Amtrak Platform, Freeport, Maine
Train, train
What I can do
One day last week, after wrapping up some end-of-the day work tasks, I sat down, put my feet up and flicked on MSNBC while waiting for Mary to come home. I’m comfortable saying that I lean leftward, so MSNBC is often a mainstream news choice. If you tilt rightward, you most likely prefer your talking heads, Fox-flavored.
Left or right, much of what now passes as “news” is nothing more than a bunch of people screaming back and forth, or engaging in some form of fear-fogging. During this particular dinner hour, the topic was gun control. On another day, or week, it could have been the fiscal cliff, why Republicans (or Democrats) are such idiots, or some other item from a list of meaningless topic fodder that runs like a tape loop on all the networks, lacking intellectual girth, and not much variation, depth, or nuance. Continue reading
Becoming excellent
Let me make an observation. Excellence isn’t something that most of us strive for. It seems that good enough is close enough. Perfunctory is too often the norm. It infects our work culture, our politics, our interpersonal relations, and our communities.
We expect excellence from everybody else though, don’t we?
What if we chose to pursue excellence in our own lives? Would it make a difference? Continue reading
In training (again)
Mathias Steiner of Austria completing a lift @ Athens Olympics (photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
I’m a big guy. By that I mean that I’m 6’3”. I am a mesomorph and generally look athletic. I generally carry excess weight well, perhaps too well.
Like many people, as I got older and passed into my late 30s, I had gained a considerable amount of weight compared to what my weight was in high school. A more sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise were major contributors, as well as an American-style diet tilting towards processed foods. Heck; I like to eat, what can I say? Continue reading
Think before you publish
Earlier this year, just after I began “the big transition” that defined 2012 for me, I told someone they should think about writing a book. Here was a person who was an excellent marketer, an entrepreneur, and someone I recognized as having the requisite skills and personality required to be the kind of savvy promoter that going the independent publishing route requires.
I think there are many people who are quite capable of writing and publishing their own book. In fact, I remain bullish on the idea that many are missing the boat when it comes to getting their expertise out in book form. Despite social media’s minimalist approach to every jot and tittle, there are still a wealth of niche markets for books and publishers who can spot them. Continue reading
A winter without pucks
Matt Kassian vs Darcy Hordichuk, 9/20/2011, AP Photo
In a country with fading memories of the triumphs of unionism and their inherent power to better the economic conditions of working people, it’s interesting that the only remaining labor issues involve round black objects–Ding Dongs and hockey pucks. Actually, the reason pucks aren’t flying around hockey rinks might have something to do with the non-snack food kind of ding dongs–people like Gary Bettman, Jeremy Jacobs, and I’ll include Donald Fehr, although adding Fehr to this list is probably a knee-jerk response typical of the union-baiting set, because it’s so much easier to blame the “greedy athletes.” (Actually, here is a really good article by Charles Pierce in Grantland on Fehr, and the economics of the NHL lockout and in the course of reading, a really good primer on what American corporate sports is all about. Read to the end of the first paragraph, the bit about Mike Illitch, billionaire pizza magnate and how he has turned an $8 million investment in 1982 into an investment now valued at $346 million, whether the team plays or not.) Continue reading
Becoming contrary
How do you know that what you hold dear and true is in fact so? What are you using as your own personal fact-checker? Merely going along to get along might make you popular (it might also make you a doormat) but it doesn’t guarantee veracity. Following the masses could find you stepping off a cliff with a group of your fellow lemmings. Continue reading
Know your kryptonite
We spend so much time focused on and promoting success that sometimes we usually look past glaring deficiencies that are waiting to sabotage even the most robust success strategy. While there are as many schemes for success as there are stars in the sky on a cloudless night, papering over our liabilities will surely sidetrack our best-laid plans moving forward.
For this post, I’m going to diverge from the “three steps to success” model that’s all the rage—at least for today. Today, we’re going to focus on weakness. Continue reading
Reading books 2012
Why read? That seems to be the question at hand since I’m once more at the end of a calendar year with another assortment of books read over the course of the past 12 months. With a list like this comes some sort of requirement to justify the time I invested in making my way through these books. Hence, I report back to you, dear reader.
The rediscovery of reading transformed my life back in 1997. I say “rediscovery” because like so many, I’d found other second rate substitutes for books and reading in the course of leaving school and entering the realm of work. Now I’ve come back to an even more essential task—reading broadly. I wish a few more of you would begin wrestling with this task. Continue reading
