For a variety of reasons my mind has been reminded of The Stockdale Paradox often today. If you didn’t read my post about The Stockdale Paradox you can check it out here for more detaihttps://thankful4forty.com/2020/12/27/day-1551-thankful-for-the-stockdale-paradox-the-similarities-to-mans-search-for-meaning/. Throughout the day my mind was buffeted with possibilities and solutions. At one point I even said to myself out loud, “remember The Stockdale Paradox – how can I stay positive and optimistic while confronting these brutal facts?” I then sat in quiet while my brain searched for the answer. In only a few minutes I was back on track with planning for challenges while knowing it would all work out.

There’s a quote from F Scott Fitzgerald that also popped into my head as I was thinking about this challenge today. “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” This is exactly what the Stockdale Paradox requires – two opposed thoughts held in the mind at the same time.I’m also thankful for people who share difficult feedback today. It can be difficult to share tough feedback sometimes – or almost all the time. When someone is courageous enough or loves me enough to push themselves out of their comfort zone to provide feedback intended to help I am grateful for them. My life is improved by those individuals as they help me become better.One piece of feedback I’ve been given is that I send too many emails with too much information. At some point the message of each is lost in the sea of information. On a podcast someone once talked about never writing an email in their email app. Instead they wrote it elsewhere and let it sit for a little while. After considering the email and its importance they would only end up hitting the Send button on about 40% of their emails. Over the past couple of days I’ve kept that thought in mind. I haven’t done great with it, but it is funny how I’ve avoided a few emails that wouldn’t have furthered my purpose. Even the ones I’ve sent and then realize I should have waited on have caught my attention and showed me how I’m already growing by noticing that was the case. I’m grateful for the progress I’ve made and will continue to make on pausing before I hit Send.

Thanks!!!