# Philosophies > The philosophies I live my life by. Source: https://curiouslychase.com/posts/philosophies/ I'm slowly refining my **philosophies**. These are the core beliefs that guide how I approach life, work, and growth. This is what I have so far. # Start Stupidly Small Whatever it is you _want_ to do, find the smallest action you can take (so small you think you'll say "this is stupid") and do it over and over again. # Make a Mess The more messes you make, particularly if you [reflect regularly](https://curiouslychase.com/posts/philosophies/#reflect-regularly), the less messy those messes will be. My heuristic for if I'm in the right moment to make a mess is: - Is what I'm about to do a two way door? - Is what I'm about to do going to affect _others_? - is there a possibility I'll break a super-system of what I'm doing? - As an example, if I'm working on a potentially messy feature on a software project, what are the risks? What things can I do to make it less risky? The best example of where I make more messes is **writing things down**. There is _very little risk_ of me affecting others, adding "debt" to a system or breaking a super system. **It's important to note that I'm not encouraging you to _create intentional chaos for the sake of chaos_.** # Reflect Regularly Reflection is the first step to growth and growth is how we amplify the best parts of ourselves or the systems we're a part of. The willingness to ask questions with curiosity and ask "What if..." questions allows reflection to move us towards the person we want to be or system we want to create. # Vibrant Velocity Vectors Vivify [^1] - **Vibrant** - full of energy and enthusiasm. - **Velocity Vector** - the rate of change of the _position of an object_. - **Vivify** - enliven. Put those all together and what I'm saying: If you have energy towards a direction and you can determine the speed that you're willing to go, you will be enlivened. Direction is critical here. It's easy to be excited about things, topics and outcomes that aren't _your_ direction. When you can find the direction that gives you energy and put some velocity into it, it's going to be life giving. # Write it down. Externalizing thoughts into a written system creates space for pattern recognition and clearer thinking. Whether I type or [talk-to-text](https://curiouslychase.com/thinking/the-high-throughput-zero-writing-documentation-system/) doesn't matter. What matters is getting ideas out of my head and into a system where they can connect. # It’s a good day for a good day. It’s easy to allow negative outcomes or undesired circumstances to passively guide me into feeling that it was a bad day. Choosing that today is a good day for a good day and focusing on the wins of the day and the positive outcomes allows me to own the day, to be an active accelerant in my own success. # See the best in people, even when they can't. On hard days, it can be difficult to see the best in people. On their easy days it can be hard for them to see the best in themselves. Choosing to see the best in people gives me an opportunity to expand my perspective and help others realize their potential, even when they can't realize it themselves. # Daily a Learner, Daily a Teacher. Every day learn something new. Every day share something new with someone else. Knowledge and understanding spread like wildfire when there is a constant desire to create a cycle of learning and sharing. # Other Philosophies I have had different philosophies, I've abandoned some, composed a few into "super philosophies" and instead of just deleting them, I've moved them to [Other Philosophies](https://curiouslychase.com/posts/other-philosophies/). # Changelog ## 2025-10-13 - Clarified opening statement about philosophies - Rewrote "Write it down" section to focus on system over method [^1]: I love a good alliteration, I couldn't help myself.