There is an old idea in the Judeo-Christian tradition that humans were given dominion over the earth to rule in the image of God. It’s a remarkable idea, made more remarkable by the fact that such dominion appears to be shared […]
*This post contains mild spoilers for season 4 of Game of Thrones* We’ll never come to the end of understanding leadership, in part because one truth always has a paradoxical counterpart. Good leaders are humble. Good leaders know how to take […]
No matter how stable our lives, we’re all due to hit times of great change. We move, we lose friends, jobs change, projects end, families break up, people die, people are born. We take on new responsibilities, new burdens, and […]
Popular blogger, author, and podcaster Tim Ferriss talks often about the importance of scheduled family vacations in his life. His yearly travel planning doesn’t just bring his family together for their time on the road – the expectation of future […]
In the days of summer in the great city of Atlanta, the goddess Athena favored a youth named James and gifted him with the ability to finish a 5K without looking like a damn fool. James raced in the great 5K games of the Atlanta […]
After running an unofficial 5K last weekend, I decided to build on my momentum by joining a couple of friends for what became my first official 5K – the Atlanta Westside Beltline 5K. We ran this morning, and it was a blast. The whole […]
This week several of my company’s European (Dutch and Slovakian) employees came to our US office in Alpharetta, Georgia for a few days. I and a couple of my fellow Americans took it upon ourselves to make sure that they really lived […]
I work in the fast-paced world of software and live in the fast-paced city of Atlanta. It’s sometimes easy to forget that four years ago I was working at a hardware store and mowing grass on my family’s farm. Like […]
One of the real pleasures of summertime is stumbling upon that one big hit that everyone you know starts blasting, that every radio station plays, and that seems to be the soundtrack for every fun summer event. Remember “Call Me […]
Want your company culture to be stronger? Want people to value each other and work together? Set some s*%^ on fire. OK, I kid. I wouldn’t exactly advise actively creating a crisis. But I would advise (to paraphrase Rahm Emanuel) […]
I ran about the distance of a 5K yesterday for the first time in my life. ~3.1 miles isn’t very far in the grand scheme of things, but for someone new to serious running-as-exercise, it’s something I thought I would […]
I was driving through Atlanta yesterday when I noticed a family name I recognized decorating a highway sign. You see things like that in Atlanta and in many small towns (like my hometown of Charleston). A few founding families can […]
If you wanted to go on a date with someone, you wouldn’t just say “Want to go on a date?” You would present a plan: “Can I take for you ice cream and a walk in the park this Saturday at […]
I remember my first time on the dancefloor at a club. It was obvious I was underage, and whatever I was doing, I was not impressing my dance partner. It wasn’t pretty. I think there’s a Facebook video of that experience […]
I realized recently that I am a stereotypical native of Charleston, South Carolina. Yes, unfortunately it’s true. I wear boat shoes and occasionally even what might be described as “preppy” clothing (it’s unintentional, I assure you). I sail boats. I […]
Every year I learn a bit of sailing all over again in my family’s 4th of July sailboat race. These regattas have been happening for years, for most of my life, but I still have a long way to go […]
All things are a waste when they aren’t used properly. But all things have a time and place when they are the thing for someone to do. Video games were a big part of my childhood. Even though I sometimes […]
Once upon a time, a town’s retail district (if it had a district at all) would have been so small that customers and vendors knew each other by name. Shopping was a commercial transaction, but it was also a personal […]
By now, if you haven’t ridden in a Lyft or Uber vehicle, you at least have heard one amazing story from a friend who has. Philosophical conversations, sports talks, business opportunities, and friendships have all been born of these rides […]
At the time of his passing, Chik-fil-A founder Truett Cathy had an office desk drawer full of plastic silverware saved up over the years. Like many people of his generation, he inherited frugality from the experience of the Great Depression. […]
The Franciscan friar Richard Rohr talks about the two parts of life: the first half in which we learn and conquer and grasp, and the second in which we learn to give and let go. Similarly, in my experience, there are two […]
There are few songs more epic or era-defining than Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a Changing.” In fact, there are few songs about change in general that are better. I’m going through a time of great change myself, and […]
I don’t have much in common with the person who cuts my hair. We have obvious differences in age, experience, background, and work (I’m a technology marketer and she is a hair stylist). But as with all humans who look […]
You know the guy or gal who likes taking photos or videos of everything? There’s one in every crowd. That’s me. One of my favorite ways to add value to a social gathering is to take time to document the sights […]
There are moments in all of our lives when we can go from a feeling of low confidence to feeling unstoppable. These moments usually happen only at rare occasions, and they seem more like near-miraculous exceptions rather than rules. But […]
The Psalms are some of the world’s oldest and most universally-known pieces of poetry. There’s never a time when you won’t scream out in pain or shout out in joy in ways that can’t be expressed in the Psalms. They […]
Today I had my first real, sustained chance to try sparring in jiu jitsu. I’ve rarely ever had so much fun 1) being defeated and 2) wearing myself to the point of exhaustion. I doubt I’ve had a workout so intense, and I haven’t […]
I finally saw Solo: A Star Wars Story tonight, and what I got was a galloping romp of a space western. I loved it. Reviewers and journalists are rubbing salt in Solo‘s wounds for performing poorly at the box office. But if there are […]
The best jobs teach you things you didn’t expect to learn. Through being a marketer at a bitcoin payment processor, I’ve learned about much more than just marketing. Most of these are the reasons I’m so grateful for the opportunity I’ve had: […]
The post office line is one of the dreariest places to be on a Monday afternoon. I have never been in a packed room that silent, except perhaps for a funeral. At least at funerals, people occasionally laugh. This is […]