Wake Up Call

A read an article the other day from a pretty well respected icon in the blogging game.  Leo Babauta over at Zen Habits has about 160,000 readers – an insane number when you’ve been doing this long enough to know what that really means. His article was about changing habits and the easiest way we too often derail our efforts to change and improve. The idea was as simple as it gets.  So simple...

I Want That Feeling Again

  A couple weeks ago I was talking with a friend who was leaving her job.  It was a good job with a good employer but it was time to move on.  I spoke with her as she was navigating the decision making process and then again on her last day.   Leaving a job – a real career-type job – is not as easy as it sounds.  I know from experience.  But I was happy (and a little relieved) at her response...

David Allen Is A Genius

If you happen to follow my rare personal commentaries on Facebook you’ll notice that the title for today’s article matches with the headline I broadcasted Saturday morning.  I’m being repetitive because I’m twice as convinced in the truthfulness of the statement. For starters, who is David Allen?  Well, I suppose many titles would fit, but I’d define him as a personal productivity guru. ...

Homeless Man With A Plan

Being homeless is by no stretch a tragedy and while it is not a cause I actively combat, it never fails to illicit a reaction in my mind if not my heart.  In Canterbury, England the youthfulness of the homeless population is shocking, the true stench of the homeless population surrounding Philadelphia’s City Hall will turn your stomach, and the aggressive and entitled nature of the panhandlers...

Give To Get

  Today I have a new, old storyline.  Several media outlets I follow spent time with the topic back in September but I decided to wait.  Sure, the story may have had a short shelf life, or it could age like a fine wine – getting better and more interesting with the passage of time. Fortunately it was the later, and now it is ready.  The proper weight and balance have been achieved and the current...

Social Experiments

The idea of social experiments is something I find interesting.  That we can engineer a setting and personal interactions to drive a particular result from others or even ourselves is compelling and a tool we should consider leveraging in our daily experiences. I once read about a grad student studying psychology who decided to conduct her own social experiment on a tenant in an apartment unit she...

2009 – A Year In Thanks

About this time a year ago my wife and I talked about how good 2008 had been to our household.  It was a fun moment of connection, and reflection, and celebration, and optimism.  In a demonstration of faith we agreed that 2009 would be an even better year for us.  And so it has been. Of course 2009, for our house, began with tremendous questions in the air.  Walking away from a long term employer...