Piggybacking on last week’s post about knowing your strengths—if you don’t know what skills you have that other people don’t, you typically can’t help them or teach them very well. For example: I’m not good at starting conversations with people I don’t know without context. Not one of my strengths. In a variety of contexts … Read more
We were driving back to Phoenix from LA last week and stopped at a rest stop for gas, food, and stretching legs. It was late afternoon; the moon was rising in the still-sunlit sky over shadow-covered desert mountains. The phase of the moon and its proximity to the mountains caught my attention—it looked like the … Read more
We tend not to see our own strengths because those skills come to us easily, whether developing the skill was easy or not. Sometimes, we don’t see our strengths because they’ve been downplayed by others over time and we’ve taken to believing the naysayers. This leads to us downplaying our skills while overemphasizing/coveting others’ skills … Read more
In a podcasting workshop I took, the half-joke was that you’re not a real podcaster until you forget to hit record. I half-joke with my guests that I hope never to be a real podcaster. For the past few weeks, I’ve been trail running for the first time. (Typically, I’ve saved running for smoother surfaces … Read more
If everyone taught their kids at least to be tolerant of people who are different, it would help. Tolerance is better than intolerance, but would you want to spend your life tolerated? It’s a better-than-nothing space, not an end goal. If everyone taught their kids that their own emotions are valid and how to name … Read more
I’m an extremely sentimental person, especially about people. Someone recently asked, “Do you collect people?” Why yes, yes I do. If you and I have had any remotely significant relationship at any point in my life for any length of time, you are a piece of me. For better or for worse. Regardless the state … Read more
Annie Duke was the guest on an engaging episode of A Slight Change of Plans. The theme of the episode was quitting and it offered so many new thoughts to me. “If you think about the way that we process narratives, we don’t really see the quitters…The heroes are the ones who persevere beyond the … Read more
Today’s writing offers you a nudge to put yourself out there a bit if you have some ideas or some work and you’re afraid to share it. You never know what people will like. Some of the things I have worked the hardest on have received no response. Some of the things I’ve dashed off … Read more
I saw a post on social media where the writer and those commenting were eye-rolling at a kit for videoing yourself. I concede that “Like Me Vlogging Kit” is cringeworthy, but a light, a mic, a phone holder, and a tripod were included in the kit, which would be handy for a lot of types … Read more
Variations on a meme go around every now and then, and I saw it again recently: Without relentlessly criticizing, could we let people have their pumpkin spice, and avocado toast, and their fandoms, and their D&D, and their too-early-Halloween decorations, and whatever little harmless things in which they’ve managed to find a tiny shriveled flower … Read more