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We have met the enemy and he is us.  Adopted from an old wartime slogan, this message was famously used on a poster designed to help publicize the first observance of earth day. The goal was to help spread the message of environmental stewardship around the world, and it worked.  Kelly, the cartoonist who died shortly after the posters were printed, offers context around his slogan:  There is no…

Hawk, the greatest skateboarder in history, gives the following advice to entrepreneurs: Take pride in what you do, even if it is scorned and misunderstood by the public at large.  That’s been one of the great frustrations of wearing a nametag every day. Some people just don’t get it. They may never get it. And although it’s not worth burning any calories to justify my idea, here goes nothing. …

Here’s an interview question that’s never been asked before.  Tell me something you don’t have an opinion on.  Share an issue or concept that takes up minimal if any space on your personal hard drive. Something that’s neither here nor there for you.  This is not an easy task for most of us. In a world where people seem to have nothing better to do with their time than…

Being a perfectionist is more than merely striving for technical flawlessness.  It can also manifest in the form of aggressive idealism and naive enthusiasm.  Ellis cites this brand of perfection as one of our core irrational beliefs. He writes: We convince ourselves that precise and correct solutions exist for every world problem, and we must find them immediately. But that attitude only ties us up further into knots of…

If you’ve ever used one of those rickety old hair dryers, ceiling fans, hand mixers or air conditionings, it sometimes seems like they only have two settings.   Standing still and going full blast.   Which is somewhat annoying but perfectly acceptable for a household appliance. We don’t expect a ton of grey areas with that stuff.   But when it comes to the human being, having only two modes is potentially…

Ellis writes in his book on reacting to antagonists: People and things do not actually push our buttons. We push our own buttons. And we can learn not to push them. But before we do so, we accept that people are not actually driving us crazy, rather, we are driving ourselves crazy when they do it. And only when we take extreme ownership of our own reactions can we maintain inner…

My friend once introduced me to one of her coworkers.  When the she learned about my daily practice of wearing a nametag, her immediate response was this: Aren’t you afraid of getting kidnapped?  Now there’s a strange thing to say to someone. Guess it never really occurred to me.  But now that she mentions it, wearing a nametag every day could be potentially dangerous. In fact, multiple publications and…

Opinions are no longer a dime a dozen.  Thanks to the amplification of tribal behavior through modern technology, opinions now cost much more than a dime. Hell, we can’t even afford to have them anymore. The social cost is simply too high.  Particularly if our opinions are unpopular and controversial. Anything we say can and will be used against us. Even the very act of expressing my opinion about…

Here’s the best part about the ocean.  When you get into the water, you can’t make anything happen. All you can do is adjust to what the ocean is already doing.  That’s what happens when you’re at the mercy of a force much larger than your fragile little bag of bones. Humility is instilled into you, whether you like it or not.  Hamilton, the pioneer of big wave surfing,…

Autonomy, or the ability to make choices according to our own free will, is a core psychological need.  We all want to be the author of our own script. We all want to freely choose things in our life without being overly controlled. Research even shows that there is a direct relationship between job autonomy and greater work satisfaction.  But careful what you wish for. Once we find ourselves in…