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The thing about telling my nametag story to new people is, there’s a certain amount of processing time that has to occur. In fact, relativity comes into play. Stick with me here, this is about to get weird. Okay, so, in the field of physics, relativity is the dependence of various phenomena on relative motion of the observer and the observed objects, especially regarding the nature and behavior of…

Compassion isn’t just a sentimental idea, it’s a survival tool. Especially when directed within. Our willingness and ability to be sensitive to our own distress builds an innate resilience that keeps us on balance and moving forward. That’s why compassion is now being taught in elementary schools alongside reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s a force multiplier. It’s the capability that significantly enhances the probability of success. Gilbert actually discovered…

The merits of failure are vastly overstated in our culture. We are obsessed with bragging about how badly we screwed up, just to earn another precious shred of street credibility from people we don’t even know. But in most cases, that’s just false humility. It’s a performance in the art of failure porn. Certainly, we all screw up and hopefully grow from that experience. But the more life giving…

When you get a stomach virus, your mind immediately goes to one of two places. The first is paranoia. Okay, where did the sickness come from? Maybe the fish from last night? Or that snot nosed toddler at the holiday party who coughed all over me? Is it covid coming to get me? The second place that our mind goes to is worry. Alright, what does this mean for…

All hurt has a beginning, middle and end. In the moments when it life seems on the brink of falling apart, our faith really can walk us through the hard times. But we have to be willing to reframe our understanding of the word. Because faith one of those loaded terms. Think of all the social, cultural and doctrinal baggage that weighs it down. Faith has been misused, abused…

Hiring positive people is the great force multiplier for any organization. One, because they’re enjoyable to work with and their energy is infectious to the rest of the team. And two, because positive people tend to be more solution oriented. They’re better at coping with the inevitable adversity of running a business. Their personalities are designed to flourish in the harsh soil of extreme uncertainty. Imagine you run a…

The fear that we are merely one of many, rather than one of a kind, is completely normal. Who doesn’t have at least some desire to be special? Some of us, myself included, are what psychologists would call insistent individuals. We build our identity around how unlike everyone else we are. Our need to feel different and special and fundamentally different from others is our primary motivational driver. This…

Everyone has that one friend who sees too much. Someone who looks too far into everything. Someone who makes spontaneous inferences based on observing a single interaction. Someone who compulsively raises and weighs the potential explanations for why things happened to them. It’s quite exhausting to be around. Listening to your friend tumble down the rabbit hole of useless rumination over a one word text message from some guy…

From an evolutionary perspective, an adaptive trait is a behavior or physical characteristic that enables or enhances the probability that they will survive. For example, humans sweat to regulate their body temperature and endure long periods of physical movement. This adaptation allowed prehistoric humans to excel at hunting. They could jog after large prey under the midday sun until the animals eventually died from exhaustion. But the paradox of…

You don’t suffer from workaholism, the people in your life do. People who overindulge in their careers often do so at the exclusion of their personal relationships. Wedded to their work, they have no time left over for others. Loved ones are left with crumbs. Emotional leftovers. Whatever remains of the day that trickle down their collar. Ask anyone who knew me in my twenties, they’ll verify the collateral…