We’ve all heard someone say “That’s not art. I could do it.” Maybe you said it yourself. The comment can lead to interesting discussion on what makes art, but rarely. It can lead you to realizing that the value of art doesn’t depend on how hard it was to create. The usual response is “Well, you didn’t. And they did it first.” I suggest a new response. If the person[…] Keep reading →

A pattern I’ve noticed works a lot in life: When everyone is going in one direction, try going as far as you can in the opposite direction. Some examples: When car companies kept making bigger and more dominant SUVs, the Prius did well. In retrospect it seems obvious, but the car appeared nearly alone and successful in the U.S. market for years before other cars competed meaningfully. Now Smart Cars[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday I wrote about being called intelligent or smart and the sometimes downsides associated with it. I found that while society seems to value intelligence, on a personal level people value getting the job done, relationship skills, experience, people’s networks, and other things, at least in leadership and decision-making roles. For a few roles that don’t require teamwork people value intelligence, but they aren’t that common in professional environments. What[…] Keep reading →

When I was a budding entrepreneur, recently having earned my PhD in astrophysics, people would often introduce me as a rocket scientist. At first I enjoyed the praise. In time I found being called intelligent didn’t help me in business. By “in business” I mean in business roles with leadership and decision-making. People talk about intelligence as valuable in business and some behave so, but I came to conclude successful[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written before about getting rid of stuff and the challenges of getting rid of things you once wanted to keep. You feel like if you once valued something and now don’t you’ll lose something important. Maybe you should examine your values and how they changed. Slow-going apartment renovations have led me to live with a lot of my stuff in storage following living in Shanghai without much stuff for[…] Keep reading →

I grew up in an environment that took the concept of sins for granted. People called certain behaviors wrong by labeling them as “sins.” As a kid I never considered the sources of the classification or even if they corresponded to anything other than opinion. As a result, accepting someone calling a behavior as a sin seemed as natural as them saying something was green or wet or upside-down. As[…] Keep reading →

Besides being the forty-fourth anniversary of someone stepping on the Moon, yesterday was the forty-second anniversary of me being born. Future historians will decide which was the more important event, but it went great. I write here about beliefs and practices people can use to improve things, but I like sometimes to share the great things they create, even if just as simple as appreciating a rainbow more than you[…] Keep reading →