Intuit your principles

I’m sure you’ve heard the advice to sit in a coffee shop and brainstorm your values and principles. While it sounds idyllic, it never worked for me. I’ve found that real clarity about my principles comes from challenging situations, not relaxing in a third-wave coffee shop.

When life gets tough, I pay attention. These moments reveal what truly matters to me—sometimes because I rise to the occasion, more often because I muck up. I capture these insights, write them down in my journal, and let them guide my choices at work, play, and home.

p.s. I use a wonderful software called Readwise to produce these quotes. For some reason, it omitted A. Roger Merrill, the co-author of First Things First. His insightful contributions to this book and The 7 Habits have been invaluable and deeply impactful.

Postcard graphic and quote powered by Readwise.