...The startling conclusion at which they had all arrived, in different ways, was this: that the effort to try to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable. And that it is our constant efforts to eliminate the negative – insecurity, uncertainty, failure, or sadness – that is what causes us to feel so insecure, anxious, uncertain, or unhappy...
...In a post last year, we laid out the human lifespan visually. By years...
...Roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard and pickles; everything about this screams “touchdown!”...
...We spend a lot of time on our (metaphorical) book covers. That first impression, the way we tell our story or introduce ourselves or earn the sale...
...For some, money represents freedom, opportunity, security, or peace of mind. For me, money was a barrier to my goals and dreams. It was the reason I couldn’t do or have the things I wanted in life...
...Most of us tend to ignore micro-stresses and just focus on the big stuff, but the small things require our attention too...
...It’s not that people don’t have the time to offer an honest ‘thank you’. It’s that they don’t want to acknowledge the obligation or connection...
...Problems are inevitable, because our knowledge will always be infinitely far from complete. Some problems are hard, but it is a mistake to confuse hard problems with problems unlikely to be solved...
...Part of the challenge of hanging out with cannibals is that it’s very difficult to get a good night’s sleep...
...Pork and peaches make for one delicious salad...
...To increase trust on teams, leaders must understand what influences people’s willingness to trust, as well as what makes leaders trustworthy...
...Upon reaching the top, the new researcher begins doing novel work, throwing new stones onto the top of the mountain and making it a little taller for whoever comes next...
...In other words, how quickly you act after coming to a decision is just as important as how you come to said decision...
...Making personal preferences and working styles explicit speeds up the forming and norming process...
...Getting to great starts by cutting out stuff that’s merely good...
...Understanding the difference between these two points of view is one of the highest leverage ways to improve your and your team’s effectiveness. Failing to understand it is probably one of the largest sources of waste and frustration in most companies...
...Every bite of this summery tomato pasta is studded with bites of crispy pancetta...
...I grew up thinking that being smart was the thing most to be desired. Perhaps you did too. But I bet it's not what you really want. Imagine you had a choice between being really smart but discovering nothing new, and being less smart but discovering lots of new ideas...
...As I reflect on my evolution in leadership, I can’t help but think of the early days; back when I had “no clue what I was doing”. What stands out is the troublesome perception of leadership that I started with, extracted from pattern-matching the “leaders of our day”...
...Leverage is everywhere. You felt it as a kid shooting peas across the room with a spoon. Or when you first used a calculator, and wondered why your teachers made you do long division by hand for 3 years...
