I had a conversation with a young man at the pool this morning. He was seeking some advice on how to swim longer distances, and shared that the best he has ever done 500 metres, but that he was not sure he could do it again. That fear stops us from achieving what we are […]
Every morning shortly after sunrise we walk through a nearby park. It has a creek running through the middle, and every day we delight in something new. At the moment, eastern water-dragons (a l large dinosaur-like lizard) sun themselves on the banks. Only a few weeks ago we were picking some deliciously fresh bright red […]
Expertise not sticking? Losing the argument, even with all your facts unambiguously right? We see start-ups with innovative feature-loaded and superior products eclipsed by a more expensive, clumsy and less featured competitors. We see electoral campaigns fought on truths, half-truths and blatant misinformation, and rarely does the person with the credentials, the integrity and the […]
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” This week I had conversations that are so eloquently captured in this quote attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer. The conversations contrasted two very different mindsets. One of these mindsets will take us forward. The other will not. Let me […]
A few mornings ago, as I was starting my warm-up laps in the swimming pool, I felt I could have done with a few extra hours of sleep. My arms were turning, my legs were kicking, my gaze was absently following the blue line on the pool floor. A few hundred metres into it and […]
People are looking at you. They are looking you up and down, passing a brief but significant judgement, and most likely moving on to the next person. By then you have most likely been forgotten. You know, because it is precisely how you are looking at them. We as humans naturally have an interest in […]
Martial arts, whether in practice or in philosophy, have been a fundamental part of my beliefs since I was a kid. One principle Sensei would always emphasize when we were practising our punches or kicks against pads was that we should aim to kick not at the pad, but right through the person holding it. […]
The other side… The world that we imagine, wish for, fantasize. If we could escape, that’s where we’d go. It may be the sound of the sea, the splashing of the surf, a fluttering sail, the whirr of a fishing line. It may be the smell of grass, the whack of the club on the […]
– Your inbox is not full of complimentary emails every morning.That mindless commentary in your office about some past event is beginning to bug you.– No a single person has troubled to welcome you, the new staff member, and you are feeling somewhat lost.– You kept getting cut off, and had to wait nearly five […]
15,000 Days. That is the number of days most people spend in “working life” till retirement (assuming that you start a career in your early 20’s and retire in your early 60’s). Yes, that is not a typo: fifteen-thousand days. That’s it. If you are not are reading this on your mobile device, go pick it […]