We’re supposed to be authentic, right?
I thought I was being authentic at the New Year’s Eve party, but the next day, my wife told me that I was being a prick. Not in those words. She said something like “you were really on one last night” which I think means “you were being a prick.”
When I say that I was being my authentic self, I don’t mean that I was being my alcoholic self. I had one glass of champagne at midnight, but that was it. Read more
The four dimensions of time are: past, present, future, and nothing. Everything comes from nothing.
The past is already set: it’s not going to change (though how we understand it certainly can change). The present is really the result of the past: what was set in motion then becomes today’s now. And the future will be the result of what we do today. At first glance, it seems like a closed system: at one level at least, everything’s predetermined. The action-reaction chain has already begun, and it’s simply playing out. Read more
Several years ago, two highly respected friends of mine shared book reviews with me. My initial reaction was confusion in finding grown professionals essentially writing book reports… and they didn’t even have to turn them in for a grade. It clicked for me after reading the book reviews that this was a brilliant and key strategy in learning and helped to retain insights from other great minds. I have been using this strategy now for over two years. Not every book gets a review, but for the ones that strike me in imaginative ways I have found this to be a valuable tool. I encourage you to consider strategies to turn those dog earned, highlighted book insights into a ready reference.
Those are the two business extremes in my brain… Mediocrity and Greatness. I actually believe there are few that live in those extremes, though it often seems like many do. Our world is either drawn to the dummies (so we can feel better about ourselves), or to the few that are crazy great (so we can extol them and begin our worship). If you are one of the regular people like me that “have good intentions” then I classify you as Trying Hard. On the scale ofMediocrity to Greatness, I guess Trying Hard is a little closer to Mediocrity than Greatness. What’s dead in the middle? I guess Jim Collins would say Good is dead in the middle between Mediocrity and Greatness (I don’t know, just guessing). But we all know Mr. Collins wants you to move away from Good to Greatness. Read more
Until recently, I thought a thermocouple was something only Bob Newhart and Will Ferrell had to be able to pronounce for a scene in Elf. I had no idea it was a real thing. But it turns out to be a pretty important part of a hot water heater, which turns out to be a pretty important thing if you want people in your household to shower.
But I never wanted to understand how a thermocouple works. Or the pilot light. Or the benefits of installing a hot water heater one way over another. I just want my hot water heater to work so I can wash dishes, clothes, and myself. Fortunately (or unfortunately since I will never get that hour back) my plumber, Bill, really cares a lot about the ins and outs of a hot water heater. He told me all about it. In detail. Read more
It’s almost 2014, and it’s time to set some goals. Some people hate the goal-setting process because they think it’s BS. And a lot of times, it is BS. It’s BS because the result is inauthentic.
If your goals aren’t visceral – if they’re not authentic – they’re impotent. People with impotent goals are suffering from what doctors call Goal Disfunction (GD). To firm up your goals, you need Goal Viagra: Goalvitra. Read more