Author: Carl Setzer

Being there

Carl Setzer

3:00 am, I receive a text, and slept through it. Logical, acceptable, and yet still painful. A friend hurting, and I wasn’t able to be there. She worked her way through, so no guilt on that. No, it’s deeper. 

I value my friends, my family. I value helping, to be present when needed. Thus, one of my core values failed. That is, and should be, painful. It’s not about effectiveness, or any of that. 
I know that these sorts of things will happen again and again. Failures of theses elements should cause discomfort, and reflection. That’s different than guilt. More akin to sadness. Which is fair to feel. 
I hope that feeling remains. Keeps me striving, pushing, growing. Another thing I value. 

Dreaming Big – Living Beyond The Doable

Carl Setzer

I’ve been reading Gary Keller’s “One Thing”, which defines three types of goals: doable, stretch & possible. “Doable”, of course, is the low hanging fruit, the no/low risk path. “Stretch” pushes you, but you’re still within the view of “limits”; some more risk and more effort than “doable”. Then we have “possible”. Well, I don’t like Keller’s term, but we’ll go with it. Because “possible” really pushes our mind past what we view as possible. It’s not about what we think as possible, but pushing past our viewed limits and discovering the truly possible. I like “beyond possible”, but I think that would push people away from trying, as much as “impossible” would. 

Ah, the “impossible!” I don’t believe in impossibilities. Rather, possibilities limited by either vision or a lack of technological progress. In Michio Kaku’s “Physics of the Impossible”, he defines three types of impossibilities: class 1, 2 & 3. Class 1 are technologically impossible, but don’t violate physical laws. Conceiving of a world with them isn’t that hard. Class 2 exist at the very edge of our understanding. And Class 3 requires a different understanding of physical laws. All three have been pushed past over the course of history. So, with that, I believe that most, if not all statements of “impossible” really are statements of limited vision. 

So, with that, you’d think I’ve been living a life pushing past the impossible, setting all my goals in the “possible” realm. No. I’ve struggled pushing into “possible”. Heck, “stretch” is emotionally challenging. Why? Fear, the fear of hitting my limits, I guess. The fear of disappointing those I care about? I’m not sure. The roots of this are years of limiting messages fed into me, myriad sources, manifest voices; probably all well meaning. Now, though I see it’s time to give up on the psychoanalysis and move. Work on believing in myself. It’s the message I’m trying to pass along to those around me. Because I very deeply believe that this is the root of all innovation. And letting yourself be limited is the root of much human suffering.

I’ve limited myself so very much by focusing on “doable” dreams. That’s the source of my internal dissatisfaction. I’ve limited myself, and I feel the edges of that box. I hate it. Deeply. Fighting my way past has been infernally challenging. Probably, the lack of awareness of what in shooting for, what I feel called for has been limiting. I hope by having it better defined, I may push past, finally. The battle continues.

July Fourth Fun

Carl Setzer

This July Forth, one of the key things I’m doing: cleaning out my inboxes. I’ve been quite over-full with activity, and this was one area sacrificed.

Brings back to the front of mind a continuous quandary: information flow. I have a huge array of interests, thus have subscribed to a huge number of email lists. And, like today, most of what I’m doing is dumping those emails into the trash. Even the ones being saved to “read later”. That’s something happening less and less: “reading later”. Slowly, I continue culling subscriptions. It’s hard, really hard.

Iteratively, I’m defining/refining my interests. And weeding out what I won’t read, or keep the most up-to-date with. This weeding has been the most painful. Even with knowing I can look things up instantly. Perhaps it’s a legacy: I’d keep magazine subscriptions of stuff that I cared about to “read later”. Though it might be weeks or even months later, having access to that knowledge was critical. Throwing them out meant losing ready access to that info. Now I am a simple Google search away. Just need to convince my brain.

I see these elements, struggling with the changes I’ve lived through. It seems, simply, that its mostly about becoming fully aware of the conflict. I view this process as psychic debugging.

Lastly, and don’t worry. I’ll still get out and enjoy US Independence Day. Cheers, all!

Creativity: Stifling vs. Channeling

Carl Setzer

From the perspective of the creative, direction (channeling) and stifling look very similar. Ultimately, it’s the end goal that determines the difference. Channeling is about helping the creation be the most effective, most powerful it can be. Stifling is about eliminating a threat, whether that threat is direct (ie: being offended) or indirect (ie: fear of your child’s career because they’re “wasting time” on the arts).

One challenge for the creative: finding the right mentors. As youth, our mentors and leaders are chosen for us. Think teachers, pastors, camp counselors…you get the picture. Generally, finding the right mentor to trust is act of pure luck. As we get older, and (hopefully) wiser and more aware, we are able to be more direct about choosing who we let into those positions of trust. But even as youth, it’s often possible to determine the difference, and, thus, put the stifling actions off to the side.

On the other end, it’s important for us leaders to direct, to channel, to help the creatives around us maximize their voice. Part of that is getting the right challenges in front of the right minds. Part of it is to relax our egos and hear the voices of the different. And, the biggest part, is to focus on that caring, compassionate core and focus on bringing the best out in everyone around us.

Thoughts on Wisdom

Carl Setzer

“We do not receive wisdom. We must discover it ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, and which no one can spare us. For our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.”
~Marcel Proust

Our role in life, as teachers, friends and parents is not to spare our youth this journey. Rather, grant them fearless hearts able to embrace the journey, trusting themselves to come through better. Also, accept that they will change, and that we will love that person equally.

Freedom from “mistakes”

Carl Setzer

My thought of the morning: I don’t think I believe in mistakes. The hedging quality reflects the newness of this notion. It’s reflects a rather radical shift in my mind.

There’s sloppy execution, then there’s discovery.  Sloppy execution isn’t a mistake, it’s a lack of care and diligence. Clearly, more effort/better focused effort would’ve overcome the obstacles.

Accepting a challenge which doesn’t go as expected isn’t a mistake, either. We learn deeply from those moments. Amazing, cosmos shifting events resulted from unintended consequences.

I mustn’t let my fear of mistakes paralyze me. This ruins so much joy, limits life’s delights. I’ve seen this, up close and personally. And desire the removal of such life denying scripts from my psyche. Walking that path, slowly but surely, reaching that destination.

Writing Media and Future Think

Carl Setzer

Talking with a friend, I see my writing has shifted solidly digital. I tend to create on a device, mostly my tablet, or my phone, then computer. I’ll go weeks without touching my notebook.

I love the ability to edit, and unedit. There is a zen-like impermanence to this medium.  Changing things feels powerful.

On occasion, I wonder what historical research will be like. Probably an archeological dig through our data, sifting through millions of photos, notes and stories, aggregating our lives.

Strange combination of fluidity, impermanence and ageless data shall flow together into a richer understanding of who we were, collectively and individually.

Social Media: Work vs Magic

Carl Setzer

Magic. I’ve seen this idea many times, item X will “save us”, ” make us rich “, “make critics vanish”, what have you. Looking to some tool as a savior, the proverbial ” magic bullet”; all our problems will vanish. Nearly daily I see emails promising “Pinterist will make you rich”, along with myriad, similar titles. Magic sells, but never returns on that investment.

Social media won’t make you rich, make critics vanish, nor any issue disappear. No blog post, tweet nor Google+ share will, either. It’s way these efforts are called campaigns. Regular posts, with thoughtful content, over several channels, and with engagement, interacting; that’s how an audience is built. Gaining fans, then nurturing those relationships, that’s the gift of social media.

My Writing’s Evolution

Carl Setzer

Noticing my poetry’s evolution. Once, my focus was flowing words, rich in descriptors, often verbose. Now, now I so often seek brevity. Driving to strip distraction, superfluous text, longing to grasp the core meaning, what lurks at the deepest recesses. Often I fail, but that hardly dissuades me. Much like Thoreau’s failure to attain the rich independence alongside the pond, failure is no shame. To stretch, dream, depart from the norm and traditional, daring something new; the results never match the dream. Its always so much richer.

Grasping hold of dreams, daring to work them real, that’s my newest focus. Seek out the new, the never-done daring deeds of the heart. To live fully engulfed within a creative vortex, fearlessly facing the winds, that is what I seek to build now.

My poetry is the focus of another site:

Http://questionsall.wordpress.com

I’ll endeavor to post daily. Challenging, pushing myself forward, beyond the limits of fear.

Such is my dream.