Category Archives: Freedom

Op/ed Fridays: A living death: laws that remove judges and juries undermine justice

on November 22, 2013 in Blog, Freedom, NorthKorea

Different people mean different things by the term justice. I think of the term having at least four meanings or purposes. To deter people from committing crimes To punish people who committed crimes To give crime victims a sense of retribution To keep criminals away from society if society expects them to commit crimes again These four purposes don’t always work in concert. In any case, the United States seems[…] Keep reading →

Introversion is not the opposite of extroversion, part 2

on November 21, 2013 in Awareness, Blog, Fitness, Freedom, Nature

Yesterday I showed two models for introversion and extraversion. The model you believe filters how you see the world, which will influence your feelings and behavior. I found the following test to see if you’re introverted “or” extraverted from a book. You can see it’s based on an Or model, I believe designed to show empathy for people who consider themselves introverted. From the And model it’s almost painful to[…] Keep reading →

Introversion is not the opposite of extroversion, part 1

on November 20, 2013 in Awareness, Blog, Fitness, Freedom, Models, Nature, Visualization

Here is a common belief for the relationships between introversion and extraversion. I’m going to show how it worsens your life and offer an alternative you will resist and fight against, but if you keep an open mind you’ll realize explains your world more effectively and helps you to improve your life. I call it the “Or” model of introversion and extraversion for reasons you’ll see below. It says that[…] Keep reading →

Some “problems” you want to have

on November 14, 2013 in Blog, Creativity, Freedom, Leadership

Yesterday I wrote about how leadership creates community, which, if you persevere, leads to living freely and by your values and experiencing deep emotional reward. Your life improves by doing so. It creates effects I can only call problems, but they are problems you want to have because they help you learn and grow even more. The “problem” with knowing how to make your dreams come true — in making[…] Keep reading →

Integrity in successful leaders: Gandhi cleaned toilets

on October 19, 2013 in Blog, Freedom, Leadership

This post is about integrity and sticking with your values. A few years ago I visited my father in Ahmedabad, India, the country he has studied his professional life. We visited Gandhi’s ashram, a community where people who wanted to learn about and support him went. It still exists, though mainly as a static, historical site. It’s a humble place on the banks of a river, humbler than you’d expect[…] Keep reading →

Leadership, community, and how I got Hacker News’s second-highest average karma

on October 17, 2013 in Blog, Freedom

Leadership creates community. I’m writing today on leadership and creating community in a specific context for clarity, but it applies to anyone’s participation in any community, online or off. I expect you can translate everything below to your world easily enough. If not, comment below and I’ll clarify. An effective measure of your leadership skills is how much community you create. Another is how much your community appreciates you. Online[…] Keep reading →

My first public presentation

on October 2, 2013 in Blog, Freedom

I’ve come to enjoy giving presentations, but no way did I start this way. I was mortified to speak in public only a few years ago, well into my thirties. How did I grow and develop to love public speaking? The same way as anyone. Experience. In my life experience means failing and getting back up again. It means overcoming embarrassment and anxiety, risking being laughed at, acting like I[…] Keep reading →

Goenka and 10-day meditation retreats

on October 1, 2013 in Awareness, Blog, Entrepreneurship, Freedom

Two days ago a guy named Satya Narayan Goenka died. Who was Goenka and why should I care? First, I’ll mention how I found out about him. I had no experience with meditation when a longtime friend I hadn’t seen in a while suggested I try it. The idea made no sense to me because meditation made no sense to me. I didn’t know or care about it to that[…] Keep reading →

People who succeeded despite adversity, part 2

on September 11, 2013 in Blog, Entrepreneurship, Freedom, Leadership

[This post is part of a series on people who succeed despite adversity. If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Ask yourself which helps more — having advantages or learning to overcome adversity? I base this series on noticing how many extremely successful people had problems that mediocre people claim[…] Keep reading →

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