<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[See the Grain]]></title><description><![CDATA[A space for slow thinking and honest questions, to notice the grain in things.

Essays exploring personal development, organizational insight, product thinking, and emerging technologies.]]></description><link>https://blog.seethegrain.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!epv2!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6d2bbf7-c076-4aa6-84a1-5ba264b15fc1_1024x1024.png</url><title>See the Grain</title><link>https://blog.seethegrain.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:34:04 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://blog.seethegrain.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[See the grain]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[seethegrain@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[seethegrain@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[See the Grain]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[See the Grain]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[seethegrain@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[seethegrain@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[See the Grain]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[“Wanted to Be Somebody”]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Ironic Side Effect]]></description><link>https://blog.seethegrain.com/p/wanted-to-be-somebody</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://blog.seethegrain.com/p/wanted-to-be-somebody</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[See the Grain]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 05:56:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XU-U!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff361fdb2-735e-4b29-b748-b8d13f097064_1477x1108.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XU-U!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff361fdb2-735e-4b29-b748-b8d13f097064_1477x1108.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XU-U!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff361fdb2-735e-4b29-b748-b8d13f097064_1477x1108.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XU-U!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff361fdb2-735e-4b29-b748-b8d13f097064_1477x1108.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XU-U!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff361fdb2-735e-4b29-b748-b8d13f097064_1477x1108.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>For more than half a decade, I felt stuck. I was paralyzed by worry and longing for a more action-biased way of living. In that search, I turned to Immunity to Change framework to understand why I couldn&#8217;t move. Through that work, I uncovered some hidden assumptions: that having problems meant I was fundamentally flawed; that if my performance wasn&#8217;t better than others, I was not special and therefore unworthy of validation; that without validation, my existence itself had no meaning. Being seen as inadequate filled me with shame. This is an emotion that felt intolerable, something I feared that could crush me into paralysis or depression. I was terrified of being a loser. Growing up, I subconsciously built an identity around being an extraordinary performer. For a long time, that image sustained my self-esteem. Only later did I see its hidden cost: the very identity that once held me up had begun to hold me still.</p><p>Now it was time to test and deliberately invalidate those assumptions, as I had learned to do in Immunity to Change.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://blog.seethegrain.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>In searching for a deeper understanding of where these assumptions came from, and how they might be overturned, I came across <em><strong>Carol Dweck&#8217;s book called Mindset. </strong></em>Early in the book, she describes what she jokingly calls &#8220;aliens,&#8221; children who respond to difficulty with visible excitement. One boy, in particular, stands up in the face of a challenge and shouts, &#8220;I love a challenge!&#8221; As I read, I could not help but picture him in my head, celebrating difficulty the way the legendary soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates a goal. Arms out, chest lifted, energetic and alive.</p><p>My reaction surprised me. Instead of skepticism, I felt a sudden pull. &#8220;I want that too!&#8221; I wanted that orientation toward difficulty, not the dread and self-judgment that had governed me for years. That boy became an unexpected hero, an anchor image that instantly brings back the lessons and the sense of liberation I felt during this learning process.</p><p>Then I went on to study Dweck&#8217;s work more deeply. Here is to share what I found. </p><h2>Outline</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Section1: Findings</strong></p><ul><li><p>Proving yourself. Where does it come from?</p></li><li><p>&#8220;They must be right, I must be wrong&#8221; syndrome</p></li><li><p>Just knowing already helps. Self distancing. </p></li><li><p>The Ironic Side Effect</p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Section2: What can we do?</strong></p><ul><li><p>Acceptance. Accurate self diagnosis.</p></li><li><p>Name it, and know its triggers.</p></li><li><p>Educate it</p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Message</strong></p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h2>Section1</h2><h2>Proving yourself. Where does it come from?</h2><p>Before starting this research, I already knew I had this trait. It took a long time to notice it, accept it, and finally find words for it. Even then, knowing it existed did not mean that I understood where it came from or what to do with it.</p><p>When I began to suspect that this urge to prove myself might be one of the reasons I remained stuck, I felt compelled to look at it more closely.</p><p>Carol Dweck argues that this pattern grows out of a belief that our basic qualities are fixed. That talent and ability are predetermined, and largely unchangeable. If you believe your qualities are innate and fixed, it makes sense that you would feel a constant urge to prove what you were given is both good and correct. </p><p>Dweck calls this a fixed mindset.</p><p>I imagine this urge to prove oneself may begin as a call for attention, perhaps even a need for care and safety in early childhood. Framing it this way feels dignifying. It reminds me that this pattern once served a real need.</p><p>The opposite orientation is what Dweck calls a growth mindset, where one believes that our basic qualities are not fixed, but can be developed through effort. From this perspective, challenges are embraced and setbacks are treated as opportunities to learn. The &#8220;alien&#8221; boy clearly embodied this mindset.</p><p>People with a growth mindset tend to show greater resilience in pursuing their interests. They gather information through action and experimentation, not just through thinking. They are less overwhelmed by failure, shame, or embarrassment. They continue to act.</p><p>This shift was exactly what I had been looking for.</p><p>It gave me hope. I could finally see where my urge to prove myself came from. Beneath it was a fundamental belief that my basic qualities were fixed. That some people succeed simply because they were talented from the start. This belief had been well hidden in me, only becoming visible after careful observation and reflection.</p><p>For a much richer explanation of these mindsets and how they shape the way we see the world, I would strongly recommend the book itself. What stayed with me most was this hope: if we change how we perceive our innate talent and qualities, we may find ourselves far less busy trying to prove our worth.</p><h2>&#8220;They must be right, I must be wrong&#8221; syndrome</h2><p>Among the many descriptions in the book of how each mindset shapes our view of the world, one stood out to me in particular. It is talked about less often, yet I found it quietly drives a great deal of unnecessary self-criticism.</p><p>When your priority is to be validated by others, there is little separation between your own cognition and the reactions of people around you. There is no filter, no protective boundary. Even the slightest hint of negativity or harshness reaches you directly and immediately. You become hypersensitive.</p><p>In that state, it is easy to fall into a familiar conclusion. You are too easy to be convinced that &#8220;They must be right, and I must be wrong.&#8221;</p><p>There is often a real possibility that you are holding an original idea or a valid perspective. But you are overly attuned to how others respond. A small sign of disapproval is enough to make you retreat. Your thinking does not push back.</p><p>Instead, the internal dialogue turns against you. It becomes a harsh inner critic, echoing judgments before you have a chance to examine them for yourself.</p><h2>Just knowing helps. Self distancing.</h2><p>Studies have suggested, again and again, that simply learning about the two opposing mindsets can already be helpful, even without intensive training. Surprisingly, just knowing helps.</p><p>At first, this puzzled me. It felt too easy. I was skeptical. Why should awareness alone make any difference?</p><p>After a few months of studying this topic, something clicked. It might have something to do with self-distancing.</p><p>Learning how people with different mindsets respond to challenges gives you a reference point. It allows you to notice your own behavior through pattern matching. You catch yourself mid-reaction. &#8220;Oh. I just did that.&#8221;</p><p>I suspect this creates a tiny moment of pause in the internal dialogue, which used to run entirely on autopilot. A brief interruption in the stream of self-talk. That pause may be the handle we can grab, one that later becomes a lever for cognitive course correction.</p><p>It is a shift from something that simply has you to something you can name. Almost like stepping off the stage and seeing yourself from a distance.</p><p>This reminded me of Ethan Kross&#8217;s book called <em>Chatter</em>, where he suggests adopting the perspective of a &#8220;bug on the wall.&#8221; That, essentially, is self-distancing.</p><p>Understanding this gave me even more hope. Just knowing already helps.</p><h2>The Ironic Side Effect</h2><p>Fame. Success. Validation. Extraordinary status. Being different.</p><p><strong>The more you crave validation, the further it seems to move away. In contrast, when you act from genuine curiosity rather than the need to be approved, validation often arrives as a by-product.</strong></p><p>I have come to think of this as <em>The Ironic Side Effect</em>. It reflects the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset.</p><p>When your goal becomes proving yourself, something subtle but damaging happens. You stop doing things that carry the risk of ruining your status. Your attention shifts from the work itself to how it will be received.</p><p>At that point, you are no longer acting from curiosity or love. You are striving for positive recognition from others. And once that becomes the priority, every action starts to feel dangerous. What if you make a mistake? What if you offend someone? What if you fail in public?</p><p>Because the cost feels so high, you stop taking risks. It feels safer to live in possibility rather than action. &#8220;I could do that if I wanted to.&#8221; &#8220;I will try it when I&#8217;m ready.&#8221; The door stays open, but you never notice it to walk through it.</p><p>We have all seen this pattern. Someone works on a project for years and never releases it. Someone longs for a career change but never makes the leap. A graduate school application stays on your desk.</p><p>The irony is that when recognition becomes the goal, the harder you wish for it, the further away it moves. It is like trying to float by thrashing in the water. The more you struggle, the deeper you sink, and the fear only grows.</p><p>I was reminded of this when I listened to an interview with <strong>Scottie Scheffler</strong>, one of the best professional golfers in the world. I appreciated his honesty about how he experiences success.</p><p>He said something like this. If you play professionally, you lose far more often than you win. Losing is painful. But at the same time, the feeling of winning does not last long either, maybe a couple of minutes. Winning championships, he said, is not what truly satisfies him.</p><p>So why come back?</p><p>&#8220;I just love playing golf.&#8221;</p><p>That was it. No grand justification. Just the love of doing the thing itself.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Section2</h2><p>With this in mind, let us turn our attention to what it might take to move toward a growth mindset. Carol Dweck suggests the following steps (with some of my own interpretations).</p><h2>Acceptance. Accurate self diagnosis.</h2><p>Everybody carries fixed-mindset selves within them, even if they may not always be visible. It sucks. Do not expect this to be a comfortable ride. Your fixed-mindset self will visit you again and again, offering the critiques you dislike the most. It knows you well. It has been with you for a long time. It knows exactly how to paralyze you and distort your thinking.</p><p>This happens repeatedly. When it does, try not to judge yourself. That part matters. It is okay. The goal is not instant mastery, but staying inside a learning loop. A self-improvement feedback cycle. As long as you stay in it, you will improve.</p><p>You were not given perfect qualities. But you are not frozen either. You can change. You can improve. Run experiments. Observe yourself. Plan the next realistic action. Only after active self-acceptance does any of this become possible.</p><p>I find certain people deeply attractive in this regard. When they sense a mistake or a fault, they do not become defensive. Instead, they accept and become sincere. There may be a trace of embarrassment in their response, but it does not dominate their thinking. They are genuinely eager to learn and improve.</p><p>I am fortunate to know and work with someone like this. He has become a new role model for me. He feels grounded and steady. He does not give in easily. It feels like he is simply being himself, for lack of better words.</p><p>Avoidance and denial only postpone the problem, because they prevent accurate diagnosis. Acceptance is the shorter path. It is not defeat. It is the start.</p><p>With an inaccurate diagnosis, you will choose the wrong solution, and it will never address the real issue. You never want to come home from a dentist appointment still having the same problem, only with one less healthy tooth.</p><h2>Name it, and know its trigger.</h2><p>Once you are ready to begin self diagnosis, be prepared to take notes each day when your fixed-mindset self shows up. This practice helps with self-distancing and later with forming better plans to address what you notice.</p><p>For me, one trigger appears when I think about taking on a bold challenge, especially one that I have no clear idea how to achieve. Almost immediately, my mind starts simulating what other people might say, and how I might look in their eyes if I fail. In those imagined scenes, I am a total loser. It feels shameful. I get scared. I freeze.</p><p>I decided to give this reaction a name. I call it <strong>the Fainting Goat</strong>. (If you have seen videos of fainting goat, you know what I mean.)</p><p>Another trigger shows up when I see someone I know making a bold move. Somewhere inside me, a part quietly wishes that they will fail. Now I understand why. Their courage makes me feel less special.</p><p>I wanted to be there. Then I look at myself. I compare. What am I doing here? The self-critical rabbit hole begins. Nothing productive comes out of it.</p><p>I hate this part of me, and I am ashamed of it. But I have learned that if I deny it or refuse to accept it, I do not improve. So I decided to name this one too. I call it <strong>the Jealousy Parrot</strong>. No intention of harm to parrots.</p><h2>Educate it</h2><p>How do we tame the thing we have just named?</p><p>I suspect that this part of us is drawn to comfort and safety. If that is true, the question shifts. It becomes less about forcing change and more about asking, how do we comfort it enough to introduce the change we want?</p><p>For me, the answer comes down to three things. <strong>(A) Break down, (B) Visualize, and (C) Feedback. </strong></p><p><strong>(A) First, break things down.</strong></p><p>Take the thing in front of you, the one you feel paralyzed by, and reduce it to bite-sized actions. Ask yourself, what is the smallest thing I could do and I would do, even in my worst state, when I feel almost defeated by my fixed-mindset self?</p><p>It helps to remember this. Change is a long journey for everyone. It is a marathon, and the conditions are the same for all of us. Everyone has to take the first step. Everyone is a beginner at the start. Only the accumulation of small single steps, taken one after another without skipping, leads to the goal. That includes you. That includes the most successful people on the Forbes list.</p><p>If you accept this is the only way forward, why bother looking for an easier route? And what is the point of designing stairs you cannot climb? It only increases the chance of tripping. All it does is to trigger more negative self-talk. You end up setting yourself up for failure.</p><p>If you don&#8217;t think about it rationally, failure becomes inevitable. So let&#8217;s fix the expectation instead of blaming yourself for not having enough willpower. </p><p><strong>(B) Once you have broken the challenge into small, manageable actions, the next step is to visualize them.</strong></p><p>Visualization makes things less frightening. It is like a mental simulation. When you can picture each step clearly, the task feels less uncertain and less threatening. It is no longer an abstract thing you imagine failing at.</p><p>When I managed to visualize my workflow step by step, for example from the end of work to getting into bed at night, where each action is small and concrete, I noticed something shifted. I was able to replace endless scrolling on Twitter after work and YouTube binges before sleep with stretching on a yoga mat and journaling with incense.</p><p>If you still feel significant anxiety, take it as a signal. The task might be still too big. Break it down further. Keep going until it feels manageable.</p><p><strong>(C) Feedback</strong></p><p>In the book, several examples of internal self-talk are offered as ways to educate the persona you have named. I came to see this not merely as encouragement, but as a feedback process, one where neural rewiring can begin to take place in the brain. The capacity known as neural plasticity.</p><p>When that rewiring occurs, the same bold challenge may begin to evoke different feelings and emotions. The situation itself remains the same, but our response changes.</p><p>Here is one example I have come up with, inspired by the book.</p><blockquote><p>&#8220;Hi, XXX (persona you named), here you are again. Thanks for the warning. I know you are frightened, and that makes sense. Please come along with me anyway for once. I want to give this a shot.</p><p>Yes, I know. It might be embarrassing. It might not go well. But I want to change, and I have a plan. So stay with me and see what happens.</p><p>See? It was not that bad after all. Now that is useful information. That is data we just collected. Let&#8217;s update how we see and feel about this. Next time, we can try one more step further.&#8221;</p></blockquote><p>This is how the feedback loop begins to form. Not by silencing the inner voice, but by accepting it, guiding it, testing reality, and updating the story it tells.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Message</h2><p>So what is the message I would like to deliver to my younger self? It&#8217;s like this.</p><p>Life seems to be less about passing a single decisive test and more about the <strong>accumulation of partial points</strong>. You are given many chances to earn them, in many different ways. And the points that matter most are not outcomes, but learnings. I find myself drawn to people who have accumulated a great deal of learning and can still smile after carrying many battle scars.</p><p>Remember Scottie Scheffler&#8217;s comment. &#8220;I just love playing golf.&#8221; You do not need a grandiose vision, elaborate reasoning, or external validation. The moment you start seeking validation, your fixed-mindset self shows up. You begin acting to look smart. You avoid mistakes. You avoid action. You stop embracing challenges. Eventually, you get stuck.</p><p>I am also coming to accept a view that may sound a little sad to some. That there is no single, unique life calling prepared just for you. For me, this view is grounding. I experience it not as pessimism, but as liberation. You can forge one mission, or several, and choose to call them your calling. You do not need to worry whether it is the one &#8220;meant-to-be&#8221; path. There is no judgment. There is nothing to prove. You can hold it quietly and close to your heart.</p><p>Be okay with all of your emotions. This does not mean becoming numb. It means the opposite. Feel everything, including the emotions that are uncomfortable or painful. Learn that even when you feel horrible, you are still okay. You will not explode. You will not disappear. You will not die. Your life remains safe. As you learn to live with your emotions, your diagnosis becomes more accurate. Your thinking is no longer distorted by them.</p><p>Start your self-improvement feedback loop, and stay in it. Once you are in the loop, energy returns. You become the subject of your own experiments. As you grow more comfortable with your emotions, you also learn to observe your reactions with curiosity rather than judgment. And when you reach that point, you may find that you are no longer chasing outcomes at all.</p><p>You are simply enjoying the process.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Resources</h2><ul><li><p><a href="https://a.co/d/0ey8cjWd">Mindset by Carol Dweck</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.ethankross.com/books/chatter">Chatter by Ethan Kross</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/GolfDigest/status/1945084133941649919?s=20">Scottie Scheffler&#8217;s interview</a></p></li></ul><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://blog.seethegrain.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[From Paralysis to Motion]]></title><description><![CDATA[What Research Tells Us About Change]]></description><link>https://blog.seethegrain.com/p/from-paralysis-to-motion</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://blog.seethegrain.com/p/from-paralysis-to-motion</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[See the Grain]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:17:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg" width="292" height="519.021978021978" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:2588,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:292,&quot;bytes&quot;:2579820,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://blog.seethegrain.com/i/187034254?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qu6f!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F813b6d21-341f-4111-868b-dc21a046a36a_3213x5712.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I think many of us have, at some point, carried honest wishes like, &#8220;I want to be a better listener,&#8221; &#8220;I want to enjoy challenges more,&#8221; or even, &#8220;I want to give clearer, more direct feedback.&#8221; I am no exception. If anything, I have collected quite a few of these hopes over the years.</p><p>But I began to notice something unsettling. No matter how many wishes I accumulated, or how strongly I held them, they didn&#8217;t naturally translate into real, lasting change. The gap between wanting to grow and actually growing felt stubborn. After many rounds of struggles, I found myself returning to a simple, persistent question:</p><blockquote><p><em>Could meaningful, durable change in my life be guided by a framework that is actually grounded in research, not just by motivation? </em></p></blockquote><p>I believe this is an important topic that many of us, myself included, neglect to study properly, often defaulting to a willpower-based model. That question nudged me into deeper study. And as I followed that curiosity, certain ideas began to rise to the surface.</p><h2>5 Years of being Stuck in Misery</h2><p>The question didn&#8217;t begin in those exact words. It was rather messy, unformed, confusing, and hard to name. All I knew was the feeling of being deeply stuck. Marriage, work, even my passion projects all seemed to stagnate, leaving me paralyzed.</p><p>My wife and I came within an inch close from separating, almost leaving our young daughter in confusion and sadness. I once felt like a rising star at work. What once used to energize me only seemed to drain me. Yet I was too scared to make a bold move or risk the chance of failure. My side hustle, once a passion project filled with hopes, slowly lost its spark over the years of self-doubt. Endlessly pondering on the question, &#8220;Is this something people want?&#8221; without actually having the courage to test it. </p><p>I hated where I was and how I was showing up. I would come up with a new resolution, full of determination and strong willpower, only to find myself a few weeks later drifting back to the old and familiar land of excuses. Each time I tried something new with a fresh mindset, I told myself, &#8220;This time will be different.&#8221;</p><p>After several attempts, I began to feel defeated. I talked myself into accepting that maybe I just wasn&#8217;t meant to change. I didn&#8217;t want to feel the pain of defeat anymore. Eventually, I stopped trying altogether and began faking comfort with where I was. &#8220;It may not be so bad here after all,&#8221; I told myself.</p><p>For more than five long years, everything felt blank, as if I hadn&#8217;t achieved anything at all, like my ship was slowly slipping into darkness.</p><h2>We have a reason not to change!</h2><p>After the feeling of defeat, I stopped working on my passion project. That decision created a small pocket of time, which allowed me to pause and read books, searching for something that might show me a way forward. Most offered insight but little that felt practical or lasting. I also tried therapy. It certainly helped, but when I asked why it helped, I could never find a clear answer, or a framework that explained what made the difference. What I was looking for was something more reproducible, a way to understand why change worked when it did. Then I remembered a book my coach had recommended long ago, one that I had never touched: <em><strong>Immunity to Change</strong></em><strong> by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey.</strong></p><p>Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey are developmental psychologists from Harvard who have spent decades studying how adults grow, learn, and make meaning of their lives. Their research explores the inner architecture of change, how our ways of understanding evolve over time, about ourselves and the world. What made the reading especially engaging was their tone: not that of distant academics, but of compassionate guides. Their book is filled with practical examples that invite you to walk alongside them, reflecting on your own patterns as you go. I found myself nodding through its pages, feeling for the first time that I had come across something truly solid.</p><p>In trying to put the ideas learned in my own words, the book explains that there is an underlying model that beautifully captures why we act against our own best intentions, even when we&#8217;re determined to change. The model is presented as a four-column map that the authors call the <em><strong>&#8220;Immunity Map.&#8221;</strong></em> Although I don&#8217;t intend to recreate what&#8217;s in the book, I want to offer as a short point of reference that can work as a memory anchor. Here is what it is like: </p><blockquote><p><em><strong>Column 1. </strong></em></p><ul><li><p><strong>State your most important goal.</strong></p><ul><li><p>Use an affirmative statement.</p></li><li><p>Make it about you, not about other people or external conditions.</p></li></ul></li></ul><p><em><strong>Column 2.</strong></em></p><p><strong>What are you doing or not doing instead, in ways that work against your Column 1 goal?</strong></p><ul><li><p>Focus on specific actions or inactions.</p></li><li><p>Describe behavior, not emotional states.</p></li></ul><p><em><strong>Column 3.</strong></em></p><p><strong>If you imagine doing the opposite of your Column 2 behaviors, how does it make you feel?</strong></p><ul><li><p>What do you worry about?</p></li><li><p>Notice the &#8220;yuck&#8221; or &#8220;ew&#8221; reactions.</p></li><li><p>What are you secretly committed to protecting or avoiding?</p><p>(For example, not feeling incompetent, rejected, or exposed.)</p></li></ul><p><em><strong>Column 4.</strong></em></p><p><strong>What are some core assumptions you might be holding that make this whole system feel reasonable?</strong></p><ul><li><p>If you fully let go of the hidden competing commitments, what are you afraid would happen?</p></li><li><p>What worst-case scenario are you trying to prevent?</p></li><li><p>What do you believe is true for your current behavior to make sense?</p></li></ul></blockquote><h2>No wonder why it&#8217;s so hard to change! </h2><p>We can see that simply eliminating obstructive behaviors (column 2) is not a solution. We are actively committed to <strong>NOT</strong> achieving our goals, even as we intensely vow to achieve them. It shows that a strong will alone is not the solution, and that we are not broken simply because we struggle to persevere. What encouraged me the most was the idea that once we&#8217;re freed from our own psychological immune system, we don&#8217;t just feel relief, but also we regain the mental capacity that had been tied up in worrying and self-protection. That recovery of energy and clarity is, in itself, a tremendous gain. It&#8217;s not just about removing worries. <strong>It is also about performance enhancement.</strong> After about six months, I began to notice the shift. Situations that once consumed my mental energy with worry began to feel lighter. It was as if my mind had regained the room to think clearly, with both feet on the ground. The actual full-length Immunity to Change framework offers clearly guided steps and distinct phases of change, functioning almost like a GPS that helps us understand where we are and what comes next.</p><h2>The depth matters</h2><p>The heart of this work lies in the depth of self-exploration. You repeat the process until you reach the moment that makes you stop and say, &#8220;Oh&#8230;&#8221; It is hard to overstate this. Real change begins only when you go deep enough to uncover what is truly at stake. For me, that depth was only possible because I was fortunate to meet and work alongside some remarkable people along the way.</p><h2>Minds at Work workshop</h2><p>I didn&#8217;t want to let go of this new learning. I didn&#8217;t want it to become just another set of self-help tips that fade with time, leaving me unsure why I had been so inspired in the first place. So I decided to take a few steps further. I joined a face-to-face workshop hosted by the Minds at Work team, and it was simply fascinating. Just as photos can&#8217;t capture the full beauty of nature, words fall short of describing the immersive landscape of that experience, being in a room full of skilled, compassionate coaches, open-hearted and endlessly curious to keep learning. What once felt like years of stagnation has slowly turned into a kind of learning material, something to observe with curiosity rather than with shame or judgment.</p><p>Be ready, though. Once you begin to unearth your deep, unquestioned assumptions, the process can feel deeply uncomfortable. It is often quite messy. When I worked with a coach and began mapping my own patterns, I could feel my heart race and my mind tighten, almost as if it were trying to shut the whole thing down. A part of me simply didn&#8217;t want to look any further. But that discomfort is not a sign that something is wrong. If anything, it is a signal that you&#8217;ve reached something meaningful, something worth exploring. It&#8217;s the feeling of standing at the threshold of real learning, where the familiar story begins to loosen and a new possibility slowly comes into view.</p><p>I&#8217;ve come to realize that the simplicity of their framework can be deceiving. Understanding the map-making process described in the book is one thing; creating a meaningful, compelling map is another. I see it less as a formula to master and more as an invitation to explore. If you ever have the chance to work with a coach, I highly recommend it. In my own experience, the guidance of a skilled coach can take you to a far deeper level of insight than you might reach alone.</p><h2>The real treasure</h2><p>What we shouldn&#8217;t forget is that the real treasure of this framework lies in designing and carrying out a series of small, deliberate tests. These tests are where insight turns into change, where assumptions are gently challenged through experience rather than argument. I was surprised by what surfaced when I began testing my own big assumptions. For example, I had been convinced that my team preferred less intervention from me. I believed they valued independence so deeply that any additional guidance might feel intrusive. If I offered what I saw as &#8220;intrusive&#8221; guidance, I assumed I would be a bad manager, someone they would not want to work for. That belief carried a unspoken sense of shame. Yet a series of small, carefully designed tests revealed something unexpected. They were not seeking less direction. They were hoping for more. It was one of those moments that wakes you up with humility and relief. A reminder that our assumptions, no matter how reasonable they seem, are still only stories until we test them.</p><p>Testing our big assumptions requires the same level of care and depth of thought, if not more. Just as we would carefully design lab tests that involve explosives, experiments meant to challenge our big assumptions also require careful planning. The book offers a great deal of detail on where to start and what to look out for.</p><p>I don&#8217;t claim to have it all figured out, but this is how it seems to make sense to me now. What we&#8217;re really trying to do by testing our big assumptions is to update our fundamental perceptual model to change the mental and bodily responses that shape how we react to the world. In a biological sense (though I&#8217;m not a neuroscientist), the idea of neural plasticity comes to mind: the brain&#8217;s capacity to rewire itself. Without that rewiring, no real change can take root. That&#8217;s why conducting well-designed tests to gather evidence and gently challenge our big assumptions becomes so powerful. It opens the gateway for new neural pathways to form, slowly replacing the old patterns of behavior we hope to change. </p><h2>Message</h2><p>If we zoom out for a moment and look at the world around us, technology, especially AI, is advancing at a breathtaking pace. The ways we once worked, learned, and made decisions are becoming obsolete faster than ever before. Change is no longer optional; it&#8217;s essential, both for individuals and for organizations. In that light, the Immunity to Change framework deserves far more attention than it currently receives. It offers not just a method, but also a mindset. A way to approach transformation with structure, compassion, and honesty. And I believe this kind of work is something we can no longer afford to overlook.</p><p>So what would I want to share with my younger self? It&#8217;s this:</p><p>&#8220;You hate to accept where you are now. You want to stay in the comfort of possibility, because as long as you don&#8217;t act, you may think that you don&#8217;t have to risk failing. You deny who you are and what you&#8217;ve become, channeling that denial into the energy to push yourself harder. You criticize yourself for not pushing through enough, and you question your willpower. I know you want to change to become a better version of yourself. That longing is beautiful. But acceptance and honest awareness of where you stand are far more powerful and actionable.</p><p>It might feel like sad news at first, but only after acceptance can you truly see and plan your next steps. Right now, you&#8217;re throwing darts with your eyes closed. You don&#8217;t know where you&#8217;re standing, where the bullseye is, or even which direction you&#8217;re facing. Facing those sad and heavy emotions can feel unbearable, as if you might not be able to hold yourself together. But it&#8217;s okay. You&#8217;re not alone, and you&#8217;re certainly not broken. It just takes a little practice, a practice of courage.</p><p>Let&#8217;s begin uncovering the hidden beliefs that have been constraining you. As you do, you&#8217;ll feel lighter. You&#8217;ll notice how much more mental space and energy you have. You&#8217;ll be able to think more clearly. What once felt heavy will begin to move. What looks like a detour at first often turns out to be the shorter, truer path forward. This is an invitation to explore, guided not by fear, but by your own curiosity.&#8221; </p><p>As a closing note, I hope that when I revisit these words years from now, I will recognize this moment as the beginning of another journey.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Resources</h2><ol><li><p><a href="https://mindsatwork.com/books-publications/">Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://mindsatwork.com/">Minds at Work</a></p></li></ol><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://blog.seethegrain.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Who, Why, and my Small Hope]]></title><description><![CDATA[I don&#8217;t write as a profession.]]></description><link>https://blog.seethegrain.com/p/who-why-and-my-small-hope</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://blog.seethegrain.com/p/who-why-and-my-small-hope</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[See the Grain]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:14:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0-oV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F71df9306-2cbf-4141-899c-69868cb3ae88_4032x3024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0-oV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F71df9306-2cbf-4141-899c-69868cb3ae88_4032x3024.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0-oV!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F71df9306-2cbf-4141-899c-69868cb3ae88_4032x3024.jpeg 424w, 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class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I don&#8217;t write as a profession. My background is in AI research and product development, and today I lead a product team at a financial firm. But what I plan to share here isn&#8217;t about that.</p><p>My intention is rather simple, to write with honesty and curiosity.</p><p>I may find myself writing about personal growth, organizational development, and occasionally the technologies that fascinate me. I&#8217;m certainly not here to share advice, nor do I believe that my path is similar to others&#8217;. I&#8217;m just someone trying to make sense of things, one reflection at a time. </p><p>I intend to write as a way to practice courage, the courage to speak truthfully, to remain open, and to keep showing up even when it would be easier to hide.</p><p>As a reminder to myself, what excites me and carries me forward is a search for principles that do not change, for deeper truths beneath the surface of life. I long for more days when a steady sense of fulfillment appears, when simply existing feels like a gift worth treasuring. So I practice. I experiment. I try to live in ways that invite those moments to visit more often.</p><p>I may be thrashing in the water every day. It may look awkward or uncool sometimes. I don&#8217;t hold the answers. I&#8217;m still opening new boxes of knowledge, one discovery at a time. All I wish to do is to share some fascinations and excitements I find along the way, hoping that they might bring a little light to someone else&#8217;s path too.</p><p>I have a modest hope. That someone might stumble across these words and feel even a small measure of comfort or clarity. Much of what I hope to write is like a letter to my younger self, words I once needed, reminders that might have softened harder seasons or made uncertain ones feel a little less lonely.</p><p>And it would be a blessing if these words might become a bridge to meet others who are also searching, questioning, and learning. I want to encounter other beautiful minds, so this journey of discovery becomes something we share, not something I carry alone.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://blog.seethegrain.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>