I posted on another board in a discussion on taste Is classical music better than punk? Museum art better than street art? Haute cuisine better than burritos? Is the op-ed page better than stand-up comedy? Is classical philosophy better than folk wisdom? My life improved when I learned I didn’t have to accept anyone else’s hierarchy of taste. Most people may consider one better than another, but I’ve learned to[…] Keep reading →

Preface: I started writing this blog about how cutting personal costs (of any resource, including time, money, energy, attention, etc) improves your personal life. Rereading it I realized it overlapped so much with what leaders can do in business, I’ll tag it leadership too. Translating the post into business-speak I’ll leave as an exercise to the reader. You can probably do it on the fly. People who know me in[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written before on the persuasive but specious rhetorical trick that goes something like John is very conservative about these things. Mary is very liberal. Me, I’m practical and… Do you sense that you’re probably going to agree with what the speaker next says? Extremists like John and Mary are difficult to deal with. People reject extreme views out of hand. You don’t want to be like that, do you?[…] Keep reading →

Do you ever wish you made more money or had more power, fame, free time, or something else others have and you don’t? Maybe you look at Brad Pitt or Oprah Winfrey and think, I wish I had what they do. Then you get stuck realizing you don’t and feeling sorry. I’ve found the problem isn’t their having something and you not having it. The problem is you wishing you[…] Keep reading →

Almost daily I face what I see as the key misunderstanding between how to lead your life to everything you want from it and how to follow what society tells you to. If you’re lucky the latter will bring you what you want. You’re guaranteed to produce for others, but you may never create what you want for yourself. By contrast, the former — leading your life based on your[…] Keep reading →

Life is full of difficult decisions. People struggle over them, sometimes for years, even people living great lives. You probably have one or two or more. I’ve had my share. A couple questions people asked me recently got me to figure it out. If your questions are reasonably similar, read on. Typical life questions “Which job should I take?” “Should we become boyfriend and girlfriend?” A couple friends asked me[…] Keep reading →

Wrapping up my series on the counterproductivity of leading with morality, ethics, and judgment, I’ll present a model based I got from Einstein. Without all the emotion judgment can grip you with, you can understand the physics model easily. Then you can apply it to the emotional situation. Then I bet you’ll improve your life. Before Einstein: the problem of the aether Before Einstein, people created a concept called the[…] Keep reading →