As much as we learn and seek to grow, it’s important to remember that we’re far from perfect. Sure we might know that we should eat nutritious foods and get exercise, but that doesn’t mean we need to feel guilty about occasionally eating a piece of cake and sitting on the couch. We might intuitively …

Why do we get up in the morning and head off wherever the day leads us? Why does the company we work for exist? Why do we want the degree we’re pursuing? Why do the people we interact with do what they do? And why do we do and think we do? It’s a slippery …

Simply being in the lead doesn’t give mean we can coast. A runner in first pass will certainly be passed if they relax. That’s why any experienced competitor continues to push themselves, even when they’re in the lead. Or maybe, more accurately, they push themselves even harder because they’re in the lead. It’s easy to …

Winning in a game like basketball is straightforward. Have more points than the other team when the time runs out, and you win. Same thing in a traditional board game like chess or checkers. There’s an objective route to a clear winner. But over the past few years, a different type of game has gained …

Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone – those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s here. The infinity of past and future gapes before us …

There’s a cost if we truly want to be unaffected by negative events. We might think we want to be able to bounce back from tough losses. To take a punch, and keep going. And if that’s true, then we’d be well served to remove ourselves from the results. When we focus our evaluation on …

Mindless exercise can be unbearable. Without an objective in mind or an understanding of progress as it’s being made, it’s tough to find the willpower to show up. I’ve gone through stretches when I just exercised because I “had to.” I didn’t have much motivation, so I just went through the motions, thinking about how …

When I first picked up a guitar and tried learning some riffs, I thought I just needed to learn to play the notes. Hold down the strings in the right spots, strum at the right times, and music comes out. It seemed simple enough. Only it’s not. Playing the correct notes is the easy part. …

A decent chess player thinks well beyond their immediate turn. They imagine how their opponent will respond, how they’ll then need to respond to that hypothetical action, and so on. The chess player knows that they need to think ahead before they can make a logical decision about what to do next. The same should …

A great work ethic isn’t about working whenever you’re called upon. It’s about doing what you say you’re going to do, putting in a fair day’s work, respecting the work, respecting the customer, respecting coworkers, not wasting time, note creating unnecessary work for other people, and not being a bottleneck. Work ethic is about being …