The path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked – Elbert Hubbard When you ask Google Maps for directions, the first recommended choice is often the fastest route between two points. John Atanasoff built the first electronic digital computer because it was too much work for him to perform calculations manually. Water tends … Read more

What if the TV character you love or the singer whose music you adore turns out to be a flawed human being? Will you continue to love the show or listen to the music once you learn about the unsavory character attributes of its creator? In other words, should you, and more importantly, can you … Read more

Whoever came up with the expression easy as pie probably never made one. So many rules to follow when making a pie: don’t overwork the dough, keep the butter chilled, coat every part of the flour with fat, and on and on. I wouldn’t describe any of that as easy. Similarly, self-learning sounds like fun … Read more

What would you do if you had a blank slate and could design your day any way you choose? What does your ideal day, or for that matter, your ideal life look like? And no, this isn’t a pointless exercise at creating a pie-in-the-sky vision of a world where you have a zillion dollars and … Read more

When you see the words self and improvement together, it’s not uncommon to visualize a drill sergeant barking in your ear about what you should and shouldn’t do. But it needn’t be that way. Like Disney movies, we can cloak our self-improvement efforts in the warm fuzzies and expect happy endings. How? Through the less … Read more

It is not often you see the words janitor and philanthropist used to describe the same person. Okay, maybe if a rich person squandered away all their money and had to work as a janitor to make ends meet. Thankfully, the story of Ronald Read is quite the contrary. It’s a feel-good, inspirational account of … Read more

Ask anyone how life is, and you’ll get a variation of the same theme—”busy.” And while we’re busy doing urgent but often unfulfilling work, our dreams and aspirations often lie relegated to the back burner for us to work on “someday.” The truth, though is, it’s daunting to get started on these someday projects because … Read more

When your head hits the pillow at night, does your brain immediately tell you to run over all possible scenarios? Again? Some of us just can’t help it. We like to worry. About things that matter and things that don’t. We feel responsible for world peace but pay for it with inner peace. But it … Read more

Finding a personal growth roadmap is easy; it’s wanting to grow that’s harder. I spent years trying to improve other people in my life—family, friends, coworkers even. I gave them advice (often unsolicited) on how to live, work and be better. Let’s just say my project failed. Spectacularly. Not because I handed out poor advice … Read more

This is it. A milestone event for this blog. Post #100. Today’s post is a recap on what worked and didn’t, but more importantly, it’s a testament to the power of passion projects. If you’re wondering whether your bucket list items/someday goals are worth spending time on, the answer is a resounding YES. Hear me … Read more

We overestimate the pleasure our purchases will bring us, which eventually leads to disappointment and severe buyer’s remorse. In a world driven by savvy marketing, it’s now that much more important to know how to avoid buyer’s remorse. The ’80s One of my fond memories of growing up was the local corner shop—a tiny but … Read more

Are you someone who makes New Year resolutions by taking a copy of last year’s resolutions and simply changing the year? You are not alone. A staggering 89% of New Year resolutions don’t last. For good reasons. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater isn’t the solution. Resolving to get better is essential—whether you … Read more

I’m now a year older and hopefully a year wiser—although I’m convinced now that age has nothing to do with wisdom. That said, it’s the time of the year I feel the urge to ponder and reflect on the life lessons I learned over the course of the year. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to … Read more

Mark Twain: Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. It’s recap season. No matter where you turn, you’re going to be inundated with a top ten list—cars, baby names, songs, movies, TV shows, etc., etc. Since I can’t beat the trend, I’ll join in with a top-10 list of … Read more

We’ve all grown up with the message, Where there’s a will, there’s a way. But, how do we find the way when the will to do something is weak, as it often can be? The answer is to create a “system”—a set of rules and routines that do not rely on the often finicky and … Read more

Our minds have a private soundtrack running all the time. It’s the soundtrack of our inner voice, the one that we often converse with. It’s hard to keep track of these conversations. We don’t know when they start and end, who’s doing the talking and who’s listening. The inner voice is powerful, though, both in … Read more

From the time we wake up until we go to bed, there is one thing we all have to do over and over again. Make decisions. What to eat, what to wear, where to go, what shows to watch. Some of these can be difficult choices and a drag on our brain cells and time. … Read more

Cricket, for the uninitiated, is a sport—a bat and ball game with rules and formats that can take years to explain (and play, if you ask me.) In some parts of the world, though, cricket is sacrosanct—even more so than religion. It isn’t surprising then that a trending hashtag on Twitter recently was #chokers, an … Read more