Lately, I’ve been thinking about small delights. Three books that introduced more delight in my life include: Joyful – Pushed me to think about what brings me joy and how to discover joy in the world. The Artist’s Way – Demonstrated how “Artist Dates” and a “little...
I came across a note I had taken from a book or podcast that said this: “Paths (career/education) pull you back, while passions and purpose propel you forward.” Unknown The quote intrigued me and tied to the long-standing debate around following your passions. A...
In late May, Seth Godin had a blog post titled "Stevie and Marvin”. The lesson of the post was that Mavin Gaye’s charisma “was a skill and not something he was born with”. This was an interesting statement to me. I always felt that charisma was something some people...
There are a lot of benefits to the routines that give our lives structure. They streamline our tasks. Let us navigate responsibilities with ease. Provide calm and stability to our days. Yet, they also lead us to live on autopilot. We go through the motions without...
When out walking, I take notes and capture thoughts on my phone. When at my desk, thoughts are captured in a notebook. Typically, the notes reference a source or say “idea” if the thought is a new one of mine. Lots of the notes become blog posts. Today, there was a...
We’ve all heard of FOMO or the fear of missing out. Recently, I heard “FOBO” and wondered “what’s that?!”. The description was that FOBO is the Fear Of a Better Option. This is when we avoid deciding or doing something. We are afraid if we commit a different, better...
Our days are full of schedules and to do lists. We have them in both our work and personal life. Days are spent transitioning between the schedules and lists. When we do have a minute to take a breath, we often fill the time with a screen of some type. This was...
The concept of thought leadership has been on my mind lately. The dictionary definition of a thought leader is “a person whose views are taken to be authoritative and influential. Some articles suggest that thought leaders have a following while “regular”...
When we look in the dictionary, the definition of a frame is to “provide structure”. This structure is then applied to many things including artwork, photographs, ideas, presentations, articles, events, and more. In any of these situations the “frame” provides...
Word pairs are such a great way to learn more about how we approach the world. They can also help us realize how others may approach the same thing differently. The segmenter vs. integrator pair considers both time and space. SEGMENTOR: A segmentor wants to...
Am I an introvert or an extrovert? Do I naturally approach the world by thinking first or acting? What motivates me to get things done? These are the kind of questions we seek to answer when taking a self-assessment or personality test. There are many assessments...
There was a meditation from Headspace that talked about the difference between personality and character. The premise was that personality can be shaped and changed while character is something that you are born with. This underlines the debate between nature and...
Stop what you are doing. How do you feel? Energized? Drained? Every job has things you love that energize you (cheers) and things you dread that drain you (chores). What fascinates me is that the same task may be a cheer for one person and a chore for...
There is a podcast I listen to called Optimal Living Daily that reads blog posts with permission from the authors each morning. Today’s reading was from a Cal Newport post titled “Do What Works, Not What’s Satisfying: Pseudo-Striving and our Fear of...
Today is National Simplicity Day. The day honors the life of Henry David Thoreau and advocates a life of simplicity. While Thoreau lived in a world without the distractions of today, this thought still rings true. “Our life is fritted away by detail…Simplify,...
Wabi-sabi is a term often associated with art and design. An aesthetic concept that values imperfection, impermanence, and simplicity. When we look at the words separately, the definitions of the parts make the whole clearer: Wabi – The celebration of simple,...
Today marks the first six months of writing this blog. The goal was to share content in the personal development space. Summarizing what I’ve heard, tried, and continued to learn in my own life. The content has covered many topics. This got me thinking. My Perspective...
Yes. There really is a day for everything. National Handshake Day got me thinking about the practice and how the pandemic changed everything. Ever since I can remember, handshakes have been a greeting – especially in the workplace. They are comfortable. A routine that...
Have you ever written a letter to your future self? There are many times we capture memories for our future self to come back to. We create time capsules to be opened in a prescribed year. We put photographs in albums to come back and remember moments in our...
Journaling is a great way to get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. There are many ways to journal and many purposes. Below are the ones I’ve tried in the last 5 years. The GLAD Structure This form of journaling uses the acronym GLAD to remind you to...
Time Vampires are listed in the Urban Dictionary as “a person who finds creative ways to needlessly waste his/her friends time” and “someone who literally sucks your time like a vampire sucks blood”. In this definition, people are taking time from you. I came...