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
Most people don’t realize this, but the number one thing that keeps them from pursuing their dreams and ambitions is their self-doubt—their lack of confidence in their own abilities. While positive thinking alone cannot make us successful, getting rid of the negative self-talk can make the road to accomplishment easier to navigate. A tale of … Read more
The 2021 Nobel prize for medicine was awarded to two scientists, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, who independently worked out the impact touch and temperature have on the body’s nervous system. Turns out, our sensory system is quite complicated and well evolved. A core part of their research was on the subject of pain—a universally … Read more
“Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions” is a common refrain we hear from managers. One of the most sought-after skills in the workplace, or for that matter, life in general, is the ability to solve problems. Often though, we fall into the trap of coming up with brilliant solutions by solving the wrong problem. … Read more
What separates us from our primate ancestors is our ability to think (hopefully intelligent thoughts.) But that comes at a price—we don’t just think. We overthink, thanks to our monkey minds. Our thoughts are constantly shifting, swinging, vacillating, like monkeys from one branch to the next. Here’s the 64,000-dollar question: Is the monkey mind a … Read more