It is serendipitous that May 4th marks the launch of this journal as it would be considered a blasphamas mockery by any of the original masters. Life is different now and we must adjust to the societal norms of the lives we now lead. While the Jedi code is still at the core of my thoughts (There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony.), my daily focus is concentrated into to four simple principles. I look forward to sharing this knowledge with my comrades and evolving the heart of the Jedi order.

I recently finished the book “the 12 hour walk” after being recommended by several friends. While most of the stories were about extreme conditions and esoteric experiences, the takeaways were universal. The author recapitulated his “Mount Everests” which each of us will face in a more metaphoric journey; the extreme external battle that is only achievable once we conquer the internal war.

The toughest obstacle to personal success is deep within, and could take lifetimes if we don’t ingest past life lessons. You will repeat the same mistakes until you learn the lesson they are meant to teach. Learning from these experiences requires self-reflection, changing your thinking, and identifying patterns in your behavior to stop repeating them. Only then can you invoke the version of you that can step into.

The battle does not get easier, you must simply get stronger.

And a sad repartee… wisdom is wasted on the old. The value of youth unfortunately is seldom understood until it fades. While the lessons learned shape wisdom, I often wonder how much more we could accomplish if we valued the teaching(s) of those with a vested interested in our development. How many battles, anxieties, and mistakes could be avoided? How much more value, character, and impact could we develop? Most of the answers to pivotal life questions peacefully decay in unsettled graves of our predecessors. While I studied the words of my mentors, it was with a discerning mind. It questioned guidance and personalized truths.

This could be the juxtaposition of old souls. A calmness ripe to ingest the words of elders and mentors, but through youthful lenses. They are the minority, but essential to the survival of hope and progress in the collective consciousness.

For the rest of us, who may feel we are “old too soon and wise too late…”, we must altruistically plant trees of knowledge to bear fruits we may never see blossom.

This is the way… 😉

As I interact with a few of my mentees, the topic of success frequently arises and it’s apparent that most of us think of it as a future state. We live between our current reality and what we believe success will look or feel like.

When you measure yourself against an “ideal” future state, you are in “the Gap“—a moving target that stays out of reach because your standards rise as you improve. However, when you look back and measure against where you started, you are in “the Gain,” allowing you to actually feel the success you have already achieved.

The opportunity is then to “Measure your progress against your past self, not against your ideal…” Success should live in both the reflection and the plan. The gain can create a sense of momentum that creates energy to traverse the gap.

High performers must reflect before they raise the bar. Today’s successes were yesterday’s targets…. #reflectrenew

Discussions about repression often highlight the psychological, emotional, and social consequences of burying feelings, desires, or truths. Common themes include the inevitability of repressed emotions resurfacing, the toxic nature of stifled feelings, and the distinction between healthy self-control and destructive repression.  This poem from a Jedi master brings to light the choice and consequence of repeated internal abandonment.

• When you repress vulnerability it becomes armor you prove yourself over and over so no one can see the soft spot that you’re guarding.
• When you repress your intuition, it becomes indecision because you’ve trained yourself not to trust yourself.
• When you further repress self trust, it becomes permission seeking and you end up trading your personal truth for committee approval, and calling it action.
• When you repress your needs and desires they become resentment you punish yourself for wanting and you punish others for not guessing what you need. 
• When you repressed your guilt it becomes over giving, and you pay emotional debts that nobody asked you to repay.
• When you repressed disappointment, it becomes fake optimism you slap a smile over the truth because honesty feels like failure.
• When you repress your hurt it becomes sarcasm and your wit becomes sharper than the wound you never tended.
• When you repress your ambition. It becomes procrastination you hide your brilliance behind delay, and you call it timing. 

Just as stagnant water becomes fetid and toxic, so it is with our emotions.” — Unknown

When we are young, we embrace bad habits to help us traverse chaotic environments.  These repressions are survival hacks turn into habits that we shrink into tidy emotional luggage.  We must be intentional in identifying and unpacking the these dark corners before they define our future. 

During the early wars, X-Wing fighters suffered heavy losses in dog fights with imperial fleets and strategic targets. Crews had a 1 in 4 chance of getting shot down and killed every time they flew. Even the X-wings that made it back were often riddled with holes. To protect the crews, the initial thinking was to add armor plating to the areas where most of the holes were observed in the fighter jets that limped home (the wings and tail).

The engineers made the same mistake most of us made. They were studying the success stories and trying to learn from the winners. But the data they were observing was biased in that it only contained information that survived, hence the term “survivorship bias”.

What they needed to do was study failures. The X-Wings that got shot down were hit in the cockpit and fuel tanks, but it was hard to figure this out because these planes crashed in places where they could not be easily studied.

Survivorship bias is our tendency to study the people or companies who “survived” or were victorious in a certain situation while ignoring those who failed. In many endeavors, “the failures” used the same principles as “the winners”, but they were not so lucky and ended up failing.

As I think about the new year, I reflect on the goals that were set, those met and areas for a possible reset. New Years day has always felt like an inopportune time for change; it should be met with great momentum and renewed vision.

I have been looking for a wellness challenge to help synchronize focus with priorities and stumbled on “Operation 66”. This 66-day wellness challenge focuses on building sustainable, healthy habits through a set of daily rules designed to be achievable long-term.  I have adopted as follows:

• Start day with intention/goals (written)
• 60 minutes of fitness – (stretching is a must).
• 16 ounces of water in the morning.  
• No Fake foods, fake intimacy, fake entertainment. Spend this time on hobbies and connection.
• Mental health stimuli like Reading, meditation, gratitude and journaling.  
• Follow a 90/10 diet (90% whole foods, 10% indulgence)
• Sleep 7+ hours a night

The name resembles the contingency orders (most well known being Order 66) and feels mores sustainable than 75 Hard.

During a recent seminar, we broached the topic of psychology and some blind spots that we must all b aware of; here are my cliff notes.

1. We are not as rational as we think. Most decisions are driven by emotion, habit, and unconscious biases. Reasoning often comes after the fact, as a way to justify choices we’ve already made.
2. The mind lies to protect the ego. Defense mechanisms—denial, projection, rationalization—exist to shield your self-image, but they distort reality and relationships.
3. Most people don’t fully know themselves. The “self” you think you know is a story stitched together from limited awareness. Others often see aspects of you more clearly than you do.
4. People rarely change without pain. True personal change usually requires discomfort, crisis, or loss. Motivation is often born out of suffering, not comfort.
5. Happiness is fleeting. The brain is wired for hedonic adaptation: wins and losses both fade, and the baseline mood returns. Lasting happiness usually comes from meaning, not pleasure.

The italics are powerful words that I intend to reflect on. What are my biasses and how do I justify them? What blind spots do I have in my reflection of self image? In what aspects of my life can I be more self-aware? What is the real process of comfort? What connections can I see between happiness and meaning in my own life?

One of the hardest distinctions to make is what is a teaching moment versus a learning moment as a mentor and leader. There is that moment when you realize you are going to have a critical conversation and you must analyze the environment, relationship with the individual before making a decision on how you choose to engage them. One lens to wear consistent surrounds the concept of first seeking to understand. If someone does not know how much you care, they will not care how much you know.

Make the distinction between needing to be right and needing to do the right thing. Sometimes proving you are right is not what the situation needs.

Looking through the bark in your eyes to see the dust in someone else’s. Realize that you have your own bias that could mislead the way that you look at the world.