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A Publication of M2 Communications
jack-daw [JAK-dah], n. 1. a glossy, black, European bird, corvus monedula, of the crow family, that nests in towers, ruins, etc.; has a proclivity to collect bright objects that attract its attention; can include bits of ice, things round or square, twigs, filaments of light bulbs; specialist on the lookout of what fits the construction of its nest.
jackdaw journal [JAK-dah JERN-al], n. 1. a repository of bright objects — wit, wisdom and whimsey — collected and/or created by Michael McKinney. 2. a web log or blog
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August 2024 Archives
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The Courage to Be Disliked
August 11, 2024
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 Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga's book The Courage to Be Disliked offers a way of looking at life and a guide to intentional living.
- Your life is not something that someone gives you, but something you choose yourself, and you are the one who decides how you live.
- One needs to think not "What will this person give me?" but, rather, "What can I give to this person?" That is commitment to the community.
- Admitting mistakes, conveying words of apology, and stepping down from power struggle - none of these things is defeat. The pursuit of superiority is not something that is carried out through competition with other people.
- Life is a series of moments: It is a series of moments called "now." We can live only in the here and now. Our lives exist only in moments. The world is simple, and life is too. One just needs to live each moment earnestly.
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The Importance of the Stoires We Tell Oursleves
August 19, 2024
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In a Tim Ferris interview, Michael Lewis explains the importance of the stories we tell about ourselves because they shape who we become.
I could not help but notice the effect on people of the stories they told about themselves. If you listen to people, if you just sit and listen, you’ll find that there are patterns in the way they talk about themselves. There’s the kind of person who is always the victim in any story that they tell. Always on the receiving end of some injustice. They’re the person who’s always kind of the hero of every story they tell. The smart person, they delivered the clever put down there. There are lots of versions of this, and you’ve got to be very careful about how you tell these stories because it starts to become you, that you are in the way you craft your narrative, kind of crafting your character. And so I did at some point decide, “I am going to adopt self-consciously as my narrative, that I’m the happiest person anybody knows.”
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It’s Only a Point
August 22, 2024
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In professional tennis player Roger Federer’s 2024 Commencement Address at Dartmouth College, he explains that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But it’s only a point.
In tennis, perfection is impossible... In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches... Now, I have a question for all of you... what percentage of the POINTS do you think I won in those matches?
Only 54%.
In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play.
When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.
You teach yourself to think: OK, I double-faulted. It’s only a point.
OK, I came to the net and I got passed again. It’s only a point.
Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN’s Top Ten Plays: that, too, is just a point.
Here’s why I am telling you this.
When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world.
But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you. This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point … and the next one after that … with intensity, clarity and focus.
The truth is, whatever game you play in life, sometimes you’re going to lose. A point, a match, a season, a job. It’s a roller coaster, with many ups and downs.
And it’s natural, when you’re down, to doubt yourself. To feel sorry for yourself.
And by the way, your opponents have self-doubt, too. Don’t ever forget that.
But negative energy is wasted energy.
You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That to me is the sign of a champion.
The best in the world are not the best because they win every point. It’s because they know they’ll lose—again and again—and have learned how to deal with it.
You accept it. Cry it out if you need to ... then force a smile.
You move on. Be relentless. Adapt and grow.
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