I really don’t like to hate. But there is one thing in particular that I just hate that I love. It is: Diet Coke.
I admit, I love Diet Coke. I love the brand. I love sipping it in the afternoon (especially around the 3 o’clock hour); often I even love it with breakfast. I love the Olympics for which they are a sponsor. I love the sound of the can opening. I love the feel of the plastic 20 ounce bottles. I love the red color in the logo. I love it over ice. I could go on and on… Read more »
There is no shortage of quotes posted on Twitter every minute of every day.
Many are the motivational kind. The kind of quote that is easy for Tweeters to find, post, and re-Tweet. The kind that people can instantly feel inspired by regardless of how helpful it actually is or isn’t.
[I don’t want to digress too much, but the following sidebar might be worth considering in this context. Consider this post that points out how overemphasizing motivation, and ignoring ability and triggers, is what makes Facebook Behavior Change Apps ineffective: “5 Reason Facebook Behavior Change Apps Aren’t Working”.]
But I digress a bit with that. Getting back to my point….
Sometimes I, too, enjoy the clever words in motivational quotes.
However, more often than not, these quotes also just make me want to point out the non-universality of their contrite claims. Read more »
There were some recent news reports that the board game, Scrabble, was changing the rules of the game to now allow Proper Nouns.
But, before anyone, who hasn’t yet heard the whole story, gets overly excited about nothing, be comforted to know that any kind of sacrilegious move like that would not apply to the Classic version, but would only apply to an upcoming Family Friendly version of the game.
While Scrabble really is “just a game”, our first knee-jerk reaction to the initial news reports does tell us something about ourselves. Read more »
We usually can’t recognize the tipping point of exactly when a pleasurable pursuit suddenly becomes a dreaded job, a.k.a. work. Yet, we clearly know when that line has been crossed.
It’s like the difference between running at a steady pace striving to reach a particular goal versus running to catch or keep up with something just out of our reach. There’s a distinct difference in the feel of the activity. The added pressure or stress just takes away any chance to enjoy the freedom of possibility.
I remind myself of this as I build up new muscles, in my body and in my writing. If it’s not fun, then why do it. We have enough pressures in life, why put more on ourselves.
But instead of quitting the activity that might feel like work at the moment, I find I can also choose to change the activity so that it feels like fun again, too.
I’m not going to let stress and invisible pressures take the creativity out of me, instead I’m going to use my creativity to banish the stressors. There are points of no return, but this isn’t one of them.
How do you handle your pressures? Are you winning the battle?
“Showing up is half the battle.” That is how I started my routine of going to the gym regularly. I found it was easier to go every day rather than scheduling or remembering to go on some sort of every other day basis.
Driving directly to the gym after work is simply part of my autopilot routine now, as is packing my gym bag in the morning. I never have to rationalize whether or not I’m going to go to the gym any more, but instead I put my focus on deciding what to do once I’m there.
I’m writing of my gym-going routine now as I sit here with one hour left on Day 2 of my new commitment to blog daily. Can I really be at risk of failing to start my new daily writing habit already? Read more »
As you may have noticed, it’s been a few months since I’ve last updated this blog.
As you may not know, this wasn’t exactly a planned hiatus. Probably not unlike other writers out there, somehow I got myself into this rut where I didn’t believe I had anything worthwhile to say that wasn’t already probably being said by someone else. So, I stopped writing. Though, that is not to say that I didn’t miss the satisfaction of getting my thoughts down in black and white, which I truly did miss.
Anyway, a number of different inspirations have come together for me lately to inspire me to recommit to some new goals for this blog and I wanted to start by sharing these insights with you here. I’m hoping these will guide me on a new course, one that we’ll both consider worthy of sticking around for. Read more »
The latest “rule” about the “new economy” and the “new job market” (or, rather, on how to take advantage of the economic downturn by becoming an entrepreneur) seems to be: “get ahead by breaking the rules”.
I’ve always found that advice to be a bit suspect or a bit too “convenient”, overshadowing the role that luck and selective memories often play.
Of course, that’s not to suggest that we don’t benefit from the “learning opportunity” of missteps, whether due to breaking the rules or not. However, when it comes to rules, sometimes the “learning” is that some rules aren’t meant to be broken in a willy-nilly way. Read more »
What makes my thoughts or ideas any more or less prophetic, important, or meaningful than anyone else’s?
I’m sure I could say some things that some people in search of such wisdom haven’t heard before. They’d probably be rather impressed with what I’d communicate. Who knows though…if I were referencing commonly held beliefs or affirmations often heard in circles that others just haven’t encountered yet, perhaps they would hear the same thing somewhere else along their journey anyway. Isn’t there a phrase about: “When the student is ready, the teacher will be there”? Read more »
Confidence and conviction are admirable traits. Thus, many of us are familiar with the phrase: “if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”
Yet , when it comes to things like political discussions, even the civil ones, with all the divergent points of view out there, I always wonder how anyone can be 100% sure that their view is the only right (or best) view.
When we look at experts’ forecasts about what the future holds, we don’t have to look too hard to find almost every possible point of view vehemently defended by someone. In the end, who is ultimately most accurate will only be revealed by time. Someone will clearly be right, whether by design or by accident, it’s just a question of who, what, and when.
Recently on Bloomberg radio I remember hearing “the future” described as this: “the future by definition is unknown and unknowable” and it’s about “tilting the odds in your favor”. Read more »
The ubiquity and accessibility of the Internet has long since given flight to the belief that: “Everyone has a book in them.” Some of us will write that book. Some of us won’t.
Motivational gurus will work to encourage us to get our book(s) written. Additionally, The Long Tail theory will insure that a broad range of books (of varying content and quality) will get written and read.
Clearly writing a book that gets published and read by others makes most authors feel worthy and satisfied at putting forth their best effort to leave a, hopefully lasting, legacy of some sort behind.
Yet, just because a book gets written doesn’t mean it’s a good book. Of course, “good” is a broad and relative term. Clearly not every book idea is worth writing or reading, regardless of whether or not that indubitably will take place.
Of all the good books that do get written by good writers, the reality about books is as follows: Read more »
