There’s nothing as wasteful as doing what shouldn’t be done. Sticky notes with hair brained ideas make perfect fodder for the paper shredder. You should feel a sense of accomplishment feeding your shredder, especially if you haven’t done what’s on a sticky note to do, that should not be done. When staring at the sticky note, ask yourself, is this…
Category: Contemplations
Robbing robs the robber
I saw this sign at a store in New York City a few weeks ago, reminded me of a beautiful lesson. When you steal, you have to justify what you’ve done to yourself, even if you don’t feel the need to answer to anyone else. In stealing you have two options for how you assess your actions: Denigrate yourself –…
Inadvertently hurting yourself
Most people find the idea of helping yourself in the process of helping others palpable. At least after they’ve had some time to reflect upon how they have changed as a person as a result of helping others in the past. But, what’s often not so obvious is the inverse of this principle. And people often disagree rather stubbornly. Here…
It’s your fault for finding fault
When something goes awry we all have a tendency to seek out and place blame. Especially when a relationship problem arises. But, is blame a skillful means to remedy the situation? I constantly see people embroiled in it, I’ve been embroiled in it myself. We all have the tendency to blame. Unfortunately, blame is usually what perpetuates and exacerbates the…
Pick one person you trust to learn from
In a sea of information it’s difficult if not impossible to consider every possible perspective on even a single subject matter. Sometimes you have to pick one person that you trust and just stick with learning from them for the time being. Do a little research and try to base your trust on more than faith, then bury your head…
Altruism is suboptimal malarkey: helping myself by helping you
Sometimes people wonder why one would help others for free, aside from supposed altruistic benefits. I personally believe altruism is a myth. There’s no way to help others without helping yourself. Maybe you consider the help to yourself as a deficit to the value you provide to another person, but I think that’s also just puritanical hogwash. There’s no way…
What’s slowing down your writing?
People tend to speak about 120 to 160 words per minute depending on the context. Typing 50 to 60 words per minute is a comfortable pace. That means the only thing holding back writing is the speed of typing. It shouldn’t be the speed of thought. Write like you speak and try to speak slowly in your mind so your…
Don’t specialize
Specializing means you’re focused on what you can do. The problem with this is a specialized focus often narrows your vision so you no longer see what your customer needs and instead only see what you can do. Often times that means you might be an expert at something nobody wants to buy. I’ve always disliked the question: “What do…
Creating something from nothing
Jonathan found $7 while walking Pax a few days ago. Later that night, we passed a homeless couple near our house that I’ve routinely passed and never had any money to give to because I don’t keep it on me most of the time. I suggested we give the $7 to the homeless couple, we did. We felt good in…
Perfection at the expense of success
Instead of success not perfection, how about perfection at the expense of success. Therein lies two view points on the issue. Which view do you subscribe to?