Some Simplified Principles for Complicated Times On a few occasions, I have heard someone talk about a person or a company being like a duck in the water — calm on the surface, but paddling furiously under the water. It usually serves as an analogy to show how much work it can take to be poised, calm,… Read More »Slower, Fewer, Less
credit: Lance King/Getty Images How Overcoming “Style Creep” Can Help You Succeed Where Others Just Get By On December 26, 2016, Chinanu Onuaku made his professional basketball debut for the Houston Rockets. It was kind of historic, even though he only spent 8 minutes in the game and scored 6 points. By all appearances, it was… Read More »The Wisdom of the Granny Shot
credit: kenichi nobusue In case you didn’t have enough New Year’s stuff to read The more I have written, the more I have read, and the more work I’ve taken on, the more I appreciate the spirit of minimalism. I guess sometimes, I just wish I knew what “minimalism” meant. But let’s pretend that I know what… Read More »3 Principles for 2017
Rodin’s “The Thinker” — credit: Protoplasmakid A Field Guide to One of the Most Important Traits You Can Have Authenticity is important — whether you’re establishing your own personal brand, or just establishing yourself as a person at a party. But there is a trait that might be more important than authenticity. Without it, it’s really hard to actually be… Read More »Intellectual Honesty
credit: Derek Robinson (pixabay) How Pessimism Might Actually Help You Achieve Your New Year’s Resolutions Every year, millions of people (maybe billions) make new year’s resolutions. They vow to work out more, eat better, do more focused work, and various other radical changes. An overwhelming number of those people end up failing at one or… Read More »The Power of Negative Thinking
credit: Luke Goodsell When I was 23, I was pretty sure I knew more than most people. In my own mind, I was so damn wise — so informed, and intelligent. I simply didn’t have the time to waste listening to the advice of others. I was on my own path to greatness — or so I thought. So imagine… Read More »Simple, But Not Easy
credit: r. nial bradshaw How Chasing a Goal Can Get in the Way of Achieving It Nearly all of us want to be better. We want to be better at relationships, better at our jobs, better at doing the right thing. For those of us that have such an impulse, it’s a blessing. But it can… Read More »The Paradox of Pursuit
Writing and Responsibility Writing should be clear. To write clearly, writers should strive to write as simply as possible. But there is a difference between simple writing and resorting to cheap shortcuts to make writing appear simple. I see a lot of writing these days that consists of one sentence paragraphs. I think that many… Read More »Simple Writing vs. Lazy Writing
Forrest Gump was wrong. There is a way to know what you’re going to get in a box of chocolates — mostly. This time of year, at least in the US, the gift packages and treats come flying in (sometimes literally) from vendors and customers. People are saying “thank you” or “hey, how about sending some more… Read More »How to Pick the Right Chocolate from the Gift Box in the Break-room
Exhibit A Of Little Hearts and Open Minds in the Medium Community A recent piece by Medium’s “unofficial cheerleader” — SF Ali — has garnered some attention. You can read through it, but the basic premise is this: the Medium staff reached out to him to question the authenticity of his recommendations. They believe that based on the frequency… Read More »What Does a “Recommend” Really Mean?
