Give a child some paper and crayons and tell them to do whatever they want and they will shrug and idly doodle, quickly losing interest. Tell them to draw a nice picture for grandma and suddenly you see their creative spark fly as they diligently go to work.

As an educator, I’ve discovered to bring out the creativity in students, you can’t simply just leave things wide open. You have to set parameters and boundaries so they know what field they’re working in. A few will push those boundaries and want to step out (as expected), but they do so purposefully.

In a world that offers endless choice, the best course of action is to limit that choice for yourself. Set your own boundaries upon which you will be within and find the peace that comes with it. Otherwise, everything becomes overwhelming and we become anxious at all the options ahead of us.

For instance, I was at the grocery store recently and counted eight different brands of bread crumbs. Eight. I’m certain there are others as well if I was willing to venture enough, but we’re just talking about bread crumbs here, right? Having lived a neighbourhood away from a bean packaging factory, I can assure you the only thing different about the various cans of beans you find in the aisle are simply the label. I have to think the same thing is happening with other items such as those breadcrumbs.

Yet, wanting to make the best choice, many will spend unnecessary time deciding on which brand to get.
In my year of enough, there is a satisfaction of knowing that my limits are already set and I don’t care to look at anything else as I enjoy what’s available to me right now. Should something come along, I’ll make a note of it and move on without spending time dwelling on it.

While there’s a freedom of having choices available to us, which is a freedom I wouldn’t want taken away, the most effective use of it is to decide on what’s necessary and ignore the rest.

Our constant connection to the world has us consuming endlessly, whether that’s social media, news, or video feeds. Even the barrage of incoming text messages we receive is a further entrenchment that our minds have defaulted to standby mode, waiting for the next thing to come in so we can respond.

Sometimes it comes as an active response (replying, commenting, etc.), but more often it remains a passive one that has us considering it for a moment before ignoring it completely. The latter, unfortunately, has trained people today to simply ignore requests and abdicate responsibility by assuming that if they just don’t reply to anything, it’ll go away without any consequence. That is a personal pet-peeve of mine, but I’ll save the ranting for another time.

While it may be easy to point the finger at technology and say this is a new or recent phenomenom, education has been plagued by this for quite some time. There is a curriculum to meet and there isn’t enough time to digest each of its parts before moving on to the next. Sometimes the pieces require an active approach, but most of them are passive.

“Here’s the content. Got it? Great. Moving on.”

That’s why I have envy for Math program in Japan who choose to go narrow and deep with their content as opposed to wide and shallow. This is something I would love to see replicated across all disciplines. Mind you, some of the best teachers do this anyway without drawing attention to themselves.

On a much broader scale, what all this leaves out is time to think.

If you consider that many of the greatest thinkers, inventors and artists spent each day going for a walk, or bike ride in Einstein’s case, you see the one consistent habit. It’s spending time consuming, then giving time for the brain to think.

Consider the insights that come about during a long car ride—we often refer to this as “highway stare,” but the revelations that come about are interesting. It’s an active meditative state that simply allows the mind to wander and see where it will go. And if it goes nowhere, that’s fine as well.

I mean, how often do we get to a point where we can just be in the moment without putting pressure on ourselves to gain something from it?

However, the greatest value of taking time to think is it gives us time to react appropriately, allowing us to control the narrative of our lives rather than having it fed to us by society.

This is the point in the year when we really start looking ahead at what’s to come, while also taking a moment to reflect upon what has been. It’s a yearly ritual mired in clichés and endless online bombardments in case we’ve gone more than a moment and forgotten about it. While you may sense a laden cynicism between the lines, much of it has to do with my own realizations and failures.

However, this upcoming year, I’ve decided to partake in one ritual in which I see a much more mindful approach.

A close friend of mine informs me of a word upon which he revolves himself around for the year. As part of his own reflection and growth, and I hope he doesn’t mind me briefly commenting on it, I’ve always found it to be a fruitful endeavour for him. However, it never occurred to me that I could take this on myself.

This is mainly because in my years of studying the deepest questions of life while also continually getting called out by others for my serious social shortcomings, I’ve been too arrogant to consider it. It’s kind of a big blind spot for someone who ministers to young people to completely brush something off without trying to understand it first.

Yet, here I am teaching courses on morality and ethics with the ultimate aim of happiness in one’s own life, failing to take away my own big lesson in the end—and that’s the word ‘enough.’

In practical terms, I’ve looked at my home library, my “to-watch” list, the devices in my home, workout equipment, plus all my other physical stuff and realized I have enough to satisfy me for several years—let alone the solitary year ahead.

I’ve also looked at my digital space, with all its endless files, apps and tools I’ve flirted with (I must’ve tried every note app and word processor at this point) only to recognize the tools I constantly come back to are more than enough.

Then there’s the many quality activities and games to do with my kids that we’ve barely touched. Wouldn’t this be a great year to get around to them all?

Finally there’s the incredible relationships I have in my life. These have always been the source of my strength and the encouragement to venture out, reflect and grow. By recognizing I have enough in every other part of my life, I can take more time to appreciate and work on these solid pillars instead of taking them for granted.

Perhaps in taking in this year and focusing on that word, I might even come to realize that who I am is enough and I can stop being so hard on myself. Strive to do better? Always.

Dwell in a hopeless comparison to a standard that can never be achieved? Enough.

In fact, it starts now.

I wouldn’t be much of a teacher if I didn’t have a love of learning and, more specifically, sharing that with others. It’s a part of the brain that never turns off—always clamouring for more.

Here’s the problem:

Very little of that knowledge is rooted i experience. Most of it is nothing more than disparate pieces of information that make for good trivia, but wholly less applicable.

Consider the time I had as a magician, where eveything from stage craft to showmanship could instantly be applied to my own set. However, this also built the foundation for the classroom where knowledge of timing and audience management are paramount.

Hence, my long time quest for acquiring knowledge for the sake of acquiring knowledge is being replaced with a curated look at how I can tack this on to a lived experience. Or, in the case of my students, how can I tack it on to their lived experience?

It’s one thing to be willfully ignorant, but it’s a whole other to know all the workings of a car engine and have no clue how to fix it.

Another year where I’m a little less certain.

A little less wise.

A little less sleep.

A little less patience for B.S.

A little more forgetful.

A little more picky.

A little more willingness to admit when I’ve been wrong.

A little more appreciation for the relationships in my life.

A little more certainty I am where I’m supposed to be.

A little more love to share.

A little less life to live…

but

A lot more life in the days I have left.

I recently watched a movie based on the suggestion of a trusted friend and walked away from it with a sense of malaise. It was a high concept that was quite interesting, but riddled with plot holes and good actors that felt like they weren’t trying.

It had its moments, but couldn’t help but think it could’ve been a wonderful film if it was in the hands of another director. Mind you, depending on who that director is would change the film completely, which is the tradeoff one must accept. Style and execution don’t always line up with vision.

However, in the right hands, something good could become something extraordinary.

The question we need to ask is whether our hands are the right ones for the task. It takes some humility to say they’re not, and even more humility to admit we have a lot more work to do before our hands are the right ones.

The hardest lesson to deliver about writing, especially to my students, is the benefits come from the process and not the product. This is especially hard to teach in schools where rewards , in the form of grades, are product driven and you write to hand something in.

However, this misses the most valuable lesson the act of writing has to offer, which has been picked up by mental health experts, bloggers and even athletes.

The act of writing helps to clarify your thoughts, organize your mind and reflect on what’s really happening with you. It’s the reason Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages are such a life changing habit, or why the act of journaling is necessary for progressing in our mental health wellness.

Hell, it’s even recommended by David Goggins, who isn’t known for holding back on what he considers to be bullshit.

From my experience, the act of writing hasn’t turned me into a different person as age, experience, kids and a loving partner have done all that. What it has done has helped me pay attention to the flow and structure of language. More specifically, the way I communicate.

My mind has always been a scattered mess, overthinking everything. It was very common for me to spend inordinate amounts of time processing what people were telling me and preparing what I was going to say, only to have it come out a complete jumbled mess. It was like my mind was trying to get my mouth to say five things at once.

The act of writing, which is a form of communication that happens through the hands instead of the mouth, has given me the practce to drastically diminish this hurdle. I actually think clearer now.

My personal experience aside, writing as an act of clarity is the single greatest benefit to engaging in it as a habit. Its usefulness can be catered to whatever you need without ever having to engage with it more than the process.

I highly recommend it.

Tyler Cowen over at Marginal Revolution asked his readers to share a book they loved that no one else did. I am pressed to think of any because I tend to go in the opposite direction and not care for books that others have loved.

Then again, I also veer towards very niche genres and books; ones which have a cult following, but difficult to recommend to others. Be as it may, here are a list of my favourites within that particular parameter:

Anathem by Neal Stephenson—Stephenson is an author I rarely recommend to people. You have to love info dumping and navigating through many pages of non-fiction within his ficton to gain an appreciation for his work.

Anathem is the extreme end of this, requiring you to pay close attention because you are hit with a lot of math and science, all set in a world that is not Earth and therefore, the terminology is different. However, the end result is a masterpiece.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore—Not an obscure title as it has quite the following, but wow, I’ve never laughed so hard at a book. It’s completely irrevarent, witty and worth every moment I lost my breath as a result of those belly laughs.

The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind—Yes, I agree this author has some serious issues. I also agree this series goes in some horrendous, weird and dumb places. I also couldn’t stand more than 20 pages of his attempted sequels and gave up on trying.

But you know what? I kept flipping pages until the very end.

The Gum Thief by Douglas Copeland—One of three authors who have influenced my own writing style and most known for his seminal work, Generation X.

This book by him is by far my favourite, introducing a flow I had never seen but that works magnificently. It pains me this book isn’t for everyone because it’s the one book that I would want everyone to read.

More Than This by Patrick Ness—Ness is a tremendous author. A Monster Calls, in my opinion, is a shining example of perfection in literature. I recommend it to everyone and I don’t say that lightly.

This particular book was recommended to me by one of my students and the best way to describe it is Incepton meets The Matrix meets Kierkegaard. Very hard to pin down, but oh wonderful to read.

Heartstriker Series by Rachel Aaron—Combine anime, video games and an urban fantasy world and you get this series. It was rather enjoyable, especially when the most significant and powerful character in the book… is named Bob.

As for books that everyone loved that I just couldn’t… that’s for another day.

Besides, the last thing the world needs is another pretentious critic.

My first published book, “How to Slack Your Way to Success,” is a prime example of a work of its time. Subsequently, it’s been taken off the market for that very reason.

If I were to rewrite that book today, it would follow the clickbait title of this article.

The importance of sleep cannot be overstated—both in quantity and quality. The research done and continues in this area consistently shows the benefits (and necessity) of a good night’s rest:

Increased cognitive function
Better health (mentally and physically)
Emotional health
Self-regulation
Focus
…and the list goes on

It’s the one part of the human condition we need to have mastery over to really gain the full enjoyment of life. If we can figure this part out, then we’ve actually figured out many other parts of our life. It’s the biggest bang for our buck.

Perhaps the most important reason is a consistent good night’s sleep might help us wake up to the reality that most of what bothers us, doesn’t really matter at all.

The problem of staying focused isn’t a new one. After all, there was a book written about it in the 1900s, but our current technology has exasperated this problem to astronomical levels.

While there is something to be said focusing on a task, the bigger challenge (for me, anyway) has been to stay focused on a path.

Rather than give things their proper time and focus, dare I say discipline, it’s one skip along a path before jumping to another. This has resulted in countless abandonned proejcts and half-hearted attempts at numerous avenues.

Although it pays no dividends to stick with something you absolutely hate and have no desire to pursue—anything worth doing must be given a fair chance. There are no promised outcomes, but there can be no progress.

I think the bigger fear is knowing there is only twenty-four hours in a day and considering most lives last approximately four thousand weeks, you want to enjoy as much of it as possible. In other words, the limitation is time.

To be able to enjoy life is one thing. To be able to experience what it has to offer? That comes at learning how to live each day and understanding in our limited time, we can have a full experience of a few things… or a shallow experience of many.