REDUX: What it is about the situation that is enabling this failure?

Here I was wondering what I might write about while I am in the throes of hosting for the holidays, when I gave myself an inadvertent gift.

Alert subscribers will have noticed a remarkably short blog post arrived in their mailboxes on Monday. Subject line only: What is it about the situation that is enabling this failure?

Technically, that wasn’t supposed to happen.

What was supposed to happen was the interesting line I’d come across in a terrific article on the evolving science of scarcity would be saved as a note, fodder for further thought and maybe an eventual blog.

But fate took control and I hit Post instead of Draft.

Here’s my re-frame: this was a gift to all of us — to me, because it gave me a topic for today, and to you because you got something interesting to ponder for a few days before I explained myself.

Also, it reminds me to be more careful about my key strokes.

So: What did you come up with?

For me, two things: first, I revealed a bit about my writing practice (process transparency,  a good thing); second, I think it’s a fascinating question to ask when we’re feeling a tad judgmental about people or things (introspection, also a good thing).

I’ve written on why I write, and where I write, this tells you something about how I write. I have about 20 “drafts” in various stages of development at any given point. I like to capture ideas and inspiration and then come back to them when I have time to ruminate. Usually that all happens behind the green curtain and no one is the wiser.

I post twice a week but write much more often than that — sometimes because I’m refining a single post and sometimes because I’m percolating on some of those other drafts. Come publication days, I’ve usually got at least one post reasonably cooked and ready to go. Sometimes I punt.

This post is pretty much a punt.

I’ll come back to the topic sentence on a more substantive level at some later date. I want more time to think about the question “What is it about the situation that is enabling this failure?” It’s a good one. Ripe, rich.

• How can I use this query in my own life and interactions?
• How can asking it help me rethink how I am contributing to a given problem?
• How does it help any of us distinguish people from their circumstances?

Not a bad place to spend some time in this season of reflection and new year’s resolutions.

Life Lesson #29: Good questions are never wasted.