You may think you know your values. Until you test them, you probably don’t. Understanding their boundaries helps you understand them better. Testing them in controlled situations prepares you for surprises others aren’t prepared for. Preparation like that makes for effective leadership of yourself and others. If you never plan to reach any boundaries, you may not expect to benefit from examining them. But then if you never examine them,[…] Keep reading →
Wrapping up this series on how to make your life successful using Johnny Depp’s example… Anyone can call any part of their life bad and feel sorry for themselves. Depp could have and he almost certainly would not have achieved the success he did nor gotten to do what he loves every day. Anyone can call something positive. Personally I don’t buy just calling something positive. I’m not a fan[…] Keep reading →
Here’s a view I find helpful, relevant to how Johnny Depp made useful something others would lament. Whether Depp used it or not, I don’t know. I don’t view things in life — jobs like telemarketing; tangible things like dogs, cats, and trees; intangible things like ideas; … whatever — as good, bad, positive, or negative. They just are what they are — jobs, dogs, cats, etc. Any value they[…] Keep reading →
Following up yesterday’s example of how one person created success out of what others might consider disaster or failure: Johnny Depp used telemarketing to transform a floundering music passion into one the top trajectories in acting today. To people in the rat race, who blindly accept other people’s values for themselves, resorting to telemarketing would suck. They’d probably say their lives were disasters and be depressed. People who didn’t blindly[…] Keep reading →
My father once said to me (paraphrasing) When someone says they have time for something or not, they aren’t talking about time, they’re talking about priorities. Everyone has time for what they want to do. If they say they don’t have time, it means something else is more important. That observation has been one of the most valuable lessons I learned from him. Since then whenever someone (including myself) has[…] Keep reading →
It’s still July 4th in the States as I’m writing this even though it’s July 5th in Shanghai. Of all our national holidays, I value and celebrate Independence Day perhaps the most. By value and celebrate I don’t mean I go to the biggest barbeque I can, though a couple years ago I went to an amazing July 4th party only being an alumnus of an ivy league business school[…] Keep reading →
Yesterday’s post on developing empathy started with me writing about traveling, which ended up being today’s post. Nearly everyone tells me they love to travel. The top reason they give for it is to experience new people, places, and cultures. I get that appeal, but my goals are different. My main goal in life is to continue improving it. My travel goals are to contribute to that goal. Learning about[…] Keep reading →