“I am optimistic about some things in my life, but you also have to be realistic,” writes an astute reader in response to Saturday’s Love Notes. This belief in a trade-off between being optimistic and being realistic is something I hear often. In the “real” world of investments, most are aware of the psychological factors […]
Now, it seems that “how to be happier” is everywhere. And here’s the irony: it dawned on me today that now when I read about happiness, I sometimes think, “Am I happy enough? Are my kids happy enough? Are my clients happy enough? Am I doing enough of the right things to make us as happy as we should be?”
Suddenly, I get it. I see why people can feel worse when they see and hear all this happy talk. [Click title to read full post].
How often do you do something for the joy of it? Because you love what you’re doing? In “Flow,” I kept trying (and crashing) because I loved the idea of it. The 100-mile runners in Born to Run race for the love of it, says Christopher McDougall. And if you’ve ever loved the feel of […]
Remember when you so loved the idea of something– your next job… a new project… your future wife– that nothing could stop you from pursuing it (her… him)? The best motivation is when you love the idea of it so much that you don’t really care how you’re doing at this moment: you’re having so […]
People — students, recent graduates, parents, adults– are always talking to me about finding their “path.” The notion being that if they can just figure out all the elements of what they’re good at, what careers they’re suited to, and where they can earn the living they want, they’ll discover the path they should walk […]
Did you know that you are a storyteller? Or that you are just one story away from what you really want? Most of us don’t realize that we have a few central narratives running through our lives because the stories we tell ourselves are so familiar that we don’t even realize they are stories. […]
Besides being creative, innovative, wildly successful and new-age businesses (that weren’t even dreamed of 30 years ago), do you know what Google, Amazon, Wikipedia & Sim City have in common? The founders of these companies (two at Google) have Montessori educations, says Peter Sims in the Wall Street Journal. What is “a Montessori education?” Although […]
Have you noticed that passion is a favorite new word? “I’m trying to find my passion.” “What if I don’t have a passion?” “You’re so lucky you found your passion.” “I just want my son to find his passion.” I find it inspiring to see that so many people have a passion for passion. It […]
A “significant majority” of the 5000 self-made British millionaires struggled in school, says a BBC study. Think about that for a moment. One of the myths we tell about education is that kids who struggle in school are not smart, have learning disabilities, or are just plain lazy. Yet, I imagine these terms don’t normally […]
