by Nathan Coumbe

It’s not the tool, it’s the system

Or lack thereof.

You don’t need a better tool. You need a better system. Or you need a clearer outcome.

You think the next new software will solve your work overload. But the reality is that only good workflows that you design for yourself can do that. Software can’t help until you have that down.

You think that the next workout program or supplement will finally help you get a “ripped” body. However, neither of those matters if you don’t have a clear vision for what you actually want, or you can’t execute the boring and simple habits consistently over a long period.

It’s rarely the lack of the right tool that’s the problem anymore. Most of the time, it’s a lack of appropriate systems.

by Nathan Coumbe

Pain is an opinion

At some point in my childhood, I found myself having a self-talk conversation about pain. I can’t remember exactly what was happening, but I know whatever it was was difficult and physically painful. 

I had this realization that pain wasn’t some physical, tangible thing in or on my body. It was an electrical signal being sent from one area of my body to my brain, which was interpreting this event as pain. It wasn’t “real.” At least, that’s what my childhood brain decided. 

I proceeded to test this idea after my realization by seeing how hard I could pinch myself before giving in to that ephemeral signal sent to my brain. The next few minutes (and days) were experiments in whether the realization that pain was only a chemical reaction in my brain could inoculate against physical pain. 

Shocker – it doesn’t work like that. I still felt pain. There was always a point where I thought, “Okay, stop. This hurts.”

But I did learn something from that experiment: realizing what pain is allowed me to tolerate more of it. Telling myself that it wasn’t a “thing” in the world I could touch allowed me to feel that pain and continue hurting myself anyway.

Now, the health and sanity of this experiment can definitely be questioned. But I later learned I wasn’t the first person to come up with this idea. 

It’s actually more than 2,000 years old and described quite well by the Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. 

“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.” —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

He goes on to argue that most of the things that happen to us in life we think of as “bad” are actually neutral. It’s our opinions of those events that determine whether they are good or bad, whether we’re hurt or not.

By teaching myself that this pain signal from my brain was a real thing, I removed (or at least delayed) the opinion that I was hurt and needed to stop pinching myself. It allowed me to push beyond my normal pain tolerance and endure more of it.

Let me give you another, less childish example. 

People who go into special operations selection (think Navy SEALs or Green Berets) don’t do it believing they’ll breeze through. No matter how hard they train and prepare, they know it will suck. It’ll hurt, and that’s by design. 

The goal in that environment isn’t to breeze through without feeling pain; it’s to endure the pain and keep going anyway. The cadre screen for people who can do that, because it’s often necessary in a real-world operation. 

If you’ve been shot and you’re stuck in the middle of enemy territory, you don’t get a sick day. You must accept the pain, the injury, even the very real damage you’ve incurred… And you have to get your ass out of Dodge anyway, probably while carrying one of your injured teammates out, too. 

They can do this, not because they are superhuman, but because they’ve trained themselves to feel the very real pain and keep going anyway.

So, yes, pain and injury are real. But how it affects us and our ability to perform—how it affects what we’re capable of—is often overblown by our opinion of that pain.

by Nathan Coumbe

More bad ideas lead to more creativity

For most of us, if we want to be more original, to be more successful, to be more “renowned,” the key is to have more ideas. To create more things.

You need to focus on the quantity of work you create—the output—and less on the quality.

Why? You need bad ideas to come up with a few good ones. 

Seth Godin has a great rant about this around writer’s block. People don’t actually get writer’s block. They are afraid of writing down bad ideas and claim they have no good ideas.

Good ideas often come through sheer volume.

by Nathan Coumbe

Does “how” or “what” matter more?

If someone achieves a good outcome through manipulative or unethical means, is the outcome still good?

If that same person makes a great decision based on sound information and principles, but it leads to a bad result, was the effort still “good” in a moral sense?

by Nathan Coumbe

Courage comes first

All other virtues depend on courage in their execution.

To some extent, all worthwhile endeavors require going against the status quo or doing something difficult. This requires bravery.

Being a courageous politician sometimes means opposing a tyrannical leader, even if that figure has mass appeal. But doing the right thing requires courage in this case.

Acting justly (i.e., doing the right thing) is often unpopular. (How depressing!)

Persisting in the face of opposition requires courage.

Doing the right thing often requires someone “going first,’ also known as leading! You must be courageous to lead, as you must be willing to fail.

by Nathan Coumbe

Impresarios make softball happen

The MLB is investing in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, a long-overdue organization for the United States’ outstanding softball players.

I’m sharing this article here, not because the MLB is investing in it, but for a different reason entirely.

As I read this, all I could think was, “A group of impresarios made this happen.”

Impresario: someone who organizes something, who brings the right people together to connect and make things happen that need to happen.

A group of people (mostly strong, driven women) said, “Why isn’t there a professional softball league? Why aren’t softball players making a career of this after dominating in college like all the men in MLB get to do?”

So what did they do? They made it happen themselves. Eventually, other groups, such as ESPN and MLB, took notice and decided to invest. But that isn’t the impressive part.

What’s impressive is that a small group of people decided that something that didn’t exist should exist. And they made it happen, without permission, by bringing the best and the brightest softballers together to build something great.

This is the work of an impresario.

This is leadership.

by Nathan Coumbe

What to do when you’re breaking down

Someone asked Dr. Karl Menninger what he would recommend if someone told him they felt a nervous breakdown coming. He replied:

“Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person.”

It’s a good reminder for me when I need to get out of my head.

by Nathan Coumbe

Start with one

One person. Just help one person with whatever skill you have, whatever problem she has.

This one act doesn’t have to dictate the entire course of your life, business, career, or whatever else you’re worried about.

Nor do you have to plan everything perfectly from the start. No need to create a business plan, figure out all the courses and certifications you need to take, or get an accountant on retainer. At least not right now.

The important thing is to start. Help this one person in front of you.

If it goes well, then you can decide whether to help another in the same way. Or not.

One decision doesn’t have to dictate every other decision that follows.

by Nathan Coumbe

Leadership = Applied History

There’s a line on the History Major page at the US Naval Academy:

Effective leadership is applied history.

Leadership, more than anything, is decision-making—specifically decision-making that affects other people, not only you.

By studying history, you can examine the minds of other leaders and understand their actions and the resulting outcomes (good and bad).

You can learn lessons from other people’s experiences rather than from your own failures and setbacks. This will not only save you time, money, and emotional labor—in some cases, it might save lives.

As General James Mattis said:

“If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you.”

Learn lessons from others by studying history. Don’t repeat their mistakes when you can simply read a book.

by Nathan Coumbe

The teaching experience got worse after COVID

When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, it sent all the children home for an extended period of virtual schooling. This showed parents what it was like to deal with lots of kids all day long.

Not just “deal” with them either, but also hopefully have them learn something.

Multiply parents’ experience with their handful of children by 10, and that was what the average schoolteacher dealt with on a daily basis for years before 2020.

What fascinates me about this, however, is that the experience didn’t lead to an outpouring of support. It didn’t lead to calls for higher pay, better working conditions, and more classroom assistance for teachers.

Instead, COVID-19 made schooling much, much worse for teachers as, inexplicably, it led to a focus on culture war issues and concerns over what was being taught in the classrooms.