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Jon Douglas

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80/20 Life

February 23, 2023 by Jon Douglas

An 80/20 life is a good life to live. I’ve lived my 80/20 life mostly unconsciously through my 20s. Now in my 30s, I’ve consciously found solace through it. What most people will not tell you throughout your life is that everybody has their own set of problems that they’re trying to solve on a …

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Love of Fate

February 17, 2023 by Jon Douglas

Many people in this world believe that everything that happens is determined by fate of the universe. Some may even reject this idea entirely due to their illusion of control where they overestimate their ability to control the outcomes in their lives, even when they are not in control. I used to be this person …

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Seeds and Saplings

February 11, 2023 by Jon Douglas

Much of the creative process can be seen as a diverging and converging experience. In the first phase, we must be completely open, collecting anything that we find of interest. This is our seed phase. We’re always searching for potential seeds that can grow into something beautiful. We try not to compare them to other …

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Hammer and Anvil

February 10, 2023 by Jon Douglas

“Lieber Hammer als Amboss” is German for “Better hammer than anvil”. It’s a common proverb in many countries that acts as a metaphor for one’s life. It means someone is more effective in taking action than being acted upon.  It originates from blacksmithing, where a hammer is used to shape metal by striking it, while …

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Life’s Operating System

February 4, 2023 by Jon Douglas

What does your life operating system include today? For most, you may just be trying to get by each day. You’re operating out of life or death. So long as you continue to function, you don’t often care to think about if it is the right way to be. We rarely think for ourselves of …

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What Could Go Right?

January 31, 2023 by Jon Douglas

Why do we always focus on the negative? Whenever we go about a new adventure, we tend to ask ourselves “what could go wrong?”. Why do we never ask ourselves “what could go right?”. When we focus on the negative, we are relying on our courage to overcome fear. Whereas when we focus on the …

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Reducer vs. Producer

January 29, 2023 by Jon Douglas

For majority of my life I wanted to be productive of my time. I wanted to produce with the little time I’m given and make a name for myself. I went to college, got the degree. After the degree, I got the job and bought the house. I kept producing. Bigger house. Bigger job. Bigger …

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The Eminent Dead

January 26, 2023 by Jon Douglas

I’ve recently been reading Charlie Munger’s Poor Charlie’s Almanack. In it, he talks about this idea of admiration-based love. That you can love someone and have deep admiration for them whether they are alive or not. I mostly interpret this as Charlie’s love for reading and thus how he converses with the dead. Throughout many …

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The Conveyor Belt of Life

January 24, 2023 by Jon Douglas

You may not know this, but I work in big tech on a software product called a package manager. Imagine a conveyor belt with an endless stream of packages always going by. If you see a package that provides you functionality that will help you do something while you’re writing your software, you can choose …

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Knowledge Is Power

January 20, 2023 by Jon Douglas

For if knowledge is power, then god am… I! Was that over the top? I can never tell. You might recognize this quote from an old batman movie where Jim Carrey plays the Joker, but I have been pondering this saying more and more recently. My entire career I have worked with my brain. This …

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💧 Water (Change)

Vision

Mindset

Sense

🌎 Earth (Substance)

Plan

System

State

Jon Douglas

The Four Elements

🔥 Fire (Power)

Fearlessness

Decisiveness

Language

💨 Wind (Freedom)

Connection

Purpose

Transformation