Good morning from New York City. I woke up this morning to a piece of paper sitting on the dining room table which I had totally forgotten about. Yesterday I was completely frustrated because I’m trying to learn a new program called Notion. My friend Will thinks Notion is like the switchboard operator Grand Central of your life. It can be anything from a to-do list, to a place you take notes, to database It’s really a powerful tool, but it’s not intuitive.  I tried to learn it like six years ago and abandoned it. I thought it was going to be a flash in the pan productivity tool, but actually it’s more powerful than ever and I really want to learn how to use it.

I got all frustrated last night and I just said to myself I don’t think I’m going to do this. As I was making dinner, what came to me was that I had not really thought through what I wanted the program to do for me. I was focused on trying to learn something without real clarity on what exactly I wanted that to be. Anyway, I got all flustered, walked away from it and then finally created an outline before I went to bed.

So when I got up and saw that piece of paper, I was kind of satisfied with myself and I had this funny thing pop into my head. It’s something that the teachers used to write on my report cards growing up in elementary school. They usually said something like this. Connie is happy and makes friends easily, and is a good contributor in class, but she’s easily frustrated”. Connie is hardworking, but she’s easily frustrated and gives up too easily, or some variation of that theme. Now this is something that would surprise most people because most people view me as being hardworking and tenacious. It’s true that when I want something, I really go for it. Anyway when I saw that piece of paper this morning, I thought to myself oh, I’m going to try again. I don’t want to be that third or fourth grader who is easily frustrated and gave up.

I think now more than ever, this muscle is something that I want to flex. I do realize it’s like beating a dead horse when I say over and over again how firmly and strongly I believe that exponential growth and change is going to impact every aspect of our life. I’m sorry that I keep saying that, but that’s what I believe. I think over the next five to 10 years things are going to be happening very quickly, and I want to be that person who is hardwired with these words: I want to do it. I can do it. I’m going to try. As I like to say, YouTube is my best friend. God bless those people on YouTube who take the time to make those videos. Oh my goodness I think it every single time I ask the most random question and get a detailed answer. That’s how I taught myself how to trade blockchain technologies. That’s how I taught myself how to podcast,  and by God, that’s how I’m going to teach myself how to use Notion.

You know, I think about my parents at the end of their lives. Neither of them used email and they were more isolated than they could have been. I look at my 99-year-old Uncle Wally who still answers email and communicates with people on FaceTime. As I age, I want to be with Uncle Wally. I don’t have children to help me. I don’t want to be isolated and helpless.

All this to say, what do you do when you’re frustrated? Are you one who gives up easily? I know we all have those things that trigger that I can’t do this,I know for me it’s always about figuring out how to use television or anything electronic. When my partner moved out, I forced myself to get quiet and figure it out. Helplessness is something we learn, and we can unlearn it. At least that’s what I’m telling myself this morning. So my project over the next days is to learn Notion.  What are you challenging yourself to learn something new? What frustrates you? Where do you feel helpless?  Where can you unlearn or rewire yourself? I think that’s a great skill to have.

I’ll leave it at that. Until next time, from my heart to yours.