I spent years as Chairman of the Children's Panel. In that room, making decisions about a child's future, I learned that "efficiency" was useless. You couldn't speed up the process. You had to endure the weight of the decision. That experience taught me that resilience is the only metric that matters in the long run. Are you ready to trade "Speed" for "Strength"?
Deepak, "Fortress > Trello" might be the most concise summary of resilient architecture I have ever heard.
We often try to solve a hardware problem (nervous system capacity) with a software solution (productivity apps). But if the "Power Grid" is unstable, no amount of color-coding will keep the lights on. Margin isn't empty space; it is structural reinforcement. Excellent equation.
Tom - The image of organizing furniture inside a burning building speaks to something very real. A lot of people are trying to get faster, tighter, more efficient while their nervous systems are already screaming for help. Speed isn’t what’s missing but what is inside us is. Most people I see aren’t short on tools. They’re worn down, stretched thin, and trying to manage their lives when they don’t have much space to recover.
Thus, I respect the turning away from hacks, toward resilience as something structural and biological. Bringing Stoicism into the conversation with neuroscience puts this back where it belongs, in how our mind and body actually function, or at least how they should. Less about rearranging tasks and more about whether a person can absorb stress, stay oriented, and keep contact with themselves when things don’t go as planned.
Bronce, that image perfectly captures the absurdity of modern optimization. We are obsessively rearranging the furniture while the "Power Grid" is actively failing in the basement.
You are spot on, it isn't a lack of software (tools); it is a failure of hardware (nervous system capacity). Stoicism effectively acts as the "Mental Blueprint" that keeps the structure stable under load, but if the biology is screaming, no amount of efficiency will save the building. We have to reinforce the walls before we worry about the decor.
I spent years as Chairman of the Children's Panel. In that room, making decisions about a child's future, I learned that "efficiency" was useless. You couldn't speed up the process. You had to endure the weight of the decision. That experience taught me that resilience is the only metric that matters in the long run. Are you ready to trade "Speed" for "Strength"?
This landed. I’ve been guilty of chasing tighter systems when what I needed was more margin and a stronger nervous system. Fortress > Trello 😅
Deepak, "Fortress > Trello" might be the most concise summary of resilient architecture I have ever heard.
We often try to solve a hardware problem (nervous system capacity) with a software solution (productivity apps). But if the "Power Grid" is unstable, no amount of color-coding will keep the lights on. Margin isn't empty space; it is structural reinforcement. Excellent equation.
beautiful reflection Tom!
Thank you Carolina, appreciated.
Tom - The image of organizing furniture inside a burning building speaks to something very real. A lot of people are trying to get faster, tighter, more efficient while their nervous systems are already screaming for help. Speed isn’t what’s missing but what is inside us is. Most people I see aren’t short on tools. They’re worn down, stretched thin, and trying to manage their lives when they don’t have much space to recover.
Thus, I respect the turning away from hacks, toward resilience as something structural and biological. Bringing Stoicism into the conversation with neuroscience puts this back where it belongs, in how our mind and body actually function, or at least how they should. Less about rearranging tasks and more about whether a person can absorb stress, stay oriented, and keep contact with themselves when things don’t go as planned.
Bronce, that image perfectly captures the absurdity of modern optimization. We are obsessively rearranging the furniture while the "Power Grid" is actively failing in the basement.
You are spot on, it isn't a lack of software (tools); it is a failure of hardware (nervous system capacity). Stoicism effectively acts as the "Mental Blueprint" that keeps the structure stable under load, but if the biology is screaming, no amount of efficiency will save the building. We have to reinforce the walls before we worry about the decor.