In a culture where everyone’s too distracted to remember more than a sound bite or a quote, everything gets taken out of context. Lost are those all-important assumptions, nuances, caveats, and tradeoffs that make all the difference when it comes to decision-making. Take “do what you love” and the essentially[…] Read On
Inspirational quotes are about as useless as they are annoyingly trite. Taken out of context, they often send the wrong message. But stories can provide powerful lessons that can change your life, if you experience them at just the right time in the right state of mind. I’ve had several such transformative experiences[…] Read On
Who decides the standard height of kitchen counters? Tables? Desks? Chairs? Toilets? Can you imagine what it must be like for a 7’ 6” NBA center like Yao Ming to sit with his knees up in his face? And how does he keep his laptop from sliding down? Maybe a[…] Read On
It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon and I’m doing what I do best … working. This morning I made brunch for the wifey and did my monthly invoicing. This afternoon I’ll be working on my new (secret) book project and then making dinner. It’s grilled Jamaican jerked chicken night at the[…] Read On
I know that sounds like a philosophical question, but I’m not really into that sort of thing when 1) I’m the only person in the room (there’s a dog here but when I ask her a question she just wags her tail), 2) it’s too early to drink, and 3)[…] Read On
As children, we were taught that actions lead to consequences. I know I was. And when I behaved badly, those consequences were immediate and unavoidable. There was simply no way to escape their causal relationship. Looking back, I’m still not a fan of how strict a disciplinarian my father was,[…] Read On
I love getting email from readers, especially hate emails like this friendly missive from a gentleman ostensibly named “Doug” (Warning: expletive alert … even though I bleeped some of them, it’s still pretty raunchy): I’m an aerospace engineer who can’t get a job. I won’t go into the specifics because[…] Read On