Reading Time: < 1 min Many of the best businesses in the world were formed to solve a specific problem that the founder had, and then they simply worked to help others solve the the same problem. I still love the quote from Rory Vaden that I shared a few years ago when he said “You’re most powerfully positioned to […]
Empathy
Of course other people can change us
Reading Time: 2 min We hear a lot about how “no one ever changed their mind because of a Facebook post”, something that I’ve disagreed with for years. While it’s very unlikely that a Facebook post will change my mind, if someone that I trust and respect posts something contrary to my beliefs, I will dig in to understand […]
Default to love
Reading Time: < 1 min I was having lunch with a friend recently and we got on the topic of the response to the LGBTQ movement and many related topics (transgenderism, sports, etc). There’s a lot going on, things are changing quickly, and it’s hard to keep track of everything. The guy I was with is much more educated on […]
The identity threat of outgroups
Reading Time: 2 min As another election draws near, the bifurcation of our country continues to grow. While that’s ok to a small degree, as we should believe in what we believe in, it generally goes much further than it should. A big reason for this is the creation of ingroups and outgroups; either you’re like us or you’re […]
Bad days are better measures than good ones
Reading Time: < 1 min We’ve all heard the phrase “if you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best“, but it seems to me to be more of a red flag than actual advice. How someone behaves “at their worst” is often what matters the most. A few years ago I talked about people […]
Thank others for their gift of time
Reading Time: < 1 min We all know that our time is limited. 86,400 seconds every day seems like a lot, but our entire life is only around 4,000 weeks (if we’re lucky) which sounds shockingly short. If someone is willing to gift some of their time to you, you should respond accordingly. In his book “Giftology“, author John Ruhlin […]
Theoretically altruistic journalism
Reading Time: 2 min The latest episode of the “You’re Wrong About” podcast focuses on phones, and makes the argument that phones are generally a good thing for people to have — even teens. Included in the show was a discussion on the potential ban of TikTok, where they shared: And it’s not about improving these systems or improving […]
Draw out multiple identities
Reading Time: < 1 min One of my favorite new words in the past few years is “sonder” — that moment when you realize that everyone around you has an internal life as rich and as conflicted as yours. With that always on my mind, I tend to notice more areas where it might apply. One of those was in […]
Central points versus name-calling
Reading Time: 2 min In Adam Grant’s book “Think Again” he references Paul Graham’s “hierarchy of disagreement”, saying: “In the hierarchy of disagreement created by computer scientist Paul Graham, the highest form of argument is refuting the central point, and the lowest is name-calling.” This hierarchy wasn’t one that I was familiar with, so I took some to understand […]
Sifting through the chaff and grain
Reading Time: < 1 min There are certain people in your life that are indispensable. They can be indispensable in various ways, but I loved this description from Dinah Maria Craik (from her book “A Life for a Life“, as shared in Kevin Paul Scott’s “Inspired Every Day“). Dinah said: “Oh the comfort of feeling safe with a person, having […]