When everyone expects you to be negative, be positive. When everyone expects you to stop, speed up. When everyone expects your bitter defeat, be festive. When everyone is sitting it out, dance like a fool. When everyone is terrified, be courageous. […]
I’m anything but monogamous in my reading. And that hasn’t changed in 2018. I continue to read some (too many at once) great books in favorite topics like personal development, spirituality, or fantasy. I don’t expect that I’ll finish all […]
Many people in our post-religious world are skeptical of the categories of “good” vs. “evil.” And they should be. Most of us inherit duty-based moralities that have tradition behind them, but little enough clear reasoning. And since most inherited religious moral […]
One of the most vivid scenes in all of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s life is the story of the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem at Passover. Jesus sees moneychangers and livestock sellers set up in the temple courts and literally flips […]
There are generally two reasons we laugh: the delightful (positive) or the unexpected/shocking (negative). Unfortunately, in the moment we also don’t really know which is which. We rarely pay attention to what we’re laughing at. This plays out often at parties, particularly among young people. […]
It strikes me that most of my best group adventures I’ve lived seem to have followed a core rule of improv acting. In improv, when your partner suggests a scenario, you never contradict them. You can and should add to their suggestion […]
While there’s a lot to be said for “fake it till you make it” for confidence-boosting. “Faking it till you make it” is at its best a confident, earnest approach to a problem, with the hope that your “old college try” […]
I’m morbidly fascinated by the history of the two twentieth century wars. These giant catastrophes seem far too big to be possible, yet they’re far too close to my lifetime to be ignored. It’s now 2018, and one of the […]
Opportunity cost. If you’re into economics, you can probably spot it on sight. If you’re into economics at all, though, you also know that most people aren’t consciously pondering economic insights when they make decisions. “Drama” – stuff that can suck in […]
“Sorry for being a flake!” “I’m such a klutz!” “I’m a coward.” “I’m such a liar.” When you find ourselves in the middle of doing something you don’t respect, it’s all too easy to identify as a person with things you don’t respect: flakiness, klutziness, cowardice, dishonesty. You […]
In The Fellowship of the Ring, the hero Frodo has to journey to Mordor to destroy the Ring of Power, a metaphor for (you guessed it) power itself. Own quests may not be so dramatic. We might just want to find a good […]
So, you’re going through a failure? As bad as it is, I doubt it’s quite as bad as the failure of the British Expeditionary Force in May 1940. After the rapid German conquest of France, British troops were holed up at this […]
No matter how secular our world may be, most of us have some “sacred objects” and talismans. These are nothing special – just objects that hold meeting (or allow us to experience meaning.) Some of mine happen to be mixtapes (OK, mix CDs). […]
Today I was closing a loop on a marketing project when I did something gratuitous: I stopped, paused, and tipped my hat to a fellow creator. The marketer I had been working with is an employee of another company in […]
Remember those cheesy, boring, grainy nature documentaries you used to watch in school when the teacher was not having the best day ever? These films set my expectations for nature films. But Planet Earth 2 is not like those films. And […]
There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a […]
I’m skeptical of “simple tricks to get a better life.” If you aren’t working on the core stuff (integrity, productivity, courage, kindness, etc), all the modifications and habits and gear in the world won’t work to improve your core sense […]
Congratulations on reaching adulthood. You’ve probably realized by now that taking care of yourself is no easy task. Getting groceries, watching dishes, maintaining an apartment, holding down a job, learning, growing, making friends, keeping good health – all of this […]
If you’re a talented and precocious, it’s easier than ever to become perceived as a master in your field at a really young age. Most of older generations’ prejudices (right or wrong) against the young.have become less pronounced. Youth is more highly […]
Bad days make you a worse person . You know what I’m talking about. When things go wrong, it’s very easy for them to become worse. You get more irritable. You have lower impulse control. You do things you regret. And then you […]
Seeing a coworker off on their last day at work? This is a great opportunity for you (and your company) to cement a lasting relationship and leave a lasting positive impression. Here are a few ways to make the last day valuable […]
We tend to believe that discipline and spontaneity are opposites. I think experience bears out that these two belong together. If you really want to be the kind of person that can nail down and focus on a task (short-term) […]
There’s nothing like living in a city in your early 20s. The feeling gets better if you’ve never lived in a city before. The bigness of everything in Atlanta is still awe-inspiring for a country boy like me. If (like […]
For most of us, driving is just a chore. It’s sedentary. It’s waiting. No matter how far we travel, we can get out of our cars at the other end feeling like we’ve been sitting at a desk. Do you […]
When I’m at the office, I tend to want to work almost anywhere but my desk. It’s not that I don’t appreciate my fancy standing desk. It’s also not that I don’t like the coworkers around my “official working space.” They’re great. I’m […]
If you’re starting a company, your number one objective is launching your minimum viable product: the ugliest, most awkward version of your product or service that can still work. Your minimum viable product (or MVP) lets you immediately start gaining customer […]
I am not a fighter by nature. But I am a perfectionist. And people like me can be sticklers for doing things our way. This got me into trouble in my time as an intern. I felt strongly about the need […]
I often hear people longing for some cause or purpose that is “bigger than them.” I know how this feels, partly because I’m lucky enough to have work like that. My company’s work may have effects reaching far beyond what I […]
For all the hate the Star Wars prequel films get, they also give us a deeper look into the philosophy of the Jedi. As usual, the best lines (as usual) come from Jedi Master Yoda. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker goes to Yoda for advice in The Revenge of […]
The workweek can become grinding for even the hardest workers. It’s at its worst when our days become indistinguishable from one another. If you just repeat the same routine every day in your work, you’ll get there sooner rather than later. The boredom of […]