Focusing on the slow and boring is actually faster and exciting.
Are the things that demand the most of your attention and focus really what drive the most value to your life, work and happiness?
The fast and unimportant ones have a tendency of grabbing all the attention. While really, the power resides with the slow boring stuff.
Reboot Podcast - Jerry Colonna and Startup Leaders
These interviews are more like coaching sessions in which you get to sit into. Jerry Colonna is a investor gone Buddhist. Episodes are deep and full with insights.
Jamie Varon - To Anyone Who Thinks They’re Falling Behind In Life
With the risk of adding to the pile of things you should do, but please allow yourself to simply be yourself. I think we don't have to over-stress having to be productive. Let alone stressing over the outcome. Do what you can. If you care so much that you're stressing out about it, you're already ok.
Brain Pickings - Telling Is Listening (Ursula K. Le Guin)
One of Maria’s favorites. Wait? Amoeba sex holds the key to communication? That talking and listening are ultimately the same thing. That listening is not a reaction, but a connection to join into.
Jason Fried - A mistake is just a moment in time
The Navajo didn’t fix weaving errors in their rugs. They didn’t think it the best thing to do. The mistakes weren’t intentional. What was intentional was the desire not to go back and fix them. Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Learn and go on.
Sean Blanda - The Other Side is not Dumb
What if we assumed that the other side also has their reasons for acting the way they do. Valid reasons. “We cannot consider ourselves ‘empathetic’ only to turn around and belittle those that don’t agree with us.” Our reactions to the Brexit anyone? If you can’t make their point for them, you don’t truly grasp the issue. (thanks Arnout for the find)
Ryan Holiday - Ego is the Enemy
This sincere admittance of his own ego is the most moving book presentation I’ve ever seen.
Lucas de Man - I don’t know so I am
I was really impressed by Lucas de Man’s keynote at the MediaFutureWeek. He’s an inspiring fella. I especially liked his message that you can’t engage in conversation when you think you already know it. And that you don’t need to create a better world. But that you just need to create a world. Oh and it you watch till the end, you can see me asking a question.
ZenHabits - Opt Out: A Simplify Manifesto
Goodbye fear. Hello Joy Of Missing Out! We do so much things simply because everyone does them. Here is a manifesto to opt out and simplify life.
New York Times - Choose to be grateful. It will make you happier.
For the holiday spirit! I love it when cause and effect can also be reversed. As positive psychology has been saying, you don’t have to be successful to be happy. It’s the other way around. And you don’t have to be happy to be grateful. Again, it’s the other way around. So be happy by choosing to be grateful! Oh, but beware, apparently there are side effects. Like, you wanting more sweets. Aptly called: The Pumpkin Pie Paradox.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
You’ve probably heard of Occam’s razor. "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected."
But have you heard of Hanlon’s razor? They are similar in that they both shave off unnecessary and unlikely parts of thinking. Hanlon’s razor goes as follows:
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
John Peterson - Don’t let a good crisis go to waste
There are these moment - often shitty - where things become clear. Where you’ve got clarity to what’s important and what’s not. In those moments, we tell ourselves that we’ll start doing things differently. But afterwards, we just go back to business as usual. In this article, John encourages you to - in that moment - make the changes in such a way that you’re committed and can’t back out. That you can’t not follow up on your intention. By already making the appointment. Calling somebody up. Sending in that resignation. Because a week from that moment, all urgency is gone.
How success is making progress instead of getting results
Big projects are exciting. They can generate more or deeper results than many small ones. However, big projects can be too big. Or at the very least, appear too big. They’re daunting. Stifling. How do you get started anyway? And how do you stay motivated when the results don't seem to come?
How to grow faster by focussing on behavior instead of on yourself.
Can failing be positive?
This mindset is about focussing on your actions instead of on yourself. By doing so, succeeding or failing become a result of what you did. Not of who you are.
It’s about judging whether you did well by focussing on effort instead of on ability. You focus on whether you tried. Whether you showed up. Being able to do it or having chosen the right solution is less relevant.
It’s about a switch from believing in the self to believing in behavior. From talent to practice. From “I am the way I am” to “I can grow and improve myself”.