If life is a game, then most of us are racking up points…on the wrong net. Even the most enlightened of us fixate on getting more money, recognition, and safety. We believe that we should maximize these so that we can–at last–have more happiness, freedom, and growth. “When I have this many dollars/this position/this situation, […]
We all always want to be happy, growing, and free. We can think about freedom in two ways. There’s freedom from the things that bug us, stop us, or threaten us. Then there is freedom. The difference is in how these two ideas feel. When we think about things we want freedom from, we are […]
It’s not market share, innovation, or strategy. It’s not earning per share, EBITDA, or another round of funding. It’s also not left-wing, right-wing, or centrist policies. Though it sounds like Sunday school treacle, we wise leaders know the way to sustained happiness, growth, and freedom. It is to help others achieve sustained happiness, growth, and […]
Two simple thoughts cause most of the pain and dysfunction we see around us. They are, “We are separate,” and, “There is not enough.” Consider what would happen if people started believing the opposite: “We are one,” and, “There is more than enough.” How would our own lives change? How would all the nasty, divisive, […]
One very good way to quiet our Should Engine is to make choices about who we are (or want to be) and what we want. Take a typical morning clean-up routine, for example. We can hear our Should Engine barking that we should make the bed, empty the dishwasher, put away the breakfast thibgs, and […]
It’s like we have two engines inside us: our Should Engine and our Freedom Engine. Both mostly operate without us being aware of them. Our Should Engine pumps out evaluations, judgments, and “shoulds” (“You should be more organized. You should be nicer. You should…”). It thinks its job is to get us to do all the things people […]
Need someone to change for the better? Nothing is more powerful than believing that they can and telling them so. In your corner, Mike PS: We can’t really fake this. They can tell when we’re just sayin’ it. But we don’t have to be 100% certain. Just mostly certain. I know you can find a way to […]
Why do you do what you do? Most of us will search but not have a solid answer for this. That is, not until we get to the very bottom of it, to what we all want. Ultimately we all want to be free, happy, and growing. So we dedicate our time and energy to doing […]
In a world–heck, even in an organization or family–where things are tense, chaotic, stagnant, or dim, we can lose sight of things. Yet beyond, beneath, or behind Left or right, Hawk or dove, Boss or subordinate, Subways or streetcars, Right or wrong, Good or bad, Old or new, there are always love, growth, freedom, and happiness. […]
Email does its job well. It facilitates modern communication. It is fast, rich in capability, and easy to use. Almost everyone we know uses email daily. When we are at its beck and call, however, we are miserable. Our email apps tend to be always on, always pinging. Notifications flash and pop up constantly. Feeling […]