[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” 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.] Since my results surprised me, I bet your results will surprise you when you do yesterday’s exercise to record your beliefs (aka mental models or just[…] Keep reading →

Sometimes being proved wrong improves your life. This story is one of them. Actually, my friend and I both proved each other wrong and it worked out well. If you’ve been reading this page, you know how much I value self-awareness and emotional intelligence. I’ve worked hard to develop resilience to feeling bad when things don’t go my way. I like being able to stay calm under pressure. I have[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on my daily exercise and starting and keeping challenging habits. 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.] How do you handle miserable days? I think today started like many people’s does. I don’t know how most people handle down days, but I’ll share[…] Keep reading →

How would you like for your body to weaken for no reason and become unable to do simple things you once could; where you stumble and fall just jogging; to have your weakness on display to the world so everyone sees you deteriorate; then to find out your body will continue weakening until you can’t use your arms and legs or any other muscles, and that you’ll die in a[…] Keep reading →

The changes you can make that will affect your life most are in your personal leadership skills — how you perceive yourself, others, and your environment; how you manage conflict; how you influence yourself and others; and the other components of leadership. These changes will affect how you experience life more than external things like winning the lottery, where you live, etc, no matter how big they seem. In fact,[…] Keep reading →

When people feel unhappy or depressed they often stop doing things. They don’t feel motivated to work or go out so they don’t. You know how when you’re happy, you tend to smile? Most people also know smiling makes you feel happier, at least for a moment. Forcing a smile won’t solve all your problems, but we can build on what it demonstrates. Not only does emotion motivate behavior, but[…] 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 →