Ownership Mindset

I'm loving my 30s so far.

Brains are complex and I'm a college dropout, but I like to think of the human developmental process in decades (maybe I was a slow bloomer):

• 00-10: Data - you're a sponge, absorbing everything around you
• 10-20: Information - you start to make sense of the data
• 20-30: Knowledge - you start to understand the information
• 30-40: Wisdom - you start to understand yourself
• 40-50: ??? - I'll let you know

Wisdom in your 30s is a double-edged sword though - knowing you were an absolute idiot for the last decade, but also knowing why. As you look closely at your whys, you can form tools to mitigate your continued idiocy.

One of my favorite tools has been the concept of Ownership Mindset. It's as simple as it sounds - act like you own the place! This has some sweet effects:

1. Confidence: acting like you own the place lets you poop in the hotel lobby bathroom on a roadtrip, lead a business meeting, and advocate for yourself. The core of this is a maintenance of agency. Taking initiative in problem-solving instead of waiting for others to provide solutions is a superpower.
2. Care: If you own the place, you not only pick up after yourself, but for others. If Kyle spills his beer in your kitchen, it's getting cleaned up whether he does it or not. A bit woo, but the core of this I've found is an admittance that you are the universe, and the universe cares about itself. Pick up the pillows when the wind pushes them. Fix the bug, because it exists.
3. Caution: You tend to tread lightly on a garden you planted yourself. Caution is subtly different than care: a hesitance to introduce bugs instead of simply fix them. The core of this is presence. To exercise agency, we must be present, but what a gift! The simple mindset of ownership can help you converge to presence, and away from worries of the past and future.
4. Curiosity: What's that dripping noise? Let's get to the bottom of it. If you own the place, you actively seek to improve it. Find the leaky pipe so you don't have to redo the finished basement. Refactor the tech debt so you don't have to wake up at midnight when the server goes down. Learn how your body works so you can play with your grandchildren.

The universe is your playground, but you're also the janitor.

And if Kyle spills one more beer, he’s cleaning it with his shirt.