I’ve taught a half-dozen people the technique I use in this podcast—the hosts of the other branches of the This Sustainable Life podcast. They started calling it The Spodek Method, so now I do too. It’s enabled me to reach amazing people, many of global renown, who enjoy the experience. It doesn’t alone solve all the world’s problems, but it works. The Spodek Method leads a person to share and[…] Keep reading →

Here’s an exercise I’ve enjoyed playing around with. I’ve written in other posts that the sustainable population of the Earth is 3.7 billion. I’ve read other reports that it’s more like 2 billion. The number depends on the standard of living we choose, how much we wreck the Earth on the way to sustainability (it could go to zero), and other factors. I don’t know why people want a bigger[…] Keep reading →

Once I was getting ready to leave my apartment and trying to remember what to bring. My friend said “phone-wallet-keys” like a single word and since then I’ve thought of them as the basic what to carry. I go for a walk every day, at least to pick up my daily pieces of litter, which also brings me to the park. I also sing with all my electronics turned off[…] Keep reading →

I recently spoke online to alumni groups from the Wharton and University of Chicago business schools on developing initiative, specifically from my book, Initiative. Here are reviews from NYU students who did the exercises I describe in them. I asked if I could share the videos from the webinars. Here they are. As I say in them, I designed them to give you enough to work with on your own.[…] Keep reading →

A friend recommended to me an exercise I hadn’t heard of. It sounds like the Three Raisins exercise I learned from Jon Kabat-Zinn, included in my leadership book, and assign in my leadership class. She didn’t explain much about it, but my experience with experiential exercises told me that doing it would reveal more than any explanation. The exercise The instructions: Drink a hot beverage and when I think judgmental[…] Keep reading →

James Lipton, who started and hosted the show Inside the Actors Studio, died yesterday. Here are the notes I read from for this episode: I could talk about how much I enjoyed the episodes, his humor, and a few things I learned from his guests that only his interviewing could have elicited but I will go deeper, to share how fundamental his work has been to mine. Many times I’ve[…] Keep reading →

Would you expect me on a podcast called Ask Women Podcast: What Women Want? With an episode title “How To Be A Leader With Women | The BJ Technique“? Yes, ‘BJ’ meaning what you think. Here are the notes about the hosts, Marni Kinrys and Kristen Carney: What do a female comic and a professional wing girl have in common? The realistically raw and hilarious perspectives on what women ACTUALLY[…] Keep reading →

A little over a month ago, I wrote in How long can I keep my fridge unplugged? how learning about fermentation and uses of electric power led me to see how long I could last in the winter with my refrigerator unplugged. Deciding to start First, I want to reiterate my process to decide to start the challenge. First the idea to try it came. Then I wondered if it[…] Keep reading →

Salt I wrote about my salt experiment of going a month adding no salt to any food. As I expected, though was still surprised at the result, when I added salt after that month, my normal amount tasted horribly over-salted. Adding maybe twenty percent made things taste as salty as before. Besides reducing my salt without using as much, I also became more sensitive to all the other flavors of[…] Keep reading →