On Values

My highest placed value is seriousness in organizing. I believe they're one and the same. You should act with a purpose. (See related thoughts in On Organizing)

I work hard to foster respect for myself. I'm personally driven by feeling good about myself and by feeling well-liked by other people I respect. I try to show all others the respect they deserve as well; I think that hard work, good interactions, and positive reinforcement can lead to healthy collaboration and great win-win outcomes.

As an engineer (ie. an applied scientist) I place a heavy emphasis on iteration. Start small and work towards big. Make a hypothesis, run some tests, and figure out learnings. Repeat that ad infinitum.

I try to remember Growth, Cleanliness, Freshness, Decay. These are all healthy things to keep in mind. I strive for freshness and cleanliness, and I'm always looking to grow. Decay is an extent form of life. For more of my philosophy in this vein, you can look towards Siddhartha.

There are periods of nothingness, and that's helpful to remember as well. Take the phases as they come, work hard to course correct as often as possible (and trust yourself to do so!). "There are decades when nothing happens and weeks where decades happen," someone once said that.

A focus on learning. A lot, as much as possible. From everywhere you can.

Meet people where they are. Listen. There's useful perspective to be gained from everything - that's what makes life beautiful. Notice things, see the beauty.

A good understanding and acceptance of change. Quantitative leads to qualitative my friends, we'll get to that at some point.

Healthy disagreement, honest communication, and internal resolution. There are many forms of power organization, all of which have pros and cons. Find where there are weak points and figure out solutions.

TODO: lady who talked about organizing (ask ---- maybe?). also demcent, also party cells, also just workers' councils in general. explanations, compare/contrasts with current US system of power,

Figure out ways to foster transparency and accountability.

Figure out if the big picture things you're doing are good; also figure out if the small picture things you're doing are good.

In both NY and Shenzhen, the cities thrive where people are able to skirt through gray-areas in regulation in order to forge positive change. Via centralization and rich human presence, these places are full of people who understand how to make their cities better and work towards that effort. Try to figure out where outdated rules can be replaced with better ones, and then figure out how to force those changes to be made. Bend the rules when it helps do good; break them too, if you must.

TODO: Koreatown zoning, signs, rich streets

TODO: link Shenzhen doc

index tags: Values, Koreatown, Shenzhen, New York, China, Growth, Cleanliness, Freshness, Decay, Seriousness, Transparency, Accountability, Organizing, Learning, Engineering

category tags: Personal Writings