I can’t control whether anybody reads this blog. I can’t control whether you tell anybody about this post after you read it. I can’t make anybody buy my book, and I can’t ensure anybody will like it even if they do. I can’t force a publisher to take on the book I’m working on right […]
Yesterday was Labor Day in the U.S., a holiday we ironically enjoy as a day off work. It’s traditionally our end-of-summer celebration, a day we join family and friends for a trip to the lake or the park and eat barbecue and drink beer. It’s a day most of us spend as little time as […]
We can spend our time arguing about where the world came from. We can argue the difference between the Big Bang and Let there be light, each of us ridiculing the other’s position and logic. We can let the debate descend into name-calling, abandon all respect for each other. We can entrench in our positions, […]
It’s hard to define success. It means something different to each of us: for some, it might be money; for others, power; for still others, fame or status. It might mean love, or well-adjusted children, or a day-to-day joy that life’s trials can’t overcome. If you’re religious, it might mean salvation, or bringing others to […]
I recently heard a quote from the Talmud that resonated with me: You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. I am not a religious scholar. I could not tell you the difference between the Torah and the Talmud, although I’m sure I’ve heard it described. […]
We’re busy. Busier, probably, than any culture has ever been. And leading is hard. It takes work, and it carries no guarantees that the work will bear fruit. It might lead to nothing more than unhappy followers. No wonder most of us don’t want to do it. Instead, we wait for the leader who thinks […]
I know how to do something halfway. It’s so easy just to phone it in, to do as little as I can get away with, especially when I’m facing competing requests from my job, my family, my scout troop, my church, and my doctor. Especially when I’m feeling overwhelmed and thinking it will take longer […]
This weekend, I had the honor of accompanying eight Boy Scouts on a backpacking trip to Oklahoma. Some of the Scouts are older and more experienced than the others; in fact, three of them hiked the very same trails a little more than a year ago. But for several of them, it was a weekend […]
I’m worse about this than most. This one is mostly a reminder to myself. Most of us are hard-wired to blow off victory. That’s a pretty drastic statement, I know. But how often have you waved off a compliment with something like it was nothing? How often have you lost sight of everything you’ve accomplished […]
I got up at 5:45 this morning to write this, and I have about an hour to get it done. After that, it will be time to get ready for work and head to the office. I could have chosen to do this a different way. I could draft the post now, then come back […]