your inner noise, feeding your second brain, doing the hard thing not by your habitual strengths, getting three points for reference and knowing the science behind all those curves. "

"Today is May 16th, 2020. You remember back at the great pandemic, you may remember that you were in a really bad place. We're in a challenging place. It's not a bad place. Fifty years ago, I clearly remember, remember onion peeling? I clearly remember looking at the Porsche 911 that I had put together from a plastic kit on my shelf, several of the P-51 airplanes, gliders on the fishing string, I've become a glider pilot, I've owned a couple of Porsche's. I've gone through my bucket list. I pedaled across America three times, I've got seven or eight World Records depending on how you count it in technology. I didn't expect to be here at 65. I expected it to be different but it wasn't. It wouldn't have been as rich. It certainly wouldn't have been as... together."

"I expected it to be more - from there to here- and not about all the places that I had to go, like falling off a glacier and becoming a quadriplegic. I mean, I didn't expect that! Bankruptcy from the construction? That, yeah anyway, there's lots of stories to come in the second section of the book. You're gonna get to know some of that journey. And I want to encourage you to start taking note of your journey and let go of the expectations on when you're gonna arrive. Because there's a great number of lessons to learn on the way, in all of those curves and all of those delays to prepare you for what you don't even know is gonna be there when you get to the summit. "

"We want to encourage you with this, that it is a journey to get up here. It's taken us many years but we had to figure it out on our own. You don't have to. You can follow someone who's been there. All of the tools that I've shared in the 15 prior episodes? We use those! "

Key Points

  • The 15 mental tools work - we use them ourselves
  • Life is full of curves. They get you ready for the next ascent of your 'Personal Everest'
  • Your Expedition will likely take decades
 

WDWDWWD?

  1. Get to the root of your triggers with onion peeling
  2. Rewire those false beliefs by mimicking others
  3. Expect curves, delays and even global pandemics
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Challenge Your Personal Everest

The greatest expedition you will ever undertake is the journey to self-understanding, as the prize is not in discovering new lands, but in seeing with new eyes. I invite you on that journey!