Is Halloween an important holiday? Is it special to you? Do you look forward to October 31st every year?

I do, and not for the candy. To me, Halloween represents much more than treats and tricksters. It’s more than fancy pumpkins and warm apple cider. It’s bigger than ghouls and grimm. Those elements add a nice flare (to say nothing of commercial value). But the often ignored super-treat of Halloween is grander and sweeter indeed…

The opportunity to indulge in our childlike spirit.

Make no mistake: Halloween is as much for grown-ups as for children, probably more so. Conditioned to fit in to conventional models, Halloween for many is the one-day allowance to stand out and be a bit crazy. Here’s the real trick though, the silliness is sincere. The conformity is the true costume.

Halloween celebrates the rambunctious and ridiculous, the original and outlandish. While Halloween’s historical origins are what they are, the modern context is one of vivid playfulness. It’s that content that makes this holiday matter.

From office parties to college rituals to neighborhood gatherings, grown-ups (and those growing up) rightly exploit Halloween to their inner child’s delight. Rules are few and better phrased as guidelines. Creativity is encouraged. Fun is the only mandate.

True, wild parties aren’t everyone’s fancy (truth be told, not mine either). Thankfully, such festivities are merely a thin slice of all Halloween is and offers. Options are endless. Most parents, for example, gain great joy by living vicariously through their little children masquerading as little monsters or mini-superheroes. Many more dress-up along with them, as monsters or heroes alike.

Then there’s the decorations. A free-economy boon, these spooky garnishes are widely adored. Some apply them to their own homes in the hopes of winning the neighborhood’s claim of scariest haunt. Others sprinkle them around their desk. Others still devise elaborate fright factories where willing patrons love getting their wits scared out of them.

Halloween fun can be taken quite seriously it would seem. We should be grateful that it is. For without Halloween, how else would many of us exercise our Big Kid willfulness?

Happy Halloween!

I’m addicted to fiction. Always have been. Always will be.

Fiction stories are a special part of one’s childhood. Growing up, these stories teach us important lessons of good versus evil, strength of one’s character and the possibilities of pure imagination.

For me in my early youth, comic characters were particularly influential. I favored Marvel (including X-Men), though Batman (a DC character) holds a special part of my big kid heart. I should also acknowledge my love of The Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood and other detective novels and outlaw stories.

Now in my twenties, I am as infatuated with fiction as ever. I believe in growing up without growing old. I keep myself young of mind, body and soul thanks largely to fiction. My favorites these days are Harry Potter, George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the Rings, the Bourne Trilogy and more.

Do you see a theme here? Not just fiction, but fiction series.

There’s a magic to fiction series that is hard to duplicate in a single novel. The author has more time to develop the characters; subjecting them to a wider variety of trials-by-fire and allowing them more room to explore their own identity. As readers, we are a part of these evolutions. So it’s common (and natural) to evolve along with them. The result is a profound sense of self-identification (in many cases at least).

The subject of serialized fiction leads me to welcoming author Sean Platt to the blog.

Sean Platt (and co-author David Wright) are new-age writers exploring the frontier of serial fiction. Paranormal stories are their speciality; entrancing cliffhangers are their wizardry.

I had an opportunity recently to interview Sean about their latest series, Yesterday’s Gone, as well as his creative process, entrepreneurial acumen and big kid spirit. There’s a lot here that I think we can all benefit from as we seek to creatify (just coined this, LOL) our own lives.

It’s a pleasure to present this interview to you now. Enjoy!

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MG: Hi Sean! Thanks for dedicating some time to talk about your new project. And welcome to the blog.

SP: Hey Matt, thanks for having me. It’s great to be here!

MG: Yesterday’s Gone has a fascinating story framework. It’s rooted in seasons much like a TV series. What compelled you to experiment with this format and how do you see it evolving series-to-series?

SP: My partner David Wright and I wanted to serialize Yesterday’s Gone because we were fascinated by both serialized fiction and serialized TV, but also because we really love the serialization model itself.

We’ve been interested in serializing our stories for a while, and had published weekly installments of our first novel, Available Darkness, more than two years ago in the first incarnation of the Collective Inkwell. But life stood in the way and we had to set our serial aside for about a year and a half. When we finally found the time to return to the title, we just wanted to wrap it up and get it to market. Though we were still interested in the format, we wanted to test it with a new title that didn’t have any baggage or heavy mythology.

Yesterday’s Gone gave us a clear slate where we could return to the beginning and write something simple, streamlined, and modeled more like superbly scripted television than an actual book.

Even though serialized fiction is a couple hundred years old, going back to Dickens, the rapid evolution of tablet technology and the way readers are buying entertainment in bite-size chunks, signaled to us that it was the perfect time to try our experiment.

We can’t wait to find out how Yesterday’s Gone will perform as a series. We will follow the first season with another two, at least, but we have many additional titles we’ll be exploring after that, in several different genres.

MG: It’s worth emphasizing that Yesterday’s Gone is a co-authored saga. How did you structure your co-creating to optimize each others talents and creative styles?

SP: Dave is far more structured than I am. He’s a stronger editor, and is better at seeing the bigger picture when it comes to the narrative. I hate to outline, Dave doesn’t. I’m slightly stronger with voice, and he’s patient enough to assemble the story and make sure it all flows as fluidly as possible.

Without Dave, I would have written something entirely different. He made sure there were no snafus, that timelines matched up, and that characters stayed consistent and believable.

Left to my own devices, I wouldn’t have outlined a word, subscribing to the Stephen King School of Writing. That means I make it up as I go along, with full faith that the story would eventually find itself. And just like with King’s books, sometimes this work and sometimes it doesn’t!

I help take Dave’s pages from good to great, and together we have an amazing creative partnership, where we’re able to create quality consumer art as a team that neither one of us would be able to create on his own.

MG: You have a tenacious approach to writing (and all creative work). Much of it seems iterative in nature, at least to me. Do you intentionally find yourself working in cycles? And how do you interpret your own creative inspirations and energies: linearly or non-linearly?

SP: Wow, that’s a great question. Honestly, I’m not sure. Because of an exhausting workload and constant need to keep running for the last three years, I have yet to settle into my ideal rhythm. But it is improving by the day, and I can now say, for the first time ever, that I’m at the edge of discovering my ideal schedule. And if all goes well, I’ll have it nailed and will be living it full-time by January.

For the most part, I’d say I’m nonlinear. I’m always juggling a dozen main ideas, with another who-knows-how-many thoughts dancing at the periphery. Something is always marinating in my mind, and when I finally push myself to the other side of a creative breakthrough, I rarely find a new idea, but rather, an old one opening into full bloom.

MG: You’ve become recognized as a prolific author of many varied writing styles in many genres. How are you able to be so accomplished in all these forms, including ghostwriting where you must assume the voice of another?

SP: My greatest strength as a writer is probably my complete lack of formal training. My wife, Cindy, tried to get me to write for a decade before I typed a single page. I never believed I had much of a voice, or anything particularly interesting to say. Sure, I loved to talk, but didn’t equate that with being a writer.

Now I understand that excellent writing is a matter of getting as much of your natural speaking voice as you can, directly onto the page. So that’s definitely part of it, but there’s also a music to language. I listen for, and love, that music.

That ear is what helps me with everything from children’s poetry to taking other people’s copy from good to great.

As far as be able to write across any genre or style, I think that comes from the years spent as a ghostwriter where I had to write fast, furious, and non-stop. That meant tackling anything that flew across my desk. Any time you do something over and over and over again, you’re bound to get better. I’ve written millions of words in the last few years, everything from wedding vows to page turning fiction, with info products and sales letters sandwiched in between. If that doesn’t make you prolific, I have no idea what would!

MG: I was mesmerized by your personal back story when we first met. It clearly has influenced much of your creative process and decision making. Can you share a bit about early business experiences and what you learned from them that’s fueled your drive and success?

SP: Ha, which part, I think I talked your patient ear off for an hour nonstop!

Well, I started in business when I was around 10, selling candy bars and Garbage Pail Kids on the playground. I got in a fight with my guidance counselor my junior year of high school and left the campus that same afternoon. Never went back. Cindy is a teacher, which is hysterical.

I consider myself a life-long learner, and have always loved to learn, even if it wasn’t from behind a desk.

I started my first business at 18, and eventually ran a small chain of family flower shops, staying in the industry for 12 years until a few years back when Cindy and I opened a preschool together. We wanted to spend as much time as we could with our children for the first five years of their lives, but closed the school when they entered school full-time so we could build our online dreams, specifically me writing and publishing fiction, which is where we finally find ourselves today, three years later.

So yes, good things come to those who wait!

My early experience taught me that it was okay to be afraid, but that you should never let that fear hold you back. Risk is a part of the process, and as long as I don’t lose my wife or children, everything else will always be okay.

I can always make more money, I can never make more time, so how I spend my days is the most important thing to me of all. That’s the biggest rule I have for both life and business, and I can’t see it ever changing.

MG: As an enthusiastic father of young children and author of fiction, I’ll guess that your inner child is no stranger to you. Do you self-identify with the persona of a “big kid”, and if so, how do you channel your inner imagination and sense of wonder into your work.

SP: I am such a big kid. I love playing with my children; love playing video games, hide-n-seek, anything they want. I live for them and would die for them, though I am not defined by them.

My inner child is alive and well. I love books, movies, games, fun and general. I draw inspiration from the world around me. The only regret I currently have is that I’m not writing much for my children. I have a book of musical, rhythmic rhyming I’m publishing any day now, and I can read that to them out-loud and that makes me proud. But early next year I want to start writing books specifically for them.

They’re at a prime reading age and are tearing through books, yet none are Daddy’s. I’d like to change that sooner rather than later.

MG: Yesterday’s Gone is just launching. It’s full of potential and promises to open up a whole new chapter for your career, business, and life. It’s clearly deeply important to you. Why is that, and what do you hope for this series (and this story form)?

SP: I went online three years ago. Like a lot of people who start an online business, I believed things would go faster than they did. I struggled, and came out better on the other side, but it’s been a long couple of years watching other people succeed from the strength of my voice. I’ve never minded being invisible, and have taken some comfort in it even, but I’m finally at a time and place when I can write my best possible future, and have never been more excited or grateful.

Yesterday’s Gone is awesome. It’s the finished work I’m most proud of, by far. This is the first time I’ve felt so fulfilled both professionally and creatively in my entire life, and the first time my left and right brain have been harmonized.

Yes, I expect the success of Yesterday’s Gone to change everything. But by changing everything it will allow me to shape life to what I wanted it to be when I first started out on this adventure.

As far as the story itself, Dave and I would love to write another several seasons, so long as the audience is there, but we’re also fascinated, energized and excited by the model itself, and look forward to following our first serial with new entries in other genres.

MG: What final words would you like to share, and how can readers learn more about Yesterday’s Gone?

SP: Well, I’d like to thank you for your time, and your awesome, thoughtful questions. One of the best things about the promotion for Yesterday’s Gone so far has been getting to meet and talk to so many super awesome people.

Here’s the trailer for Yesterday’s Gone. I think Dave did a really great job, especially considering the $17 price tag!

I can’t imagine a better way to spend $.99 than getting the pilot for Yesterday’s Gone. And if you like serialized fiction in the vein of LOST, by way of Stephen King, you can’t possibly go wrong with the full season for just $4.99.

If any of this seems especially cool, and you would like exclusive chapters (with shocking endings) as well as a behind-the-scenes look at what we’re doing to promote the serial, sign up to be a “Goner.”

Thanks again for having me, Matt. It’s been great!.

Sean Platt is an author, publisher and creative entrepreneur. Follow him on Twitter.

Do I like feedback? Yes I do.

For me, receiving feedback is more than helpful. Giving feedback is beyond gratifying. And yet, I sense that “feedback” is in danger of becoming a dirty word. That’s more than a bit sad since we, as a species, wouldn’t have evolved to where we are today had it not been for feedback.

We evolved from little monkeys precisely because we were conscious and curious of what our environments were telling us. The land. The seasons. Threats. Pleasures. Social life. We were receptive to it all. Our brains matured because of it; our superior intellects formed because of it.

It feels these days that we’re devolving. Many regard feedback as uncomfortable. Others fear it outright. It’s those sorry souls that flee from feedback because it’s, to use their words, “abusive” or “spiteful” or “overly critical.” Dirty words indeed; and dubious accusations all.

Feedback doesn’t exist in a vacuum like these glass-half-empty folks would have you believe. Feedback (the nudge) is the stimuli of the feedback loop (the process). It’s a circuit that must be completed. These circuits operate in iterations large and small at whatever frequency you choose.

Is all feedback positive? No, of course not. I suppose it’s the negative mutations of feedback (hate speech, belittling remarks, false accusations, etc.) that have poisoned the minds of many towards feedback at large.

But positive feedback is very real; the ripple effects they can trigger not be underestimated.

The Art of Positive Feedback Loops

The value of feedback is in its art. It shouldn’t have to be explained, but it’s worth re-enforcing.

First, feedback provides access to truth – the truth of what your customers think about your latest gizmo, the truth about what your significant other is stressing about, the truth about what your competitive advantage is. More times than not, the truth wins.

Second, feedback frees your mind from doubt. Armed with truth, you know what to do next to improve your gizmo, nurture your relationship, and compete on your terms. Guesswork is removed from the equation. Now you’re on offense, not defense.

Third, feedback is crowd pleasing. In the modern age of social everything, people want to be included into the process. They want to feel like a valuable contributor to the products and services they love. They want to have a relationship with the artist or creative professional. They want in. So let them in.

Fourth, feedback floats all boats. You benefit from the insights you need to make informed decisions to grow your enterprise. Your fans benefit from feeling valued (no-kidding, because they are!). And the world benefits from great work that consistently gets better.

Last, feedback is fun. It’s a profound joy to receive praise for your work and to hear about how you could make it even more magical. It’s amazing to talk through the hopes and dreams of your relationships so as to build toward them together. Yes, there will be trolls. Curse them and forget them. And get on with it.

We know all of this to be true. We’re not mindless little monkeys. We’re smart apes. So we know that talk of embracing feedback is cheap. Only through action can we hope to prosper from feedback. The science of positive feedback loops shows us the way.

The Science of Positive Feedback Loops

From Wikipedia…

Positive feedback occurs when A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A. … Positive feedback often leads to exponential divergences or the exponential growth of oscillations. Under positive feedback and a lack of stabilizing forces, systems will typically accelerate towards a non-linear region.

That’s a bit technical, I grant you. The essence is simply that positive feedback amplifies small effects into big changes. This is how tipping-points are triggered. This is how “overnight success” is attained. It’s all a chain reaction.

For the fellow geeks among us, you’ll be interested to know that positive feedback has great influence in digital electronics, chemical reactions, sound waves, economic models, human biology, thermal dynamics, and a myriad of other way-geeky science stuff. I’ll let you explore those topics on your own.

The lesson here is to structure positive feedback loops into our everyday routines.

For business owners, always have a customer feedback form available. For parents, always respond positively to your child’s inquisitive questions and actions. For creatives, always share your work in small cycles so as to best understand the interests and needs of the community you serve. And for everyone, always speak true to your friends and be open to them in return.

Most feedback is triggered by asking questions. That can only mean one thing…

A Call-to-Questions

We all crave answers. But not enough ask the questions needed to foster them. That must change.

So I ask you…

First, please identify three concrete ways that you can solicit positive feedback today. What questions need to be asked? What answers must you know? Next, build feedback loops into your daily routines so that you can continue capturing this feedback.

Also, select three outlets to give feedback today. They can be anything – work matters, personal relationships, customer service – anything so long as they’re important to you.

Finally, give me feedback! What did you like about this essay? What didn’t you like? What do you find captivating about this site? What’s dull and worth dropping? What non-linear subjects do you want me to write on that matter to you?

I invite you to share your feedback in the comments below or on Twitter.

Feedback must be firm to be useful. So no wet noodles, okay?!

In an age of over-planning and under-doing, more continuous improvement is in desperate need. But is it also the secret to success?

Let’s not be too hasty. After all, many have gone in search for the secret to success like early conquistadors seeking the Fountain of Youth. Those intrepid explorers of old usually found nothing by disappointment. So too have their modern day equivalents. So let’s be smart about this.

Let’s begin by examining what continuous improvement is and is not.

The Truth and Lies of Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve. (Shocker, right?!) Be it a product, service, lifestyle, relationship, career or any other thing, continuous improvement offers an approach to positive growth.

It’s a process. It’s not a solution.

Loads of folks that lust for overnight success confuse this. They believe that continuous improvement may reveal the secrets of success. A secret implies an answer. In truth, continuous improvement is more a question (or series of questions).

It’s a journey, not a destination.

This continuous improvement journey favors “incremental” improvements over time versus “breakthrough” improvements all at once. It’s iterative by design. The thinking is that large-scale change is too invasive to control, too negligent of causes-and-effects and too traumatic to implement.

The bottom-line: Singular big changes don’t stick. Frequent little changes do.

Continuous Improvement in Action

I applied continuous improvement to great effect during my days as an interactive web application program manager. Agile methodology underpinned my teams, fueling our creativity and camaraderie. As stated in the now-famous Agile Manifesto, continuous improvement is essential:

Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

While the Agile Manifesto is geared towards progressive software development, Agile principles are visible in many other models of success. Take Japanese innovation and their Kaizen method.

Kaizen became famous thanks to Masaaki Imai’s book “Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success.” The translation of Kaizen breaks down like this: kai (“change”) zen (“good”) is “improvement.” In the current-state of technology innovation, Agile and Kaizen are largely supplemental – elements of both can be blended together into hybrid methods.

Continuous Improvement as Belief System

Belief systems are operating models for interpreting information, reaching decisions, and taking actions. A belief system is only as strong as it’s guiding principles and purpose. Agile Methodology has 12 powerful guiding principles and a razor-sharp purpose. Continuous improvement (though more general) is no different:

• The core principle of continuous improvement is the (self) reflection of processes. (Feedback)
• The purpose of continuous improvement is the identification, reduction, and elimination of suboptimal processes. (Efficiency)
• The emphasis of continuous improvement is on incremental, continuous steps rather than giant leaps. (Evolution)

If that’s a bit to academic for your taste, Chris Guillebeau offers a more personal (but equally potent) explanation of continuous improvement from his own experiences:

Lesson #1: It’s OK to just get stuff done.

If you have an idea you’re working on, don’t wait too long to put it out to the world. Of course you want it to be good, but it’s true what they say about the perfect being the enemy of the good.

Lesson #2: It’s usually good to go back to something later.

The nice thing about continuous improvement is that it can make a good thing even better.

And there you have it, the long awaited secret to success! Just add water and watch continuous improvement bloom into abundant triumphs. In no time at all, your career will be more lucrative, your health will be more vibrant, and your lifestyle will be more fulfilling. Dead-simple, right?

Err, sorry but not quite.

I’ll admit, in the light of continuous improvement, overnight success may seem possible. Near-term success may appear a gimme. While your results will vary, loyalty to continuous improvement will indeed lead you to success. But not in a year, or three months, and especially not overnight.

Success – genuine, sustainable, and scalable success – takes times. It takes patience. And above all else, it takes effort.

Enter practice, and lots of it.

10,000 Hours to Overnight Success

With respect to Allen Iverson, practice is damn important and necessary.

But just how much practice does it take to succeed?

According to Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, the answer is a whopping 10,000 hours. Ericsson’s 10,000 hours rule (popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers: The Story of Success) suggests that mastery of any skill requires repeated and deliberate exposure on a ginormous scale.

This isn’t shallow practice either. It’s not simply about the number; we all know that quantity alone is insufficient. Quality matters. And when it comes to practice, quality takes the form of feedback.

Mike Speiser agrees. As he writes in this excellent GigaOM article:

Practice makes perfect, right? Yet in business you often find people who have been doing something for a long time and just aren’t very good at it. Why? Lack of feedback. [emphasis added]

Speiser goes on to illustrate the imperative of feedback to growth and success by contrasting two hypothetical (yet real-world based) companies: one a large web company and the other a web startup. Both are fighting hard to launch a product. The large company elects a year schedule, allows scope-creep to occur, launches late, and promptly receives bad press. The web startup elects a 90-day schedule, nukes scope-creep, launches on time (way ahead of the large company), but also promptly receives bad press due to limited features.

Both failed out of the gate. But only one has a winning process: the startup.

Thanks to their continuous improvement process, the startup churns out new features every week. By the time they reach the launch date of the large company (remember, the startup launched way ahead), they’ve released a feature set that’s hit a nerve and attracting rave attention.

And just like that, after hours and hours, the web startup is declared an overnight success.

Where’s the large company? Back at the drawing board.

Success is a Formula, Silly

So, is continuous improvement the secret to success?

No…and yes.

Continuous improvement disproves the belief in overnight success as categorically false. Even when companies, individuals or teams are heralded by onlookers as instant breakthroughs, the behind-the-scenes truth is far less glamorous and far more sweaty. But, of course, everyone likes a fresh rags-to-riches story. So the press will continue to invent them, I’m sure.

Fear not, however. Continuous improvement does yield the secret to success: its formula.

This formula isn’t advanced calculus. It’s a simple function perhaps best described as blood, sweat and tears. More practically, the formula is:

Success = ( practice + feedback + adjustment ) x time

Nothing mystical about that, which is the point. Success cannot be conjured out of thin air in a fortnight. It’s earned. And although sweat is the primary ingredient, how sweet it is when you reap what you sow.

Ever heard the phrase “change is constant”?

It’s become a popular cliché from boardrooms to breakfast tables. It’s an oversimplification to be sure. But it’s born of truth: that the planet turns in defiance of standing still; that our choices are our responsibility and not our destiny; that tomorrow can be better than today if we commit ourselves to continuous improvement.

Change is constant because it’s opposite – stagnation – doesn’t exist (not naturally at least).

And yet, as we explored recently, much of modern society enslaves us to stagnation. From how we invest our savings to weight management solutions, we’re told to follow the plan (a single plan), keep the course, and never deviate. And above all else, we’re persuaded never to opt-out of them.

Now we know better. We see the opt-in boxes for what they are. And we’re empowered to uncheck them. But is that the end of the game? Do we “win” if we only opt-out?

No, it’s not enough.

To opt-out is necessary. It’s puts you in a holding pattern where you can observe all the options around you. But remaining in this limbo-land won’t get you to where you want to go. With your open mind, you’ll soon need to opt-in to a new course of action. What shall that be?

Change.

Opting into change is a vote of confidence for opportunity. When you allow yourself to entertain change, you allow yourself to grow. Change takes make forms: variability, adaptability, unpredictability, spontaneity, and uncertainty.

These forces govern how we perceive our potential. In our careers, unpredictability enables us to make big leaps in performance and achievement that our peers think impossible. In our health, spontaneity energizes our abilities to conceive healthy alternatives when only unhealthy options are presented. In our education, uncertainty propels us to experiment with new ideas and challenge conventional wisdom.

As grand as all this sounds, opting into change isn’t easy. It’s like trying to hit a curve ball when all you’re accustom to are straight-flying fast balls. So, as in any sport, you get better at hitting “change ups” through practice.

Is training to hit change ups right for you? Is change itself right for you?

We’ve been groomed into a strong aversion to change. But that wasn’t always the case. As kids, we’re always attracted to change. It’s how we came to learn language, develop our motor skills, and understand our emotions. Kids need change. Kids want change. Kids crave change.

If you sense that you’re pro-change – that change is right for you – then consider returning to the ways of kids.

• Ask a ludicrous amount of questions. The answers will open doors never before seen.
• Go outside and get your hands dirty. Experience is the best teacher.
• Be stubborn. Too much compromise is the seed of conformity.
• Be skeptical. Accepting what we’re told at face value is precisely the mess we’re opting out of.
• Be rambunctious. You’ll never know how far you can push your limits unless you test them.

I like change because it makes life fun. Like a kid in Baskin-Robbins, I can have all 31 flavors, not just one. Change is constant, and I’m glad it is.

But what about you?

Are you yet convinced that change is a better choice? Or does doubt remain? If you’ve switched teams already and now bat for the pro-changers, how are you developing your swing?

Let loose your comments. I’ve already given you permission to ask a ludicrous amount of questions, remember?

When you gaze upon the stars, observe nature, or reflect upon your life … what do you see?

I see stars that dance across the sky. I witness both gentle and violent flows of water, wind, and woodland. I perceive a life that has morphed more times that I dare count. When I look at a situation – be it in nature, an office building, or among friends – I always see a ballet of factors that twist, turn, leap and lunge.

I don’t see straight lines.

I’m not first to cry foul about unnatural straight lines. Such monstrosities burst forth from the stress of forcing our invented square pegs into nature’s round holes. Pick your poison – physical fitness, nutrition and wellness, career paths, relationship expectations, family life, aging. We try to predict the future with absolute certainty by manipulating the present into linear equations.

When these linear equations fail, we panic.

Our panic is an elemental dread. It will rattle your bones if you let it. Sadly, many do. These folks behave as deers in headlights when confronted with the blinding beams of unpredictability. Nothing is certain. Progress, therefore, is a function of choice and discipline where opportunities and intentions collide. A non-linear function, mind you.

You need only consider the consequences of linear behavior to realize the dangers.

A straight line has no chance of deviation. How then does a straight line avoid an obstacle? It can’t and never will. Imagine it. You’re in a car cursing at a highway speed. Suddenly a deer leaps into the roadway directly ahead of you. Do you swerve or do you not? If you stay the straight course, you and Bambi are doomed.

Straight lines aren’t all things evil, I’ll grant you. In some specialized instances, straight lines are elegant and necessary. Take architecture. Many buildings would crumble without the edge that straight lines provide. But in an age of “if X is good then, more X is better”, our obsession with straight lines has become unstable.

Thankfully, we appear to be entering a renaissance of curves.

From entrepreneurship to aviation, curves are returning. Entrepreneurship is naturally iterative. Dream. Build. Ship. Receive feedback. Adapt. Rinse and repeat. The proliferation of social and mobile technologies is accelerating this cycle (not to mention are an example of Iterative Design themselves). And in our tough economic times, entrepreneurship is winning back its necessity and command.

Advanced curves are even finding their way into next-gen aircraft design – helping improve aircraft safety and energy consumption. And keep in mind that an aircraft’s wing must be curved to produce lift. That’s been true since man took to the skies.

It would seem then that non-linear designs are our future, as they were our past.

There’s simply little sense in straight lines anymore. Straight lines are ill-suited to seize life’s opportunities and avoid life’s dangers. The planets teach us this as they arc through the galaxy. Nature teaches us this with rolling hills, winding rivers, and gusting winds. Our friends and family teach us this with all the emotions of the heart.

We need only look with the intention of seeing to discover the truth: there are no straight lines.

Ever feel like you’ve been duped into choices you didn’t want?

Lackluster career? Check. Unremarkable health? Check. Superficial enjoyments? Check. Suffocating debts? Check.

On many levels, I believe life is like a shady sales form: decisions are pre-selected for you like little opt-in checkboxes. Such checkboxes are barely detectable or seductively designed because Mr. Salesman doesn’t want you unchecking them. Small wonder then that so many end up committed to choices that they’d never knowingly agree to.

Offering choices pre-selected is borderline unethical, at best. At worst, it’s a flagrant abuse of trust. Much of what flows into our life inbox is junk mail teeming with these insidious opt-in boxes. They distort our focus, drain our energy, and complicate our every thought.

Dare I say this behavior is criminal?

All opt-ins aren’t created equal, however.

Opt-ins can be empowering when offered ethically and honorably. Being forthcoming with all the terms and conditions separates the shady from the sensible. Most importantly, the checkboxes must be presented to you unchecked and the cases made as to why you should select them.

Alas, such fairness is rare. Far more often than not, decisions are being forced upon you.

The very simple and powerful truth is that you need not leave be these pre-selected opt-in boxes. You can opt-out – anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Two actions are all that’s required. First, acknowledge the existence of the little box and its manipulative intent. Second, click it to remove the checkmark, thereby absolving yourself from the burdens.

Imagine how your career will improve when you opt-out of average performance expectations. Imagine how your vitality will soar when you opt-out of big business-backed nutritional guidelines. Imagine how your joy will bloom when you opt-out of being a stuck-up adult all the friggin’ time.

Opting out is a valid option, a smart option. It takes above average sense and not a trivial amount of gumption to do so. That’s precisely why it’s special. And that’s precisely why it’s necessary.

If you don’t enjoy forced decisions flooding your life inbox, then proudly opt-out. Scammy peons be damned.

Planning is the original sin of Linear Design.

It’s a seductive temptress that promises the pleasures of certainty at the expense of unseen opportunities. These are hefty costs to bare, especially for a pleasure that isn’t so pleasurable in the long-run. Building a plan is a quick contact high. But it dissipates just as quickly, leaving the gullible ill-prepared to handle the ever changing climate of life.

Battlefield commanders know this. As their saying goes, “no operational plan survives the first bullet.” You cannot domesticate variability. It is a wild animal that will never submit to a cage. Believing otherwise leads many into quagmires of confusion, chaos and calamity from which there is no escape.

If business is a battlefield, then Jason Fried is an accomplished commander. His innovative software company, 37 Signals, is architected upon non-linear principles that empower them with great adaptability. On planning, Jason goes for the jugular…

When you turn guesses into plans, you enter a danger zone. Plans let the past drive the future. They put blinders on you. “This is where we’re going because, well that’s where we said we’re going.” And that’s the problem: plans are inconsistent with improvisation. – Jason Fried, REWORK

Jason’s arguments are on-point. However, I don’t believe they attack far enough. Plans are guesses indeed, but they don’t occur in isolation. Planning is guessing at many variables all at once. When you consider this complexity and its unavoidable ripple effects, you’ll understand that planning is worse than guessing…

Planning is gambling.

Gambling mutates situational awareness beyond all reason. Cause-and-effect relationships are casually forgotten. Long-odds are gladly risked. Logic is lost to lust. Natural laws are replaced with artificial ones. This is a Twilight Zone where up is down, plans become Frankenstein monsters, and you play prophet predicting the future.

Many lose themselves in this vortex believing that the next throw of the dice or turn of the wheel will yield glory. Such faith in pure luck is the true evil of planning. It not only puts blinders on you but also over-inflates your confidence. Many come to see their plans as infallible; themselves as invincible. They believe they’re gods of all variability. When thinking becomes that warped disaster is not far away.

The alternative to planning is doing.

Doing is hand-to-hand combat in the here-and-now with the choices life presents. It’s here, in the trenches, where you’re at your creative and intellectual best. Your senses are on high alert. You feel the pulse of the situation. You smell the truth of opportunities. You taste the dangers of foolish gambles. At this climax of thoughts, observations, and instincts, make the decisions you need to make.

You have the most information when you’re doing something, not /before/ you’ve done it. Yet when do you write a plan? Usually it’s before you’ve even begun. That’s the worst time to make a big decision. – Jason Fried, REWORK

Let’s not forget that business isn’t the only battlefront that engages variability and requires thoughtful decisions.

Health. Relationships. Wealth accumulation. Public policy. Adventure. Peace of mind. Purpose of work. All these and more are front lines where non-linear thinking should be deployed. Improvisation is essential. When you put blinders on and believe yourself bulletproof, you become stiff, slow, and vulnerable. That’s usually a death sentence.

I’ve been guilty before of placing to much faith in planning. From my former corporate career to my dark days of health, I thought that I could plan my way out of unsatisfactory conditions. I couldn’t. Most of my highly intricate plans didn’t work. It wasn’t until I drastically relaxed them (or abandoned them completely) that progress was gained.

I don’t build elaborate plans anymore. It’s no small wonder then that both my professional career and quality of health have never been better. These days, I invest myself into improvisation and other non-linear behaviors. I hope you choose to follow suit. Planning is worse than guessing after all. And wearing such blinders is rather unfashionable.

How dearly a price are you paying to live, work and play on a prescribed path? Are you even aware of the costs, and the uncomfortable truth that you’re sacrificing much more than you should?

These costs of linear living are like taxes. They’re levied against you for the alleged benefits of buying into the conventional plan. A comfortable, safe job but in a stagnant company with poor career prospects. A health quality that’s average enough to be tolerable but remains unsatisfying. An acceptable (but not remarkable) ability to do good, meaningful work.

The sacrifices one makes to these default options are significant. Most cognizant enough to see them fixate on the loss of independence, opportunity, and ability. All hefty taxes to be sure. But they’re not the immediate price we pay for staying the course but rather downstream costs flowing from it.

What is this most severe and fundamental of sacrifices?

Enlightenment.

Enlightenment fuels discovery. Discovery fosters understanding. Understanding reveals opportunities. Opportunities present choices. Choices grant independence. Independence empowers freedom. Freedom nurtures fulfillment.

Enlightenment is the first domino to fall. But when it’s taxed away from us, the resulting ripple effect necessary for growth and prosperity is muted or prevented completely. The bottom line is plain enough: without enlightenment there can be no opportunity to seize free will and fight for fulfillment.

That sounds serious. I believe it is. I believe that most stumble through the world as day-walkers: awake but not really seeing. The lightbulb hasn’t gone off, if you will. Sure, they may complain about this or that, which suggests that they have an intuition for the shortcomings they face. But complaining doesn’t get you very far.

Enlightenment does.

Pushing the boundaries of what you know leads to new doorways of insights and opportunities. There are many ways to push: formal education, mentorships, apprenticeships, grassroots networking, startup projects, and more. In all cases, the rhythm is to learn by doing.

You’ll never do unless you try. That bridge is one many never cross, to their own dismay. Go ahead, cross it. Put yourself out there. Soak in as much as you can. Rinse and repeat. Enlightenment isn’t a force bestowed. It’s captured through effort.

It’s no coincidence then that life-long learners seem to enjoy life the most. They’re never bored: always doing, moving, evolving, growing. Their example offers a conclusion: the best vintage of enlightenment is reserved for those that never stand still.

So go do something that will mature your knowledge and grant new wisdom. Read a thought-provoking new book. Have a substantive conversation with a friend about your life’s work. Ship an idea even if you’re afraid (especially if you’re afraid).

Pass ‘GO’ and never look back.

Coincidence is an ugly thing. It has no discernible form. It occurs at random. It swears no loyalty to good or evil. It just…is – a marauding force in the universe beholden to no master, no cause, and no amount of free will.

Many believe in this force because it’s easy to do so. Such fealty to an idea unseen, untouched, and unknown is a convenient solution to a common struggle – critical thinking. Coincidence grants us latitude to abandon the labors of deep thought. Many covet this blank check so as to buy their way out of personal responsibility for their own well being, both present and future.

In truth, coincidence is more than a shapeless excuse. It’s a lie.

“There are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidence.” –V, V for Vendetta

Coincidence is a farce of the first order. To believe in coincidence is to believe that absolute certainty is possible. When you stop to critically think about that you’ll observe how foolish that concept truly is.

Nothing in life is absolutely certain, absolutely predictable, absolutely a “given.”

“There is no certainty, only opportunity.” – V, V for Vendetta

Opportunity is the razor thin difference between cowardice and courage. If the warm-and-fuzzy myths of coincidence are too delightful to forego, then a fool you may well be. True change agents, thought leaders, and men and women of honor accept the duty to command their destiny, come what may. They do not balk at the ripe opportunities to shape their present, which thereby influence their futures.

Matters of health illustrate this truth in undeniable terms.

The quality of health you woke up to this morning didn’t burst into being overnight. Say you’re borderline overweight; a bit pudgy as it were with elevated blood pressure and mild fatigue. Did the false gods of coincidence do that to you as punishment for some crime? Or did your lack of nutrition, fitness, and wellness discipline compound over time and drive you into this ditch?

Don’t lie to yourself, unless you enjoy playing the part of a fool.

You reap what you sow.

It’s imperative not to confuse coincidence with consequence.

Coincidence is a lazy man’s attempt to explain a cause-and-effect relationship, which is to say a consequence. Physics teaches us that for every action there is an equal and opposing reaction. Our daily routines prove this. Eat a doughnut, get fatter. Work hard, increase wealth.

Coincidences these are not. They are results of choices.

Notice that these cause-and-effect relationships are not linear. One doughnut won’t make you a walrus overnight. Likewise, an episodic hard work ethic won’t make you wealthy in a week. It’s the repeated behaviors that matter most.

Sow, reap, repeat. It’s a cycle like the seasons of the harvest.

Opt out of the lie.

I cringe every time I witness a good person fall victim to the false logic of coincidence. It’s a trap not of your own casting. Mankind’s comatose conventional wisdom has allowed it to survive. So some absolution exists, but only to a point.

Choices matter. The seizing (or not) of opportunities dictates the arc of our lives. This is a non-linear arc that can be bent to your will. But only if you opt out of thelies of Linear Design. For yourself, your family, your present and future, I hope you do.