Today’s essay is part of a new series including me, Joshua Doležal, Bowen Dwelle, Michael Mohr, Dee Rambeau, and Lyle McKeany. In the past, we’ve explored our personal philosophies, fatherhood, and work, among others.
Interesting discussion Latham. I hadn’t thought about ordinary things in terms of action. I’d like to expand the concept as you have and think about it for a bit. Your new constant context as a teacher to your kids has you exploring ideas from new angles 😉🙏
Thanks Dee. It's fun seeing the world through a whole other lens than the one I used to have. I'm excited to see how you expand on it in the coming week.
Loved the story and your observation alongside it, particularly whilst walking. I think every day should start out in the world, ambling along. Moving through the day from building to car and back again is a routine that has a lot to answer for.
Resonated hard with the link between walking outside and feeling like you can achieve. A walk can make all the difference.
I'm right there with you on your walk with your son – and with the difficulties of staying in the present. Attention is such a weird tool our brain's have, both its conscious and subconscious components. I'm taking these two nuggets with me:
"Our brain sees things we can act on."
"If we’re truly going to appreciate the ordinary, we have to make the ordinary actionable."
Attention is just weird. I remember listening to John Vervake talking about attention and it totally blew my mind how much it could change and not just be trained. There's so much more to it than "I will pay attention to this thing." It's a completely underappreciated piece of knowledge in my opinion.
Latham, such an interesting piece - a perspective totally foreign to me, therefore one I had never considered. The way you wove the story elements together - the topic, your son, your walks, the combat trackers, was seamless and the compression- tight.
This really resonated. “Recent advances in our understanding of perception point us to an interesting corollary. We tend to think of our vision as a representation of real life, but the science shows that’s not exactly true. The prominence of an item in our vision is directly related to our ability to act on it. If we have a mean line drive, a pitch down the center will look bigger to us than a pitch outside, because we can hit the pitch down the center. Our brain sees things we can act on.”
When we talk next I will share with you the parallels I see to it with investing. How two different people can see the exact same circumstance (the twig) and act in completely opposite ways.
Thank you James. I'm glad you appreciated it. It was a fun piece to write, especially because I knew nothing about the combat tracker teams before I worked on it. I originally was going to use big game trackers as the example, but then I went down a rabbit hole about the combat trackers and my mind epanded.
It's funny you can talk about investing. I always assumed that people would take both sides of a trade because they had different models of the world tainted by their past experience and what they thought. But now that you see it, I can see parallels to what people can view as pertinent within a trade because of what they believe they can act upon. I have always been fascinated by some of the private equity deals that put together every aspect of something to make sure it goes their way. If I had unlimited money and risk tolerance.... (I probably have more risk tolerance for a lot of things than average, but money is not one of them. At least not my own money.)
You so eloquently show how, with a sense of purpose, every ordinary moment on (or off) the trail can be extraordinary. I must admit that, given my tendency to live in my head (and what a strange place!), I'm missing out of so much of my life. I'm really not "all there." Step 1 may be to double down on a meditation practice. Thanks for the jump start.
I too have been guilty of living in my head. I was going to write more about flying and how that taught me to be present to the moment, but somehow that didn't quite answer the mail on this one. I'm happy with how this one turned out though. I think it's a good pointer.
Now THERE'S a story, Latham: an essay about the time(s) you caught yourself daydreaming while on final approach toward an aircraft carrier. (I seriously doubt that ever happened, but why not take some artistic license, right?) I remain in awe of your role as a naval aviator, which, as the years go by, will surely pale in comparison to your role as a loving, engaged father.
Would you believe me if I told you the only way I knew how to land on the boat was by chewing gum? Once I got in the stack overhead, I put in 2 sticks of gum and donned my glasses. Without the gum, I couldn't land to save my life. Funny thing to think about years later.
Lovely meditation on making use of the ordinary by reading the "pattern language" (a term coined by architect Christopher Alexander) of the world, making connections, practicing intuition in the wild.
I really like the pattern language idea. I just recently learned of it as well. There's something between all these ideas that amounts to a worldview, one outside of our constantly online, always connected culture.
Your piece reminds me of how we can see beauty, and the extraordinary, when we take the time to really take it in or learn about whatever it is we’re looking at. As a friend of mine says, “Anything can become art if we stare at it long enough.”
Thanks Lyle. I still struggle with this. I think desiring to take it in is a great start, but it quickly became apparent that it was only the start. I've been reading about movement science and how perception seems to be less of a representation of the world as it actually is and more of a representation of our ability to take action on the world, which is what made me think of this combined with the meditation on the ordinary things in life.
One time, I went to see a ballroom dance show with my cousin. At the end of the first half, a mirror ball flew in, lights hit it, but the ball didn't spin. I was annoyed. Told my cousin so at intermission and was shocked to find out she did not notice the lack of spinning at all. Same thing at the end of the second half.
I chalked it up to what we lovingly call 'occupational hazard' -- the thing where you notice stagecrafty bits that no regular audience member would whenever you go see a show.
What you're describing feels like a version of the same thing.
My dad notices different planes flying overhead. He used to be able to tell all of them by the sound of the engines, today it's still most of them. My brother is the same. They are both aerospace engineers.
(I bet you'd notice all kinds of things on an aircraft carrier I would be too overwhelmed to even begin to notice...)
Interesting discussion Latham. I hadn’t thought about ordinary things in terms of action. I’d like to expand the concept as you have and think about it for a bit. Your new constant context as a teacher to your kids has you exploring ideas from new angles 😉🙏
Thanks Dee. It's fun seeing the world through a whole other lens than the one I used to have. I'm excited to see how you expand on it in the coming week.
This is beautiful.
Loved the story and your observation alongside it, particularly whilst walking. I think every day should start out in the world, ambling along. Moving through the day from building to car and back again is a routine that has a lot to answer for.
Resonated hard with the link between walking outside and feeling like you can achieve. A walk can make all the difference.
"But until we believe that our actions can matter, that we can have an impact on the world around us, we’ll never learn to appreciate the ordinary."
So true.
I'm right there with you on your walk with your son – and with the difficulties of staying in the present. Attention is such a weird tool our brain's have, both its conscious and subconscious components. I'm taking these two nuggets with me:
"Our brain sees things we can act on."
"If we’re truly going to appreciate the ordinary, we have to make the ordinary actionable."
Attention is just weird. I remember listening to John Vervake talking about attention and it totally blew my mind how much it could change and not just be trained. There's so much more to it than "I will pay attention to this thing." It's a completely underappreciated piece of knowledge in my opinion.
Thanks for reading.
Latham, such an interesting piece - a perspective totally foreign to me, therefore one I had never considered. The way you wove the story elements together - the topic, your son, your walks, the combat trackers, was seamless and the compression- tight.
This really resonated. “Recent advances in our understanding of perception point us to an interesting corollary. We tend to think of our vision as a representation of real life, but the science shows that’s not exactly true. The prominence of an item in our vision is directly related to our ability to act on it. If we have a mean line drive, a pitch down the center will look bigger to us than a pitch outside, because we can hit the pitch down the center. Our brain sees things we can act on.”
When we talk next I will share with you the parallels I see to it with investing. How two different people can see the exact same circumstance (the twig) and act in completely opposite ways.
Thank you James. I'm glad you appreciated it. It was a fun piece to write, especially because I knew nothing about the combat tracker teams before I worked on it. I originally was going to use big game trackers as the example, but then I went down a rabbit hole about the combat trackers and my mind epanded.
It's funny you can talk about investing. I always assumed that people would take both sides of a trade because they had different models of the world tainted by their past experience and what they thought. But now that you see it, I can see parallels to what people can view as pertinent within a trade because of what they believe they can act upon. I have always been fascinated by some of the private equity deals that put together every aspect of something to make sure it goes their way. If I had unlimited money and risk tolerance.... (I probably have more risk tolerance for a lot of things than average, but money is not one of them. At least not my own money.)
Beautiful piece. Glad I recently found you guys.
Thanks Kyle. I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad to have found your work as well.
You so eloquently show how, with a sense of purpose, every ordinary moment on (or off) the trail can be extraordinary. I must admit that, given my tendency to live in my head (and what a strange place!), I'm missing out of so much of my life. I'm really not "all there." Step 1 may be to double down on a meditation practice. Thanks for the jump start.
I too have been guilty of living in my head. I was going to write more about flying and how that taught me to be present to the moment, but somehow that didn't quite answer the mail on this one. I'm happy with how this one turned out though. I think it's a good pointer.
Now THERE'S a story, Latham: an essay about the time(s) you caught yourself daydreaming while on final approach toward an aircraft carrier. (I seriously doubt that ever happened, but why not take some artistic license, right?) I remain in awe of your role as a naval aviator, which, as the years go by, will surely pale in comparison to your role as a loving, engaged father.
Would you believe me if I told you the only way I knew how to land on the boat was by chewing gum? Once I got in the stack overhead, I put in 2 sticks of gum and donned my glasses. Without the gum, I couldn't land to save my life. Funny thing to think about years later.
Lovely meditation on making use of the ordinary by reading the "pattern language" (a term coined by architect Christopher Alexander) of the world, making connections, practicing intuition in the wild.
I really like the pattern language idea. I just recently learned of it as well. There's something between all these ideas that amounts to a worldview, one outside of our constantly online, always connected culture.
Your piece reminds me of how we can see beauty, and the extraordinary, when we take the time to really take it in or learn about whatever it is we’re looking at. As a friend of mine says, “Anything can become art if we stare at it long enough.”
Thanks Lyle. I still struggle with this. I think desiring to take it in is a great start, but it quickly became apparent that it was only the start. I've been reading about movement science and how perception seems to be less of a representation of the world as it actually is and more of a representation of our ability to take action on the world, which is what made me think of this combined with the meditation on the ordinary things in life.
Your passion for your son's growth is clear. Balance action with reflection, and ensure ample peer interaction. Celebrate his unique pace.
One time, I went to see a ballroom dance show with my cousin. At the end of the first half, a mirror ball flew in, lights hit it, but the ball didn't spin. I was annoyed. Told my cousin so at intermission and was shocked to find out she did not notice the lack of spinning at all. Same thing at the end of the second half.
I chalked it up to what we lovingly call 'occupational hazard' -- the thing where you notice stagecrafty bits that no regular audience member would whenever you go see a show.
What you're describing feels like a version of the same thing.
My dad notices different planes flying overhead. He used to be able to tell all of them by the sound of the engines, today it's still most of them. My brother is the same. They are both aerospace engineers.
(I bet you'd notice all kinds of things on an aircraft carrier I would be too overwhelmed to even begin to notice...)
Lovely. My essay tomorrow fits perfectly.
Thanks Josh. I'm excited to see what you share.
Pay attention to the ordinary. Find beauty and meaning in the everyday. Awesome.
This is a recent reel from my son (ignore the tucked tie ... we are having words on that!) But I think my job is half done!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIIB844gNEH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==