This episode introduces the Junior Warden by examining the role’s responsibility for managing rest and refreshment, capacity, and continuity of effort. The Junior Warden is framed as the function that monitors whether work can continue at a productive level or whether it’s time to pause in order to preserve performance.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• The Junior Warden oversees rest and refreshment, not just breaks.
• Capacity is evaluated across emotional, cognitive, and physical domains.
• Continuity of effort matters more than momentary output.
• Timing and pacing are core responsibilities of the role.
• The Junior Warden manages the “vibe” of the room or system.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “So this week we're going to be talking about the junior warden and it makes sense to start with the junior warden in what the role of the junior warden is in a lodge.” (0:00–0:07)
• “The junior warden oversees the rest and refreshment period of a lodge meeting.” (0:13–0:22)
• “It is managing timing.” (0:22–0:25)
• “It speaks to all of the needs of the workmen relative to exertion and replenishment.” (0:29–0:41)
• “There is a continuity of effort that the junior warden should be observing and managing.” (0:41–0:49)
• “Basically on vibes, right?” (0:54–0:57)
• “Are you burnt out?” (0:57–0:59)
• “Do you have any resources left?” (1:04–1:09)
• “Do you have enough left in the tank to continue work at peak performance?” (1:14–1:22)
• “If the answer is no, the junior warden is essentially the person who's going to evaluate and in a lot of ways arbitrate that work.” (1:22–1:35)
• “When the lodge is in the care of the junior warden, people can step out of line for work, but we can't add new workmen.” (1:48–1:57)
• “The junior warden is really responsible for the vibe, the vibe check.” (2:38–2:43)

Learn more about interoception here: https://youtu.be/yaVOZ7nLa1Q

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge

This episode integrates the Senior Warden function through personal and practical examples that show what happens when closure is insufficient or avoided. The focus is on preparing for the close before work begins, and on how poor closure disrupts transitions in families, relationships, and life stages.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Closure failures create difficulty for whatever comes next.
• Commencement without adequate preparation leaves people unready.
• Unclear intent at the start undermines the ability to close cleanly.
• Many interactions are experience-driven, not task-driven.
• Avoiding closure shifts the burden to others and damages trust.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “We’re wrapping up this week on the senior warden conversation with some real challenges that I’ve experienced personally with the idea of closure.” (0:00–0:07)
• “That closure part of the conversation, if not done well, essentially creates a real difficulty for the next generation to start or the next phase to start.” (1:00–1:08)
• “In situations where I have not been clear about what I want going in, the relationships don’t close the way they’re supposed to.” (1:16–1:24)
• “How do we know that we’ve had a good experience or how do we know the work is done, you never get to it.” (1:45–1:51)
• “On the back end of it, I just kind of felt listless and frustrated.” (1:54–2:01)
• “If you can prepare for the close before you start, that’s the best.” (2:09–2:17)
• “Try and come up with a definition of what it is that you were trying to accomplish.” (2:24–2:28)
• “A lot of the way we interact is experience driven.” (2:39–2:41)
• “Think about the experience you were trying to create and were you able to create that experience?” (2:41–2:46)
• “A lot of guys get this wrong… in the dating context.” (3:02–3:12)
• “They’ll just kind of fade out and ghost.” (3:18–3:25)
• “That’s awful for everyone because you don’t get that strong sense of closure.” (3:25–3:32)
• “Helping yourself figure out how to close could be a good next step for you moving forward.” (4:09–4:19)

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge

This episode examines the systemic function of the Senior Warden as the role responsible for managing phase transitions—knowing when one body of work is complete, what must be communicated forward, and how systems avoid breakdown when closure is handled intentionally. The focus is on demarcation, evaluation, and information flow rather than authority or content.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Systems require clear markers for when one function ends and another begins.
• Closure includes deciding what information must transfer forward.
• Without intentional demarcation, work cannot be evaluated for effectiveness.
• Ceremonies and rituals function as systemic markers of transition.
• The Senior Warden governs closure, which is as critical as opening the work.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “We start talking about the senior warden at a systemic level.” (0:00–0:04)
• “Where are the boundaries, where are the markers for when one function is complete and the other can begin.” (0:16–0:24)
• “What needs to be communicated from one phase change or one set of work to the next.” (0:32–0:40)
• “It’s kind of like a data flow, right?” (0:45–0:50)
• “What information needs to be passed from one crew to the next.” (0:50–0:59)
• “That’s all the work of the senior warden at a systemic level.” (1:09–1:13)
• “Ceremonies that essentially indicate the stopping of one bit of work or function and the advancement to another.” (1:26–1:35)
• “You’re never going to be able to essentially create these meaningful demarcations.” (1:52–1:57)
• “Wrap it up and come to evaluate it for its efficacy.” (2:10–2:18)
• “There are these lines of demarcation, these concluding points.” (3:11–3:19)
• “The senior warden is the closure of the work.” (3:45–3:49)
• “That function is responsible for closure, which is just as important as the opening.” (4:13–4:20)

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge

This episode explores the relational role of the Senior Warden, focusing on how closure (or the lack of it) shapes trust, resentment, and clarity between people. The emphasis is on how failing to close relational work cleanly creates confusion and harm, even when intentions were positive.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Relational harm often comes from avoidance of closure, not malice.
• Unclear intent at the start makes clean endings difficult.
• Relationships need explicit markers for “done” just like work does.
• Fading out or letting situations decay is a form of abdicated responsibility.
• The Senior Warden function restores dignity by naming the end.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “If I have not been clear about what I want going in, the relationships don’t close the way they’re supposed to.” (0:15–0:24)
• “I would start with positive sort of prosocial behaviors, not being clear about what my intent is.” (0:31–0:39)
• “How do we know that we’ve had a good experience or how do we know the work is done?” (0:45–0:51)
• “You never get to it because it wasn’t clear on my expectations walking in.” (0:51–0:54)
• “On the back end of it, I just kind of felt listless and frustrated.” (1:54–2:01)
• “If you can prepare for the close before you start, that’s the best.” (2:09–2:17)
• “Try and come up with a definition of what it is that you were trying to accomplish.” (2:24–2:28)
• “A lot of the way we interact is experience driven.” (2:39–2:41)
• “Were you able to create that experience?” (2:46–2:47)
• “A lot of guys get this wrong kind of in the dating context.” (3:02–3:12)
• “They’ll just kind of fade out and ghost.” (3:18–3:25)
• “That’s awful for everyone because you don’t get that strong sense of closure.” (3:25–3:32)

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge

This episode examines the behavioral function of the Senior Warden, focusing on how individuals recognize when effort should stop and closure should begin. The emphasis is on avoiding endless motion by defining what “enough” looks like and learning to end work deliberately rather than by exhaustion or avoidance.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Behavioral closure requires knowing what success looks like in advance.
• Work that never ends often lacks a defined stopping condition.
• The Senior Warden’s role is to notice when continued effort no longer adds value.
• Ending work cleanly frees attention and energy for the next phase.
• Avoidance of closure often masquerades as diligence or care.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “A lot of people struggle with closure at a behavioral level.” (0:00–0:06)
• “If you don’t know what you’re driving toward, it’s very hard to know when to stop.” (0:18–0:26)
• “You can keep working on something indefinitely.” (0:34–0:38)
• “At some point the work has achieved its utility.” (0:55–1:02)
• “Just because you can keep going doesn’t mean you should.” (1:17–1:22)
• “The senior warden’s job is to recognize that point.” (1:29–1:33)
• “Closure is an action, not a feeling.” (1:49–1:53)
• “If you don’t define the close, the close defines itself.” (2:11–2:18)
• “That’s how people end up frustrated or burned out.” (2:18–2:24)
• “Stopping well is part of doing the job well.” (3:02–3:06)

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge

This episode introduces the Senior Warden as a closure function—the role responsible for ending a phase of work in a way that honors the “contract terms,” ensures the work was worthy of its pay, and helps people leave without dissatisfaction. The lodge is framed as a contemplative role-play space where you can sit in a chair mentally and use the role to analyze your behavior, relationships, and systems.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• The lodge can be used as a mental role-play environment for self-analysis.
• The Senior Warden role is “relatively obvious” because its closure duties are explicitly stated.
• Closure means bringing a transaction or phase to a clean end so parties “got what they needed.”
• Closure doesn’t require everyone to be happy, but aims for the best available outcome.
• Closure creates a demarcation that frees resources so you can move to the next phase.
• The Senior Warden can “pick up additional tools” to do the analysis work from that position.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “This week we’re going to be talking about the senior warden…” (0:00–0:08)
• “It’s productive mentally to imagine… that the lodge room is almost like a big opportunity to role play.” (0:08–0:24)
• “You’ll sit in a job or a role and use that to help you analyze your behavior, your relationships, the systems that you’re interacting with in the world.” (0:30–0:44)
• “The senior warden is a relatively obvious role… it is explicitly stated in the rituals… that the senior warden’s job is to close the lodge, pay the craft their wages… and see that none go away… dissatisfied or upset.” (0:44–1:14)
• “The senior warden was the guy who’s making sure that all of the sort of contract terms… were honored and met.” (1:23–1:37)
• “Senior warden’s role was to make sure… that the work was sort of worthy of its pay.” (2:37–2:53)
• “It’s the functional process of closing out.” (2:55–3:02)
• “It’s bringing closure to a situation so that everyone… got what they needed wanted could out of the situation.” (3:07–3:25)
• “That doesn’t mean everyone’s always the happiest, but it does mean that… the best possible outcome was created.” (3:31–3:39)
• “Create these lines of demarcation between actively working and closure so that we can essentially free up resource and kind of move to the next thing.” (4:02–4:11)
• “You may have to pick up additional tools from that position… in that mental landscape to do the work.” (4:49–4:56)

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge

This episode integrates the Plumb as a practical decision test, using the “nice guy finishes last” pattern as a concrete example. The focus is on how unstated objectives and misaligned behavior pull people out of plumb, and how explicitly naming what you want restores grounding, agency, and honesty.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Many pro-social behaviors are driven by unstated objectives.
• “Nice guy” behavior often trades clarity for implied social pressure.
• Misalignment occurs when behavior is not visibly connected to a stated goal.
• Naming what you want removes resentment and martyrdom.
• The Plumb can be used in real time to test whether behavior can actually produce the desired outcome.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “Nice guys finishing last is a plumb problem.” (1:06–1:13)
• “It is a misapplication of behaviors to achieve an unstated outcome.” (1:13–1:18)
• “They are trying to do the right thing in order to achieve an outcome.” (1:26–1:39)
• “There is a disconnect somewhere in the line.” (1:39–1:47)
• “The unstated expectation… that I was going to exchange this behavior for some form of social capital.” (2:18–2:37)
• “That unstated objective is the core of the nice guy problem.” (2:41–2:46)
• “That’s not plumb behavior and it’s not building plumb relationships.” (3:42–3:46)
• “First things first, state what you want.” (4:15–4:21)
• “That’s going to solve 99% of your problems.” (4:21–4:29)
• “Stop trying to expect the world… to become a mind reader.” (5:23–5:29)
• “Figure out what it is you want.” (5:53–5:55)
• “Is the behavior I’m undertaking able to create that outcome?” (6:10–6:14)
• “If the answer is no, you’re operating out of plumb.” (6:14–6:19)

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge

This episode examines the systemic application of the Plumb, focusing on how durable systems stay grounded by aligning to values rather than locking themselves to fixed outcomes. The Plumb is presented as a non-negotiable reference point that allows systems to adapt without losing their center.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Lasting systems require a grounded moral orientation.
• Values provide stability while allowing outcomes to change.
• Outcome-locked systems become rigid and fragile.
• Alignment to values increases adaptability under pressure.
• Grounded systems survive external shocks by remaining flexible.

💬 Featured Quotes

• “At its systemic level, the plumb is all about this non-negotiable reference point, this non-negotiable grounding.” (0:00–0:14)
• “All systems that are designed to create lasting change and improvement… have a grounding to a moral purpose or a moral orientation.” (0:14–0:33)
• “Without that, external pressures will essentially force those systems to collapse.” (0:55–1:09)
• “When you have a grounded system… that system is allowed to change and adapt.” (1:09–1:22)
• “The values remain the same, but the situations and how it responds are allowed to move as needed.” (1:22–1:31)
• “When you’re focused on the outcomes, rather than a design intent, you lose a bunch of flexibility and you become rigid.” (2:18–2:26)
• “Rigid systems tend to collapse.” (2:26–2:33)
• “Alignment to values allows those values to be expressed through the way the organization operates.” (2:55–3:02)
• “Being attached to the outcomes you’re creating… does create this organization that’s going to have a hard time standing the test of time.” (3:02–3:18)
• “This systemic understanding of the plumb is moving from… an outcome-driven mission statement to a values-driven mission statement.” (5:55–6:01)
• “That allows the outcomes to flex as they need to.” (6:01–6:03)

Creators & Guests

• Brian Mattocks - Host

• Jorge