In his book, Take the Stairs, Rory Vaden talks about an interesting observation he made about cows and bison during his childhood in Colorado. When a storm rolled in and started raining on the animals, the cows would run away from the storm, trying to avoid the rain. But because the storm was blowing in the very direction they were running, the cows would get rained on for longer than… Read More »Be a Bison, Not a Cow
Last year, I wrote about the uncomfortable question we all need to be asking. Here’s a quick reminder: When someone displays some characteristic you don’t like or behaves in such a way that you’re tempted to judge them, ask yourself, “How am I that?” In almost every case, there’s some parallel characteristic or behavior that you occasionally display. This helps you be less judgmental and lets you use other people’s… Read More »When I’m like that, what do I need?
Most people don’t self-identify as perfectionists. In their work, or when doing chores, or in their diets, they’re routinely satisfied with some version of “good enough.” But when these same people are offered a strategy to help with behavioral change, they frequently reject it for perfectionistic reasons, saying things like, “Oh I’ve tried that, and it didn’t always work.” My response is, “Yeah… But did it work some of the… Read More »The Hidden Type of Perfectionism That’s Probably Holding You Back
You’ve probably heard of the Japanese concept of kaizen. It’s a pretty popular idea these days. Seriously, it’s my nephew’s middle name for Pete’s sake. For those of you who don’t know, kaizen means “continual improvement,”1 but it’s really more than that. Kaizen is a philosophy that says you can make enormous improvements over time by constantly finding very small ways to make things better. Kaizen is a unique way… Read More »Minor Adjustments Add Up