2019 was off to a rough start at the office. We had some difficult transitions and every day seemed to open with a new emergency. One particularly stressful morning each of my colleagues entered the conference room and promptly burst into laughter. I stared at them completely straight-faced wearing a pair of ridiculous party glasses. …
Read more “Giggle to guffaw: How laughter can transform work”
I haven’t been posting as much lately because I’ve had a lot on my plate. If I’m being honest: I can’t do everything all the time. Instead of staying up even later and fretting about how I’ll find time to post, I’ve just tried to let it be. Whenever I start to feel guilty about …
In the past I’ve prided myself on replying instantly to every request, but as social media has become more prevalent I find that each time I stop to reply to something it becomes more of a “if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie” type situation. I’ll open my phone to check the weather forecast and notice that I have a text. …
In a previous article I talked about embracing a beginner’s mindset. I thought about this approach again today when I attended a hot yoga class. The format of class is almost exactly the same each time: the temperature of the room, the length and order of the postures, even what the teacher says. The only …
In our culture knowledge is prized. Everyone wants to be in-the-know. When we don’t know we experience vulnerability, humility, and beginner status. People often associate these feelings with negativity, but embracing them can truly change our lives. Vulnerability is important because it is how we grow. We must be vulnerable when we try new things, …
Thousands of school shootings have happened over the years in the U.S., and as they became more frequent people became more vocal about preventing them from happening, but the story stayed the same. For a long time the story was about the shooter. The media pored over the details of why the shooter committed his …
I have always been a thinker and I am obsessed with efficiency, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized the (ironic) inefficiency of my thought process. I tend to ruminate, and the more invested I am in ruminating, the more anxious I become. The more anxiety I feel, the more time I invest ruminating. …
I’ve always wanted to be an expert at something, but I never had the unrelenting drive to earn the title for any one thing in particular. Instead, I’ve spent my life intensely studying lots of different things for short periods of time. (As a result, I have become reasonably good at a wide variety skills: everything …
My latest project is to develop two humans from single-cell organisms to valuable members of society. It’s been over 4 years since I started the project (each human commenced with a 9-month incubation period) and it has been extremely demanding on a daily basis. The minds of humans in their infancy are not fully formed …