In which we attempt a comeback.

“Indigo De Souza” by davidjlee is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Writing about why I haven’t been writing isn’t interesting for anyone. So let’s not.

A quick thought that’s been on my mind for the last couple of days re: receiving feedback.

I’ve ascribed for a while to the Conscious Leadership Group’s idea, that you don’t ask if feedback is true, you ask how it is true. Still do.

What gets in the way of that? I think it’s confusing how you feel about the feedback with how you feel about the person giving the feedback or the process itself.

For instance: I fuck something up at work. I get feedback, that’s reasonable, that I messed up. Because I know I let someone down, that hurts. I see myself as someone who can be counted on, and that wasn’t true here. I experience a mix of emotions, including shame and frustration.

But what’s interesting is the target of those emotions. I watched how easily they could slip into being about the giver of the feedback, and not how I feel about myself. And then we get into a strange cycle where I feel the need to attack the person giving me the feedback who was hurt in the first place. So let’s not do that.

Reading: Just finished Team of Teams by Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It was fine.

The best non-fiction I’ve read this year, however, was Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond. This is the best, most complete argument I’ve read that poverty in America is a choice, and one that we don’t have to make. Yeah, it’s depressing in parts, but Desmond lays out a coherent and compelling argument and framework that would get us out of there. If I could have everyone in America read one book this year, this would be the one.

Listening to: All of this Will End by Indigo de Souza. This record is very good. I’ll probably have more to say about it next week.

Watching: Succession, the best show on TV. We just finished Perry Mason as well.

Playing: I hit the Altus Plateau in Elden Ring earlier this week, but I’m currently on the couch watching Michelle play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and I imagine that’s where many of my Elden Ring hours are about to go.

Habit Review: 5 of 7 days meditated, 6 of 7 working out.