Prices of seemingly everything are going up. Delays in arrival of products and materials/components have been going on for over a year now but also seem to be increasing. The shipping delays are in part due to a shortage of workers (which is largely due to losing people—temporarily, long-term, or permanently—to COVID) but also because … Read more
I heard the song “I Can See Clearly Now” recently and a line struck me differently than it has before. “Look all around, there’s nothing but blue skies” Blue skies. Happiness. Synonyms. This happened to be on a cloudy day. I thought how interesting it is that my perspective has sometimes shifted on the notion … Read more
My conversation with Debra on Ordinary Chaos, included some talk about child sex trafficking or the sex slave trade. Between that and some statistics she gave on domestic violence, I felt it appropriate to put a warning at the beginning of the episode and also to mark it explicit in my podcast hosting service. Many … Read more
Rocket Kid made a discovery. If he takes the stability ball (which we had out for him to sit and bounce on during school online)… …and puts it on the trampoline (which is in the corner of the living room—highly recommend for all high-energy children)… …he can lean over the ball backwards and roll towards … Read more
I heard some advice recently that really resonated with me: listen to all the advice. Of course, this is the opposite of typical, where we’re told to neither offer nor accept unsolicited advice. The argument was that even solicited advice doesn’t always resonate, and you never know who will have something useful to say. We … Read more
A disclaimer to kick off today’s thoughts: More often than not, I get stuck while I’m writing because so much is not at all black and white. There aren’t any rules, really, that apply to all people in all situations. But writing becomes muddy and hard to read when it is full of exceptions and … Read more
Taking a tangent from Tuesday’s thoughts on self-care and self-awareness for improved creativity and brain flow. One way (and a variation) to help give yourself a bit of motivation to do something: Have a conversation with your future self. No shame in having it out loud…probably. What can you do today that your future self … Read more
During his interview for Ordinary Chaos, Keith talked at one point about what he does if he’s feeling creatively stuck. (Sept 14 episode) He looks at the rest of his life. Has he been eating well? Sleeping? Not drinking too much alcohol? A feeling of stuck-ness in creativity is an indicator for him that something … Read more
Recently, I watched a short video series by Seth Godin where he asserted we make too many decisions badly because we can’t let go of sunk costs. He argues that we should see where we are and what we have (both physical and in the way of knowledge) as gifts from our past selves and … Read more
In yesterday’s episode of Ordinary Chaos, Chris talked about wanting his writing to make a difference to people, whether he made money on it or not. He’s not alone in this wish. I took the mic for a moment to tell listeners—and now I’m telling you, readers—if you are consuming content made by someone else … Read more