Monday memo #107
Pause.
The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.
Hi everyone,
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is nothing at all.
In work and in life, once things are set in motion, they will tend to continue moving until they hit an obstacle. This is especially true of habits and routines.
Habits are often good things. They are familiar, they work, and they make sense. But just because something is working doesn’t mean it should continue.
Over time, habits and routines quietly take over. You wake up, check the same apps, respond to the same messages, go to the same meetings, and do the same work in the same way.
There’s nothing wrong with this. Habits aren’t a problem in themselves, but you don’t just do them, you inhabit them. You do them automatically, unthinkingly. And because you do them without thinking, it’s worth pausing now and then to think about them.
Habits are like faithful servants. They do much of the heavy lifting of life, taking routine tasks off your plate so you can focus on higher-level things. But they take time, which means that they take time away from other things that you could be doing instead.
Every habit you say “yes” to is also a “no” to something else. Every hour spent here is an hour not spent there.
A pause is a way of stepping out of the stream long enough to see where the flow of your habits is carrying you. It isn’t about quitting. It’s about choosing.
A pause creates breathing room. Room for thought. Room for experimentation. Room to ask better questions. The new year is a natural moment for this kind of reflection. Not resolutions. Not optimization. Just awareness.
Because you become what you repeatedly do. And what you’re becoming is worth thinking about.
Exercise.
Here’s your exercise for the week. Make an inventory of your daily and weekly habits. Ask yourself how well your habits are serving you. Rate and rank them. Some habits are old friends. Faithful servants you’ll keep forever. Treasure them. Others may have done their job and quietly overstayed their welcome.
Pick one habit and pause it. See what happens.
P.S.
Starting January 1st, I’ll be taking my own advice and pausing the School of the Possible for two months. I’ll be asking myself: If I were to start the School of the Possible today, knowing everything that I know now, how would I do it?
What this means in practical terms:
Members will not be charged during the pause.
New paid memberships will not be available during this time.
Friday campfire calls will continue as usual.
I’ll be listening, reflecting, and re-imagining what comes next.
It’s a good time to send me a note with your thoughts.
2025 yearbook.
I’m putting a 2025 yearbook. I Hope you’ll share your memories. It takes 5 minutes. Please share your memories and reflections here. Your future self will thank you, and I will too.
Thanks for being a part of this. My life is brighter, more creative, and more curious, thanks to you. See you in 2026!
