Imagine a world-champion chess player facing off against an amateur chess player. The grand master will surely win. But now imagine that we’ve stacked the board against them. Their king is cornered. All of the powerful pieces have been captured or blocked. The amateur is just a move or two away from checkmate, and there’s nothing the grand master can do. In such a position, all their brilliance and experience… Read More »How to Position Yourself to Thrive
If you had asked me three years ago if I could do 30 push-ups a day, I would have simply said, “No.” I was too weak, and I had a shoulder injury. But the correct answer, it turns out, would have been, “Not yet.”1 This month, I am doing 30 push-ups a day. It all began 30 months ago when I decided to try doing just one push-up per day.… Read More »Realistic Optimism
My favorite teacher is Brian Johnson. He’s the creator of Heroic, my go-to source of daily wisdom. His favorite teacher is psychologist Phil Stutz, so when Brian shared a summary of Phil’s new book, Lessons for Living, I eagerly listened. Here’s the core message: “In short, the nature of reality is this: Life includes pain and adversity. The future is uncertain. Accomplishment of any kind requires discipline. You are not… Read More »Embracing Uncertainty
Why Flexibility is Essential Eight years ago I was in really good shape. I lived in the mountains, across the street from a ski area. In the winter, I skied nearly every day. Some days, because there was night skiing, I would ski for ten hours. In the summer, I went hiking or mountain biking nearly every day. Sometimes, I would climb a mountain during the daylight hours, and then… Read More »Mental Flexibility: The Forgotten Skill