The Zhuangzi tells the story of Cook Ding, who carves an ox so effortlessly that his knife never dulls — not because he's stronger than other cooks, but because he's learned to follow the natural cavities and spaces in the animal rather than hacking through bone. Zhuangzi calls this 'wu wei': moving with the grain of reality instead of against it. On a Tuesday that might already feel like friction, consider where you're forcing outcomes that might yield more readily to a slightly different angle. The blade that lasts isn't the hardest one — it's the one that knows where not to cut.

Where in your current work or relationships are you expending the most effort — and is that effort going against the grain of something, or with it?

Drawing from Taoism — Zhuangzi