[W]e are torn this way and that. Social and business pressures push us, and we go along, but the spark within is hard to extinguish, and even as we hurry to conform we may pause to wonder if this is all there is to life, and we glance uneasily over our shoulders (once a week […]
You deserve and are perfectly equipped to live a fully happy, rich, and meaningful life. This is not a trite fortune cookie message. It is powerful perspective that many of us are missing and that all of us can adopt and realize. Despite what we may have heard, no one gets hurt if we believe […]
It’s very easy for us to fall into the “Activity Over Results” trap. In this trap, we unconsciously judge ourselves and others by how much activity we generate. But, deep down, we much more value achieving desired results. We spend a large amount of our time on lots of low-value activities including most of our […]
[There’s a video bonus with today’s Note. See the PS. -m.e.] “You’re good at {insert school topic here}, you should be a {insert some well-admired job here}.” “This is the typical career path in this industry.” “That’s how everybody does it? Oh. Okay.” “To pursue my dream I have to take a serious pay cut.” If we […]
Is it irresponsible optimism to say, “Yes, I acknowledge the obstacles. We are going to succeed nonetheless.”? Perhaps. And it is the only way anything meaningful ever happens. In your corner, Mike PS: Nothing is inevitable unless we say so. PPS: Does saying so guarantee it will happen? Nope. Not saying so pretty much guarantees it […]
Meaningful careers are those where we are doing: Something that we are good at, Something that motivates us, Something that satisfies our needs, wants, and desires (e.g.ideal work environment, income, lifestyle), and Something that solves the problems that others have and that we find compelling. When our work satisfies all four of these criteria–when our work […]
Many truths about ourselves will be discovered in consciousness directly or not discovered at all. – Sam Harris When we spend all our time looking for others to define who we are, to say what matters, or to judge whether and how we belong, we miss the clear, strong voice within us that already knows. […]
Deficiency, or rather the elimination of it, is our source for meaningful work. We tend to see life, work, the world, and (secretly) ourselves as deficient in one or more of only these six ways. There is too much ignorance. Life, work, and the world would be better when we pause to understand before acting. We are […]
At work, at home, and in general, we sometimes need to know the meaning of it all. (So, here goes…) We walk through the apparently very real, engrossing, confusing, and painful-and-pleasureful landscape of life. As we do, we struggle. Then, slowly, with the careful and gentle help of the The Poet, we become aware that existence is more than […]
Why are you doing what you are doing in your work and life? If we scratch just beneath the surface of our answers to this question, we see something remarkable if not a bit unnerving. Many of our reasons for why we do what we do are imported. We have adopted our answers to the question, “Why?” […]