What a Zip Line Taught Me About Regret
That title probably makes you think I’ve had a horrible adventure-based accident. I haven’t. I didn’t fall or slip or get stuck. But I did learn something, loud and clear. First, though, tell me: how do you deal with regret? If you’re like me, and—I suspect—like most...
How to Feel in Control, Even When You Aren’t
You know the saying that we tend to overestimate what we can do in a day, and underestimate what we can do in a year? If ever we needed proof that human adults are capable of using their imaginations, then we need look no further than any one person’s daily to-do...
How to Change the World: An Argument for Idealism
“But then,” my colleague pointed out, “you’re an idealist.” I got the distinct impression she didn’t mean it as a compliment. And yet, I was flattered. I thought to myself, Well, of course I’m an idealist. What’s the point of not being idealistic? This conversation...
Beware the Reasonableness of Your Fear
There sure are a lot of things to be afraid of these days, huh? A pandemic. Social and political unrest. Economic uncertainty. Actually, uncertainty on all fronts. I mean, just to be clear, there’s never been a shortage of things to fear, but these days, we’re really...
How to Stop Getting What You Don’t Want
If you find you keep getting what you don’t want, then it’s possible that you’ve become more accustomed to looking out for what you don’t want than you are getting clear about what it is you actually do want. It sounds like semantics, but it’s a real thing. We tend to...
This Is It.
Have you noticed how easy it is to slip “when things get back to normal” into your thoughts and conversations? I mean, this year, it’s easy enough to think about all the things that we would like to do, but can’t, that are put on hold due to current circumstances,...
40 Lessons I’ve Learned in 40 Years
Today is my 40th birthday, and many things strike me about this milestone: I am officially no longer a “young” adult. I’m just an “adult”. This seems weird. I do not feel adult-y most of the time, yet I can opt to eat ice cream for dinner and that degree of freedom is...
How to Make People Change: Part Four
This is the last post in the four-part series on How To Make People Change. All four of these pieces focus on ways to practice calling people in, which is an essential, yet often passed-over follow up to calling people out. Each of these four steps is valuable on its...
How to Make People Change: Part Three
This is the third article in the How To Make People Change series; a four-part essay about the importance of calling people in. You can read the post that started this series here. It made its debut in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and all the ensuing social...