Hello Reader,

Every year as we slip toward the holidays, there’s this familiar pressure to get busy. To pack days full, to squeeze in more, to somehow keep pace with a season that seems to accelerate on its own.

But lately I’ve been thinking less about busyness… and more about devotion.

​There’s a moment I wrote about recently that’s been echoing in my mind. It comes from a story Glenn Frey told about living above Jackson Browne during the early Eagles days: listening through the floorboards as Browne worked a verse twenty times over, stopped when the kettle whistled, poured more tea, and picked up exactly where he left off.

What Frey heard wasn't hustle. It wasn’t frenzy. It was devotion.

Devotion to time.
Devotion to attention.
Devotion to intention.

What struck me as I revisited that story is how unglamorous it all is. No dramatic breakthroughs. No lightning bolts. Just consistent return. Browne didn’t bow to the clock—he partnered with it. He let repetition deepen the work instead of flattening it.

And that, to me, is the crux of the season we’re entering.

Instead of asking, “What am I busy with?” maybe the more meaningful question is, “What am I devoted to?”

(Or even more honestly: “What would I like to be devoted to, but haven’t given myself permission to honour yet?”)

Because devotion is quieter than busyness. More intentional. More durable.

It’s what turns a kettle whistle into a metronome rather than a distraction. It’s what transforms time from something we try to beat into something we work with.

As you move through the next few weeks—with all their brightness, obligations, and noise—keep an eye on where your devotion naturally leans. Not what demands your attention, but what deserves it. Not what fills your time, but what steadies it.

And if you find something worth returning to, even twenty times over—that’s a good sign you’re on the right path.

See you later,
Mike

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