The other day I passed a guy blowing leaves with a gasoline-powered leaf blower on a paved area in a park by City Hall. This post isn’t about him. It’s about us, including you. What is wrong with us? We buy oil from countries we have adversarial relations with, pollute the environment, create loud, unpleasant noise, so a fat person can work less, and cart away what would create topsoil,[…] Keep reading →

The concept of competition implies beating the other person. In sports the concept is a standard, fundamental part. In everyday use outside of sports that beating the other person often carries a tinge of accusation or wrongdoing. People accuse others of being over-competitive, which they look down on. I’ve never heard anyone accuse another of being under-competitive. In business, competition often carries a noble ring. Business culture holds that business[…] Keep reading →

Wait, I want to lead better. Why should I care about marathons? Running a marathon takes discipline, dedication, practice, drive, determination, and many skills relevant to becoming a leader and practicing leadership. You’ve heard many parts of leadership described as marathons, not sprints. Whether you want to train for and complete a literal marathon or just something like one, having marathons in your life as a competitor or spectator, improves[…] Keep reading →

I didn’t mean to write yesterday’s post on starting with emotion on exercise, food, and habits. I meant to contrast how I like to exercise with how people who don’t exercise seem to and then to tell today’s story. People who don’t exercise seem to characterize it as torture and dislike it. I see it as fun and rewarding. Sometimes it feels like torture, but only when I know the feeling[…] Keep reading →

I find Americans try to get precise and scientific about food and exercise, in contrast to how incredibly unfit the country is. I write “try to” because I don’t think they succeed in being precise or scientific. The term carbohydrate, for example, used to have a specific scientific meaning. I think it still does, but I think in standard American usage it means “bad” or “evil,” like the term fat[…] Keep reading →

In case anyone was wondering how I was doing on my marathon training, since I hurt my ankle in May and couldn’t run on it until August, I thought I might not have enough time to train. Saturday I ran twenty-one miles in hilly Central Park. The bottoms of my feet hurt, but I felt otherwise great. The weekend before I ran twelve miles on each of Saturday and Sunday.[…] Keep reading →

When the topic of meditation came up the other day I heard the same thing I’ve heard many times before. I’m sure you’ve heard and said similar thing for similar activities: “Oh, I can’t meditate. My mind is too frantic. I wish I could.” Maybe you’ve heard or said it in this form: “Oh, I can’t go to the gym. I’m too out-of-shape. I wish I could.” or: “Oh, I[…] Keep reading →