“You don’t understand me!” “I wish I’d never been born!” Who hasn’t yelled something like that at their parents? I’m sure I did. I argued with my parents like all kids. I’ve grown since then and don’t argue like that any more. I still disagree, I just try more to seek understanding, not to confront so adversarially. I was just in a line and overheard two workers argue. They weren’t[…] Keep reading →

In yesterday’s session on starting habits, when I described how easy it was finally to floss my teeth daily after I started my burpees. An attendee asked me to clarify. After the session ended, others asked me to clarify more and the following diagrams emerged. Starting burpees This chart schematically shows my burpee habit performance. Flossing before burpees This chart schematically shows my flossing habit before I started doing burpees.[…] Keep reading →

Two-and-a-half weeks ago I decided to avoid buying any food with packaging for a week. I’m on eighteen days and counting. I didn’t try to come up with a perfect rule because trying for perfection kept making me delay trying. I settled on the rule that I wouldn’t buy food that had any packaging or get food at a restaurant. I’d figure out on the fly what to do in[…] Keep reading →

Do you remember how your favorite relationships started? Business, personal, or whatever, you felt mutual attraction to work together, play together, or whatever. Something about the other person made you want to interact with them. Do you remember how your relationships ended? Sometimes you or they change and you lose interest. No problem. Often you want to keep the relationship yet it ends unhappily. Many people blame differences you couldn’t[…] Keep reading →

Some of my favorite posts are when I visual model something complex. I created a new category, “Visualizations,” and in this post will link to most of them. Below are some of the visualizations I made. They’re out of context, but click on any to see the posts they’re in. I predict you’ll like them. Or click on the Visualization category to see all the posts in the category by[…] Keep reading →

Science is the study of nature, looking for patterns, to predict results. For the moment I’m not approaching leadership with the institutional view of science with researchers applying for grants from the National Science Foundation to do double-blind controlled experiments for peer-reviewed publication, though I’ve had a few graduate students approach me to do research like that. Here’s a simpler view: science turns observations about nature into models and predictions[…] Keep reading →

I finished the 2014 New York City Marathon with my best finishing time for the race and my second best time ever! Philadelphia, where I got my best, is flatter and has fewer people, which makes faster times easier. New York, with its hills, crowds, and turns, never gives great finishing times—just an unparalleled running experience, with dozens of bands, hundreds of neighborhoods, and probably over a million fans. My[…] Keep reading →