Over at Optimize.me, Brian Johnson likes to draw a distinction between two states: “energized tranquility” and “enervated anxiety.” Energized tranquility is calm determination. It’s motivation mixed with confidence and hope. Enervated anxiety is the opposite: a state of weakness, exhaustion, and worry. It’s burnout mixed with helplessness. And sadly, it’s what a lot of us feel on a regular basis. Luckily, we can change that by knowing what state we… Read More »Fire and Grace
Photo by Steven Pierson. Creative Commons 2.0. In Alexandria, Indiana, hangs a strange piece of ever-evolving art: the world’s largest ball of paint. It began in 1977 when Mike Carmichael and his three-year-old son painted a baseball. How did that turn into the world’s largest ball of paint, you ask? They never stopped painting it. They got friends and neighbors to paint it. Eventually, they enlisted strangers who happened to… Read More »Legacy, Contribution, and The World’s Largest Ball of Paint
Take a moment to remember the last time you cooked in an unfamiliar kitchen. Maybe it was at a friend’s house; maybe it was an Airbnb. Remember the feeling of not being sure where things are, the slightly frustrating inefficiency of working in that kitchen? Compare that to how it feels to cook in your own kitchen, where everything is exactly where you expect it to be. At home, you… Read More »Using Mise En Place for Home, Work, and Life
“Now, here’s the deal … we don’t want to be like that moron at the gym who thinks he’s going to turn around seven years of sitting on the couch in one afternoon. Pick one area and just focus there. Start small. Go slow. Stretching and pushing ourselves too much and too quickly is a recipe for misery and anxiety.” –Tripp Lanier1 There’s a strange, old idea about how to… Read More »Boil Yourself Like a Frog: a Metaphor for Sticking with Healthy Habits