Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction There’s something about the calendar turning toward July 4th that makes this feel a little less abstract. Maybe it’s being a bicentennial baby. Maybe it’s twenty years in uniform. Maybe it’s just the cumulative effect of watching the quality of our public conversations degrade while the volume...
Category Archives: Self Control
Imprecision in Thought Part 4 Comfort, Complexity, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In the last post, we walked through how thinking breaks—how overusing shortcuts, collapsing distinctions, and grabbing onto explanations that are a little too clean pulls us away from reality while giving us the comforting sense that we’ve finally made sense of it. None of that is particularly...
Imprecision in Thought Part 3 Not the Same Thing: Where Thinking Actually Breaks
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In part 2 of this series, we talked about the discipline required to avoid becoming the problem you’re trying to fix—slowing down, defining terms, showing your work, and resisting the very natural urge to react before you actually understand what you’re reacting to. All of that matters....
Imprecision in Thought — Part 2 The Discipline of Not Being Part of the Problem
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In the last post, we talked about that moment when something sounds wrong—the face scrunch, the irritation, the immediate certainty that what you’re reading or hearing doesn’t hold up. The problem doesn’t stop with what you’re reacting to. It includes what you’re about to become if you...
Imprecision in Thought Part 1 When Something Sounds Wrong—But You Can’t Explain Why
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Don’t ya just love those moments where you start out certain you know what to do, and then a quick pause to check that all systems are “go” gives you some unexpected clarity—and you realize you’re about to make a colossal blunder? Picture this—I’m wiling away a...
“Your emotions are logical… you’re just bad at logic.”
When you experience an emotion, you have a thought about that emotion. That thought often determines the action you take. You likely blame the emotion for the action you take without considering the thought that led to the action. Next time you feel a strong emotion it may be useful to remember… your emotions are...
Every day we must sweep…
“Training is like sweeping the floor. Just because we’ve done it once, doesn’t mean the floor is clean forever. Every day the dust comes back. Every day we must sweep.” ~Daniele Bolelli
“The costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.” ~James Clear
There is always a cost. “The costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.” ~James Clear
Why Doing Hard Things Matters
The main purpose of doing hard things, particularly when you do not need to do hard things, is to teach yourself you can do hard things, when you need to do hard things.
Why do you look for a third thing?
“When you’ve done well and another has benefited by it, why like a fool do you look for a third thing on top—credit for the good deed or a favor in return?” ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.73 “When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets...