I’m writing this on Christmas day in 2024, which coincides with the first night of Hanukkah. Kwanzaa is tomorrow. The solstice was a few days ago. I feel as if the calendar gave us all a big present: “We’re all on this little rock together.” I hope that all your gift acquisition and receiving experiences […]
What Present(s) Do Both Your Heart and Mind Desire? Read More »
Do you feel lucky? I do. I’ve been able to work at jobs I (mostly) love and with people I (mostly) enjoy. My family loves me, even if they do roll their eyes often. (That’s totally fine. I often deserve that eye-rolling.) I also feel as if I’ve benefited from a ton of serendipity, especially
How Can We Create More Luck and Serendipity In Our Lives? Read More »
We’ve all had terrible disappointments in our lives, personal, professional, and societal. Somehow, most of us find ways to live with the personal disappointments. I’m not going to discuss those because I’m not a therapist. Professionally, I’ve experienced several project-based disappointments. We either didn’t deliver what the customer wanted or we didn’t deliver it when
How to Acknowledge Our Disappointment and Decide How to Restart Read More »
(Warning: This post contains a discussion of US politics.) When was the most recent time you had to choose between doing what was right instead of what was easy? At work, people—not just leaders—make these decisions all the time. Too often those decisions disappoint the people with the most power. What happens? Sometimes, the powerful
How Can We Find the Courage to Do What’s Right, Not What’s Easy? Read More »
(Warning: this post discusses the upcoming US Presidential election.) Our identities mean we identify with many possible different tribes. By tribe, I mean a particular affinity group. I have professional tribes, such as software people, managers, and consultants. Personally, I have my family tribe and my position in that tribe. I also have social tribes,
How Much of a Hold Do Your Various Tribes Have on You? Read More »
How often do you notice inconsistencies? We are human, so we are all inconsistent at times. But the more often I see these inconsistencies, the more they confuse me or make little sense to me. In fact, they confuse me so much, that this is my fourth attempt to write this post. Sigh. I suspect
What Confuses You or Makes Little or No Sense to You? Read More »
Rejection is a fact of life. We don’t get the jobs we want. Or the date with someone who seems attractive. Plenty of magazine editors reject my short stories, even when the editor says, “I liked it. It just doesn’t fit.” Those rejections feel personal—and they are in matters of the heart. But more often,
How Do Rejections Affect Your Ability to Be Resilient and Adapt? Read More »
I’m slightly obsessed with making the most of my days. I have grand ambitions and goals that each require enough time to fulfill. Mine include books to write, places to go, and interesting people to work with. While I have no family “goals,” I want to spend enough time with them that they enjoy me—and
How Can We Know When the Direct Path will Take Longer and Be Less Effective? Read More »
When two people marry, they create a new family. However, their families—especially the parents of the new couple—now also have a bond. There’s a delightful Yiddish word that describes that co-in-law bond: machatunim. Machatunim describes the family of the heart. We can choose how large we want this heart-based family to be. Last week, I realized
How Large is the Family of Your Heart? Read More »
Mark and I just returned from a week-long trip to Switzerland and Germany to explore some of my family’s origins. We had a great—and exhausting—time. I learned a ton, not just about my family’s past, but about designing for the entire experience, and how my perseverance interacts with my learning. Design for the Entire Experience
How Can You Integrate What You Learned from Traveling to a New Place? Read More »