Marlow's Musings 2/2/25
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
Every Wednesday morning, it was the same thing. All junior enlisted Marines were required to arrive 30 minutes early to stand for inspection.
You couldn’t pass without a fresh haircut, pressed uniforms, and shined boots. While failure meant extra duty, passing meant standing it again the following Wednesday. Unless you received an outstanding.
To get outstanding, you had to have boots that were shiny enough the inspector could see his reflection and a flawless shave.
An outstanding rating meant you didn’t have to stand an inspection the following week.
I always got outstanding.
The Streak
Our boots were for working. Keeping a perfect shine was almost impossible.
I’m always looking for a better way, and early on learned that if you warmed the shoe wax, it would flow into the leather grain and create a smooth base surface.
My boots had at least 13 layers of wax at all times, so touching them up every week took me only a few minutes.
I have a pair that are over 30 years old in my closet that I could still spit shine in three minutes right now, and you’d be able to see yourself in them.
You couldn’t game the shave, however. It meant a blade shave as close to inspection time as possible.
A Thirty-Five-Year Streak
In July of 1987, Corporal Marlow became Sergeant Marlow and no longer had to stand inspection.
Which meant I could start using an electric razor.
Electric razors are convenient though they don’t provide a close enough shave to meet Marine Corps inspection standards.
To avoid irritation, it is recommended to use a pre-shave lotion with electric razors.
That’s where this story begins.
I’ve used the same lotion for most of the past 35 years. While others are on the market, I had no reason to switch. It had worked well for me and was relatively inexpensive and readily available.
For some reason, the product I’ve used all these years is no longer available. You can buy some of the remaining bottles from eBay for as much as 10 times the price.
Forced to Try Something New
Instead of paying more for the dwindling supply, I decided to try something new, and guess what?
It’s better! Not a little better. My shave is flawless. It’s as close as shaving with a blade razor.
The new lotion is a little more expensive and worth it. Even if the company starts making my original lotion again, I’ll never go back.
We can easily get caught in the Tyranny Of Existing practices, habits, products, or behaviors.
We see it in business all the time. Why did Blockbuster not respond to Netflix? Because they already had a system in place and all those stores. They were trapped by what already existed.
We get that way in our own lives as well.
It is good to ask occasionally…
📌 If we weren’t already doing it this way, would this be the way we would do it?
I was forced to ask that with my shaving lotion.
By not doing it proactively, I missed out on learning about the new and better lotion years ago.
🌀Reflection
What existing practices, habits, products, or behaviors do you have in your life that you haven’t questioned in a long time?
Apply to it every aspect of your life—work, health, diet, and so on.
Ask yourself…If I wasn’t already doing it this way, would this be how I would do it?
Word of the Week
Desenrascanço (n.)
/dezẽʁɐʃˈkɐ̃su/
1: The art of improvising solutions with available resources
2: Creative problem-solving that transforms limitations into possibilities
From Portuguese, this word captures that clever knack for making things work—not just making do, but often making better. It's about turning the unexpected into the unexpectedly perfect solution.
Living our Ikigai sometimes requires desenrascanço-that ability to adapt and improve when our usual way gets blocked. Our best innovations often emerge when we're forced off our familiar path.
When we embrace desenrascanço in pursuit of our purpose, we stop seeing obstacles as roadblocks and start seeing them as detours to better solutions. The real power lies in going beyond solving problems to questioning whether we're solving them in the best way possible.
In case you missed it…
This week’s Ikigai Thoughts for Today…
The first was Of Foundations and Earth
The truly curious drop judgment and explore with humility. What does it mean to be humble? Most definitions speak to being meek, lowly in kind, state, condition, or amount. Instead, I invite you to go deeper.
The second was Take Back the Pen
We often seek validation and acceptance from others. It’s almost as if we walk around with a drawing pad on our chest. We hand other people our pens asking them to write on the pad and confirm our worth. It’s time to take back the pen.
Ikiquest+
This week’s Coffee Contemplation…Not the End
We do a deeper dive into the meaning of resilience and the idea, “Everything works out in the end. if it hasn't worked out yet, then it's not the end.”
Ikiquest+ subscribers can listen to it in audio narration or read the transcription.
If you aren’t yet an Ikiquest+ Subscriber, give it a try for free by clicking the box here.
Interesting Thing I Saw This Week
I found this fun maze generator. It even gives you the solution should you need it. You can make any number of sizes and levels of difficulty. Going to have some fun with the grandkids with this one.
Comment of the Week:
This one from Daniel was prompted by the Language of Purpose exploration of Meraki.
Here’s what he shared…
This piece moved me and you bring a certain essence to my world that is rare.
Thank you, Daniel. That is my hope in writing all of these pieces.
Quote I’m Pondering
I pretty much post this every year...
Phil: Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster?
Mrs. Lancaster: I don't think so, but I could check with the kitchen.
The quote is from the movie Ground Hog Day. The day, not the movie, has an oddly special meaning for me.
It was my final official day in the United States Marine Corps. There's a deeper meaning and metaphor in that somewhere don't you think?
Final Thoughts
The picture I chose for today’s musing is of the Shagbark Hickory I wrote about a few weeks ago.
Since this tree has captured my heart, I’ve decided to visit it more often on runs and walks.
Recovering from the flu I am only walking these days and went the opposite way on the trail to get a different view of the tree. It was early in the morning so the sun was facing the opposite side of where I normally see the tree.
It is good to change things up once in a while. Even walking instead of running was different for me and though I don’t recommend having flu as the prompt, it was invigorating to experience the trail from a different angle and pace. Desenrascanço in play.
Quest Well.
I have only a tenuous connection with groundhogs day because I also only have a tenuous connection with groundhogs.
They used to visit my backyard to eat my lawn.
( My “avatar“ is a photograph of one of those groundhogs. And one of my favorite poems, of those I’ve written, is about a groundhog. )
But I think either the coyotes got them or they were poisoned by neighbors who did not appreciate the adorable little varmints.
Great reflections.... funny to see you not pronounce the word of the day, makes you authentically human...yes even for an Irishman ;) Other things that caught my ear was I too have used a shaving product since high school. Barbasol works for me using a twin blade razor from Gillette. When the system was no more, I did buy blades from Amazon for a great price and when I use up, sure I may try another. Never did try an electric razor but continued good luck. I did like that you walked even if not able to run and approach from another way. I agree it is important to see multiple sides of a view to observe lessons that nature has to offer...so many! I did shine shoes for spare $ when I was a young kid. I lived next to a major airport and use to go on Saturdays with a friend. Best shine I ever gave was to a military guy. I remembered because I spent a lot of time getting it just right. Of course, he tried to give me some advice on what "he liked" and gave me a dime and no extra. I didn't appreciate it, but also didn't get so upset but learned from it. My going rate was $25 in those days. Any $ I got went to over-priced hot dog and kept what was left. Yes, a lot of lessons.... good and not so good on dealing with people and also myself. Thanks, Dave, for the stories and insights!