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Can we be comfortable without the hunger for more?  Can we free ourselves from the constant demands for additional bounty?  For those of us seeking a cosmic coloration in consciousness, this is an inner battle that will continue to wage on. And it will most certainly be one worth fighting.  And so, whether we are starting a new business or changing careers or simply making a life transition, let…

Everything seems, sounds and feels so much better inside our own minds.  God bless the human imagination. It’s such a wonderful, fascinating, tricky thing.  But as a result of this glorious machine, each of us are burdened with impossible expectation, right up until the moment life slaps in the face and says, welcome to how it works. Epictetus comes to mind, who once said whenever he saw a person…

Boredom isn’t a feeling.  It’s an adjective, a description and a characteristic.  But it’s not a feeling.  Quite the opposite, in fact. Boredom is a word people say without any particular need to communicate how they are really feeling. It’s a rhetorical placeholder. A psychological dodge. Boredom signifies that there is an emotional reality lurking beneath the surface.  When somebody is asked how they feel, and they respond by…

Gollum bit off the hobbit’s finger and danced about, shouting the words: Precious, precious, my precious, oh precious. But in his elation to be reunited with the one true ring, teetered on the edge of the great pit, blundered into the crack of doom and burned in the molten lava.  This is what can happen if we are too precious. About anything.  From sentences on the page, to strategies…

None of us live in a vacuum.  The decisions each person makes has consequences for the rest of us.  As the law of motion states, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Especially in a communal setting. Because these things are generative spaces. Holy containers whose integrity we have committed to preserving.  During my five years on the board of a local trade association, we had…

Boredom is the symptom, not the problem.  When people complain about how there’s nothing to do and they’re going stir crazy sitting around the house all day, my bullshit detector goes off.  Because it’s not like there was this sudden outbreak of an airborne virus called boredom that forced itself into their lives, infected their immune system and now they’re helplessly stuck with it until some nerd in a…

Effective time management is more than merely getting things done.  It’s also about honoring the communal need to do the same.  Because in any shared setting, our agenda is not the only one in the room. Everybody has needs. Including the living organism of the group itself.  And if we have zero awareness around the value of the group’s time, then we will disrupt the shared energy, piss off…

Hey everyone!  Hope you’re all staying safe, healthy and sane. Inspired by a few of my favorite songwriters (Chris Martin, Keith Urban, Ben Gibbard, John Legend) who are performing virtually from their homes, last night my wife and I streamed a concert from our Brooklyn living room. Thanks to the 300 or so friends, family members and strangers who joined us. We had so much fun, and appreciated your emojis, song…

There’s nothing more deflating than the realization that we have just been duped.  Played. Cheated. Ripped off. Taken advantage of. Deceived by the enticing charm of something or someone.  It’s such a painfully empty feeling of foolishness and naiveté. Like walking into what we thought was a dinner party, but it’s actually a sales pitch with snacks. Or opening what appeared to be a birthday card, when it’s actually…

Miyagi explained to his young karate apprentice that the best way to block a punch is to not be there.  Paradoxical as it sounds, this principle is actually quite useful when fighting the battle of productivity.  Because we can make all the lists, use all the software, optimize all the calendars, and rank all of our tasks in order of high priority to low, but in many cases, the…