What is the identity of the Master Sage Builder?

Who is the 'Master Sage Builder?'

I am.

Well. At least that's the new identity that dropped in for me today during a long walk deep in the woods.

What exactly is a master sage builder and why is that the new identity?

Well. I went on a walk deep into the woods to think about my new identity, and when answers come to me in nature, I just sort of roll with them. In this case, I believe this particular identity is a combination of the 3 dyads:

• Master Sage: one who has attained such a state of being and whose life consequently becomes tranquil (in stoic philosophy it was unclear whether this state was actually attainable)
• Master Builder: the head of a construction project during the Renaissance period who must possess both the theoretical engineering knowledge and also devise new methods of construction. It's also a reference to The Lego Movie for those mythical beings who would build without instructions
• Sage Builder: one who builds from a place of deep wisdom and alignment focusing on solving the most important problems

When we look at the Venn Diagram of the three dyads, we have a beautiful new identity that both challenges and supports my vision for the future.

Why is this identity critical to the self-development process?

An identity is a "moving towards" object.

It's a vision of a future version of myself that I aspire to fully embody. An identity forms the self-image, actions, habits, beliefs and worldviews. It's the center who we are and what we do. As James Clear writes, "The key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first."

As we start living in alignment with our identity through our essence, our behaviors and our environment, we convince ourselves that this is who we truly are a little bit more each and every day.

The act of publishing this Thought feels like a solid first step on the long journey to becoming the Master Sage Builder.

What is a game that's rigged in my favor?

Many lifetimes ago, I became immersed in the game of blackjack. I read all the books, online forums, studied the greats and practiced daily.

It was a wild ride that ultimately ended up with me being able to buy an apartment when I graduated college.

It was a game where I was able to eek out a tiny advantage. Math, statistics, probability, memory, socializing and the ability to handle my alcohol allowed me to grind out some wins and a whole lot of free comps which were a very welcomed upgrade over my normal college life.

The biggest takeaway from that time, aside from the emotional resiliency of being able to handle swings of 1000s of dollars in seconds, is to play a game that is rigged in my favor.

The easiest way to identify the games where I have the most advantage is to look at the unique combination of my gifts.

What is the intersection of things that I'm good at that many people are not?

• Entrepreneurship & problem solving
• Influence & business development
• Technology & product development
• Leadership

These 4 areas have been the focus of most of my adult life and have produced outsized results for me. The places where I can naturally excel are the roles that allow for some combination of these skills to shine. The more the merrier.

It's all too common to spend time playing a game we can't win, don't want to win or where we don't have any tangible advantage. If the goal is to out-produce our potential, then the starting point is to triple down on our unique combination of genius.

The games I'm playing these days are much different than the games I played as a know-it-all, "can't tell me nothing" college kid. But. They are still very much architected in a way that I'm more likely to win than lose.

How the hell am I still a beginner?

"I was only 44 years old at the time, so I still had a lot to learn."

That statement is attributed to Bob Iger, the former CEO of Disney (and apparently the CEO again).

"That’s another thing you learn in your 60s..."

That's from Bob's interview with Tim Ferriss. The entire Tim Ferriss interview is amazing and worth a listen. It starts with the Pixar deal when Iger called up Jobs with a "crazy idea" and ended up in a boardroom alone with Steve and a markerboard where Steve torn the idea to absolute shreads. Spoiler alert: Iger still got the deal done. Like a boss.

I don't know very much about him, and there's certainly some criticism against against him, but he's pulled off some wildly impressive things at the helm of Disney. Pixar acquisition. Marvel acquisition. Starwars acquisition. In a world of so many botched M&A deals, he hit 3 grand slam home runs.

Here I am, 37.58 years old, thinking that I'm starting to figure some things out. And Iger is over there with a beginner's mindset in his 60s -- AS THE CEO OF DISNEY.

I very much believe a key element to the path to mastery the beginner's mindset.

I've been practicing yoga multiple times a week for 3 years, and I realize every day how much I have to learn. I've been building tech products for almost a decade, and it's humbling how much I don't know. Hell, today I struggled with properly opening up a milk carton. A few years ago, I realized I was tying my shoes incorrectly.

I appreciate the inspiration from Bob. I can't wait to see how much I'll still have to learn a decade from now.

What is the upgrade?

I would totally crush it if I were Phil Connors in Groundhog Dog.

I'm an optimizer. I see things how they are and want to make micro improvements to make them better.

If I had to live the same day over and over again, sure I'd have to go through the sanity check phase, but then I'd like to think I'm take a similar approach as Bill Murray. Meticulously iterating on every moment of the day until it is fully optimized.

Thankfully (maybe?) I don't re-live the same day over and over again in Punxsutawney, but I am always looking at the best places for optimizing and upgrades. My optimizer had been off line for a bit as the pandemic began, but it's peaking its head out again.

In Atomic Habits, James Clear neatly articulates this optimizer mentality with his graph "The Power of Tiny Gains." If we get 1% better every day for a year, we are over 37 times better than where we started. And if we get 1% worse every day for a year, we are at 3% of where we started. Quite the swing.

Currently, I'm optimizing my morning routine during this "Shelter in Place" phase. Little tweaks and tests here and there and we'll re-find that magic.

Obviously, it's not attainable to actually achieve that 1% gain every day, otherwise I'd be flying and walking through walls by now. But it is a wonderful aspiration. Squeeze the juice out of each and every day in a way that makes Phil Connors proud.

Why has writing become a critical part of the process?

Back on February 26th, I published my first public Thought related to the Coronavirus. "How Should I Prepare?" was an insight into my thinking about why it felt important to take some small steps to start preparing for a myriad of possible events.

A day earlier, I sent a tweet that my friends who were doctors and nurses laughed at the idea when I asked them if we should start preparing for the virus.

(Side note: this is my favorite on-going tweet thread which I continue to add to any time I find amazing things about nature and wildlife thriving during this worldwide shut down)

The reason I bring this up now is not to make any claim of Nostradamus status. Far from it. I bring it up because I'm glad I published those Thoughts and tweets even though some of them seemed ridiculous. With so much chaos, it brings me some joy that I still published a few things.

It greatly helps me to refine my thinking and decision engine to look back on posts from a few weeks or months ago, let alone the treasure chest of mostly not-so-great posts I have going back to 2012.

And as I'm laying in bed on a Sunday night, realizing that I've only published a small handful of Thoughts over the last month, having a strong desire to give my past self a swift talking to, I know that my future self will greatly appreciate a stronger dedication to writing more consistently.

And so it will be. See you tomorrow world. As I continue to document the process of what it's like to be John during the global pandemic of 2020.

As always, my hope is that my Thoughts bring you some tiny nuggest of wisdom, open you up to a unique perspective or even provide you with some momentary distraction and entertainment with my shenanigans, but really we all know I'm just writing this for Future John :)