Weeknotes 16 Jan, 2026

This week was less about what I shipped. It was more about what I noticed — in myself, in my reactions, and in where my attention goes when things feel uncomfortable.

I’ve been practising “respond, don’t react”. And, as often happens when you focus on something internally, you start seeing it everywhere externally. There’s gotta be a name for that feeling — when the world seems to echo back whatever your brain tunes into. The analogy that comes to mind is dry robes: once you notice one, you see them everywhere. A quick Google confirms that this is the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon. Or, frequency illusion – once something enters your awareness, it shows up more often. Boom.

Ego, and chasing respect is something else I’ve been thinking about this week. Imagine this: you’re at work with your team mates. A new leader (or anyone!) introduces themselves to everyone else but you – what would you do? Thrust your hand in theirs and introduce yourself? Do nothing? In her Art of Influence course, Ivy Poumpouras shares an example of what she did when this happened to her in the Secret Service. She responded by doing nothing. Why? Doing otherwise would make the focus about her, taking her away from her mission – her job. The “assignment” isn’t about the person who skipped you. It’s about the work. Chasing respect, or letting perceived disrespect distract you, shifts focus away from your actual mission. And you don’t need anyone’s validation to do your job well.

I also spent time revisiting goals. And doing a bit more of the “housekeeping” I mentioned last week. Setting things up well now is an act of kindness to your future self, and to the team who’ll rely on that structure later.

Self-regulation came up for me this week too. The concept of self-regulation makes me squirm. I believe in feeling emotions rather than repressing them. Yet this week, my thinking opened more to the idea that self-regulation, in some contexts, is vital. I really want to believe in the idea of bring your “whole” self to work, but I don’t. In my experience, I’ve found too much emotion can reflect negatively. And it’s this kind of professional SR I’m going to work on.*

And finally: ego. I used to think I didn’t really have one. Reading Ego Is the Enemy has been a quiet but humbling reminder that ego is often most present when you think it isn’t. Slightly uncomfortable. Very useful.