Have you heard the joke where this guy walks into the doctors office and says, “Doc, it hurts everytime I do this,” as he demonstrates bending his arm at elbow; to which the doctor replies “Well stop doing that.” (Groucho Marx?) Taking things personally is just like that. It hurts when we do it and…
One of the things we often hear about what makes human beings special and perhaps unique on the planet is that we have free will. But what does that mean exactly? Is it that we are self-directed and autonomous in a way that no other animal is? I think that’s what we mean when we…
In their Law of Attraction books, Esther and Jerry Hicks talk about segmenting. The idea is you break your day into discrete portions of time or “segments” as a means to focus your attention during that time on something that you want done. This is a brilliant concept. Why? Because my biggest challenge is managing…
One is stressful, the other is numbing. The latter type of distraction serves to numb you to the pain of the former. The best example of a numbing distraction is TV. You turn it on and it effectively distracts you (numbs) from all your concerns in the world. It turns your mind off. Other good…
Distraction, not religion, is the opium of the masses. Distraction is the enemy of living my life as a practice. Distraction serves as the band-aid to the worry and anxiety I feel when I’m not effectively taking care of my concerns in life. I know I’m heading off a cliff and it’s easier to go…
So with my “Getting things done (not)” as the background, I write about how “clutter” affects me. Like our hero in this April 17th 2008 post, in the process of doing one task I find myself distracted by another. Does this happen to you? On the way to look for a folder or file, I…
I’ll be musing about clutter, distractions and the importance of systems and routines in living your life as a practice, and I thought this cute story below would be a great set-up. I have no idea who wrote it. Enjoy. Recently, I was diagnosed with Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder (A.A.A.D.D.). This is how it…
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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