Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): Quarter-End #RandomThoughts

 

As a new quarter is before us, we present a snapshot of thoughts as we look forward to the privilege to serve:

 

 

PASSAGE OF THE WEEK:

"Today, you need to stop and look at what you have, not at what you lack. Count where you have been lucky, look at what has gone your way. Consider how many people who would kill to be where you are, to have been given the life that you have. 'Unblest is he who thinks himself unblest,' Seneca reminded Lucilius. It’s a line from some unknown poet, but it’s true. You are blessed. Think it and it will become more so."

—from "You Are Blessed"

THIS WEEK'S BEST INSTAGRAM POST:

THIS WEEK'S BEST YOUTUBE VIDEO:

It’d be wonderful if life never tempted you, if you could just go day-to-day, winging it and always do right. But that’s not how the world is. That’s not who you are. If left to our own devices, with enough opportunities, eventually we’ll mess up—we’ll drift, we’ll stray.

That’s why the best leaders have what General Mattis has called “flat-ass rules.” Know what you stand for and stick to it, he said. Draw the line and hold it. Harry Truman famously explained some of his:

In all this long career I had certain rules I followed win, lose or draw. I refused to handle any political money in any way whatever. I engaged in no private interests whatever that could be helped by local, state or national governments. I refused presents, hotel accommodations or trips which were paid for by private parties...I made no speeches for money or expenses while I was in the Senate… I lived on the salary I was legally entitled to and considered that I was employed by the taxpayers, and the people of my country, state, and nation.

One of the earliest and most ferocious debates amongst the early Stoics was about the necessity of “precepts.” This doesn’t seem controversial to us now, but to Stoics like Aristo, the idea of needing these rules for living was a cop out. A wise person, a trained philosopher, should just do right instinctively and automatically he said. Others, like Zeno and later Seneca, believed that life was more complicated—more importantly, it was exhausting. So to create shortcuts and guidelines was to help ensure that we stay on the right path, that we don’t let the complexity and the nuance of each individual scenario allow us to compromise on the big, high standards we know we hold.

State your rules and stick to them. That itself is a great rule—whether it pertains to diet or ethical behavior.