General

Reading Time: 2 minWith football season once again in full swing, out come the people that are sure that the refs are biased against their team. It doesn’t matter what team they pull for — the refs are seemingly against every team, which doesn’t really make sense. Certainly refs are imperfect at every level; ideally a bit closer […]

Reading Time: < 1 minWhile I was reading Daniel Pink’s book “When“, he presented an interesting idea — if a basketball team is losing by one point at halftime, they have a better chance of winning than if they were ahead by one point instead. If it’s more than one point, the numbers start to shift rather quickly. A […]

Reading Time: 3 minPeople often wish to “go back to a better time”, or reminisce about their childhood when “the world was a safer place”. It may have felt that way, but it’s almost entirely untrue. That’s not to say that things can’t be better — the world today is still a mess, but it’s the safest and […]

Reading Time: < 1 minI’ve talked a few times on here about how powerful the word “no” can be. “No” can be helpful in sales, but most times you say no in your life, it’s because you’re wanting something bigger and need to have a “yes” somewhere behind it that you can point to. In a TED talk some […]

Reading Time: < 1 minI’m noticing a disturbing trend online that only seems to be getting worse. Perhaps it’s always been this bad, but it really feels like it’s growing. The trend is people using words to dehumanize others that they don’t agree with. The reason for this was explained nicely in Peter Bevelin’s book “Seeking Wisdom“: “We tend […]

Reading Time: < 1 minI tend to think I’m a rather even-keeled guy. I rarely raise my voice, and generally don’t let my emotions get too high or too low. Measuring the “worst” in someone is often a good benchmark of what to expect from them. It’s also why I very much dislike the phrase “if you can’t handle […]

Reading Time: < 1 minOver the last few years, I’ve seen quite a few people express outrage at the media “taking our attention with the next big story”. It’s often framed as a way to hide “what’s really going on”, but I see it simply as media outlets doing their job. A great example of this was the Russia-Ukraine […]

Reading Time: < 1 minWe’re stuck in a weird place in our world right now, where people are feeling like they have to set up firm boundaries around their beliefs. There’s also the angle that if you take one position, like supporting gun rights, you are forced to take a particular position on a separate subject, like opposing abortion […]

Reading Time: < 1 minThere are two kinds of people in this world. Those that show up to be seen, and those that show up to see others. In his book “High Performance Habits“, author Brendon Burchard puts it this way: “There are two types of people. One walks into the room and announces, ‘Here I am!’ The other […]

Reading Time: < 1 minIn the past few weeks, Seth Godin (with the help of hundreds of volunteers) has released “The Carbon Almanac“, a massive book full of facts about climate change. Their goal was to create “a source of reliable and easily understandable knowledge on climate change…that you can share to create meaningful impact.” Regardless your stance on […]