Put a splint on one of your fingers and some routine activities may become difficult. A small change in digital mobility can turn simple tasks into awkward challenges.

What we sometimes forget is that we’re surrounded by people with splints. And we have them too. Hidden areas of brokenness that we’ve plastered over. Places where injury has caused us to become immobile. Parts where we’re healing, but not yet whole.

The point here is not to diagnose.

The point is to understand.

To have empathy, and to appreciate the many challenges that can come with injury and healing — challenges that can present themselves in all sorts of ways … which can then become challenges of their own.

A friend of mine is learning some new skills. He was interested in trying something, so he found some courses online, and got to work learning.

It really is that easy.

Is the learning part easy? Not necessarily. It might even be quite challenging.

But the act of setting out to learn something new ... that’s certainly easy.

Of course, we don’t always tell ourselves that story. We have a list of reasons why we can’t do certain things, or why there’s no time to study a new craft, or why following our passion is impractical or impossible.

But that’s a voice we can silence. Or better yet, a voice we can replace with a new one that says, “You want to try something new? Awesome. Go for it!”

I heard an amusing perspective on gossip.

“If it’s none of your business, it’s none of your business.”

Often, we’ll hear, “Well, it’s none of my business, but — “ And what follows is surely a conversation about what’s been presented as not the speaker’s business.

Worth considering: if it’s none of your business, maybe it really is none of your business. Perhaps best to leave it be.

I attend a regular meeting where we use name cards. These small signs sit on the table in front of each of us and help with member identification.

A colleague sitting beside me thought that her card was backwards, but quickly realized that our names are printed on both sides.

We laughed, “Some days, we need that reminder!”

It was a joke, but there’s some truth in it. Some days, we do need a reminder of who we are. A reminder of our worth. A reminder that our existence is consequential, and that our name can be a beautiful reference to all that we are, all that we do, the story of our past, and the promise of our future.

You are you, and that matters.

When someone says, “I’ll try to get it done by next week,” it’s not often that they mean, “I’m not sure if I’m capable of this task, but I will do my best.”

No. What they usually mean is, “I can do this, but in order to accomplish it by next week, I’ll need to prioritize it over other things ... and I’m not sure I’m ready to do that.”

So when we hear, “I’ll try,” we might really be hearing, “I’ll try to prioritize,” which is another way of saying, “I’ve got to convince myself that this is important to me.”

I recently heard someone say, “I know all about [this].”

What a fascinating posture.

I wonder how things might be different if this person had the attitude of:

• I’m always learning about ...

• I’m a lifelong student of ...

• I’m endlessly curious about ...

When we say, “I know it all,” what we’re really saying is that we’ve made the unfortunate choice to stop learning.

Some of the most engaging art is born of those whose foundations are external to the arts.

Art has always embraced innovation. It makes sense, then, that creators coming from the outside — people not steeped in history, techniques, and tradition — would be in a perfect position to innovate. To provide fresh ideas. Fresh perspective.

It’s this way with many cross-disciplinary pursuits. Fresh vision doesn’t just come from seasoned experts thinking about what’s next. Sometimes the future path is charted by a new source.

In each of our fields, it can be wise to welcome the outsider who sparks new ways of thinking.

We don’t like to fail. We avoid it skillfully.

But aside from failure, some of us also don’t like to be seen struggling. To be seen trying.

We’d rather practice quietly, and then show up perfect. Fail privately until we can shine publicly.

But what if that mindset keeps us in hiding? What if we’re so afraid of being seen as less-than in public, that we never venture there?

What happens if we become comfortable with the idea of others seeing us trying? With allowing others to see us stumble?

Wouldn’t we grow faster that way? Yes, we might get a few bumps and bruises along the way, but those will heal. (The critics never linger as we improve.)

And over time, we’ll certainly get better. More expert. And we won’t have to wonder what people will think when they see what we do — we’ll already be out there in the open, doing our thing, doing it well, and always getting better.

If being nice isn’t natural for you, then make it a choice.

If you don’t tend to be generous, then choose to be generous.

If there are natural tendencies holding you back, it’s time to intentionally choose a better way forward.

Seeds that are planted cannot be seen. They’re underground. Out of site. Invisible.

What does this mean for us?

It means that the beginning stages of our best work sometimes seem fruitless. That there is no immediate harvest. That at first, the benefits may be unseen.

But just like planted seeds, our work doesn’t remain invisible forever. Over time, it bears fruit ... and it grows into visibility where it feels the warmth of the sun and continues to blossom.

I don’t have a physical trophy room, but I have a mental one. We all do. Memories of our wins and accomplishments. A catalog of our successes — moments when we’ve been at our best.

But we also keep an internal room of our failures. A room that’s often given more space and more light.

It doesn’t benefit us to curate this collection of disappointments, and yet it’s easy to find ourselves in that room taking detailed inventory. Replaying the past as if it was yesterday.

Here’s the thing. We have a limited amount of light to shine. Perhaps we’ll always have a flame burning in the room of our defeats, but let’s move as much light as we can into that other room ... the room that commemorates our victories — the times we’ve soared to our greatest heights.

Tend to that room, and let it encourage us as our journey continues.

You have 10 things worthy of doing today — noble tasks, all of them — but you only have time for five.

There’s no sense in beating yourself up about this. You’re not failing because of the five undone things.

The thing to do then, is to choose which five you’ll do today, and which five you’ll do tomorrow.

Click the corner of this idea and expand it. Enlarge it to encompass all that you want to achieve.

Then, give yourself the grace to wait on the things that need to be put aside while that short list of most important things is accomplished.

Focus on what matters most.

“All at once” works when conducting an orchestra ... less so with producing your life’s portfolio.

If there’s a bowl of tortilla chips separating you and a delicious dinner, you have a choice to make.

Have some chips — maybe some salsa and guacamole — and when the meal is ready ... enjoy all of it.

Or, have a lot of chips — enough to fill you up — and then not have much of an appetite when the main course is served.

* * *

Consider how this relates to the way we consume media and culture.

When we fill ourselves with the banal, the mildly entertaining, the daily gossip, and things which are trivial ... there’s little room left for what’s truly nourishing.

When we prioritize consuming what’s frivolous, we have little emotional and intellectual bandwidth for that which can enrich us and propel us toward our best selves.

It’s not necessarily about completely removing things from our cultural diet (though it could be) but it is about portion control.

During the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States and Canada, we bring our attention to gratitude. There are all sorts of benefits to intentionally acknowledging things for which we’re grateful, and during Thanksgiving, we’re often prompted to mention these things aloud.

There’s great power in speaking our gratitude. It can create beautiful, lasting moments.

And consider this: how much more meaningful might those expressions be if they have an opportunity to be shared privately, one-to-one.

For example, not just saying, “I am thankful for my family,” but speaking our gratitude directly to individuals. To say, “I am so grateful for you. Here’s why.”

Let’s spend time intentionally expressing and embracing gratitude … and not just during holidays, but every day.

And yes, if you are reading this, please know I am deeply grateful that you have invited these words to reach you. Truly.

We’ve heard the phrase before: “This is your big chance!”

But it’s not often that we’re faced with opportunities like that.

More often — as in “every day often” — we’re faced with small chances. Small opportunities.

And while these small chances might not make an impact by themselves, as a whole they can contribute to significant change.

Your big chance might not be a singular moment. It may be a long arc of moments, all working together ... which means, your big chance is right now. This is it.

Titles can be funny things. Some of them are hard-earned. Some are bestowed.

Some people care dearly that their titles be used. Others do not.

Some insist upon “Doctor” while others balk at the acknowledgement of their credentials.

One person may be “Mr. So-and-so” while another is known by just his first name.

What matters most, of course, is the work we do. The way we treat others. The posture we assume.

And truly, living up to our various titles is far more noble than admonishing those who fail to use them.

Do you send a response? Do you celebrate a milestone? Do you post a sign? Do you charge for the service?

In business and in personal relationships, we’re often faced with situations where we could take action a number of different ways (or take no action at all).

It may be tempting to use Google to see what people do. Or to ask others, “How do you handle this?”

But it’s powerful to consider the perspective, “I (we) want to be the kind of person (company) that does it this way.”

Don’t be like everyone else, unless everyone else is doing it the way you think it should be done.

Research if you’d like, but ultimately … do it your way. Remarkably so.

If you want to act like a billionaire, you’ll need some significant resources to pull it off effectively.

Likewise, if you’re going to project yourself as someone who’s “in the know” on a certain topic, you’d better have legitimate inside information to back it up.

But to play the part of someone who is confident, empathetic, kind, or generous ...

We need no extra resources to act in these ways.

We just have to begin.

I was in a bookstore yesterday, feeling a wonderful surge of possibility.

So much wisdom, insight, and potential ... all within arm’s reach.

But we have to crack the books, don’t we? We have to read their contents. We have to allow ourselves to be moved and changed.

The text does not force itself upon us. It’s up to us to take the first step.

Some text is worth reading twice.

Some podcasts are worth hearing more than once.

Some messages are worth consuming so slowly, so deliberately, and so completely, that we accept the words into our hearts and our souls.

When the work feeds us, a single glance will not suffice.