Listen More Than You Speak

Default. Habitual. Less-than-fully-Conscious. Routine. Comfortable. The Usual. So much of what we do is out of habit. It’s routine. It’s just the way we do it. There’s good reason for how this happens and why. We’re built to create and use routines and habits. It’s efficient. It leaves room to focus on threats and survival. It’s primitive….

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heav’n of hell and a hell of a heav’n. – John Milton Are you making a “hell” of your “heaven?” What about making a “heaven” of your “hell?” Because both are based in thought, they are equally possible. Our lives, or at least…

Optimists are those who go after Moby Dick in a row boat with a bucket of tartar sauce. – Zig Ziglar First off, nobody beats Zig for deep truth delivered well. Second, the key take-away here (I humbly suggest) is that the Optimist is one who takes (intelligent/bold/authentic/useful/necessary/game-changing) action. So many people pooh-pooh optimism and…

There’s no shortage of pithy sayings about, or formulas for, living in the world today. At the risk of adding to the “noise,” here is my basic formula: just A.S.K.. First, be Authentic. Easier said than done, especially in the Western/Modern world. In a consumer-oriented culture we are barraged with entreaties to consume this, that…

To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there. – Kofi Annan Tell me about the classes you took in school about developing an accurate and resourceful self-image, knowing your values and…

Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax. – Abraham Lincoln I am not suggesting that you spend 66% of your time exercising, but you – absolutely, positively – must exercise some, consistently. Is it hard to do? Yes and no. The actual doing is easy,…