A Purdue University study found that happiness increases as an individual’s income rises from $0 to roughly $75,000 per year, and then it begins to decline from there. I don’t necessarily want to touch on my thoughts regarding the numerical finding right now (although maybe I will down the road.) For now, I think the more interesting …
Author: Brandon
Hierarchy vs peers
Despite the outward differences between people, the world doesn’t need to be hierarchical. The best executives that I’ve seen don’t want to be worshipped, they want to be able to talk with their employees and customers on a level ground so they can figure out how things actually are. Just like the best interns don’t want …
Overreacting
With college football season kicking off this weekend, there are bound to be overreactions. Players while be thrown into the Heisman conversation, and teams into the national championship hunt, after one stellar performance. Others will be deemed destined for failure after a week one loss. It should be a lot of fun, but there’s one …
Falling through the Cracks
When you’re starting out, there’s plenty of time to do everything. Everyday work, tedious reporting, helping others…you have the bandwidth to do it all well because there isn’t much on your plate. As you get more experienced and grow into more responsibility, things get a bit more challenging. As more and more people trust you, …
Who cares?
Possibly the easiest way to go through life is by avoiding deeply caring about anything. You can’t get too upset when you hit a roadblock if you think about your contributions as “just work” or “just a game.” If you avoid feeling too invested, you’ll almost certainly avoid any major letdowns. The problem is that …
Why are you selling?
A job in sales can be soul-crushing. The obvious cliche that comes to mind is a sleazy used car salesman preying on uneducated shoppers, or a ruthless businessman forcing his opponents to their rock-bottom price. On a smaller scale, you’ve probably felt or seen this if you’ve ever played Monopoly. Sometimes the lopsided deals that …
Measuring Gains
In theory, I should track everything at the gym. Without a log, there’s no good way to tell when I’m progressing, and by how much. Yet I’m fairly confident that I’ll never get in that habit. I’ve tried it a few times and it just isn’t for me. When I track my workouts, it feels …
You can’t have it both ways
There’s a general desire not to let other’s words tear us down. We want to be resilient and self-sufficient. “Ignore the haters,” we say. But at the same time, we let others build us up. We take pride in the kind words of those we interact with and we get a boost from every positive …
Feast or Famine
When working on a freelance basis, the feast or famine cycle can be deadly. You work hard to bring in a project, get bombarded trying to execute, and then by the time you’re done you don’t have any new work to do and no prospects for new opportunities. That’s why freelancers, or companies who work …
Because of or despite of?
When we look back, it’s tough to distinguish between the behaviors that lead to success and the situations in which we are successful despite our actions. I used to think that I was successful in high school and college because I kept to myself and focused on my studies. I rarely did much talking in …