Following up on freedom from yesterday’s post, I wanted to share a perspective so useful, I almost can’t believe it wasn’t originally written for the context of personal development. Michelangelo, when asked about how he created David, said I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. As I mentioned yesterday, the greatest improvements we can make are to free ourselves from constraints that inhibit[…] Keep reading →
Yesterday I wrote about the quintessential I’m-right-you’re-wrong-and-I’m-going-to-convince-you-of-it-no-matter-what-it-takes situation with extreme escalation by Walter in the Big Lebowski. The last edit I made was to add the parenthetical comment in “What makes this clip so funny and brilliant (besides the movie’s running jokes, like the Vietnam references) is…”. I couldn’t help but notice, if you don’t look too carefully, that you could understand the Vietnam conflict from this perspective, with the[…] Keep reading →
Two years ago I wrote about a movie clip that illustrates how we feel when we feel we’re right, the other person is wrong, and we have to convince them of it. https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/The_Big_Lebowski_on_Right_and_Wrong_Versus_Not_Being_an_A-ho.mp4 I wrote recently how if you think you’re right and someone else is wrong, you’re probably pissing someone off. We’ve all been on all sides of such situations — aggressor, defender, third-party observer. You see something you[…] Keep reading →
Do you dream of a life on the red carpet, gracing black-tie events with your presence, choosing among the best projects, working with the top people in your field, with your name in lights? Sound unbeatable? Think again. At least if you’re George Clooney. With all of that, he found simplicity from regular working men. He acted on it with something few of us could materially afford, but we can[…] Keep reading →
Some advice sticks with you more than others. I still remember words a great friend of mine told me in college. I remember he said it while consoling me over a breakup with a girlfriend, which would have put it in 1989 or maybe 1990. Something that stands the test of time like that, I think speaks for itself. He said There are few shoulds in life. I’ve written at[…] Keep reading →
Longtime readers might know I enjoy and recommend a blog on retirement and financial independence called Mr. Money Mustache. The author there wrote a post on people who evaluate him by their standards and claim he isn’t really retired. He created a definition, quoted below, and said he was. As I said, I recommend his blog, but I think his choice of how to define “retirement” missed the point of[…] Keep reading →
I heard an interesting perspective on living in the moment and when to act. On the face of it the statement is simple, but if you keep thinking about it it gets more meaningful. Whenever you decide to do something, if you ever ask when it is, it will always be now. Every moment of your life is always now. No moment is anything other than now. When do you[…] Keep reading →