“Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” – William James Pessimism is like asking yourself “How can I fail? How can I connect with, and strengthen, my not-being-able-to-do-it thoughts?” Optimism is asking yourself, “How can I succeed? How can I call the best of me, of others and what’s around to create the best result…

I watched this story on ESPN (watch the video, go ahead… it’s amazing) and was moved. “Moved” really doesn’t cover it though. Matt’s story penetrated to my core and helped me ask myself what am I allowing to get in my way. When I was real with myself about the things that I let stop me,…

I was listening to a Fresh Air interview with Dean Norris recently when he said something that really struck a chord. He was talking about how he prepared for a shoot-out scene in the (amazingly excellent ) television show Breaking Bad (he portrays a DEA agent). Norris relates that most law enforcement officers do not fire their weapons in…

“Always desire to learn something useful.” – Sophocles Learning is vitally important these days. The willingness, and ability, to learn means we understand that the nature of things is change. That we cannot stand still if we want to useful, productive and happy. Learning though doesn’t need to be all about skills and competencies, it…

“Commitment is an act, not a word.” – Jean-Paul Sartre Commitment, of course, starts with a word, or words; the speaking, however, is always necessary, it is never sufficient. What commitments have you merely spoken (whether in your head, or out loud), but have yet to act on, consistently? The answer to that question is…

“‎The ‘I think’ which Kant said must be able to accompany all my objects, is the ‘I breathe’ which actually does accompany them.” – William James I have long thought that Kant had it wrong when he said “I think, therefore I am.” Sometime not long after my Intro to Philosophy course at Hobart College…

“No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals.” – Brian Tracy (Just about) Anything you want to do has…