A while ago my good friend Scott was telling me about this amazing couple he met at Harvard. The husband graduated Harvard with Masters in law and business, moved on to become the CEO of billion dollar company, was an accomplished pianist had three lovely children with his beautiful wife who was a doctor and…
Relationships are hard—very hard in fact. For many of us, the most important ones become strained, unhealthy, even toxic and we stay in them because we are connected through family bonds. Many others die over a period of time. Sometimes slowly, sometimes stunningly fast. What’s amazing to me, is that even when there’s distinct and…
If you thought ‘Work’ Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Wrong! But you’re in crowded company, because many people give that same answer. According to Steve Keil, the opposite of play, is depression. I agree. Play is a basic need of all human beings, a need that ranks up there with eating, sleeping and sex. Yet most people reflexively answer…
It’s either one of life’s cruel ironies or a brilliant example of the Golden Rule in practice, that the same unwillingness to pay for things on the internet—or the willingness to buy pirated material—may also be keeping you trapped in a job or career that you are indifferent to or hate. You won’t even try…
My sister told me about Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address where Jobs told three stories about his life that bring powerful perspecitve to education, work and life. Here’s my take on those three stories. 1. Education – don’t be a sheep about it I think most people know that Bill Gates was a Harvard…
In the last few weeks of Oprah’s show, I heard her say several times, “When you know better, you do better.” Catchy, makes sense, yet I couldn’t help thinking, “So what’s my problem? “Why do I keep eating these cheese balls, and watching stupid movies I’ve seen before? Why do I find myself doing things…
That’s an almost quote from Peter Thiel, the Stanford University educated billionaire who started Paypal and went on to invest in other internet successes like YouTube and Facebook. I jazzed it up a little; the actual quote is “Learning is good, credentialing and debt is very bad.” (Click here for the actual ABC interview with…
In the quest to improve performance we’ve gone through several useful philosophies about what to manage, specifically we’ve been told to practice managing: time people projects energy These are all valuable management philosophies but they do not acknowledge the most fundamental practice: the practice of managing commitments. What are commitments? Commitments take several forms e.g….
Continue Reading »Everybody loves simplification so here are two simple principles you can use in the practice of your life; two principles you must own to get more from life—and by “own” I mean not just understand and explain, but know and act from (without thinking) like an extension of your own mind and body. These principles…
Continue Reading »Seems like an odd question to ask. The answer is, well … do your best; give it everything you’ve got. What does that mean, everything you’ve got? I hear people say they gave it 100%, and others say that they gave 200%. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if they have any idea what percentages mean. All…
Continue Reading »Have you ever listened to the pharmaceutical adverts on TV? As the soothing voice says “Absolv, when taken immediately after upsetting your partner can bring on feelings of contriteness that a puppy would envy. Clinical studies have shown that 77% of users of Absolv are forgiven for extreme transgressions including not sharing with housework, coming…
Continue Reading »Many moons ago a senior director at my old company sat with me talking about my career and said, “Peter your problem is you have no ambition.” That felt like a slap across the face because at the time there was no one working harder than I was and prior to coming to the head…
Continue Reading »As we drove along the winding road to Maracas beach in Trinidad, my friend Ilene said to me, “You know, I’ve come to realize that there’s only one thing you really need to get when you have a boss.” “Really?” I replied; my sense of intrigue and wonder stimulated because Ilene is one of the…
Continue Reading »If you find yourself blaming someone for some unwelcome outcome or a broken relationship, you might want to consider that nothing is ever 100% anybody’s fault. Accepting this requires an ability to expand your perspective on any situation. For example, in criminal justice it may be relatively easy to prove who robbed the convenience store…
Continue Reading »Do you think you should acknowledge people for just doing their jobs; for just doing what they’re supposed to? Many people would say no, of course not. They’re doing the absolute minimum required and it’s only service or results over and above the norm that should be acknowledged or rewarded. If you think this way…
Continue Reading »The essence of practice is the consciousness or intention you bring to the practice – something that you willingly choose to participate in every day. Long held practices take on a life of their own and if there is no clear purpose to the practice we call them habits. For some gossiping is a habit,…
Continue Reading »If you take a telescope and look upwards and outwards, you’ll soon gain a healthy perspective on how small, how insignificant we and our planet are in the grand scale of our galaxy and the universe. You’ll be similarly amazed if you take a microscope and look inwards; there’s an entire universe of cells, atomic…
Continue Reading »You heard me! It’s big, it’s round, it’s talked about, it’s yours. So learn to love it. Would like to say this is a quote from “Embracing Your Big Fat Ass: An Owner’s Manual,” but I haven’t read it … yet. I probably won’t but it is possible. While big fat asses may not be…
Continue Reading »What is your concept of the truth, and why is it germane to the practice of your life? Well think about it. If you live your life according to things that you believe are true, and they’re only partially true or flat out wrong, what do you think the impact would be on your life?…
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