In his book, “The Geography of Bliss,” Eric Weiner had two lovely paragraphs on attention: “Attention’ is an underrated word. It doesn’t get the… well, the attention it deserves. We pay homage to love, and happiness, and, God knows, productivity, but rarely do we have anything good to say about attention. We’re too busy, I…
Fixed mindset self-talk: “This is who I am and this is what I am capable of.” Growth mindset self-talk: “This is who I am and this is what I am capable of at this moment.” At this moment supposes that at some other moment I may be different, I may grow to be someone better, I…
You won't know.... Until you share it. The only way to know if something is worth sharing is.... to share it, and then you will know. Deliver that idea, ship it, let it out, set it free, if it works, great, then we know it was worth sharing. If it flops, it is okay, now…
Five thousand years ago, every human was a hunter. If you were hungry, you got a rock or a stick, a bow and arrow and you went hunting. The problem was that all of the animals were either dead, really good at hiding or very fast at running away. For a while this was a…
An aircraft must reach sufficient speed to take off. The pilot needs enough runway to achieve that optimum speed. Once reached that optimum speed, the plane takes off the ground. The same is true of our projects and ideas. Velocity alone is not enough to make an idea fly. Ideas also need time. They need…
The couple are examining winter jackets on a rail in the department store when the sales assistant makes rushes to them. ‘What size are we looking for?’ he says, helpfully. They explain that they are just looking, but he continues to follow them around offering assistance. So they excuse themselves and leave. I have recently…
Chris Dixon, entrepreneur and investor, had a fantastic post on the myth of the overnight success: _______________________________________________________ Angry Birds was Rovio’s 52nd game. They spent eight years and almost went bankrupt before finally creating their massive hit. Pinterest is one of the fastest growing websites in history, but struggled for a long time. Pinterest’s CEO recently…
I was reminded of the poem Desiderata yesterday. I thought I would share some of my favorite lines from the poem: Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be…
When we were taught poetry in primary school, my classmates and I were encouraged to learn verses by heart. The teacher would call upon us during a lesson to stand and recite a poem or a verse. "Polokwane....Ga bo Maraba' Sekwala. Polokwane gabo ngwana'diroko. Polokwane ga bo kgarebe ya matanyetša. Polokwane gabo Maria Sesi...." This…
Our default state is to judge others by the outcomes we see. And then we expect to be judged by the processes they do not see [if only they would understand my circumstances, they will understand!]. We seek justice when they wronged us, but we seek clemency when we wronged them. We wish them karma…
If you want to be calm under pressure, just start describing yourself [to yourself] as someone who is incredibly calm under pressure. This transformation will not take place over night. But, the next time things go wrong [and, don’t worry, they will], you might catch yourself reacting to the mishap. When you do, write down what…
Busy parking lots tend to be a surprisingly powerful window into someone’s character. The means they use to find a spot and the choices they make when no one they know is watching, e.g. sneaking in ahead of someone who has clearly been waiting, are telling. Double parking, parking on spaces designated for the people…
