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When I was on jury duty, I learned that one of the most common types of lawsuit damages is called the loss of ability to enjoy life.  Unlike pain and suffering, which compensates the defendant for the physical pain they feel, loss of enjoyment damages compensates someone for the things they can no longer do because of the pain they are feeling, like playing sports, hobbies, vocations, or any other…

Altman’s book on mindfulness reminds us that letting go doesn’t mean we don’t care, it’s just that we’re no longer invested in building a brick wall to keep things from changing.  We’re not giving up, we’re being honest about our situation. We’re not throwing something away, we’re merely stepping outside of its shadow so that things may be seen in a different light.  It’s an act of mercy toward ourselves. Each…

Vulnerability is not an easy ask. Nor is it a simple one.  It’s not another technique that we can learn from a book or on a weekend retreat.  There are, however, a few questions that we can use as a entry point to feeling vulnerable.  Where are we afraid? And where are we hurting?  If we can be honest about those two things, we’re on the right track. T here’s a powerful and cathartic…

Years ago, on the day of a performance review, I stopped by the market on my walk home from lunch.  And I was this close to not buying groceries to keep at my desk.  Because I just knew it would jinx me.  That’s the way the universe works, right? Clearly, the treacherous and unholy act of buying thirteen dollars worth of pickles, trail mix and string cheese would create a ripple…

I recently heard a fascinating interview between two recovering workaholics.  Recounting the good old days of staying at the office way too late, one man laughed and admitted: There was no joy in the act, it was just anesthesia.  Who can’t relate to that experience? Who hasn’t not been trapped at a crappy job or in a toxic relationship that systematically took all of the joy out of the…

It’s tempting to beat ourselves up over the qualities that we lack.  But that’s the stoic part of our brain. It believes that turning a cruel eye to our weaknesses will help us grow.  Turns out, though, only making friends with them does. Only reconciling ourselves to our own liabilities can help us take the first step toward change.  And so, instead of railing and raging about how badly…

Fear has a lot of shady disguises.  It often masquerades as the voice of wisdom and reason. Tricking us into believing that we’re in greater danger than we really are, and we better back away from taking any risks.  It’s so hard not to listen. But the thing fear doesn’t want us to know is, it has limited stamina. It may be fast off the starting blocks, but it…

Fear has its place in reality.  It’s there for a reason. It’s one of those useful evolutionary mechanisms that aids us in our survival.  Of course, most of the time, whatever we’re anxious about is out of proportion to the reality of the danger we fear. In fact, living with that fear is often more painful than the event itself.  It just feels scarier in the moment because the…

We’re all attached to our own stories.  Hardened to our limited ways of operating in the world. Habituated to the way the landscape looks from there. And we hug those stories like a comfort blanket. To the point that we can’t imagine living without them.  That’s the natural tendency of the human mind. It wants us to stay within the security of the rigid patterns it already set up….

What if hikers wore anti spider web hats?  What if we used blockchain to make tables less wobbly?  What if sex dolls kept guests company at parties?  What if drones collected data from pet poop?  What if stores used logo branded mice to eliminate insects? In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Tom, Adam & Brian gather in St. Louis for some execution in public. **Sponsored by Aperture Execution Lesson…