Monthly Archives: November 2015

Enjoy, don’t need

on November 30, 2015 in Perception, Relationships, Tips

What do you need? Typically responses include food, shelter, love, relationships, vacations, etc. I’ve written before on the social repulsiveness of neediness (“You need to read this post” and “The risks of saying “I need…”“, for example). Let’s consider the personal perspective. What perspectives on things can you change from feeling you need them into enjoying them? What relationships do you feel you need but you could instead simply enjoy?[…] Keep reading →

Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Should My Rich Friends Apply for Financial Aid?

on November 29, 2015 in Ethicist, Nonjudgment

Continuing my series of alternative responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicists, looking at the consequences of one’s actions instead of imposing values on others, here is my take on today’s post, “Should My Rich Friends Apply for Financial Aid?” Close friends of mine are raising four young children in a city with an extremely high cost of living. Not a small feat. They are not millionaires, but[…] Keep reading →

Why people like Donald Trump

on November 28, 2015 in Exercises, Freedom, Habits, Leadership, Nonjudgment, Relationships

One of the exercises my leadership students like most is the Authentic Voice exercise. I’ve written about it at least four times here, including examples from great masters of speaking in their authentic voice, like Muhammad Ali and Robin Williams. Communications skills exercises, part 10: Your Authentic Voice Your authentic voice The great masters of speaking with authentic voices Communications skills exercises, part 10b: another example of voicing your self-talk[…] Keep reading →

A coaching client started her firm and rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange

on November 27, 2015 in Entrepreneurship, Leadership

Who doesn’t like good news on a holiday? A few months ago a long-term coaching client (and friend), Tina Powell, left her job to act on her dream to start her own company, based on my favorite reason to start a company: an underserved market niche. She is a financial advisor and is starting SheCapital, an automated investment platform for women. Yet more to her credit, she’s starting it without[…] Keep reading →

Is it the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

on November 26, 2015 in Tips

The other day I had to do something hard. I forget what it was. You know the feeling when you don’t want to do something. You find ways to avoid it. Then I asked myself, “Is it the hardest thing you’ve ever done?” It wasn’t close. Then it didn’t seem so hard, so I did it and it was easy enough that I don’t remember it anymore, only the question[…] Keep reading →

Would you rather be you or have been born a Rockefeller?

on November 25, 2015 in Awareness, Nonjudgment, Perception

Do you wish you had more money? Mainstream society pushes that value on us. Many of us adopt it. Even when someone suggests questioning having more stuff or money, many people still say they’d rather have more. Let me break it down to the foundation: Would you rather be yourself or to have been born a Rockefeller? If you were born a Rockefeller, you would have been born with more[…] Keep reading →

Needing less gives more freedom than having more

on November 24, 2015 in Awareness, Freedom

Mainstream society sabotages us by trying to sell us that having more—money, stuff, connections, etc—improves life. How having more improves life it doesn’t say, but it’s usually through images of people enjoying themselves, typically when getting the stuff, which doesn’t represent the costs of paying for the stuff, maintaining it, putting on weight from eating it, the pollution it causes, and so on. I’ve found two opposites of what mainstream[…] Keep reading →

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