In the North American Numbering Plan, telephone numbers all consist of a 3 digit area code, a 3 digit office code (or exchange), and a 4 digit station number. When written the 3 components are typically separated by dashes, or in some cases periods – for example 206-965-9805.

To prevent real telephone numbers from appearing where they perhaps shouldn’t, phone numbers in the range 555-0100 through 0199 are reserved for “fictional” numbers. (Most assume that the entire 555 office code is so reserved, but apparently not.) What this means is that in books, movies or television when a phone number is presented it’s typically a 555 number.

Knowing this, the use of a 555 number immediately breaks suspension of disbelief for many. “Oh, yeah. We’re watching a movie.”

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I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude. – Brene Brown

Inspired a bit by this post from Erika Napoletano (not the self-doubt part, the “where I’ve been focusing” part), I’ve realized that my writing has taken on not so much a dark tone, but a serious, contemplative, and occasionally “here’s what’s wrong with the world” kind of tone. While those are important perspectives, and I’ll certainly return to them, I also need to bring balance to my thinking.

Heck, gratitude is what part of this exercise is all about.

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“If you grew up where they grew up, and you were taught what they were taught, you would believe what they believe” – Anon⁽¹⁾

I’ve used this quote before. Back then I said “If more people understood and accepted that, fewer people would die before their time.”

For some reason in recent weeks my thoughts have been returning to that quote.

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“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”⁽¹⁾

The first step to solving any problem is recognizing there’s a problem to be solved. It’s true for everything from personal issues to the trivial problems of daily living to the gigantic questions of our time. You can’t fix a problem you don’t know you have.

Particularly of late, knowledge itself – or rather the illusion of knowledge – is a problem.

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Several years ago in a business meeting of some sort the topic of health came up. The conversation, as it so often does, circled around to the topic of the importance of regular exercise.

The stereotype of a computer geek spending all of his or her time at a desk is not that far from reality, and several of us in the room met the criteria. Our response? “Exercise is work! It’s our [desk bound] work that’s actually fun.”.

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A few days ago I wrote about how Everyone is Not Your Customer – an argument for focussing your efforts on some subset of “the world” so as to better target your message and as a result get a better response.

At the other end of the spectrum is a lesson that’s proven time and time again exceptionally difficult for most entrepreneurs to learn.

Your customers aren’t like you.

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I don’t use profanity a lot, but I’m not averse to it. It has its place. Like any use of words it can make a statement or idea more impactful.

Unfortunately it can also detract, either when used inappropriately, or when taken so.

Profanity, in and of itself, does not offend me. But it does offend some.

And, to be honest, I think that’s pretty sad.

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Memories are funny things. Current research indicates that they’re exceptionally fallible and subject to change over time for a variety of reasons. To my way of thinking, the further they deviate from actual events, the less of a “memory” they are.

Some of my earliest memories, for example, are what I’ll call indirect memories: memories of a photograph posing as a memory of the actual event.

I have one specific memory that may qualify as one of my earliest. I say “may”, because it might have been formed when I was somewhere around 3, or 5 years old, or maybe as old as 18. I believe it to be a “real” memory because it involves some things that a photograph can’t capture: sounds and smells.

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In a recent Ask Leo! on Business post I discussed several reasons that people avoid writing content for their websites. One of those reasons I’ll refer to here as the fear of not being able to please everyone.

The problem is simply failing to realize that everyone is not your customer.

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This 2014 article from The Washington Post says it all: Americans read headlines. And not much else. This 2013 post on Slate is entertaining and informative, if you read it all the way through, which apparently you won’t: You Won’t Finish This Article.

As a writer who tries to inform and educate, it’s frustrating. As a reader, it’s completely understandable.

And as a man of a certain age, I’ll also claim that it’s nothing new.

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I’ve often wanted to ask candidates for various representational positions in government a very simple question: “who do you represent?”

Or, perhaps more specifically, “how do you represent?”

There are several possible answers, and at least a couple of them are very valid. And yet the answer shines a very interesting light on exactly how government might work.

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How do you know what is and is not true?

I mean, how do you know?

It’s always been a tough question, but it seems even more difficult of late because of the explosion of fake news and information sources. How does one separate the wheat from the chaff?

I’m not sure I have an answer to this critically important question.

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Technically I’m “retired”. I left Microsoft in 2001 at the age of 44, a few years after some numbers on a spreadsheet said I could afford to.

I’ve been working hard ever since.

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It’s trendy to bad-mouth social media right now as the source for all things fake and misleading.

Social media is not the problem. It’s a problem, in a sense, but it is not the problem.

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There’s an interesting fall-out to this year’s election season: an amazing amount of “Monday morning quarterbacking”.

With the election results being what they are, it’s difficult to read much media that doesn’t include someone’s attempt at explaining exactly why things turned out the way they have, as well as trying to understand exactly why it seemed such a big surprise.

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I realized yesterday that the election results have impacted me at a deeper level than I originally anticipated it would. I posted on Facebook that I was still in the throes of “post-election depression”. My productivity and ability to focus has been impacted. I’ve had a difficult time actually sitting down to write content for Ask Leo! as I have in the past, for example.

One person mentioned the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. It’s a model that seems to fit, and I’m currently, and solidly, at stage four.

Falling back to meditative practice and even some Buddhist philosophy, the key to moving on would appear to be gratitude. How timely, then, that tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

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The solution to one problem is merely the creation of the next one. – Mark Manson(†)

Common thinking is that a life without problems would be idyllic. “Not a care in the world” is the operative phrase. Sitting on a beach, sipping Mai-Tai’s is another vision.

Even if it were possible, thanks, but no thanks.

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I don’t consider myself a conservative. But then I also don’t consider myself a liberal. Rather than aligning myself with one set of policies or philosophies my approach is to take it all one issue, or one candidate, at a time. I’d probably call myself a “free thinker”, but I’m afraid that term has overly-liberal connotations to those on the right.

One of the things that this recent election cycle has made crystal clear is the existence of, and the dramatic impact, of what we’ve come to refer to as the “echo chamber”. By exposing ourselves to only those ideas and ideals with which we agree we deny ourselves the opportunity to objectively evaluate opposing views and values. If you lean liberal, for example, not only are you more attracted to like-thinking opinions and sources of information, but social media – specifically Facebook – reinforces that environment by showing primarily things that agree with its perception of what you “like”, and are thus more likely to interact with.

This isn’t good. This isn’t healthy. This isn’t how rational and reasonable discourse happens.

This is how polarization happens.

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I mentioned in an earlier post that my “one word” was “learning”, or rather, my more comfortable version: “always learning”.

It’s more than just seeking out opportunities for more knowledge.

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